The Monday Memo from John Stanko

Monday Memo 1188: Financial Seasons

Last week, we began a new series on 'Purpose and Finances' when we looked at Paul's words that he had learned how to be content with a lot or a little. Why would God permit there to be a little, when He promises abundance and a land flowing with milk and honey? We see the answer to that question in Deuteronomy:

"Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you" (Deuteronomy 8:2-5).

Yes, it's true that God will bless you but to ensure that money doesn't corrupt or even ruin you, He will humble you. How will He humble you? He will do so by allowing you to go hungry at times. You won't starve, but you may not always know where your next meal or rent payment is coming from. And then He may feed you with "manna," in some way or from a source that isn't His usual channel of provision for you. Why? So you will know that He is your source and not your own abilities.

I look back on my more than fifty years of serving the Lord, and I can identify many up-and-down seasons where money is concerned. And there were more than a few times where I thought for sure I knew how God was going to provide or who He was going to use to do so, only to have Him surprise me not with His provision, but with how it came. On each occasion, it was to help me keep my focus on Him and not my degrees, my gifts, my ministry, or my knowledge. And sometimes it was to help me make a transition to a new place where He wanted me to express my purpose.

We'll see throughout this series that God isn't limited to provide for you through your inheritance or your workplace or your family or any of the usual means. In fact, He seems to delight in providing in ways you don't expect or can't anticipate. According to Deuteronomy, He does this to see what is in your heart and to discipline or train you to keep your eyes on Him and not on your source. There's more in this passage that we will look at in the coming weeks, but for now, it's enough to know that there will financial seasons as you serve God through your creative purpose. They are all part of His plan to teach and develop you.

What season of finances are you in at present? Do you have abundance, lack, or just enough? How are you handing the season you are in? Complacency? Fear? Panic? Anxiety? Rest? Yes, you can learn to rest and find peace in any and all financial seasons, just like Paul did, confident that God is watching and won't let starve. However, you will learn that He won't necessarily provide for you in ways you know or according to your timetable. More on this next week.

Monday Memo 1187: Paul's Secret

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.

Monday Memo 1186: Purpose And Money

I have a set of questions I pose to people who come to me for help finding their purpose. One of those questions is, "If you had all the money you needed to live, what would you do with your life? How would you fill your time?" More often than not, people struggle to answer. They may tell me they would travel, but when I ask, "Where? they don't know. They sometimes say they would buy a boat or build their family a new home, but since they have never dreamed of what they could do that isn't tied to money, they can't easily answer my question.

With that in mind, I'm ready to start a new series that will eventually become a book and the title for now is "Purpose and Finances." I'm going to lead you through a six-month study of biblical financial principles that will help you answer the question I mentioned at the start: What would you do if you had all the money you needed to live on? But in order to get there, you're going to have to re-think what your parents and your culture and your profession and even your church have told you about finances. That is going to take some time and effort but the rewards will be worth it.

In the next twenty-five weeks, you will learn that you do not work to make money. I'll explain that if the evil one can't keep you from your purpose, then he will exercise what I call "economic terrorism" to keep you from fulfilling it—and God will allow it to happen. You'll see that God promises to provide for all your needs—your purpose needs that is—so you can bear fruit and do His will and thus one of your roles is to create more need. We will re-examine the concepts of giving and generosity and show that those two things are not the key to your financial success. And there will be much more that will challenge your thinking and release you from old patterns of thinking and expectations where money is concerned.

If God wants you to do His will, and of course He does, then He must provide but you must be clear as to what it means that God is your Provider. Otherwise you will wait and wait to engage your purpose but won't be able to do so because you never settled the money issue, clarifying God's role and yours in your provision. So stay tuned and tell your friends about this series that will focus on money but only as a means to help you find and fulfill your creative purpose—something God wants you to do more than you do. Have a blessed week.