Let's start our series on purpose and your finances by looking at what many people have told me over the years is their favorite or most meaningful verse:
I can do all this through him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).
Unfortunately, most people quote this verse out of context, for it's not referring to your daily actions or exploits for God. It's actually a verse that talks about money—or the lack thereof. Let's look at it in its full context and do so from the Good News Translation:
In my life in union with the Lord it is a great joy to me that after so long a time you once more had the chance of showing that you care for me. I don't mean that you had stopped caring for me—you just had no chance to show it. And I am not saying this because I feel neglected, for I have learned to be satisfied with what I have. I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little. I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me (Philippians 4:10-13, emphasis added).
Paul was saying he had strength from God to fulfill his purpose of taking the gospel to the Gentiles whether he had the finances to do so or not. The key phrase is "I have learned to be satisfied with what I have" and he could write that because he told us, "I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little." Paul could do all things regardless of how much money he had in the bank, and of course he didn't have a bank account. But you get the idea.
It seems that Paul experienced financial seasons of both lack and abundance, Yet he did not base his fruitfulness on how much he had or didn't have. He kept his focus on doing God's will and accepted the reality of his financial situations. What was his secret? He discovered God would give him power to "face all conditions" and still be true to his creative purpose.
I have faced many financial seasons, and right now it is one of lack. I'm not destitute by any means, but I am in a down season in which I'm seeking the Lord for direction. However, no course change seems to be coming. Instead, it's a time when God is teaching me the secret Paul had discovered, and that's how to stay true to my life course when all the money I want or need—or think I need—isn't there.
How about you? Have you connected your ability to flow in purpose to having all the money you need, or knowing where it will be coming from and when? Are you willing to stop applying Philippians to all of life and instead focus its meaning to your finances? Paul was a man of purpose in all financial seasons and God wants you (and me) to be like him. And it starts with accepting the limitation of Philippians 4:13, which doesn't apply to all of life but rather to your ability to purposely function in every financial season.
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