God’s plan is to bless you so you can be a blessing!
Genesis 1:27-28 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth... ESV
Genesis 2:15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ESV
The first thing God did after creating humanity was to put them in Eden. His first purpose is for us to dwell in His presence. The late Dr. Myles Munroe explained how the word” Eden” in Hebrew is written with five strokes. Each stroke has its own meaning: spot, moment, presence, open door and delightful place.
Eden was not a geographical location because it was the atmosphere of heaven being manifest in the earth. The spot was wherever the man would go, and the plan was for the whole earth to be filled with the presence of the Lord. Everywhere we go we bring God’s presence to real life!
God created man and placed him in the atmosphere of God’s presence to activate him fully. Angels in the presence of God function as angels but outside of the presence of God they malfunction and be come demons. Kings, priests and prophets in the presence of God function as sons and daughters of God but outside of the presence of God they malfunction and become slaves.
God’s plan is for you and for me to be fruitful and multiply in every environment we experience as a result of living in the atmosphere of God’s Kingdom. In experiencing and expressing the heart of Jesus we cause our world to flourish beautifully!
This is the teacher who intentionally cared for and prayed for students, investing in those who came from broken homes. It is the mechanic who did work beyond what he would bill for to help single parents struggling.
Cody Anderson’s brother, Monte, died tragically in a car accident. I was speaking in their church this year and a man came to me after I mentioned Monte in my message saying he attended the church because one day he had a blowout, and a random man stopped to help him. He not only helped him get the small spare on but noticing the tread being so bad on the other tires, he followed him to a tire shop where he paid for new tires. It wasn’t until later the man discovered he was a local pastor.
If you’re stressed out, never putting money aside to help others and always in a hurry, you’ll never feel like you have time to help others. If you don’t create margin in your life, you’ll not experience what it is to be blessed to be a blessing!
Your future is in the hands of your habits, not your hopes. Make sure your habits align with your God-given purpose. Disciple and discipline come from the same root word. Be intentional about how you spend your time and money, making room to bless others!
A budget sheet and other financial resources are readily available to you on our website: https://www.destinyokc.com/financial.
Learning to value your time and money the way God does changes the way you invest your life overall. A commonly embraced tragedy is to spend the first 1/3 of your life becoming established. Then spending the second 1/3 of your life growing in the application of that understanding. Then in the final 1/3 of life we are told to retire and disconnect to “enjoy life.” In doing this you waste everything you have spent the first 2/3 of your life gathering and learning rather than investing it in others.
Bob and Penny took early retirement. He was 59 and she was 51 now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their boat, play tennis and collect shells. The American dream is to work hard to have a nice retirement as the last chapter of life before you stand before the creator of the universe to give an account with what you did. “Here it is, Lord, my beautiful shell collection.”
Be fruitful and multiply even into your old age and even beyond the years of your life in the legacy you leave! Learn to think in terms of future value of the investments you make. When it comes to financial investments the earlier the better! Many times, I ask groups of people if they would prefer to have a penny doubled every day or $1,000 per day for those thirty days. The $1,000 daily immediately sounds the best and $30,000 would be awesome! Until you compare this to the $5.3 million you would have had if you had gone with the penny doubled plan!
Do the Math! You’ll find that it is the final ten days that the money begins to multiply so much. This is the way it is with all of our investments. The earlier the better because the multiplication in the latter years will be so great! This is why we opened retirement accounts for our daughters when they were born.
The Rule of 72 says if you divide 72 by the interest rate you make on an investment it will tell you how many years it will take to double that investment. One of the funds we have invested in over the years is SPY. Our rate of return on this fund has averaged 11.5% and it pays a dividend. This would suggest that money invested in this fund will double every 6.26 years.
Imagine what would happen if you invested $1,000 in your child’s name when the child was born. If $1,000 doubled every 6.26 years, then by the time they were ready to retire it would have doubled ten times: $2,000 - $4,000 - $8,000 - $16,000 - $32,000 - $64,000 - $128,000 - $256,000 - $512,000 - $1,024,000!
Instead of disqualifying yourself from doing this because you’ve already had children consider starting this as a legacy plan you initiate as a grandparent. You could ask the parents to do the same one day when they have grandchildren, and a perpetuating legacy could be established!
Instead of disqualifying yourself from doing this because you are young, perhaps newly married and don’t have $1,000 lying around, think creatively. What if you made this idea the focus of your baby shower explaining what you’re trying to do for your children perhaps inspiring others to do the same. People could contribute toward helping you accomplish this goal and consider it in their own lives.
Don’t make excuses! Start somewhere giving God something to work with!
We suggested to one family that they add $50 to their $1,200 per month house payment. By adding just $50 per month to their traditional mortgage $1,200 they wound up saving $51,600 on their mortgage! Over the course of making payments that extra $50 per month totaled $15,850. Just pause and think about what I’m saying here. By spending $15,000 you get back $51,600. That’s a deal you can’t refuse! Again – start somewhere!!!
When young couples are beginning to discuss buying a house, we always counsel them to consider a very unconventional approach. Find out what monthly amount the bank will qualify you for then then buy a house that requires ½ of that payment. Ensure the bank has no early payoff penalty and pay the full amount you were qualified for doubling your house payment.
Doubling your house payment doesn’t cut the 30-year mortgage in half, as you might assume. It depends on the interest rate but this has the capacity to take 25 years off of your 30-year mortgage paying off that loan in just five years. If you then sell the house, you now have paid off and do the exact same loan a second time, coupled with the money from the sale of the home, you can move into the house you wanted in the first place after just five years. Then you simply do the same thing you did before and pay that loan off in five years. Essentially you will have paid this 30-year mortgage off in 10 years.
Your neighbors will be paying their payment for another 20 years, so I suggest you do the same. They’re paying the bank but you’re paying yourself by putting that money into an investment!
Making disciples is using your resources the way God intended for those resources to be used.
God’s plan is to bless you so you can be a blessing!
We feel we are ready for God to release his valuables into our lives. We must first have his values before he gives us his valuables. Any parent knows this! This is why tithing has always been a part of God’s plan for worship awakening the generous nature of God in our lives!
Deuteronomy 14:23 The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first in your lives (TLB)
God causes us to face our values every time we increase. Will we freely and joyfully worship with our giving or will we refuse to obey Him.
God’s plan is to bless you so you can be a blessing, but he won’t bless you your way.
GP2RL: Get started! What will you do as a result of this message and what you sense God is saying to you?
