The following question came from a reader:

“Can a Christian be wealthy? What about it being easier for the camel going through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God? That scares me a lot!”

This concern is one that many church-goers share.

Interestingly, I’ve found that it’s not a concern for Bible-readers – those who study out the Bible for themselves seeking to personally know God as He describes Himself in His Word.

As an aside, one of the most succinct settings of scriptures I’ve found that describes the overall nature of God can be found in Job 22:21-30. Go read it for yourself and let God talk to your heart.

Now, let me address this “eye of a needle” question…

If you study this out historically, you’ll find that a “needle” was a small opening in the sides of a walled or fenced city. It was designed to give people a convenient way in and out of the city without having to go all the way around to a main gate.

However, because this represented a “security breach” these openings were made smaller so that they could be easily defended in the event an enemy attacked. Because these openings were smaller, a camel had to get down on its knees in order to get through the opening.

So in fact, Christ gave a great analogy for how most people deal with and react to money. Let me restate what Christ was saying like this:

“It’s easier for a camel to get down on its knees and crawl through a small hole than it is for most people to overcome the temptation and desire to lift themselves up rather than God and money is the best way they know to lift themselves up – because to them, money is power, recognition, and attention.”

This reveals the real question…

“Where do you want the power to go?”

If you are the kind of person who wants to bring power to yourself, then for you, money IS bad.

Or, more accurately, you’ve not yet really sold out to Christ because Galatians 5:24-26 says:

“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”

Think about those scriptures. Can you see a person who is living their life according to these scriptures having a problem with money?

I don’t think so!

In Psalms 62:11, we read that “power belongeth unto God“. The person who is sold out to Christ WANTS to give power, glory, honor, praise, thanksgiving, and increase to God.

But a funny thing happens when you really sell out and give all to God…

If you’ll consider the rest of the scriptures about the “camel” and the “eye of the needle” (Matthew 19 and Mark 10), you’ll see that Jesus goes on to tell the audience that those who do “forsake riches” will be given 100 times more riches in this world and life everlasting.

What does that mean?

It means that it takes Faith in God to become a Millionaire for Jesus – someone who has the financial ability and time freedom to be a servant in God’s Kingdom – and God always rewards faith both financially and spiritually. (Go read through the the Bible if you don’t believe me.)

On the other hand, it takes no faith to be poor – just go with the flow and you’ll be poor.

Hebrews 11 lets us know that “without faith it is impossible to please him [God]“. Jesus asked this question in Luke 18:8:

“when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

The other thing that’s interesting about this camel story is that Christ was talking to wealthy people – and you can tell that from the response they give him and the follow-up conversation that ensues. If they had been poor people, their response would have been quite different.

You see, contrary to popular opinion, most of the disciples were wealthy men. If you look at Peter and his brothers, you’ll find that they were business owners. They were ship owners. They didn’t own log rafts or little row boats. They owned ships. Ships have always been something that only extremely wealthy people have the means to own.

As a different example, consider at Christ’s crucifixion he had on a set of clothes that were so nice the soldiers drew lots for it. Now, if he had been wearing a “poor” persons clothes, do you think these soldiers would have wanted them? Of course not! In today’s terms, Christ had on the equivalent of an Armani suit and the soldiers recognized its value and wanted to keep it.

Now, consider this… In Luke 16:13, we read, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” It is my observation that many people think they are serving God when in fact, they are serving “mammon” (money).

Why do I say this?

I say this because I continue to see people who are financially BOUND to their job. They don’t make decisions based on what God’s will is or what God’s purpose is for their life. They make their decisions based on money – usually their lack thereof.

So I ask you, if you are making virtually all of your decisions based on money, who are you serving?

The fact is, if God were to speak to most people and ask them to go do such and such, they couldn’t do it because they are financially obligated and bound.

Let me wrap this up…

According to the Bible, money IS a good thing and God wants to give it to us if we’ll use it as a tool to love people and to build up and expand His Kingdom. And, while we are doing these “good works”, God in turn gives us the goodness and fullness of life to enjoy.

There are many, many different scriptures I could use to back up what I just said but for the sake of space, I’ll only use one – 1 Timothy 6:17-19 which says:

“Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.”

