Understanding Wealth

We spent the first seven weeks talking about the spiritual foundation needed to build wealth according to God’s plan. During those seven weeks, however, we never really took the time to define “wealth” from a spiritual standpoint. As we shift from a focus on spiritual foundation to more finance-specific topics, it makes sense to begin with a holistic understanding of wealth from a spiritual perspective.

The difference between “wealth” and “riches”

Wealth is sometimes viewed as how much money or possessions one has, but these things taken alone do not define wealth. Why not? Because it is possible to have both an abundance of money and material things at one instance yet still end up broke. If that sounds hard to believe, do a quick Google search on William “Bud” Post, Sharon Tirabassi, Michael Carroll, or Andrew Jackson Whittaker, Jr.. According to a Business Insider article by Mark Abadi, these were all lottery winners who had millions of dollars at one point and ended up losing it all. They had expensive cars, big houses, entourages, designer wardrobes, expensive jewelry, and of course lots of money, but those things came to nothing over time. Unfortunately, this happens very often. You may be asking yourself “how is it even possible to blow through that much money, ending up broke?”

The problem is that these examples did not understand wealth. Their lottery winnings made them monetarily (and momentarily) rich, but because of the absence of knowledge of what to do with the riches, they never ended up wealthy. Matter of fact, many of them ended up worse off than before they became millionaires. The Bible says in Hosea 4:6a, “My people perish for lack of knowledge…”. Proverbs 21:20 (NLT) says, “The wise have wealth and luxury, but fools spend whatever they get.” Another familiar adage says it this way:

“A fool and his money are soon parted.” –Thomas Tusser, 16th century

All these sayings echo a similar point: without appropriately used knowledge, insight, and wisdom, money will not last. Our next post is going to deal specifically with the role of money, but for now, it is important to realize that having money doesn’t make you wealthy. In actuality, you can be rich in lots of other things besides money. For instance, a person can be rich in tangible things like land, cars, jewelry or intangible things like love, skills, strength, intelligence, hate, anger, you name it.

Being rich can be thought of as just having a lot of something (in this particular case, money) at a snapshot in time. Being wealthy, on the other hand, can be thought of as an enduring circumstance in which value has been built and will continue to grow over time. This simple distinction explains how people who were once rich can become penniless, and how people who start with very little can become wealthy.

Deceitfulness of riches

Making the mistake of thinking riches are wealth leads to abuse of and mismanagement of money which has costly repercussions. There is a host of celebrities who made this same mistake at some point in their careers: MC Hammer, Nicolas Cage, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Elton John, Mike Tyson, Kim Basinger, and Larry King just to name a few (see article). Instead of using money as seed, they traded it for false riches and were left with nothing. This is the deception of the world’s system. As mentioned in week 2’s post, the enemy targets all mankind regardless of our differences or status to try to destroy the will of God–rich, poor, black, white, Christian, non-Christian, famous or not famous. The way to overcome his attacks and his traps is the truth of God’s Word.

If these people could have understood money as a seed, their stories would be much different. They needed the Holy Spirit inside to teach them that money is not wealth. Money is a tool that can be used to build wealth. If used as a seed, it can produce and attract more money, creating wealth. When used to chase and acquire vain riches, money along with the opportunity to build wealth will slip away.

What wealth is not

It’s often more effective to understand what something is by clearly identifying what it is not. Below is discussion on what wealth is not.

• Wealth is not how much money you have: The examples above show that you can have millions of dollars, yet fail to become wealthy. The reason for this is because having a lot of money is not enough by itself. You have to also understand the role money plays in becoming wealthy.
• Wealth is not how many nice things you have: Using one’s money to buy expensive things does not equate to wealth. The examples of celebrities and lottery winners show that, without the wisdom to guide you in how to keep those things, the likelihood of eventually losing them to creditors or bankruptcy is high. The Bible instructs us not to “lay up” such “treasures” any way, because these are things that “moth and rust” can corrupt and where thieves break in and steal. I call them depreciating assets. Instead, we should lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven where our eternally-valued possessions do not face these same threats (Matthew 6:19-20). And just to clarify, this verse does not say we will not or cannot have earthly treasures. It is emphasizing that, as children of God, we have to recognize where the true treasure is. The earthly things that will become more available to us as a result of God’s blessings are nice, but they are not the true treasure.
• Wealth is not how many people want to associate with you: I watched the Dennis Rodman 30 for 30 on ABC this past weekend. In one part of the documentary, it talked about his partying lifestyle and how he would always have an entourage at the peak of his fame and money. But like many of the other millionaire examples mentioned above, he too got in financial distress. According to Van Rijn of We Are Basket, Rodman filed documentation with the courts in 2014 because he couldn’t pay his required $808.40 child support payment. People wanted to be with him when he was rich. It was probably these same entourages of people, however, that contributed to the faster dwindling of his millions. Were these same people there to help “The Worm” out of his hole? Undoubtedly, not.
• Wealth is not fame: Being rich often comes with notoriety. People regard the lifestyles of the rich and famous with awe and envy, longing for the luxuries and fame they have. However, it is often these same luxuries that cause such people to end up in millions of dollars of debt, and this fame and notoriety that can attract the presence of the wrong people.
• Wealth is not temporary: In the examples of the celebrities and lottery winners, we see a common theme: monetary riches can also be momentary riches. While riches and all that comes with them can be fleeting, wealth lasts through generations. King Solomon, who is arguably the richest man that ever lived and also the wisest, says it this way in Proverbs 23:4-5:

