From Dream to Destiny: The Ten Tests You Must Go Through to Fulfill God's Purpose for Your Life (22 page)

It really bothers me when I see believers struggling financially and then blaming God for their situation. Some people even reach a place of such discouragement that they don’t believe God wants to bless them. They blame God, as if He is letting them down—and yet the reason they are struggling financially is because they have violated scriptural principles with their unbridled spending.

They are not content as God commanded us to be, so they live above their means. Then they end up borrowing money that they should not be borrowing, just to support that lifestyle. Because of their own poor financial management, they end up in trouble—and then they wonder why God doesn’t seem to be blessing them the way that they think He should. They blame God for not coming through. But their financial problems are their own fault, not God’s. They have fallen prey to the
deceitfulness
of riches.

Don’t Be Deceived

Yes, riches can actually be deceitful. First Timothy 6:9-10 tells us that riches can cause people to fall into a snare and to stray from the faith. Jesus put it this way:

Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful (Mark 4:18-19).

Jesus says riches have an ability to deceive us. He goes on to say the deceitfulness of riches can even
choke the Word of God
that has been planted in our hearts and make that Word unfruitful. In other words, the deceitfulness of riches can stop the Word of God from producing good fruit in our lives as God intended.

The deceitfulness of riches has even caused some people to stray from their faith! Paul says, “Some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1 Tim. 6:10). People have abandoned their families because of money. Some have actually abandoned the Church because of money.

I have known people who have tried attending church and giving—because they think doing so will automatically bring them financial blessing. When that doesn’t work for them, they just abandon the church and go somewhere else. They heard someone preaching about the blessings that come from giving and decided to try it, but the motive
for their giving had nothing to do with a pursuit of the heart of God. Their motive was to get rich! Do you think God’s blessing is going to be poured out on that sort of giving?

God says that if we have food and clothing—in other words, if our basic physical needs are met—we are to be content (see 1 Tim. 6:8). But riches have the ability to deceive us.

I am sad to say that, as a pastor and a minister, I have the opportunity to witness that on a regular basis. For more than 20 years now I have been counseling people about their finances, and I am still shocked to hear about the trouble some believers get themselves into. They come to church every week, and they (supposedly) read the Bible every week. And yet they are not applying the most basic precepts of God’s Word to their financial decisions. They are not even applying common sense!

If you think that sounds a bit harsh, let me give you just one example. When we receive requests for financial assistance, quite often it is to help someone make a car payment. Our staff was ministering to a couple that wanted us to make their car payments. So we asked them, “Well, how much are your car payments?”

“One is $600, and the other one is $500,” they replied.

“Hmm. That amounts to $1,100 per month just for your car payments then, doesn’t it?” we said. “And how much is your income each month?”

“Three thousand, three hundred a month.”

“So $1,100 of your $3,300 monthly income is going to car payments?” Please understand—you simply can’t do that! I don’t know how they came to believe that they could have car payments in that amount on that monthly income, but the numbers simply do not add up. This is not rocket science or even a deep spiritual revelation—this is common sense!

I am shocked at how deeply in debt many young couples are today. And the reason they are under this crushing load of debt is the expensive cars they drive and the pricey apartments (not even the homes!) they rent. They don’t really have the income to live that way; but pride, the love of money and the need for instant gratification will not allow them to choose a car or an apartment that fits their financial reality.

I just need to speak the plain truth to some people, though they may not like it.

Whatever happened to driving an affordable, reliable car? Whatever happened to buying a two- or three-year-old car that has already taken the biggest drop in depreciation? Whatever happened to driving an older car back and forth to work, because that is all you do with it—and then having one nice car for other purposes? These are all wisdom principles that we can follow to help us live below our means. Joseph understood these principles, and he utilized them as he saved during the years of plenty!

If you make enough money to drive expensive cars and live in an expensive home, that is fine. But if you don’t make that kind of income, don’t buy those expensive vehicles and live in those expensive homes. Don’t live above your means!

As long as I am giving examples of living above your means, let me share something that I see all too often, and I admit that it bothers me. I see people spending $4 for a cup of coffee—and they have two cups of that pricey coffee every day! Now if you’re making $100,000 a year, then you may be able to spend $8 a day on coffee.