One last question for you…

Based on these scriptures here in 1 Timothy, how are you going to lay up store for yourself a good foundation so that you can lay hold on eternal life if you don’t have money?

I’m not at all saying you have to have money to be saved. But, I am saying that being involved in good works does require money – and the more money you have, the more good works you can be involved in.

For more discussion on poor versus rich, take a look at this:
http://www.millionairesforjesus.com/POORScriptures.htm

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© 2010 – 2015, MillionairesForJesus.com. All rights reserved worldwide.

Permission is granted to reprint this article ONLY if a link is included with it as follows:

URL: http://www.millionairesforjesus.com/

Link Text: Millionaires For Jesus – God’s Millionaires – Christian Millionaire

Over and over people come to my MillionairesForJesus.com website and they ask questions like:

• “How do I break away from just over broke?”
• “I want to help people but financially, I just can’t.”
• “Why is it that non-Christians always have plenty of money?”
• “How do I get out of debt?”
• “Why do bad things happen to Christians?

To answer these questions, let me first ask you a question.

Have you ever wanted something?

Have you ever found yourself wanting to do, be, or have a certain thing?

Let’s take a closer look at this phenomenon of “WANT”.

Psalms 34:10 – “The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not WANT any GOOD thing.”

WANT is another word for LACK.

LACK is not of God.

No matter where you are at or what your situation, it’s not God’s will for you to LACK.

For example, in Deuteronomy 2:7 – “For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.”

This makes it clear that even in “wilderness” times in life, we aren’t to lack in any area of our life.

If we look at Exodus 16:35 and Deuteronomy 29:5 we see that during “wilderness” times we may not get to eat exactly what we want, we may have a limited wardrobe, and we may wear the same pair of shoes a little longer than we would like, but we won’t lack the things that we have need of.

Now, let’s consider Deuteronomy 8:9 – “[The promised land,] A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.”

In this verse, we see that during the “promised land” times of life, we have abundance, we have everything we want, AND, we have unlimited opportunities that we can “dig” into.

Within God’s way, whether times are “good” or times are “bad” we will not lack.

Isn’t that exciting?

So, why do so many Christians find themselves wanting and lacking?

It’s because they aren’t doing things in accordance with God’s Word.

Perhaps King David said it best of all in Psalms 23:1 – “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not WANT.”

King David is saying that he absolutely will not allow himself to WANT anything.

That seems kind of strange, doesn’t it? Why would King David not allow himself to WANT anything?

It’s because he understood that the mind has a few funny quirks in the way that it works.

Let’s explore…

Stop!

Now, carefully and slowly read this statement; “Don’t think of your vehicle sitting outside.”

What did you just do?

If you did as I asked you to do, you immediately pictured your car, truck, or whatever you drive sitting out in your driveway, your garage, or a parking lot, didn’t you?

You see, the mind doesn’t have the ability to think in “NOT” or “DON’T” terms.

When you put a “negative” spin in your words and thoughts, it’s like your mind INVERTS it to the exact opposite.

This is exactly what happens when we WANT something. Our mind INVERTS the WANT into a picture of LACK – giving us the exact opposite effect of what we really desire.

Can you see what I’m talking about? Do you hear what I’m saying? Are you getting the feel of what I’m writing about?

So now the question is, how does a person get out of the “wilderness” of WANT and LACK and over into the “promised land” of plenty, abundance, and opportunity?

The answer is by focusing on “HAVING”.

Consider the words of Christ in Matthew 25:29 – “For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.”

This makes it very plain that when our attention and focus is on HAVING, we’ll be given more and we’ll have abundance. But, when our focus is on WANTING, we’re going to lose whatever we’ve gained up to this point.

It’s now quite clear why King David said, “I shall not WANT”, isn’t it?

One of the many variations of the previously quoted scripture and concept is found in Luke 8:18 – “Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.”

In this verse, Christ is telling us the same thing as in the previous verse but makes an important distinction, “Take heed therefore how ye hear”.

In other words, of all the information coming to you through your five physical senses, how are you “hearing” the information? How are you thinking about it? How do you “feel” about it?