⁴ Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness.⁵ Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle. –Proverbs 23:4-5 (NIV)

Defining wealth from a spiritual perspective

In the previous section, we described wealth as an enduring circumstance in which value is built and will continue to grow over time. With respect to money, this can be achieved through investments. But what about from a strictly spiritual perspective–what is something of value that can be built and can continue to grow over time? Our relationship with God through Jesus Christ and our faith in His will for our lives.

As a child of God, a right-standing relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ the Son is the most valuable thing you have. Not only is it what truly matters in this life and the next, but as believers, it is also what grants us access to everything we will ever need in this world. The Bible says in Ephesians 1:3, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ”. The instant we decide to give our lives to Christ, all these blessings are made available to us. You may initially read this and think these spiritual blessings are confined to spiritual manifestation and thus have nothing to do with wealth. But recall from the discussion of the three realms in week 2, since the spiritual realm has supremacy, these spiritual blessings inevitably and eventually manifest in the natural as long as you are obedient to the Word.

When we put our relationship with God and His Kingdom first, all the things that the world is seeking out are made easily available to us. The world’s mistake (and sometimes us as believers also) is putting these things first and making them the top priority rather than God’s Kingdom. Not only is this inverted priority detrimental spiritually, it’s also detrimental naturally. This is why the Bible says in Matthew 6:38, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.”

The LORD does not care about us having nice things as long as those “nice” things don’t have us. Since we belong to Him, He desires for us to be driven by His purpose, not driven by material things. When we chase the deception of worldly riches, we stray further away from His purpose. As a result, our own lives, our families, our communities, and the world around us will often suffer. God wants to give us true wealth, but not for the purpose of making us capable of buying nice things. He desires us to be wealthy to help implement His righteous causes in the earth. Many extremely wealthy people in the world are also extremely far removed from God’s purpose and thus, His righteous causes. This is why wealth needs to be in the people of God’s hands. Access to this true, God-given wealth will only come by following God’s ways. Below are some characteristics of true wealth from a Kingdom perspective.

What true wealth is

Wealth is freedom: When you are not obligated to anyone or anything, (other than your spiritual and natural family) you are truly wealthy. This means you do not owe the creditors, the IRS, or any other man anything other than the continuing obligation to love them (Romans 13:8a NLT). This is how God desires us to operate in this world. However, the world’s system is designed to keep us in bondage always relying on its systems to have things and even meet basic needs. Following God’s plan, we can operate in true wealth and be free from such bondage.

Wealth is more than enough: With true wealth, you have more than you will ever need. Of course, you can always find things to spend your money on, but when you recognize where your blessings are coming from, you are more inclined to exalt the Kingdom’s agenda above your private agenda. You still have plenty for yourself, but your priority lies with building up God’s Kingdom. Thus, you are apt to find ways to use your resources–time, talent, and treasure–to edify those around you like your family, co-workers, employees, local church, or community.

Out of your abundance, you are empowered to give cheerfully and generously to righteous causes. There are many wealthy people that have no desire to give at all, despite having more than enough, even for righteous causes. Since the love of God is not in them, their hearts are hardened by greed and self-righteousness and they have no desire to help the poor and needy.

Wealth is having options: When it is time to purchase a new car or home, go on vacation, or even buy grocery, there are lots of options to choose from. When your income is limited, so are your options for these things. Moreover, the options for how to pay for these things can be limited too. When you are operating in true wealth, you have almost unlimited options on what you can purchase and how you make the purchases. Even for relatively large purchases, wealthy individuals have options for how they buy. They may pay cash, leverage other assets, or let banks/creditors compete for the right to lend them money to get what they want. You do not have to wait to see what amount lenders will approve you for, crossing your fingers hoping your credit score is strong enough to get what you want.

