Some people who trust in God have great financial wealth. They seek to use it to benefit their families and the larger community under God's direction. Still, other people who trust in God live with meager financial income but sense no lack of satisfaction because they are investing their lives in a manner consistent with God's principles. It is not a matter of how much money we have but of where we place our trust.
As Joshua, the successor to Moses, prepared to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, he issued these instructions:
"Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command - be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord our God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:8-9).
Joshua connects prosperity to obedience courage, and the experience of God's presence - not to the accumulation of money. Yet, how easily we are drawn to money. A couple will never regret trusting in God, but countless couples have trusted in money - some who are wealthy and some who are not - and have found no ultimate satisfaction, only empty regret. When our trust is in God, we see money as an instrument to be used for good under His direction. Our greatest desire will be to please God as good managers of the resources He has entrusted to us.
Take time to pray to ask God...
To free you from the love of money.
To help you trust Him regardless of how much money you have.
To help you make wise choices with the money you have.
Reflect more on these questions...
Read Joshua's challenge to his people in Joshua 24:15. Joshua frames the choice of whether to serve God as an intentional decision, yet many couples amble through life making a decision by default. What firm faith decisions have you made as a family?
What does it look like to trust in money?
Is having money always a blessing? Why or why not? How does God define prosperity?
Consider these passages for further study on money:
Psalm 119:36 Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.
Matthew 6:19-24
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy,[a] your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy,[b] your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
Joshua 24:15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 1:1-9
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
As you grow, keep the Lord first. This helps me focus on prosperity in the right d