For many, the information coming in through the senses produces fear, doubt, uncertainty, anxiety, want, lack, and poverty. This isn’t going to give us what we desire, is it? That’s why Christ is telling us to be careful how we hear, think, and feel.

There’s another piece to HAVING that which we desire. In Mark 11:23, we read, “He shall HAVE whatsoever he saith.”

Start talking as if you HAVE that which you desire.

I now ask you to mentally “bookmark” and “highlight” this two-word phrase; “Experientially Having”.

Here’s what I want you to get out of this phrase; let go of the “wanting” and start EXPERIENCING the “having” in any way that you can whether MENTALLY, VERBALLY, or PHYSICALLY.

As you find yourself going about your day, remember, “Experientially Having” is YOUR key to all the abundance and success you desire.

And, as you go through day after day remembering to focus on “Experientially Having”, keep in mind that Christ told us that FAITH is like a “seed” (Matthew 17:20).

Whether you see anything yet or not, KNOW that the continuously held process of “Experientially Having” will ABSOLUTELY cause that which you desire to start sprouting roots and growing within God’s HIDDEN SOIL of the Universe and at God’s appointed time, it will BURST OUT into your physical world – YOURS TO FULLY ENJOY.

Then, as you’re enjoying God’s blessings and abundance, be sure to use it to build up and expand the Kingdom of God.

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© 2010 – 2015, MillionairesForJesus.com. All rights reserved worldwide.

Permission is granted to reprint this article ONLY if a link is included with it as follows:

URL: http://www.millionairesforjesus.com/

Link Text: Millionaires For Jesus – God’s Millionaires – Christian Millionaire

There are many differences between the wealthy and the poor – the successful and the unsuccessful – but here is one major difference that I’ve seen a lot of lately…

Imagine that an idea or a suggestion is presented to you.

What are you going to do with it?

How are you going to handle it?

How are you going to respond to it?

Maybe I should ask my question this way… Are you going to tear the idea or suggestion down or are you going to build it up?

You see, the poor and the unsuccessful hear an idea or suggestion and they’ll immediately go to work coming up with all the reasons why it won’t work, why it can’t happen, why it’s a bad idea, how it’s too dangerous or expensive or too whatever. They’ll continue on until they’ve completely bombed, destroyed, and tore down the idea or suggestion.

Even if deep inside they think it’s a good idea or suggestion, they’ll still respond to it in a negative way.

On the other hand, the wealthy and successful will entertain the idea or suggestion. You’ll hear them say things like:

• “Hmmm… That’s really interesting.”
• “That has a lot of possibility…”
• “That’s really good… You know we could take that, and add in … and really go somewhere with that…”
• “I like that… Is there anything else we need to consider to make that work?”
• “What a wonderful idea. How could we make that a reality?”
• “Hey! That’s a sharp idea…”
• “Wow! That’s pretty smart. I like the way you’re thinking…”

The wealthy and successful take an idea or suggestion as something that is rife with possibility and immediately go to work mentally thinking about how they can improve it, make it better, and then implement it.

Quite a different response, is it not?

Sad thing is, most people fall into the former category of negative thinkers. But, it’s not entirely their fault… It started when they were little kids… Someone TAUGHT them how to think negative…

The other day, a 7 year old girl was telling me what a good idea it would be to have a small ice-box inside a car so that a person could have a soda whenever they wanted – and they wouldn’t even have to stop at McDonald’s or convenience store to have a cold pop.

Be honest with yourself now… How would you have responded to this child’s idea? Would you have told her that is a fantastic idea and encouraged her to keep on dreaming up great ideas? Or, would you have told her that it was a silly idea and besides, it would be too dangerous to have an ice-box in a car?

Ideas and the suggestions…

In your life…

In the children’s lives that you have influence over…

Are you building them up or tearing them down?

Want to know what God does? Take a look at Job 22:23 – “If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up.”

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© 2010 – 2015, MillionairesForJesus.com. All rights reserved worldwide.

Permission is granted to reprint this article ONLY if a link is included with it as follows:

URL: http://www.millionairesforjesus.com/

Link Text: Millionaires For Jesus – God’s Millionaires – Christian Millionaire