It’s a little surprising, in the political landscape of our day, that wealth and wealthy people are being categorically demonized. Greed and corruption do make headlines, but those errors are more present in poverty than wealth. When we look for the roots of our social presumption that wealth is evil, I think it the lie is nourished by our theological history. The extreme spirituality of mysticism, which fully embraced poverty and abandoned society, was present in the form of monks in the Dark Ages. Although spirituality is very good, and the presence of God is always the first longing of our hearts, we were not designed to be monks. We’re here to bring heaven down to earth and build the Kingdom.
Wisdom – The missing ingredient in our theological soup has been wisdom. True spirituality is not just defined by what we do in the presence of God when he speaks clearly and we feel His closeness. True spirituality is defined by what we do in the silent times when He is still in our hearts but we don’t feel His guidance or presence. True spirituality has both wisdom and revelation. Wisdom is what we do when God is not spelling out the details. Much of our servant mentality is that God should show us everything all the time; He just doesn’t! He expects us to show initiative, use wisdom and tap into the desire of our hearts. If we try to force God to show us the details in prayer, we can actually open our hearts to a level of deception and disappointment.
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. Eph 1:17 NIV
Monks are poor! – As much as I love spirituality, revelation and the prophetic, it can lead to poverty if it is not balanced with wisdom. The church has been very good at teaching revelation and very weak at teaching wisdom. We have not esteemed spiritual leaders outside the church mountain. We’re all products of that imbalance.
Minas – This parable is the story of wisdom and revelation. We are given talents and Kingdom direction from the presence of God, then we are left to “do business” in wisdom until he comes back. Not all of the “how’s” are given except by the wisdom of proverbs and His Word and the understanding of our hearts. It’s always our job to make a plan to achieve our Kingdom assignment. Wealth creation is always linked to wisdom in scripture.
While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. 12 So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. 13 “And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Do business with this until I come back.’ Luke 19:11-13 NASU
Ministry costs money – Our authority and influence in the kingdom can be limited or extended by the wealth at our disposal. It really is the will of God that you have the proper level of abundance to fulfill your destiny. This statement may not be popular or common, but it is nevertheless true… at the level of a covenant commitment from God to us.
But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. Deut 8:18 NIV
Wealth transfer – If we consent to gaining wealth theologically without fully embracing the concept of wisdom, we will end up with a miraculous “wealth transfer” concept in which God does it all. Wealth comes from wisdom, a clear vision, work, diligence over time, willingness to take responsibility and risk, and leadership in providing (selling) others with value in terms of ideas, goods or services. Poor people don’t do those things… sadly, most spiritual people don’t either.
With me (wisdom) are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity. Prov 8:18 NIV
I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full. Prov 8:20-21 NIV
Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. Prov 10:4 NIV
The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it. Prov 10:22 NIV
The wealth of the wise is their crown, but the folly of fools yields folly. Prov 14:24 NIV
Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life. Prov 22:4 NIV
How we can create wealth – Moving from mystical poverty to abundance starts with giving ourselves permission to take wealth-generating initiatives. Your heart wants to know why you deserve wealth. What purpose does it serve? Wealth is always secondary to our Kingdom purpose. We have to be intentional about gaining wealth. Yet, if we seek it alone, it will fly away from us. The real point is that wealth is a tool that we need to build the Kingdom… every one of us.
Do not weary yourself to gain wealth, Cease from your consideration of it. 5 When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings like an eagle that flies toward the heavens. Prov 23:4-5 NASU
Love what you do – Steve Jobs has a saying on Face Book, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.” From a very practical standpoint, we have to connect our work with the desires of our heart. That’s hugely different from the obedience mentality of a servant in a job. Work can’t be punching a time clock. We have to see Kingdom purpose in it. We have to know for whom we’re doing it, why it’s important. We have to see ourselves playing an important role in a Kingdom plan that is much bigger than just us, and involves many more people. That’s reality.
Be you – God was wise enough to create us with the skills and desires to fulfill all of our destiny at a 100-fold level. Wealth and the other tools in the box all flow very naturally from the revelation of who we really are as Kings in our unique role. Our biggest challenge is moving from that position of victory in Christ to a place of implementation on earth. Seeing a theology of abundance produce fruit requires our initiative and wisdom. It’s not one size fits all, but wisdom always includes things like a life plan, personal mentors, goals, business plans, a team to help us, cash flow and a practical approach to life.
If I’m using wisdom, and something goes wrong, I just create a mid-course correction and make the wisest choice I can in the present circumstance. If I depend on revelation for the details and something goes wrong, I’ll be prone to condemnation and waiting while I try to figure out why I missed God and to convince him to tell me what to do – He probably won’t! You’re headed for the dial tone in your prayer closet. What we really missed was trying to use revelation when wisdom was God’s first choice. Life is full of problems, challenges and setbacks. If we want to persevere to our share of the victories and exploits, we have to take the initiative to use wisdom. God is going on a trip and returning someday to see how we handled the business of our life and to see how much our minas grew. Be a steward and make the best decisions you can.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. James 1:2-5 NIV
The new spiritual is wise and anointed at the same time
Creating Wealth, Converting money into ministry
