- Episode AI notes
- The importance of being linked to God’s economy is crucial for eliminating stress and overwhelm associated with the need to provide, allowing one to actively work and partner with heaven to see injustice overturned and dreams fulfilled.
- Inviting Jesus into finances is crucial this year to allow God to lead, bless, and guide individuals to fulfill their purpose of being a blessing to others, bringing peace, reason, justice, and leadership, while overcoming materialism and fear that hinder freedom.
- Balancing faith and financial responsibility involves not using God as an excuse to dishonor others financially, but honoring both God and people, believing that provision follows where God leads.
- Materialism poses a serious threat to godliness in the Western world, leading to spiritual snares, greed, corruption, and distancing individuals from their faith, making it important to not let money become a destructive master, but rather a useful servant.
- Choosing God as the ultimate authority over money and using it as a tool for God’s work helps to avoid making decisions out of fear, ensuring that money does not rule over one’s life.
Choosing faith over fear can significantly impact outcomes and experiences, as demonstrated by the speaker’s faith averting a potentially tragic situation, teaching the importance of actively aligning with faith over succumbing to fear to shape one’s future path. Time 0:00:00
Committing to God’s Economy Being linked to God’s economy is crucial as it eliminates stress and overwhelm associated with the need to provide. By submitting to the Lordship of Jesus in every area of life, actively working and partnering with heaven, one can see injustice overturned and dreams fulfilled. It is essential to be connected to heaven’s economy to pursue God’s best and fulfill one’s calling.
Speaker 1
It’s a source of stress for people and people feel just overwhelmed with trying to have enough, feeling the need to provide and it’s just a source of stress for people. And so I think there’s a lot of reasons but, you know, here at Expression we are committed to submitting to the Lordship of Jesus in every area of our life and inviting God to break in in Every area and as a community we are actively working and dreaming and have our sleeves rolled up and we are in the trenches partnering with heaven to see injustice overturned. And we’re believing to see heaven break in and we’re contending for things. We cannot afford to not be linked to heaven’s economy. There’s too much in us, there’s too much we’re believing for, there’s too much we’re called to do, there’s too much we’re dreaming about to sit back and just be like, oh well, we’re a community Of people that are contending and going after God’s very best. We cannot afford like this widow, we cannot afford to not be linked to God’s economy. We can’t afford to do it outside of him.Inviting Jesus into Finances for Freedom The relationship between how we view money and the condition of our heart is significant. This year, the importance of inviting Jesus into our finances is highlighted due to the high stakes, chaotic economy, and clear scriptures. By inviting Jesus, we allow God to lead, bless, and guide us to fulfill our purpose of being a blessing to others, bringing peace, reason, justice, and leadership. To lead others towards freedom, we must first be free from materialism and fear. God desires to heal our fear and anxiety related to money, emphasizing that money should not control us or cause anxiety in our lives.
Speaker 1
There’s a very powerful relationship between our, how we see money in the condition of our heart. You know, this year, my prayer is that we would really be at a place where we could invite Jesus into our finances. Right, the stakes are too high. The economy is too crazy and the scriptures are too clear for us not to invite Jesus into our finances this year. Church God wants to lead you. God wants to bless you. There are things you’re called to do. You’re called to be a blessing to others. You’re called to be peace when everybody’s freaking out. You’re called to be the voice of reason. You’re called to bring justice where there’s disorder. You’re called to lead. We cannot do that when we are stuck in the same, you know, materialism, fear, whatever that everybody else is in. If we’re going to lead people towards freedom, we ourselves have to be free. God wants to heal us of our fear and anxiety around money. Money is not meant to control us or be a source of anxiety in our life. Did you hear those words that just came out of my mouth?Balancing Faith and Financial Responsibility Many people struggle with money, leading to anxiety, idolization, control, and negative consequences in their lives. It is important to not use God as an excuse to dishonor others financially. True obedience to God involves honoring both Him and people, with the belief that where God leads, provision follows.