Wealth is the ability to seize opportunity and pursue ideas: Many people have ideas that have the potential to address problems for themselves, in their community, or in the world at large. Often these ideas never become more than just that–simply because they might require funds to implement where funds aren’t readily available. Wealth allows one to fund his or her own ideas or those of others. Just as the idea starts as a seed in the mind and grows into a plan, the money needed to fund such ideas can start as a seed and become idea-funding wealth.

Wealth is God’s will for His people: Although some devoted Christians and Bible scholars may debate this, the Bible indicates without a shadow of a doubt that it is God’s will for His people to accumulate wealth. Nevertheless, I have had someone knowledgeable in the scriptures say to me, “Building wealth is not really a Biblical principle.” Although I understand where it stems from, this could not be further from the truth. The topic of money within the church has such a stigma, that it is often avoided. This is just my opinion, but I believe the stigma along with the tendency to largely avoid the topic of money and personal finances is a contributor to the struggles many Christians have. More spiritually-based teaching and practical application of the scriptures regarding the topic of wealth and personal finances is greatly needed in the body of Christ.

We see in Deuteronomy 8:18 where the ability for God’s people to produce wealth is confirmed as part of the covenant promise. God does not go back on His Word. If He promises a thing, He will make it good (see week 3-Characteristics of God’s Kingdom: Unchangeable). Through Christ, we have been grafted into the covenant through adoption by faith, making us legitimate recipients of the same covenant promise originally given to Abraham (Romans 11:17-24). Of course, all covenants have at least two sides. Our side of the covenant is our obligation to have faith in God’s ability to fulfill His promises and be obedient to His word. Obedience was discussed extensively in week 7.

The scripture used to argue against wealth for Christian believers is Jesus’ conversation with the rich young ruler where He said, “…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 19:24). The first thing to note is the use of the word “rich,” not “wealth”. We have already discussed the important distinction between these two words above. Secondly, Jesus is just using a metaphor to describe how difficult it can be for a rich person to willingly part with his or her riches in order to follow Christ. But a few verses later, He presents the solution for overcoming this difficulty:

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” –Matthew 19:26

People who support the stance that Christians shouldn’t be rich often fail to include this part of the exchange between Jesus and His disciples. Jesus is confirming that “sure it is hard, but it is possible through Me.”

Thirdly, we have to consider what makes it hard for a person who is rich and attached to those riches to let go of them. It is because, in that moment, he or she values “worldly” treasures more than “heavenly” treasures. When the Holy Spirit teaches us what really is valuable according to God’s Kingdom, i.e. when we get a true revelation of the Kingdom, it should not be as hard to let go of worldly attachments. The Holy Spirit will also show us the role wealth, money, and resources should play in advancing the Kingdom’s agenda, which makes it easier to let go of earthly riches for a higher priority.

Lastly, inferring from the scripture, it seems that the rich man in question was rich before he is given instruction on how to become a true follower of Christ and enter the Kingdom. He finds it difficult to give up what he already has in exchange for something spiritual that he cannot see. Exchanging a life based on things you can see for one based on spiritual things you can’t see (at least with your natural eyes) is a challenge for anyone, whether they are rich or not. The scripture makes it clear that a person void of riches or wealth may find it easier to initially enter the kingdom compared to a person with riches. But it is important to note it does not say anywhere in scripture that a person who has entered the Kingdom is required to remain void of wealth and riches. To the contrary, the scriptures state that by obeying and applying the Word of God, blessings will overtake us (Deuteronomy 28:2), we will make our way prosperous and have good success (Joshua 1:8), and God’s blessing will be poured out such that we don’t have room to receive it (Malachi 3:10). This is the language of wealth, prosperity, and abundance, not lack.

As believers, we must realize that building wealth is God’s will for us, it is part of His promises to us, and it is required in the earth to help advance His Kingdom.

Steps to start accumulating wealth

The road map for a Christian believer to accumulate wealth looks much different than the road map of a worldly person–mainly because each operates based on two entirely different systems. We already know that God’s system is superior to the world’s system from the spiritual truths discussed in week 3. At a very basic level, the steps for a believer to start accumulating wealth are below.