If you are living on 60 to 70 percent of your income and have enough extra money to do that, then spend $8 a day on coffee. But if you are living above your means on credit card debt, it is absolutely foolish to spend $4 on a cup of coffee! I don’t care how many of your friends are sitting there at that trendy coffee shop! If your budget does not make room for that on a regular basis, then stop going.

I have had younger people be a bit shocked and appalled that I would suggest such a sacrifice. But that is how you live below your means and save up as you invest in your future.

Joseph understood the principles of budgeting and of saving for the future. And because Joseph was such a wise manager of material things, God placed him in charge of the food supply for millions of people. Being faithful in the area of money was essential to Joseph’s stepping into his destiny. And it is equally essential for every one of us.

Jesus said that if we are faithful in that which is least, He would set us over much (see Luke 16:10). If we cannot faithfully manage the
finances with which God has blessed us, how can we expect to manage the destiny He has promised us?

Luke 16:11 is very clear: “Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?” This really sums up the Prosperity Test. Our destinies are all about handling the true riches of the Kingdom. It seems like Jesus is saying, “If you can’t handle money, how will you be able to handle your spiritual destiny?”

It is possible you may be feeling convicted after reading this. I know many people have been living above their means for years, and it has virtually become a lifestyle. If so, I want to ask you to allow the Holy Spirit to work in your heart. Allow the principles that you have just read to change your thinking about finances—and to change the way you are living.

This message can change your life if you take it to heart and decide to do something about it. If you make the decision to live below your means, even if you have to downsize for a season, you will be so grateful 10 years from now.

Because I am a pastor and I love people, my heart is burdened when I see the financial difficulties many of God’s people are living with, especially the younger generation. It breaks my heart when I see the places they are living, the vehicles they are driving and the clothes they are wearing, because I know most of them are doing it entirely on debt. They are digging a hole for themselves that may take years to dig out of.

I’m not trying to condemn anyone with this teaching—but I do pray that the conviction of the Holy Spirit will help those in that situation to repent. I pray that they will change their way of living, that they will change their mind about the way they are managing their money—because this is so important to their destinies in God.

Each of us has a spiritual destiny God has planned for our lives. But there are those who will not reach their destinies if they do not get their finances under control. Debt and financial pressure can keep believers in bondage and hold them back from doing the things God has called them to do. Some people have already missed opportunities to do great things for the kingdom of God because of poor financial decisions.
Some have even missed opportunities to have the desires of their heart answered because poor financial management has hindered their path.

But God never intended for us to miss out on realizing our God-given dreams. And God will give us everything we need to fulfill the destiny to which He has called us. The question is: What will we do with the things He has given us?

Let God be first in your finances. Honor Him with the firstfruits of all your increase. Make a budget, live below your means, and learn to wait for the good things that God has promised. When you have been found faithful in handling money, you will pass the Prosperity Test. Then God will be able to promote you, just as He did Joseph, and use you as a channel to distribute His wealth and resources to a hurting and a destitute world.

And reaching a hurting world is the first thing on your Father God’s mind when He is dreaming about your destiny. So walk in it!

C
HAPTER
N
INE

What would it be like to be sold as a slave? To narrowly escape being murdered by your own brothers—only to have them sell you into a lifetime of bondage and degradation? As Joseph trudged through the desert to Egypt, hot sand probably stung his eyes, ropes cut through his tender skin, and the cruelty of the traders who had bought him must have seemed small compared to the cruelty and betrayal he had experienced at the hands of his own brothers.

What was going through Joseph’s mind as he made that long and painful journey to Egypt? As he stood on an auction block, and was sold to the highest bidder? As he served in the house of Potiphar as a slave? And finally, when he became a husband and a father far from the family he had loved, alone in a pagan land, all because of his brothers’ sin and hatred?

Did Joseph have valid reasons to feel betrayed and abused? Most certainly, yes! What had been done to Joseph was not an accident or some sort of misunderstanding. It was treachery.

