The following article is an abridged version of a newsletter received from Two By Two Ministries.

The Covenant Enforcer - February 2001

In this edition of The Covenant Enforcer I want to talk to you about money. The Bible has a lot to say about money, the good and the bad of it. In fact 1 Timothy 6:10, says that, "the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." If this is true, and it is the Word of God, then the subject of money must be important to God.

Matt. 6:24 says, "No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon."

Today, in the church, there is much emphasis being placed on prosperity, financial well-being, or in other words money. What does the Word of God say about money? How much emphasis should be placed on the pursuit of money?

Wherever there was a need for a material blessing in the ministry of Jesus, the Father met that need. When Jesus and Peter had need of money to pay the temple tax, that provision was met by the Father. Jesus ministry was prosperous enough to support twelve disciples on a full time basis. Actually there were more than twelve, for in Luke 10 it says that Jesus sent out seventy other men also into the full time ministry. Jesus also was blessed with supporters who cared for His financial needs. Jesus had a treasury (money sack) that He used to regularly give to the poor. In fact there was eventually enough money in the sack to regularly tempt Judas to steal from it. The life of Jesus illustrates that He had whatever He needed financially to fulfill his destiny. Jesus used money; but money never used Him.

Matt 6:19-21 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; "but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jesus never put His faith in financial prosperity but in God. Jesus focus was on His mission destiny, never on the means necessary to achieve His divine future. Jesus trusted His Father to provide everything needed to fulfill His call.

Remember, every member of the body of Christ, just like Jesus has a destiny, a call or a purpose. Our Father God created us to fulfill a part of His divine purpose through His Son. Our purpose was created before we were born, or for that matter even before the earth existed.

Eph 1:4 He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

In Paul's second letter to Timothy, Paul again refers to our predetermined destiny.

2 Tim 1:9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

WOW! All believers were created to fulfill a divine purpose. We were given an anointing (God's ability) to accomplish that special thing in and for our Lord Jesus Christ. God has already met whatever we need to accomplish our already created purpose on this earth, and this includes all the finances we need. I believe this is what the true meaning of Phil. 4:19 is.

Phil 4:19 "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

What is your need? What is it that you have been called to do since before time began. All you need to finish your work has already been created, and is in Christ Jesus, of whom we are a part. And this includes money. Why does the body of Christ spend so much time raising money that already exists?

We spend our time focusing on the means rather than the purpose. When we focus on money we run the danger of loving money, or making Mammon our God. (Matt. 6:19-21) We focus our attention on how we can finance our callings, rather than walk in faith that God has already met every funding need we have. Our job is simply to be led by the Holy Spirit to the satisfaction of every need created by the call of God on our life. Let us put our eyes on Jesus, not on our perceived need, because that need has already been met before our lives ever began in the natural.

Jesus never pursued money; He just trusted that whatever He needed to fulfill His mission (ministry or call) He would have. His faith was in God, not money. He trusted God to supply what He needed to fulfill His destiny. I fear that the present day church has lost this simple faith, and gotten our eyes on the need for money to fulfill our call, and by doing this fallen into the demonic trap of worshipping the provision, rather than the provider.

Matt 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

We have been deceived into actually loving money by pursuing it. What a trap. One day I was meditating Phil 4:19: "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." I felt the Lord quicken me with the question, "What is your need?" I felt the Lord answer rhetorically His own question with, "Your financial need is whatever you need to fulfill that which I have created you to do, and I have already set those funds aside in Christ Jesus. So Richard, stop trying to fund your ministry (which is worshipping Mammon) and trust Me to guide you by My Spirit to the funding that I have already provided for you."

We have tried to fund our destinies rather than simply receive by faith; the funding that has already been established by God. When we try to raise money, we fall into the trap of the devil. We are in the flesh. We practice "the end justifies the means" Christianity. We become manipulators and controllers. We take on the care of our ministries, careers, and jobs, when God has already met our every need.

When you grasp this truth joy will fill your heart. You will grasp what it means to "walk by faith and not by sight" and truly understand that the Lord wants us to cast every care and need onto Him, because He has already met them.

"The Covenant Enforcer - Feb 2001"