The Truth about Money

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

One of the truths about money is that money always has to be earned. The widow of the indebted prophet trading oil in packed vessels to earn the money which was required to pay off the family debt as well as earn additional money to live on for the rest of their lives. Please read 2^nd Kings Chapter 4 verses 1 to 7. Also, please take note of the command from Elisha to the widow in verse 7 “Go and sell the oil and pay off your debts; you and your sons live on the rest”. Selling the oil implies trading a much required resource useful in majority of homes for the urgently required money to free her sons from debt bondage. It is also instructive to note that the prophet commanded her to sell and not to do free distribution – SELL and make the money urgently required to pay off the debts and have money to live on. This is very very instructive and significant. SELL! SEEL!! SELL!!!

The virtuous woman of Proverbs Chapter 31 verses 10 to 31 made linen garments which she sold. She also supplied sashes to the merchants. Please read verse 24. The Bible also records that she bought a field and planted a vineyard from the profits she made. The vineyard was planted to earn and make additional money. This implies that a virtuous woman earns and makes money to augment the payment of the family bills.

Lydia in the Bible is described as a seller of purple – the expensive clothes of her day. The Bible also records that she sold them. She did not give them away for free. Rather, she accommodated and hosted the ministers of God with money earned from her trade that gave her a decent accommodation and good feeding money. Please read Acts Chapter 16 verses 14 to 14.

Aquila and Priscilla made tents and sold them to earn and make money for their upkeep. The Apostle Paul who was also skilled at tent making joined them or became their partner and also earned his upkeep from tent making. Please read Acts Chapter 18 verses 1 to 3. It is therefore not surprising that the Apostle Paul did not permit idleness in the Church. He instructed everyone to work and earn money for their upkeep. Please read 1^st Thessalonians Chapter 2 verses 11 to 12.

Something of value always has to be traded for money. It could be physical such as brute physical strength in working the land, lifting weights, participating in sporting activities and anything that requires physical strength. It could also be intellectual prowess where a person’s intellectual prowess is traded for money. It could be military prowess or expertise, or any great talent such as acting, singing, drawing, sculpting, painting, drawing, dancing, sewing, designing, etc.

Be Enthusiastic About Making Money

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Money puts food on the table. Goodwill does not. Money pays the rent and utility bills. Goodwill does not. Money gives a good education. Goodwill does not. Therefore, work for money and not goodwill. Making money is not a sin. Abraham made money. Isaac made money. Jacob made money. Joseph made money. Nehemiah made money.

Jesus demonstrated the significance of making money and money management in the parables of the talents and the prodigal son. The Bible in both the old and new testaments supports money making and celebrates wealthy men and women such as Abraham, Isaac, Boaz, Job, Joseph of Arimathea, King Solomon, the virtuous woman described in Proverbs Chapter 31, King David and many others.  God is not against money making. What the Bible condemns is the love of money, greed and mammon worship, fraudulent means of making money like lying, cheating, duping other people of their hard earned money, bribery and robbery.

The virtuous woman described in Proverbs Chapter 31 made so much money from the work of her hands that she was able to buy land even in her days when there was so much gender discrimination. Even the skilled artisans mentioned in the Bible who received creative abilities in designing from God and who worked in the designing of the tabernacle in Exodus Chapter 36 and in the temple in 1^st Kings were handsomely remunerated.

A Billion Dollars is Possible

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

A billion dollars is a lot of money. To some people, it takes a lifetime to make such money while to some other people, such money can be made in a twinkle of an eye, from a single transaction or multiple transactions. Unfortunately, there are people who believe that such money cannot be made in several lifetimes not to talk of a single life time. Well there are no several lifetimes as this present lifetime on planet earth is the only life time anyone blessed with life here has to make a billion or more dollars.

The Bible says that with God, all things are possible. Please see Mark Chapter 10 verse 27. God will always make a way where there is no way. You can make a billion dollars or even more because God your Father owns inexhaustible wealth and He has blessed you with the power to make wealth. That power to make wealth is not as a result of your own making or strength as stated in Zechariah Chapter 4 verse 6. That power comes by the Spirit of God Who empowers you and teaches you to make wealth in leaps and bounds (Isaiah Chapters 58 verse 11; 48 verse 17, 1^st Corinthians Chapter 2 verses 9 to 16) by giving you divine direction to abundance (Genesis Chapter 26), divine wisdom for abundance at a time of famine (Genesis Chapter 41) as well as destroying satanic yokes and limitations (Isaiah Chapter 10 verse 27). No one makes a billion dollars by personal strength.