The Pardon Test: Forgiving Wrongs

The suffering Joseph endured came about because of the deliberate cruelty and malice of others. So Joseph most certainly had reason to be
hurt, to be angry and to want justice done. Joseph could have spent those long years consumed with bitterness. He could have spent endless nights going over and over in his mind the horror of what had been done to him. But Joseph did not do that.
Joseph made the decision to forgive.

How do we know that? The answer is quite simple. We know Joseph made the decision to forgive because we’re told “the LORD was with Joseph” (Gen. 39:2). We know Joseph prospered in everything he did (see Gen. 39:3). And that cannot happen if you are holding unforgiveness in your heart. If you are harboring unforgiveness, the presence of God will leave your life. You will simply not be able to move forward into the destiny God has for you.

If Joseph had been walking in unforgiveness, the blessing and presence of God would not have been with him—and that would have kept Joseph from stepping into the destiny God had prepared for him all along.

This is the Pardon Test, and every one of us will have to face this test and pass it. Just like Joseph, every one of us will have to deal with hurtful relationships and wrong, even malicious, behavior. But Joseph passed the Pardon Test with flying colors. Let’s read about it.

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying. ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.”’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them (Gen. 50:15-21).

This passage gives us the very first appearance of the word “forgive” in the Bible. In Hebrew that word means “absolve” or “release fully.” But most of the time that word is not translated “forgive.” More often it is translated “bear up” and “lift up.”
¹

I find that interesting—because that is exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did with all of our sins. He
bore
our sins. He
lifted them off
us. When He forgave us of our sins, He took the burden of sin from us and put it on Himself (see Isa. 53:6-12). That is what the word “forgive” really means. It means to take a burden off someone completely and totally. It does not mean to take only part of it off or to just help him or her carry it. It means to lift it off entirely.

The message Joseph’s brothers claimed to be bringing from their father asked Joseph to do just that. Their message begged Joseph to
lift off
his brothers the sin they had done against him. Their message asked Joseph to forgive them completely—in other words, to absolve them of guilt and to pardon them.

I really like the word “pardon”—because when you pardon others, you are not holding anything they have done against them anymore. And that is the way God forgives us. When God forgives us, He is not holding our sins against us anymore!

Now think about this:
Is that the way you are forgiving other people?
Are you forgiving them the same way God has forgiven you? Are you releasing them, absolving them and pardoning them—fully and freely, as God does? That is true forgiveness. In order to step into your destiny, you must forgive
the same way God has forgiven you.
Until you do that, you will never fulfill your destiny!

Let me tell you what unforgiveness is like: Holding unforgiveness in your heart is like drinking poison, in the hopes it will hurt the other person. Unforgiveness does not hurt the other person—it hurts you! You are the one who is really going to be hurt when you hold unforgiveness in your heart! Unforgiveness will cause you to live in torment.

Jesus describes this for us in Matthew 18, where He tells the story of the servant who refused to forgive his fellow servant. This is one of the most profound teachings on forgiveness in the Bible, and I encourage you to read the entire passage. Jesus says the master of the unforgiving
servant “delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due” (Matt. 18:34).

Jesus said that when you refuse to forgive, you will be tortured or tormented. You will be in bondage until you release that person. The person who hurt you will not be in bondage or torment—you will!

When we hold unforgiveness in our hearts, it hurts us. But it will do more than hurt us and torture us. It will also hinder us from moving forward into our destiny. So if we are going to step into the things God has planned for our lives, we must deal with unforgiveness and leave it behind. We must bury it in the sea of forgetfulness. We must learn to forgive as God has forgiven us.

Keys to Forgiveness: Release, Receive and Believe

I believe the Holy Spirit has shown me some keys about walking in God’s forgiveness. In order to forgive as God has forgiven us, we must learn to release, receive and believe.

Release

To forgive others completely is to release them from all charges against them. Even though what they have done is wrong, they are acquitted. They are no longer held guilty for the things they have done. True forgiveness does not continue to look for justice or vindication. True forgiveness releases the wrongdoers from the punishment they deserve.

Remember, this is the way God forgives us! Every one of us has sinned against God, and every one of us has deserved eternal separation from God as a result. But when God forgave our sins, He
released us
from the punishment we deserved. He is no longer holding our sins against us. And that is how He expects us to forgive one another. When we forgive as God forgives, we
release
the person fully.

