Kindle Notes & Highlights
How we relate to money is simply indicative of the condition of our hearts.
Therefore,
realize the impotence of money, you will never be free from its pursuit, nor from the influence and dominion of the spirit behind it.
I believe that the primary purpose of the spirit of Mammon is to obtain from people their worship, love, loyalty, service and fear.
Jesus identifies the conflict of love, loyalty and service between God and Mammon. He says that if you love one, you will hate the other. If you are loyal to one, you will despise the other, and if you serve one, you cannot serve the other. So the purpose of Mammon is to get you to be loyal to, love and serve him, so that by default you will hate, despise, and not serve God.
As with all demonic entities, the primary assault is not direct, but rather operates in a cloaked manner through deception. If Mammon were to directly appear to any Christian or even unbeliever, reveal his identity and demand loyalty, love and service, very few would voluntarily submit to him. Thus, the primary tactic of Mammon is to entice people to serve him without realizing that they are doing so.
Mammon entices people to ascribe sacred power to money.
A person who has much money is thought to be very powerful, while a person with little money is impotent. Value is ascribed to people based on net worth of money. This fact is also true about currency in a country. When a country’s money is stable, we consider the country powerful.
Christians who believe the lie that money has power allow their travel and movements to be governed by money, rather than by God.
Such ones fear the lack of money, consult their checkbook rather than God in their giving of offerings, and busy themselves with all sorts of schemes promising to deliver money.
A corollary lie, believed by many, is that the source of one's provision is his/her employer, spouse, investments, or other channel through which money is
The truth, of course, is that the power is in God, not money, and that He is the source of provision. Thus, for the believer, there is a conflict of service and love. If one loves money, then by default he does not love God.
Now God is not the source, but money is the source. If you simply ask most people the question, “For what purpose do you work?” they will answer, “I am working for money”. Money
not to work for money, but rather money is supposed to work for me to accomplish God’s purposes.
Thus, if I have accepted in my heart that my employer or, my husband, my investments, my business or the economy is my source, without realizing it, I have become a slave to the spirit of Mammon.
When God is my source, then money becomes my slave to be pressed into service for the Kingdom of God.
Money should rightly be the means by which to serve God, Who is the end or the goal. When money is empowered as a source of life then God becomes the means by which Christians hope to get money. This is many times a very subtle distinction.
If God is truly my source, then my employer, investments, bank account, or spouse is merely the channel through whom my current provision comes from God. Thus if I receive news that my job will terminate or the economy fails, I am not terrorized by fear of lack of provision, as the source (God) is still the same. He is simply changing the channel of my provision.
However, God’s plan was for money to pursue us. We are not meant to be working to make money, but rather to be looking for ways to release money and make it work for us. If money is the determining factor for you to do something, then you are for sale. If you are for sale, the devil will find your price.
“Heavenly Father, thank You for revealing to us (me) the influence that the spirit of Mammon has had in our (my) life. Lord, we (I) renounce the allegiance that this spirit has had in our (my) heart(s). We (I) purposefully break the power of the spirit of Mammon in our lives (my life) and over our (my) finances. We (I) revoke today any authority that we (I) have given Mammon, and we (I) give that authority to Jesus Christ alone. Lord, forgive us (me) for focusing on money instead of on You. We (I) ask you, Lord to renew our (my) mind(s) to the truth that You are the source of our (my)
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Sparrow Faith is the initial foundation upon which all other financial operations in the Kingdom of God must be based.
Sowing and reaping is a correct biblical principle, but not to be used for getting ones needs met. The way this principle is frequently taught nullifies God's grace and makes the meeting of your needs dependent upon your works, not upon God's love.
Sparrow Faith is the foundational corner stone of Christian financial structure. This is an absolute trust, confidence, and leaning of one's entire personality upon God's love and provision. Thus, the provision that I now receive must be understood in the context of Sparrow Faith as a gift from God, not as something due me. If I work forty hours per week for an employer, Sparrow Faith says that I am working as unto God not unto man. The money I receive from my employer is not my due from him, but rather is provision made available to me by grace as a gift from my Father
loves me. This fact then makes God my source of provision and my employer merely delegated by God as the current channel through which my provision comes.