The Bible records that “Then Isaac sowed in the land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him. The man began to prosper and continued prospering until he became very prosperous”. Genesis Chapter 26 verses 12 to 14. What Isaac did was intelligent investing by the Spirit of God. Intelligent investing is not speculation. Speculation is gambling. Intelligent investing is planting seeds in good soil and nurturing same for a great harvest. Speculation on the other hand is scattering seeds so that some fall by the wayside, on thorns, on rocky places. They may or may not grow, grow and may not bear fruit, or just one or two grow and fruit. I pray that God in His infinite mercy will guard your feet and prosper you to continue prospering until you become very wealthy in Jesus mighty name.

Beloved, it is time to discard the impossibility mentality. Explore the possibilities of building big from the scratch. It is possible. Peter cast the net on the right side of the boat as instructed by the Lord Jesus Christ and he caught a multitude of fish that took several men to draw in the catch. That is the right side of the boat that Jesus asked Peter to cast his net on. What was the result? Please, see John Chapter 21.

How to Laugh at Recessions – SHARE

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Recessions are times of insufficient resources when the best course of action would be to hoard whatever resources are at one’s disposal for safe keeping and self preservation for the rainy day. This of course is the world’s system but unfortunately it does not work and has never solved the problem of insufficient resources. This is because insufficient resources that are hoarded remain insufficient resources without anything with which to multiply and compound such resources. But insufficient resources shared end up being multiplied and compounded by God who gave the law of harvests in Genesis Chapter 8 verse 22 and Luke Chapter 6 verse 38. Significantly, this law always works each time it is applied. The widow of Zarephath is a case in point. She shared her supposedly last meal with the Prophet Elijah. God compounded that supposedly last meal and it served them even beyond the famine. They did not experience any form of lack during the period of famine. The widow enjoyed divine abundance through sharing her limited resources.  Please see 1^st Kings Chapter 17 verses 1 to 16.

The Prophet Elisha asked his servant to serve the only twenty loaves of barley bread and new ripened grain to one hundred men. To start with, twenty loaves of bread  and whatever quantity of ripened grain they had was grossly insufficient to feed one hundred men but Elisha insisted that the food would not only be enough to feed them but would also be more than enough as they would have left overs. The servant obeyed Elisha and there was indeed left overs. Please see 2^nd Kings Chapter 4 verses 42 to 44.

Beloved, if ever there was a time to share, it is when resources appear insufficient. This is because God usually takes over what appears to be insufficient and compounds them into overflowing abundance. Jesus Christ demonstrated this principle in the feeding of the four thousand and five thousand men besides women and children. What the disciples considered insufficient bread and fish for the multitude (John Chapter 6 verses 5 to 14, Matthew Chapter 15 verses 32 to 38) turned out to be more than sufficient. Twelve baskets were filled with the left overs from the feeding of the five thousand men besides women and children from the supposedly insufficient five loaves of bread and two fishes; while seven baskets were filled to the brim from the left overs from the feeding of the four thousand men besides women and children with the supposedly insufficient seven loaves of bread and a few fishes. God surely knows how and when to multiply and compound resources.

Engage in Wealth Creating Activities

 Written by Uyoyou Charles-Iyoha

To make money and create wealth, you have to engage in an income generating activity.  Lydia was a business woman who sold purple – Acts Chapter 16 verse 14. The virtuous woman of Proverbs Chapter 31 verses 10 to 31 was a business woman – knitting and sewing, designing gowns and sweaters for sale. She also invested in agriculture. The widow of the indebted prophet was a business woman – she sold oil and became debt free, 2^nd Kings Chapter 4 verses 1 to 7. Aquila was a tentmaker and worked with her husband. At some point, the Apostle Paul joined them – Acts Chapter 18 verses 1 to 3.

Preachers and teachers are also engaged in the tasks of money making through the knowledge they share. That is why the Bible says that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel. Acts Chapter 9 verses 1 to 14.

In every instance of financial lack, insufficiency, and indebtedness in the Bible, the recourse was always on how to access financial resources either through paid employment (hiring your time, skills and expertise out for money as in the case of the prodigal son (Luke Chapter 15 verses 11 to 19); production and sales of products as in the case of the indebted prophet’s widow (2^nd Kings Chapter 4 verses 1 to 7); and engagement in  a trade as in the case of Peter who went fishing to get the required tax money.

In all of these instances, we find people engaging in income generating activities to raise the required financial resources. None went begging or borrowing or stealing. They engaged in economic activities. They also were not instructed to give away their financial lack, insufficiency or indebtedness by either begging or borrowing to give in order to receive a hundred fold return. They also did not mope around to say they were trusting God, pray against the enemies of their financial resources, divine as to who or what was responsible for their financial lack, insufficiency and indebtedness. They simply went in search of the money by engaging in income generating activities.