Think, don't worry about money.

The other day God said to me, “Ryan, think, don’t worry about money”.

After meditating on this for a long time, God really took me to a new level of not worrying about money. If you find yourself worrying about money, I hope this will help you.

There is a big difference between thinking about money and worrying about it. When you think about money you are in control, but when you worry about it, money is in control. Money is never supposed to be a master that controls our lives and consumes our thoughts, decisions and actions. It’s only ever supposed to be a tool that we use to bless this world and advance God’s Kingdom here on earth. But the devil wants money to become our god so that we become obsessed with it rather than with God, and unable to truly serve God because we are controlled by puppet strings attaching us to money. We need to break free from our attachment to money.

Jesus said we cannot serve both God and money. (Matthew 6:24). If you were to be absolutely honest with yourself, which one would you say you are truly serving? God’s intended divine order for our lives is that we serve Him and money is simply a tool we use. Therefore we think about money but we never worry about it.

Worrying about money is a sign in our life that we actually should pay close attention to. It should make us ask some questions:

Why am I worrying about money?
Is it because I don’t trust God?
Is it because I’m obsessed with money and always feel I must have more?
Is it because I don’t manage my money well and therefore never have enough?
Is it because I spend before I think and get myself into financial trouble?
Is it because I’m serving money rather than God?

If we don’t deal with these issues in our life then worrying about money will always be a problem no matter how much money we do or don’t have.

We need to take the time to get ourselves to the place where Jesus is truly Lord in our life and where we trust Him. We also need to get to the place where we manage our money well and learn to live content and within our means and to save. If you do these things then practising not worrying about money will become easier and easier. Even during the times when you don’t have enough!

Look at how Paul puts it in Philippians 4:12-13:

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

There is a difference between obsessing over money and thinking about money. Obsessing over money is because we’re enslaved to the idol of money. Thinking about money is something that responsible people do who understand that money is a tool that is supposed to serve them.

Money is undeniably an important part of life that God wants us to proactively think about from a place of dominion. If we can remove the worry and be able to think straight about money, we’ll be able to plan, administrate, increase and use our money effectively.

There are Spiritual and practical things we can do to help us think, not worry about money.

Spiritually if we put our faith in God as our source then we’ll enter into rest and peace, knowing that God is ultimately looking after us. From this faith we can pray for our finances, stand on God’s Word over our finances and put God first in our finances.

Then practically we can:

Work smart – if you don’t have enough you either need to earn more or spend less. If you do both you will definitely have more money.
Spend smart – live within your means and only buy what you can afford. Don’t go into debt for luxuries and liabilities. If you can’t pay cash don’t buy it. Only borrow for assets (things that make you money like a house or business).
Save smart – cut down on excesses and be disciplined to save little by little.
Invest smart – put your money into assets rather than liabilities.
Develop multiple income streams – so if one dries up you have others.
Build up your passive income – so your money is making money for you.
Give smart – giving is good for your soul. You can’t out give God.

Before we left Hong Kong to come to Australia and start our ministry almost a year ago, God gave Kylie and I two promises. Firstly He said, “I will add the momentum” and secondly, “You will not have to worry about money”. Over the last year these two areas, to be honest, have been our biggest source of anxiety. We’ve wanted the ministry to gain momentum much quicker and we’ve worried about where the money is going to come from. But God has done a miracle in us as we have had to press through these two confronting realities in our life and get into faith and rest. We’ve come to a place now where we really are at peace about the ministry and about money. We’re not worried about it nor feel we need to get in the flesh to make anything happen. We like practising not worrying about money and not being under pressure to make the ministry happen. Since coming into this place of peace, we are really enjoying the ministry and we know that our motives for doing anything is not to try add momentum or for money but purely because of faith, love and hope in God and what He is asking us to do.

Jesus shows us why we don’t need to worry…

Matthew 6:25-33

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

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