Therefore, my provision is secure. God may simply use a different channel through which to provide for my needs. Many people have thought that provision necessarily must be in the form of money. This is not true. God could provide for you a house, car, food, an airplane, whatever you need to fulfill your calling, all without money. Again, Mammon continually promotes the message that power for life is in money. God provided food for Elijah (1 Samuel 17), food, clothing and housing for Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9), food for five thousand people through Jesus, all without money.
Once again, Sparrow Faith is a key foundational principle. When this is not in place in a Christian's life, he will not see money as a tool with which to serve God, but rather he will only see the purchasing power of the money in exchange for goods and services which he needs. Let me give you a couple of practical examples.
remember seeing a survey done by Christian Retailers Magazine back in 1990 regarding the usage of money among Charismatic Christians worldwide. This survey found that the average Charismatic Christian gave into the Kingdom $15.60 per year, or about $0.30 per week. However, the same group was found to spend $1.87 per week on Christian books, videos, cassettes, gifts, and conventions. Apparently, Charismatic Christians worldwide find far more value in purchasing “Christian stuff” than they do in giving toward the preaching of the gospel.
have noticed that in the lives of many Christians there is a tendency for great fear to come upon them at the times of provision channel changes. I believe that it is important for us to know that the channel and place of provision will change for most of us many times in our lives, but the source of provision remains the same.
By the time the water in the brook dried up, Elijah had probably already learned that termination of provision through a particular channel is indicative of a channel change being made by God. Sure enough, the word of the Lord very quickly followed the drying up of the brook. Most Christians are thrown into a panic every time a particular channel that God has been using for provision dries up. Most people at these times are gripped by the spirit of Mammon and instantly become atheists. They begin frantically striving in their own strength to solve their provision problem. Sparrow Faith,
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Neither God, nor Elijah was after her flour and oil. God was after her faith. He wanted to be her source. I believe that many times this same thing is true regarding men of God receiving offerings today. Some people feel that they are after the money. Not all have right motives, but I believe that most of the time the man of God is not after people's money. He and God are after their faith. Faith in God releases
When the widow did what Elijah asked her to do, she released a supernatural miracle of God. The oil and flour did not run out for many days. She learned to live by trusting the word of the Lord instead of material possessions.
are extremely clogged and leaky. Most of what God puts down the pipe never makes it out the other end. If
Sparrow Faith is not established, fear causes most of the resource to be collected in the pipeline. If there is massive debt then much of the resource is siphoned out of the pipeline in the form of interest. If there is not a fixed budget for personal consumption, then most of the resource is consumed on making a bigger, better and more comfortable pipe. This must be very frustrating for the Lord.
We have found that many times non-Christians have a better sense of living along the third river than do Christians. We have found unbelievers who have learned to live with a closed circle budget and are really already living along the third river, while their Christian neighbors are still living along the first or second rivers believing God for “the wealth of the wicked to be transferred to the righteous.” I
In reality, whatever water is flowing down your river right now is probably about the amount that God finds you faithful to manage.
If you desire to manage a greater portion of God’s resources as a steward, this will require that you allow God to change you significantly on the inside. You will first need to learn to be faithful over what you have been given to manage now. The Lord can then bring about the necessary change in your thinking and perceptions of life to be able to understand how to manage greater amounts of resources in His Kingdom.
The faster I can learn to build canals and channel resources into the Kingdom the faster I qualify myself to handle more resources.
believe that the Lord is simply looking for people with a credible track record, not people who are merely full of good intentions for the future. “When I have more money, I will give thus and such,” they say, as they continue to mismanage what they have now.
live on the third river give and invest first, and spend what is left. People on the first and second rivers spend first and give and invest what is left.
Heavenly Father, thank You that You are totally faithful to provide for us (me) because You love us (me). Again, we (I) renounce the spirit of Mammon and any influence we (I) have allowed it to have in our (my) lives (life). We (I) ask You to give us (me) a deep knowing inside of the reality of Sparrow Faith. We (I) desire to live along the Third River and to qualify ourselves (myself) to manage greater amounts of Your resources. Forgive us (me) for the mismanagement of the past. Forgive us (me) for working for money, instead of directing money to work for us (me) to accomplish Your
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