Speaker 1
Now. And I have watched so many people wrestle with this with money, truly. I’ve watched people be consumed by it. I’ve watched people live in constant anxiety around it. I’ve watched people make an idol out of it in their life. I’ve watched people control and withhold. And I’ve watched through the years the consequences that that has brought in their lives. Not uncommon in prophetic charismatic circles. I have watched many of folk use the name of God as an excuse to dishonor people with money. God told me to quit my job, therefore you should feed me and let me live on your couch for 10 years. God told me I was not supposed to pay my rent for six months. That doesn’t work like that. When God leads you somewhere, there’s provision. You can’t honor God and dishonor people in the same breath. If you’re going to honor God and obedience, you have to also honor people. I’m going to need a little heartier of a response right there. Correct? Okay.Materialism and the Church Materialism poses a serious threat to godliness in the Western world, with individuals approaching faith with a consumer mentality, rationalizing desires for money and possessions. This pursuit of wealth can lead to spiritual snares, trapping individuals in greed and corruption, distancing them from faith and driving them into misery. The obsession with money can turn people away from their faith, making this pursuit a perilous path. While money can be a useful servant, making it a master can lead to destructive consequences, highlighting the importance of not letting one’s financial status determine their actions.
Speaker 1
I think in the West, we have often failed to take materialism as a serious threat to godliness. We’ve blurred the lines. We’ve approached our faith with a consumer mentality. We’ve rationalized and justified and built crazy theology around our lust for money and possessions. But how will a materialistic world ever be one to Christ if the church is trapped in the same materialism? First Timothy 6, 9 says, but those who crave the wealth of this world slip into spiritual snares. They become trapped by the troubles that come through their foolish and harmful desires, driven by greed and drowning in their own sinful pleasures, and they take others down with Them into their corruption and eventual destruction. Loving money is a root of all evils. Some people run after it so much that they have given up their faith. Craving more money pushes them away from the faith and air, compounding misery in their lives. Let me tell you, money makes a really terrible master, but it makes a great servant. You see, whether you have it or don’t have it shouldn’t dictate what you’re doing.Ruling Over Money as a Kingdom Tool Avoid using God’s name to engage in strange activities; seek communal confirmation for God’s guidance. Choose God as the ultimate authority over money, even when His directions seem illogical. Instead of fearing lack, embrace using money as a tool for God’s work, ensuring it doesn’t dictate decisions out of anxiety.
Speaker 1
I already told you don’t be out here doing weird stuff, trying to use the name of God to do weird stuff. Okay. I’m not talking about, you know, doing things that don’t make sense. That’s why we do things in community. That’s why we hear God together in community, right? That’s why we discern together what God is speaking to us. But is your bank account boss or is God boss? Because sometimes God will say move and it doesn’t make sense. Sometimes God will say, take this kid in, do this thing and it doesn’t make sense. But it’s when you step out, you begin to see the provision. You guys with me? See, right? By its presence or absence never rules our lives. Money is a tool that we get to take and we get to use. We get to sew into eternal things. We get to use it for the glory of God. Here’s a really hard learned truth. We’ll never be able to experience the power of ruling over money as a kingdom tool if we continue to be enslaved to it in fear. So often we adjust everything in our lives around the fear of not having enough. We take jobs, we shouldn’t. We do things we shouldn’t be doing because we fear.Choose Faith Over Fear for Creating Your World Choosing to partner with faith instead of fear can have a significant impact on the outcomes and experiences in life. In a moment of danger, the speaker’s faith played a crucial role in averting a potentially tragic situation. This incident taught the speaker the importance of aligning with faith rather than succumbing to fear. By actively choosing faith over fear, one can shape the world and experiences they will have in the future, ensuring that fear does not dictate one’s path.
Speaker 1
And these men in that moment freak out, take off, scale back over the wall. And I lived to tell about it. You know at that moment we realized my second door had already been broken in. They had actually already broken the lock. It was the mercy of God in that moment. And I can’t prove this till heaven, but I am convinced and nobody could convince me otherwise. That story would have ended very differently had I not partnered with faith in that moment. And it was a lesson that God taught me early. What you partner with is literally creating the world you live in. Are you partnering with faith or are you partnering with fear? Because it’s literally creating the world, the experiences that you’re about to have in 2024. Do you hear me? Are we choosing faith this year or are we choosing fear? Because the whole world is choosing fear, but that is not your portion. You don’t have to beat yourself up when you feel fear. It’s normal. But in that moment I choose faith. I’m going to come into alignment with the Word of God.
