When I speak about all the great things and miracles of God happening in India, Eastern Europe, Africa and other developing nations, people sometimes ask: "Why don't these things seem to happen here in Australia?" I am sure people are asking the same questions in America and Western Europe also. Every now and then pentecostal preachers from the west should visit some developing nations just to be encouraged at what God can do, even through them, and witness the great faith of people who cannot trust in the world's goods, because they don't have access to them.
The Bible says that "the love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10). Going after money can damage your faith and cause you to suffer. Money is the power to harness the resources of the world, including people and their services, to get what you want. It has been described as "the anointing of the flesh". The more money you have, the easier it is to feel that you are not desperately in need of God's provision and care. Hungry? Go to the shops, take money from the ATM and buy food! Sick? Go to the doctor and get a pill to mask the symptoms. Unhappy? Put on some pop music or see a psychiatrist. Or maybe buy a boat. Its amazing what money can do. For many, it is empowering for INDEPENDENCE from God. But DEPENDENCE on God is what Jesus constantly modeled and it was the secret of the power of His earthly ministry.
Money can make you comfortable. And the high value put on personal comfort in the West is the enemy of the move of the Spirit of God. Why discipline your flesh if you can feel good just indulging all your desires?
We could evangelize the entire world cheaply enough if we as Christians wanted to, but most of the time we'd rather have a better house, a better car, a better sofa, a better flat screen TV. We could reach the world through television and the internet with a very credible witness if we were so inclined, but we can't hear God leading us to do that, so we go for comfort instead. I have met Christians who when I try to confront them with the opportunities available, they say, "Tell someone who cares".
Miracles happen when people pay attention to God's word and cry to God with all their heart. But when we feel secure in our natural gifts and resources we tend not to cry out to God as much, or focus on God's Word as much. We CAN choose to focus on God even if rich, but few do, and we would have to be willing to give up those riches or a part of them on a regular basis if we really want to be obedient to God. After all, we are responsible to feed the hungry with both natural and spiritual bread, and this costs money. See Matthew 2
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Advice...
i know you are mostly talking about individuals who rely solely upon the natural resource of money and the comfortability it brings. i understand how many forget all about the provisions of God. after all the conventional thinking is as long as i have money ill be fine. but what about a young man in college looking to effect the community God places him in but believes he needs to invest his money wisely to do so? any advice for him? not because he doesn't believe God can do it without his money. just because he wants to be wise and not throw away the opportunity to invest and at such an early age. seek the counsel of God? any advice would be helpful. thnx for such an excellent article.
Investment ideas
I am not a qualified investment advisor and you should not take anything I say without doing your own due diligence - but I will tell you what I am doing, or moves close to what I am doing.
I believe investing is good for a young man as long as you are investing more into your relationship with God than you are directly investing into the accumulation of wealth. Even so, it is good to save and prepare for the ability to care for a family, for ministry and for the poor.
At the time of writing (4th August 2007) the financial markets are in turmoil. A lot of American banks, hedge funds and homebuilders are likely to go down. Maybe hundreds of thousands of people will be wiped out financially. I have bought a fund with ticker SKF which went up 7% yesterday and may go a lot higher. It works by shorting these banks and institutions that have been taking on these dodgy loans and so on. A good investment could be to buy silver bullion and just hold it. Silver is very underpriced at the moment in my view. Buying the ETF with ticker SLV could be a good substitute for real silver for now. But you can never be 100% sure.
Once you have saved enough to put a 20% deposit on a house, prices may have crashed to the point where there are true good deals out there again. I wouldn't rush to buy a house or apartment now. Wait until they become cheap again. They will become cheap when it becomes very hard to get a loan.
If you can finance all the expenses with the rent and people are moving into the area its a good buy in all likelihood. Otherwise, it has more risk. Real estate is NORMALLY a safer and better way to build wealth than buying shares in companies. I would not buy real estate in America for another year at least though.
Invest in your own financial education also, unless God tells you not to. That can save you from a lot of painful mistakes later on.
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