IN MARRIAGE, MONEY MATTERS? Part Two.

IN MARRIAGE, MONEY MATTERS? Part Two.

Next, we can talk about the goods that belong to others. In this case, it is not so much the goods that belong to my neighbor, though I must respect them also; it is more about the goods that belong to God. This is a key issue regarding marriage and having abundant wealth and riches.

Deut 8:18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. Let us review this scripture to see a purpose that involves what God had already determined to be done. While wealth is not entirely about money, it has an eternal purpose; we can use it to expound on many things regarding us having it.

I want you to focus on the fact that obtaining it is tied directly to a power He wants you to have to acquire wealth. This is about remembering that the Lord is the one who gives you power. In doing so, He will confirm His covenant as He swore it would be. In marriage, believing spouses must remember that their covenant prevails by the power of God.

Scripture reveals that the foundation of marriage begins with the first marriage union established by God’s prophetic creation of males and females before Adam's fall. Gen 2:23-24 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Adam understood that God fashioned this other person he would view from his rib as a woman created to join him as a wife, fully capable of compatibility. Yet many teachers do not consider this first union of a male and a female a covenant, but it is one that God ordained and affirms as a union of marriage in other chapters and verses of the same book.

Gen 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; After the fall, God referred to Eve as Adam's wife. He affirmed their union as husband and wife and confirmed that any blessing of covenant concerning wealth has an eternal purpose. That said, we need to know the truth about the wealth we will obtain.

The first thing to understand concerning wealth and riches is that God does not need money; He can accomplish whatever He needs. However, the power to acquire wealth is about us, His covenant, and what is necessary to establish our part in it. His covenant purpose is rooted in one thing: eternal life, which He has given to His creation of man and woman. Therefore, wealth is established in the covenant according to one's remembrance of God.

So, if blessings are defined in what He is working on, eternal life, wealth will be delivered to this earth through His offspring. Thus, learning about wealth and riches clarifies one thing: God’s manner of doing it is not how we would do it. Ps 112:1-3 Praise ye the LORD. Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments. 2His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed. 3Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endureth forever.

There are principles associated with wealth and riches from God, and fearing the Lord does not mean being afraid of Him but having grave reverence for who He is and what He can do. However, delighting in His commandments means they are here for our eternal deliverance from evil.

We can see a focus on the eternal purpose of our having a living presence revealed on this earth. God, who is all-powerful, decrees that those who abide by these principles are blessed with wealth and riches. On the other hand, our diligent efforts to obtain what is to come only from God are in vain if we do not know the truth.

Prov 13:11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase. He states that if we gather through our own labors or physical efforts, He will see that we increase even to that point. Working a job to make ends meet is not a problem, but it will be limited to our efforts.

Prov 13:22 (BBE)The heritage of the good man is handed down to his children's children; and the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the upright man. This verse states that your heritage will be handed down to your children and theirs. In other words, your heritage, preferably one of wealth and riches, is by God decreed to reach your great-grandchildren.

Eccl 5:19-20 (GW) It is a gift from God when God gives some people wealth and possessions, the power to enjoy them, {the ability} to accept their lot in life, and {the ability} to rejoice in their own hard work. 20These people won't give much thought to their brief lives because God keeps them occupied with the joy in their hearts. Instead of considering the obvious, let us look at what is not said: not everyone will receive so-called wealth and riches from God. The ones who are like this (some people) have the power to enjoy it without it, gaining control over them.

Though many fail to discern what God wants them to do with financial increases, that can change. And these scriptures in no way encompass all truth as revealed in the word, dealing with or in the order of finances or blessings from the Lord. But they reveal what we or someone else of God should know and understand regarding them.

Some wonder how wealth and riches align with what I say is proprietary in your marriage. It is the result of the spouse’s combined intellectual property, so to speak, albeit it will mostly be money and/or material goods; it, however, is by a combined choice. Money and any use of it is proprietary and a responsible and accountable activity, so look at it in this manner: As believers, many have done poorly with their blessings from God, yet the truth is that all can do better.

Hence, there is still reason to learn the truth about it contained in the word revealed by the Holy Spirit. Such truth can clear out any wrong thinking about this issue and put you on a path to having more while still on earth. Therefore, providing you with a new consciousness where your thinking becomes right in His sight. The word of God changes one’s nature to do as He does, not for worldly gain but for His gain, affirming His covenant with you. The greatest testimony of one's wealth and riches is not money but prospering according to the truth He gives us.

Prosperity Is a God Thing’

Many preach a prosperity gospel today among the body of Christ, and they should because God is not a stingy God. He is the author of entrepreneurship in the issue of life and all things abundant. However, life as He sees it is one without anxieties of well-being over self or others.

3 John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. He does not go around growing money on trees, though He could. Instead, He instructs us on how to obtain it by the Spirit of God. Prosperity here is not all about money or goods but the well-being of the spirit, soul, and body. Money, however, is vital to living a healthy lifestyle. Believers should not think that being poor means you are more spiritual.

If God wants us to be poor regarding wealth and riches, why reveal all the blessings that show how much He cares to prosper us? Another aspect is that money itself is not evil; it is the love of it that brings despair to anyone who sees it as a greater god than Jehovah. Those who prosper but use it for their benefit and not God’s, regarding the poor, widows, and orphans, are rebuked.

 The prosperity message in the scriptures is not wrong, as God, through the Holy Spirit, is the author of it. What is bad is the heart of those who see money as the end-all to be all and use the word to justify seeking after it in error. There is clear evidence that when knowledge of how to use the blessings of God appears, He will not hesitate to increase you in all areas. But your lack of knowledge keeps you from having the wealth and riches you see others have. 

Marriages that are too focused on sustaining the family's financial status quo without concern for its spiritual well-being make spouses work to provide income to maintain, in many cases, a meager lifestyle. Society pressures us to gain higher education, so jobs with higher pay appear. As a believer, you need to know that focusing on the social doctrine of money actively demeans God’s method of increasing you.

Many marriages believe they must have the same things everyone else is striving to obtain: a new car, a bigger and better house, the newest trend in clothes, the latest technology, social media devices, etc. This is all about worldly peering associated with life as it sees fit. What the world does with money is not what a child of God should strive for. Instead, all provisions, including wealth and riches, are outlined in scripture to bless the believer and others.

Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Whether it be spirit, soul, and body, or even the daily efforts of work for provisions, if we occupy this earth, we will have to engage in some form or means to connect to a blessing to bring forth God‘s image.

Since marriage is by an ordained union, Godly prosperity is a natural part of it, as it leads to a stable exchange between the provider of all things, God, and those who are receivers of it.

Deut 8:18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. Remember, as described here, this power comes from God alone, and any wealth and riches that occur are because it works on earth as established for His covenant with us; it is not power from any worldly system or your efforts.

Source: IN MARRIAGE, MONEY MATTERS? Part Two.