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Matthew 12:25-28
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.
26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?
27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.
28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Jesus identifies the two Kingdoms that exist in the unseen spiritual realm:- the Kingdom of Satan and the Kingdom of God. Those who are not Christians are in the Kingdom of Satan and labor under his tyranny whilst Christians are in the Kingdom of God and are under his love and protection.
When someone becomes a Christian they are spiritually translated from the Kingdom of Satan and enter into the Kingdom of God and as citizens of this new Kingdom they are eligible for the privileges of the Kingdom. For example, Colossians 1:12 'Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of the Son he loves'
As a result of our entry into the Kingdom of God we certainly inherit specific financial privileges. The longest and most important section of the bible regarding money is 2 Corinthians chapters 8 & 9, and anyone who desires to be used of God to in the area of giving should treat this as a foundational text.
1. God prospers us to meet our needs.
The three scriptures below show that as the people of God we have every right to believe God to meet our needs as any good Father would, and that we should have no fear of poverty, or lack or insecurity.
a. 2 Corinthians 8:14
At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality,
b. 2 Corinthians 9:8
And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
c. 2 Corinthians 9:12
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
Further, in the great section on giving in Philippians 4:10-19 Paul mentions in verse 16 how his needs were met by the Philippians and he returns the favor by saying with confidence, 'And my God will meet all our needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus'.
Unfortunately, many people read this verse the wrong way and think that it says God will meet our greeds instead of our needs! By twisting this verse people start demanding luxury cars and houses from God. Taken in it's context, this verse speaks of immediate necessities and a comfortable, yet not extravagant, lifestyle but certainly doesn't give us a blank cheque to cash at the Bank of Heaven.
2. God prospers us to meet our needs, not our selfish wants
Sadly, it is this point that has caused so much damage to the body of Christ as in particular, Western Christians have presented Christianity as a get rich quick scheme.
Paul warns Timothy about such people in 1 Timothy 6:3-5 and declares that such people are promoting false doctrines and have been robbed of the truth as they think and argue that godliness is a means to financial gain.
James even argues that people's prayers do not reach the throne of grace as they believe that God is more into the pleasure and leisure business than the business of meeting a world of need James 4:3 'When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.'
This is a hurdle where many people fall into the snares that Paul warns Timothy of in 1 Timothy 6:9-10 as when they experience God's prosperity, instead of living a basic life style and giving the excess into the work of God they spend it on themselves, at the expense of the lost, the poor, the widow and the orphan.
It's one thing for God to put money into the hands of his people, it another thing for him to get them to let go of it!. Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:8 that we should be content with food and clothing - is it not the case that very few Christians can say that they are content with food and clothing and are very happy to invest the excess into the work of God?
1 Timothy 6:8
But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
Let us try to distinguish what are necessities and what are luxuries in our life at the moment. Let us pray for the needs of those around us.
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