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The Bible is the best Book to teach us personal finance and financial stress management because it contains numerous examples of men and women who solved their financial problems and prospered financially with God’s help.
Perfect examples of Biblical prosperous men and women include Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Solomon and the Proverbs 31 woman to mention just a few. These men and women teach us that in order to prosper in a godly manner we have to:
1. Ask for God’s Blessing
The first principle of Biblical prosperity is to ask for God’s blessing.
In the book of Genesis we see that Jacob asked God to bless him and God blessed him. We also see that as he was asking God to bless him, he was not a poor man by any standards because before he went to bed that evening, Jacob had prepared a present for his estranged brother Esau and this present consisted of 200 female goats, 20 male goats, 200 ewes, 20 rams, 30 milk camels with their colts, 40 cows, 10 bulls, 20 female donkeys and 10 foals.(Genesis 32)
Therefore, ask God to bless you and to bless all the works of your hands because God has pleasure in the prosperity of His servants. (Psalm 35:27) Ask Him to bless and expand your holdings just as Jabez did when he prayed “Oh that You Father God would bless me indeed and expand my territory.” (1 Chronicles 4:10)
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2. Obey God
The second principle of Biblical prosperity is to obey God.
In the book of Genesis, we see that there was a famine in Gerar and God appeared to Isaac and told him not to go to Egypt to escape the famine. Isaac obeyed God and sowed in famine stricken Gerar. As a result of his obedience, God blessed him and he reaped a hundredfold profit on his investment that one year. (Genesis 26:2-14)
Therefore, even if you are living in the middle of a famine or a recession obey God even when His advice does not make sense to your natural human mind. Seek His guidance and then obey His directives completely because He can bless your efforts mightily and ensure that you get a miraculous hundred percent return on your investment even in a famine or recession year.
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3. Heed The Commandments
The third principle of Biblical prosperity is to heed God’s commandments.
Deuteronomy 28:1-14 tells that It shall come to pass that if you obey God and carefully observe all His commandments ... all these blessings shall come upon you.
You shall be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
The fruit of your body shall be blessed, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds ...
Your basket and your kneading bowl shall be blessed ...
The Lord will command a blessing on your stores and in all to which you set your hand ...
And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods ...
The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand.
You shall lend to many nations but you shall not borrow.
Therefore, do you level best to keep all the commandments that God has given us in His Word.
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4. Use Your Talents To Do Business
The fourth principle of Biblical prosperity is to use your talents to do business.
From the book of Luke we learn about the noble man who gave his servants talents before he went on a journey and told them to “Do business”. Upon his return, he asked them to account for their talents and he rewarded the first servant who had made a tenfold profit from his one talent with ten cities. (Luke 19:12-24)
Therefore, identify your talents and use them to “Do business”. For example if you can sing, offer your singing services to birthday parties and you will find as you “Do business” with your singing talent, God can bless you with ten other sources of income from that one talent. These new sources of income might range from singing in Christian crusades, receiving royalties from radio stations and mobile phone ring tone companies, owning your music recording studio and music distribution companies, starting your own music school for children, tutoring instrumentalists, training upcoming musicians, adjudicating in singing competitions and endorsing products.
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5. Work Your Plan
The fifth principle of Biblical prosperity is working your plan.
Proverbs 21:5 tells us that The plans of the diligent lead to plenty while those of the hasty, lead to poverty.
Therefore, after identifying which of your talents you are going to utilize to make money, develop a plan of action after brainstorming even if you are solo brainstorming. Do not develop a rash plan of action. Instead give it much thought and prayer and then once you have fully developed it, work your plan diligently.
After working your plan and doing your best, Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established. (Proverbs 16:3)
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