Financial Peace: God Has a Plan

It sounds so easy. The ser­mon speaks vol­umes to me. I should be able to sleep well now… right? Well, no. And I feel lousy that I can’t, or maybe its sleepy. What am I talk­ing about? Financial peace. God has a plan. When I do my best in man­ag­ing the finances God has pro­vided me, when I trust in Him and His plan, even when my future seems unclear, I still should be able to rest in His Peace. Well, that is what I brought home from Sunday’s sermon.

I also brought home some ser­mon notes:

It seems eas­ier to save for short term but not for the future.

God has a plan. John 14:2–3 [show]John 14:2–3 [2]In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to pre­pare a place for you? [3]And if I go and pre­pare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (ESV)
Jerimaiah 29:11

God expects for us to plan for the future. Matt 25:14 [show]Matthew 25:14 [14]“For it will be like a man going on a jour­ney, who called his ser­vants and entrusted to them his prop­erty. (ESV)
ff. God entrusts us with money. He expects us to invest it and grow it. He expects us to man­age what He has given us well.

Ecc 11:2 [show]Ecclesiastes 11:2 [2]Give a por­tion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what dis­as­ter may hap­pen on earth.
divest. Be wise with our money. Have long term goals.

Keep the cor­rect motive. Our finances are a potion of our rela­tion­ship with God, not the hub our lives revolve around. Is God a part of our plan­ning for our finances?

God has a motive for our sav­ings. God has a plan for my life, for retire­ment, that I don’t know about yet. We save for the future that we may serve God in ways we can not imag­ine in the future. It is God’s future. Call our long term sav­ings plan “God’s Plan”

God still wants us to max­i­mize today as well. We can not be so miz­erly that we can not be used by God today.

The ser­mon was about sav­ing for the future that we might be able to bet­ter ful­fill God’s plan for us but of course I sat through the whole ser­mon think­ing purely about the phrase, “God has a plan.” Well.… I wish He would tell me what it is!

And that is my whole prob­lem. I should be able… my head tells me, my heart tells me… in God we trust. And if I trust God, I don’t need to know His plan for my future long range. More impor­tantly, although I under­stand where Pastor Jeff was going with regards to sav­ing for the future I also strug­gle with it con­sid­er­ing what Jesus said like we see in Luke 12:22–34 [show]Luke 12:22–34 [22]And he said to his dis­ci­ples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anx­ious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. [23]For life is more than food, and the body more than cloth­ing. [24]Consider the ravens: they nei­ther sow nor reap, they have nei­ther store­house nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! [25]And which of you by being anx­ious can add a sin­gle hour to his span of life? [26]If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anx­ious about the rest? [27]Consider the lilies, how they grow: they nei­ther toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [28]But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomor­row is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of lit­tle faith! [29]And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be wor­ried. [30]For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. [31]Instead, seek his king­dom, and these things will be added to you. [32]“Fear not, lit­tle flock, for it is your Father’s good plea­sure to give you the king­dom. [33]Sell your pos­ses­sions, and give to the needy. Provide your­selves with mon­ey­bags that do not grow old, with a trea­sure in the heav­ens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. [34]For where your trea­sure is, there will your heart be also. (ESV)
. Do not worry about the future because our Father will take care of us. Yet here I am at 5am, not able to sleep because I am doing just that, wor­ry­ing about the future.

God, apply your truth to my whole being. Help me trust in you. I know you have a plan for my life and I desire to fol­low it even though I don’t know what it is. I will live today accord­ing to your Word and as I under­stand your will is for me. I will pre­pare myself today that I might serve you bet­ter in the future. Our finances are Yours and all we save is there for You to use. Empower me by the Holy Spirit to trust that no mat­ter what hap­pens to Joy and I finan­cially You will take care of us. You will take care of us.