Bible MBASample

First Power, Then Knowledge 

“... I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.” Isaiah 48:17 ESV 

The power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18) is quite different from the knowledge to get wealth. God doesn't stop at declaring a blessing over the believer; He actually gives us specific ideas on what to do to make a profit in our businesses. This is why it is so crucial to cultivate the habit of listening in the place of prayer, for God does not only release power when we pray, He also gives instructions. 

“Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, ...” (Isaiah 48:18 ESV), the Lord declares. A great deal of the anxiety we feel about money comes from not paying sufficient attention to what the Lord is saying we should do regarding it. 

A fundamental, perhaps even the most important thing to know about money is that it will seek to oust God from being number one in your life. The Lord warned that we will have to confront the choice between God and money; “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, ...” (Matthew 6:24 AMPC) And so, the first and most critical decision that the believer must reach and keep is having God as number one. 

Meanwhile, there is no number two. “No man can serve two masters.” Simple! 

There is a great deal that God wants to teach about making a profit, but He will only teach it to those who will never replace Him with money or any of the things that it can buy. 

One reason many never reach the level of financial freedom that God has available for His children is because in not getting the right understanding about the relative unimportance of money, they are unable to handle it faithfully because “He who is faithful in a very little [thing] is faithful also in much, and he who is dishonest and unjust in a very little [thing] is dishonest and unjust also in much." (Luke 16:10 AMPC)