I write this article as much to myself about you: I totally understand how cash will persistently and insidiously seek to record a larger and bigger part of my heart and my life.
I likewise understand that wandering through life doesn"t work since I seldom drift closer to God.
Perhaps this is why Jesus proclaimed these 2 likes to be polar opposites:
No one can serve two masters. Either you"ll dislike the one and like the other, or you"ll certainly be devoted to the one and hate the other. You can not serve both God and money.-- Matthew 6:24 NIV
I"m encouraged that we need to be extremely deliberate about keeping God initially and money last. These tips will help.
1. Have a Regular Prayer Time
I"m not talking about praying over a meal and even speaking to God as you drive to work. These prayers are fine, however enjoying God indicates dedicating your time to Him. Set aside some time every day simply for Him. He"d enjoy for you to do so.
2. Serve Others
The second greatest commandment (after enjoying God) is to love others. Do you serve your household? Do you serve your co-workers (even your subordinates)? Do you examine the widow who lives down the street? Do you volunteer to mentor a kid of a single moms and dad?
Notice that I have not stated a word about money up until now. Why? Due to the fact that the very best way to not love cash is to proactively love God. As Jesus stated, we cannot enjoy both.
Now some cash pointers that"ll assist us love God ...
3. Be a Giver
Why do I stress offering? Due to the fact that doing so is the medicine for loving cash.
God is the supreme giver (He provided his only son). The even more we establish a provider"s heart, the even more we end up being like God and demonstrate our love for him.
4. Strategy to Increase Your Offering for the Rest of Your Life
This is not really about tithing, nor is it about legalism, it"s about systematically making sure that we never ever end up being contented. A few of you struggle to give anything while others are stuck at 10 %.
Why not set a goal of giving a higher portion every year for the rest of your life? Wouldn"t it be fantastic to give 30 % or 50 % or 70 %? After all, this is about enjoying God, this is radical and this has to do with not being like everyone else.
5. Plan to Give Spontaneously
Budget a set total up to keep on hand to be able to bless others as needs occur. Jan and I keep a "bless envelope" on hand packed with money allocated to offer. This is an enjoyable, grass roots method to keep our providing genuine.
6. Meet with Responsibility Partners
Do you know others who"re aiming to radically like Jesus? Meet them frequently to motivate each other, share ideas and provide testimonies of means that have worked. Absolutely nothing encourages even more than hearing from someone else who"s in fact done what you"re considering.
7. Automate Your Finances
Jesus taught his disciples to hope, "lead us not into temptation." (Matthew 6:13 NIV) Keeping money quickly accessible is, for some, a temptation. We keep a small buffer balance in our routine bank account, then have every dollar over that buffer quantity transferred regular monthly to a less available account.
8. Set a Maximum Limit for Just how much You Keep
Change your thinking from just how much you give to how much you"ll keep. This isn"t a vow of poverty nor should it be a time for imprudence. But, unless you set a cap, you"ll certainly wander to greater and higher requirements of living without realizing it. Is thisn"t exactly what everyone around you does? Be radical, set that cap, and you"ll certainly start seeing those pay raises as opportunities to offer even more. Keep in mind to create a plan that honors God rather of money!
I hope these couple of thought and feelings will certainly motivate you to like money less and like God more.
8 Practical Ways to Love God More Than Money
http://creditvisionary.blogspot.com/2015/07/8-practical-ways-to-love-god-more-than.html
enjoying God, God, Jesus, New International Version