Joseph made the choice to
release
his brothers and to forgive them completely for everything they had done to him. Joseph took the Pardon Test and passed it with flying colors. He had to make the choice to go on
with God or to be consumed with bitterness for the rest of his life—and he chose to move forward with the blessing of God.

Now, let me show you something interesting about this story. After their father, Jacob, died, Joseph’s brothers sent messengers to Joseph, saying,

Before your father died he commanded, saying, “Thus you shall say to Joseph: ‘I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.’ ” Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father (Gen. 50:16-17).

I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed this before, but the message Joseph’s brothers sent to him was steeped in manipulation! In the first place, Jacob never sent such a message to Joseph. The Bible does not say anything of the sort—it does not even state whether Jacob was ever told the full truth about what had happened to Joseph! What it does state quite clearly is that Joseph’s brothers were afraid that Joseph would finally take vengeance on them after their father died. They said to each other, “Father is dead. Maybe Joseph is going to repay us now” (see Gen. 50:15).

I believe these brothers sat around and made this message up word for word. I imagine their discussion going something like this.

We’ll try to get Joseph to believe that our father knew all about it, and that he still wanted Joseph to forgive us for what we did to him. Let’s throw in the word “
commanded
”—don’t say “ask,” that’s not strong enough. And don’t say, “Jacob commanded.” Say, “
Your father
” commanded—that will carry more weight. Oh, and don’t just say, “Your brothers.” Say,
“The servants of the God of your father.”
Let’s get God in on this thing—you know how much Joseph wants to honor God in everything.

I imagine they tried to get the wording exactly right. And for final emphasis, they said, “Before your father died he commanded” (Gen.50:16).
In other words, they wanted Joseph to believe this was the dying wish of his beloved father. Talk about manipulation!

Then their message said, “For they did evil to you” (Gen. 50:17). This was perhaps the most hurtful part of the entire message. Because there was never a
“we
did evil against you.” There was never an apology! Joseph’s brothers never asked for his forgiveness. They never went to him and said,
“We
did wrong.” They phrased it very indirectly, as though it was a message from their father, saying,
“They
did wrong.” And instead of going to Joseph themselves, they sent messengers (see Gen. 50:16).

This is what I am trying to show you: Sometimes those who have wronged us will realize it and apologize. Sometimes they will repent and change. But what if they do not? What if they continue to lie and manipulate? What if they never admit they have been wrong? What if they never change their ways? Can you forgive people even when they do not repent? That is a
bigger test.
That is the true test of forgiveness.

You see, it is one thing to forgive someone who has wronged you when that person admits it. When he or she comes to you in brokenness and humility and says, “I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I said that. I was tired today, and I said something I didn’t mean. Please forgive me.”

When someone is truly repentant, it is easy to say, “Yes, I’ll forgive you.”

But what about the people who refuse to repent? What about the people who continue to lie and manipulate—who walk in pride and won’t admit they have done anything wrong? Will you forgive them? Can you forgive them? That is the true test of forgiveness! We must forgive, regardless of whether those who have wronged us ever realize what they have done or repent of it. We must
release
them—and then leave the situation in God’s hands.

It is very important to understand this—because if we refuse to forgive, we are putting ourselves in the place of God. God is the only One who has the right to hold something against someone. God is the Judge! You and I are not the judge—God is! And God is the only One who has never wronged anyone.

Joseph understood this truth. That is why he told his brothers, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?” (Gen. 50:19). Joseph understood
that only God had the right to judge his brothers’ actions—because
only God is truly just.
God has justified us by the blood of His Son. But He is the only One who is just enough to forgive sin.

The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). God is just. God is the Judge. He has forgiven us of our sins, and when He cleansed us of our sins, we became sons of the Judge. As sons of the Judge, we are commanded to forgive and to release—but we are not the judge!

Any time you hold unforgiveness against someone, you have set yourself up as judge and jury. You have made yourself the one who determines that person’s guilt or punishment. When you do that, you are taking the place of God. When you make yourself the judge, you are leaving God out of it.