1. Make the quality decision to follow God’s system, no longer being a slave to the world’s system but a rightful heir to His Kingdom promises.
2. Establish a strong spiritual foundation and begin to faithfully use your spiritual seed to establish your wealth according to God’s, not the world’s, definition.
3. Reverse the course of your personal finances by switching them from a vicious to a virtuous cycle.
4. Focus your effort and resources on the area that will benefit your financial circumstances the most by identifying your optimum point of entry.
5. Faithfully, use your God-given monetary seed as it was ordained to be used.

As previously mentioned, this is a very basic overview, but it provides a simple and useful outline of the steps it takes for a believer to start accumulating wealth. If not for the effects of the world’s system being so detrimental to personal finances, we could skip from step 2 straight to step 5. Instead, most of us will need to spend considerable time at steps 3 and 4 to un-do the impacts of the world’s system.

The good news is that we are already spiritually wealthy because of relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ. However, we have to be taken through a process in order to experience the earthly manifestation. This involves un-doing the damage of the world’s system we incurred before coming into the knowledge of these spiritual truths. We must reverse the vicious financial cycles we might be in. With supernatural wisdom, this can happen pretty quickly. Completely erasing the effects, however, will take varying amounts of time depending on how the Holy Spirits guides you to accomplish this and how obedient you are.

Next step: Find my point of entry

For all that have followed the ST4WA blog from weeks 1 to 7, you should be able to say you are comfortably on at least step 3. If you do not feel you are here, go back and re-read all of the spiritual foundation posts and continue to meditate on these. For everyone ready for step 3, it’s time to get to work. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 10:10 NLT:

“Using a dull axe requires great strength, so sharpen the blade. That’s the value of wisdom; it helps you succeed.”

Through the supernatural wisdom of God, the POTENT WAP diagram tool has been created to help “sharpen the blade” of personal finance management. Please download and complete the POTENT Wealth Accumulation Potential (WAP) worksheet. It will give you an insightful visualization of your current personal financial situation. This will allow you to focus on how to reverse the course of your finances. Feel free to send questions about the worksheet to questions@pwealthacc.org.

Summary

This week has been a segue from the spiritual foundation to the forthcoming personal-finance specific topics. We also are starting to apply a “hands-on” approach to the wealth accumulation process. I realize that everyone engaged with the blog will not be in the same place and certain things will resonate more than others depending on where you are. Our goal is to present a framework and provide helpful tools that allow everyone to build upon your foundation as needed. Although we are introducing more practical steps to take toward wealth accumulation, never neglect the spiritual foundation that we are building upon. Below are the key points from this week.

Takeaways

• Without appropriately used knowledge, insight, and wisdom, money will not last.
• Being rich is having a lot of something (in our discussion, money) at a snapshot in time. Being wealthy, on the other hand, is establishing an enduring circumstance in which value has been built and will continue to grow over time.
• The enemy targets all mankind regardless of our differences or status to try to destroy the will of God–rich, poor, black, white, Christian, non-Christian, famous or not famous. The way to overcome his attacks and his traps is the truth of God’s Word.
• Money is a tool that can be used to build wealth. If used as a seed, it can produce and attract more money, creating wealth.
• When used to chase and acquire vain riches, money along with the opportunity to build wealth will slip away.
• Wealth is not how much money you have, how many nice things you have, how many people want to associate with you, nor fame. Most importantly, wealth is not temporary.
• As a child of God, a right-standing relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ the Son is the most valuable thing you have.
• Spiritual blessings inevitably and eventually manifest in the natural as long as you are obedient to the Word.
• Placing worldly things at a higher priority than God’s Kingdom is detrimental spiritually and naturally.
• When we chase the deception of worldly riches, we stray further away from God’s purpose and as a result, our own lives, our families, our communities, and the world around us will often suffer.
• God wants to give us true wealth in order for us to help implement His righteous causes in the earth.
• True wealth is having freedom, more than enough, options, and the ability to seize opportunity and pursue ideas. Most importantly, wealth is God’s will.
• The scriptures state that by obeying and applying the Word of God, blessings will overtake us (Deuteronomy 28:2) we will make our way prosperous and have good success (Joshua 1:8), and God’s blessing will be poured out such that we don’t have room to receive it (Malachi 3:10). This is the language of wealth, prosperity, and abundance, not lack.
• Building wealth is God’s will for us, it is part of His promise to us, and it is required in the earth to help advance His Kingdom.
• We are already spiritually wealthy because of relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ; however, we have to be taken through a process in order to experience the earthly manifestation.

Calls-to-action

1. Download and complete the POTENT WAP worksheet.
2. Review the spiritual foundation blog series.
3. Subscribe to the ST4WA newsletter for notifications on new posts.