#361 | Pastor Jim Baker | When God Invades Your Finances

All right. Have you ever been confused about money? What it is, what it means, what it means if you're a believer? Like, I remember growing up, money was really confusing, and I just thought if I just never had to deal with money, life would be so simple, so easy. However, what I've learned about that has changed my entire life. And today's guest, I think, is going to help you do the same. I am so excited because I have Jim Baker on today. He is the author of How Heaven Invades your Finances. He's also the Pastor at Zion Fellowship. So I want you to stop what you're doing. If you're driving, please do not stop doing that. Continue driving. But I want you to really focus listening, because I think today's podcast could totally change your financial future. Jim, I'm so excited to talk with you today.

Hey, Hannah. Good to be here. I know some people listening, they're thinking, if Jim Baker's talking to me about my finances, that's my worst nightmare.

But.

It'S Jim Bakker with 1K, no Tammy Faye, so let's just get that out of the way. So. Yeah.

I wonder how many times you've had to say that.

It's unbelievable. Yeah. So it seems like people under 45 ask me if I'm Jim and Roland. Heidi and Roland Baker son. You know, Heidi Baker, the missionary.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Then everyone over 45 asked me if I'm Jim and Tammy's son. So no relation to either, but I respect all of them.

So, yep, he is his own Jim Baker.

I am my own.

Give it to him. He is.

People say, are you the Jim Baker? I'm like, well, my wife thinks so. So, you know, that's all that matters.

All the matters. Hey, to her, I'm the only one. So that's beautiful. I want to talk today about money because a little bit of my story is, I. Seriously, this is kind of comical because I remember when I was in college, I remember thinking, if I just marry someone who understands money, that's. That's my goal. Like, you don't have to deal with anything about it, right? I don't ever have to deal with it. And so God, in his profound sense of humor, had me marry someone even more financially illiterate than I was. So we were like, you know, getting married, starting out, we were, like, dumb and dumber with credit cards. Like, we had no clue what an asset was or a liability or, like, credit, that's cool. Let's use it.

That's free money. Yeah, that's Right.

Be funny. We don't have to worry about it. How much fun is this? So it bites you the butt and there's a truck pulling furniture out of your house. So it was not fun. But did you like. I remember coming across your book how heaven evades your finances. And by the way, guys, if you have not followed Jim online, do that. He's got a great resource, a lot of great videos there at their church's website. So Zion Christian Fellowship, make sure you check that out. Great videos there, great sermon series. And I tune into your podcast, tune into your service series. So I'm like, oh, oh my gosh, this is amazing. Where was this when. When I was younger and needed it. But then I realized we had.

I didn't have it when I was younger.

Yeah, I know. So, so we, it's funny because we have the same birthday, born around the same time. So we kind of evolved together in this. So share a little bit about when did you start really becoming curious about money? Why is this even a subject for you?

Well, I mean, kind of origin story. So you know, I was a pastor, three kids, married and just weren't making a whole lot, you know, so kind of stereotype associate pastor or some say socio pastor, but I prefer the former. And so we're, you know, we're making, you know, we're just barely making enough, you know, some. There was years where we had to go on wic, you know, and get like, you know, supplemental stuff. It was just very humbling. And my brother in law convinced me to take a real estate course and so it was $5,000 and we had to fly down to Texas. So we put it on our credit cards. Not recommending, I'm just telling the story and went down there and we started, we, we did everything that the guy said. We went radical in on it and we, I made double my salary that summer and so I was like, man, this is awesome. But then I started spending like I was going to continue making that. So I started doing real estate full time. We're rocking and rolling. We're buying about four houses a month. We had a whole team. And then the stock market crashed and the real estate market crashed like 060708 that whole time. So we ended up losing all of our houses, ended up filing bankruptcy. And so it was just a very humbling time. It was like, God, I do not even know what's happening. This doesn't fit my theology. And so then I started pastoring a Church in 2008 and we were going after healing on an all out ballistic assault. So we're like, we're waiting in handicapped spots at Walmart knowing whoever pulled in would need prayer. Like, I'm not saying we had wisdom, but we had zeal. Like we're showing up, this is true, it's all true. We're showing up in emergency room.

I love it.

Yeah, we're showing up in emergency rooms uninvited, you know, praying for people. We had a baby raised from the dead in the womb and the emergency room, we've had multiple people raised from the dead through people at our church. None of them are dying on Sunday mornings. We don't have like an Ananias and Sapphire ministry. So don't be afraid to come. But we, you know, we've seen blind eyes open, deaf ears open. I mean just last week we had two people with metal on their ankles. The metal dissolved out of it. They got all their movement back. So we're just, we were, we're just going after miracles like crazy. And the lord said about 2011, he said, Jim, I want you to go after finances the way you went after healing. I'm like, seriously? God, health and wealth with the name Jim Baker. Like, are you serious? And, and so I'm like, you got the wrong guy. Like, like I was, you know, like I'm still carrying the shame from the bankruptcy. I don't feel like I know much. You know, I grew up in the 80s where it's so a Toyota to reap a Ferrari, you know, so, so a Timex to Reaper, Rolex and all sorts of foolishness. And so I took a year and I read about 100 books on finances. I listened I don't know how many audios, meditated on the scriptures. And I plan on doing a six part sermon series, ended up doing an 18 part sermon series. That part of that came is what the book came out of. And we had about 25 to 50%. It's kind of hard to judge. People within 12 months in our church got completely out of debt. Most of them paid off their houses. So like how on earth could that happen? Well 3 John 2 says, you prosper as your soul prospers.

Yeah.

So amazing things happen when you begin to see that money is just another way to be intimate with Jesus. It's not about chasing dollars, it's about pursuing vision. For the pro is having, it's having the provision for your vision. So we're seeking vision, we're pursuing God and we're learning that wealth is attracted, it's not pursued and it's not like you just sit there and think positive thoughts and checks go into your mailbox. But God said, he blessed the work of your hands, not your butt on the couch. And so as you're partnering with God and adding massive value to your environment, wealth is attracted to value. And so as our people began to get ideas from God. So you don't have a money problem. You've got idea problems. And here's the good news. God has infinite ideas. He's got a trillion ways to accomplish his will for you, no matter how bad you've messed it up. And so, yeah, we just began to. I don't want to just say, learn the principles, because principles without the Prince is more like witchcraft than kingdom. So it's not about just.

Okay, wait, back up the bomb.

All right, all right, all right.

Back up that.

I know I'm saying stuff here.

You're dropping bombs left and right. Like. I'm like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, trying to keep up with all this. This is amazing. Say that again.

Principles without the Prince is more like witchcraft than kingdom. So so many people, like, just give me the principles, okay? If I sow generously, I reap generously, so you can sow generously. Here's the deal. God's after your heart. The world says, show me the money. God says, show me the motive. God would rather you give 1% with a heart of love and faith and generosity than he would have you give 10% with a gun to your head. Worried that God's going to send Guido to break your kneecaps. He's going to send the devour to eat your crops. He's God the Father, not the Godfather. And so we've got to. We've got to purify our giving. We've got to see how good of a dad he is. We've got to see money is just another way to be intimate with Jesus. And so it's not about just taking these principles and through our willpower, implementing them. No, no, we get to do this whole thing with God. We get to use his ideas and his strength and, you know, and we get to step into doors that he opens. And I'm not saying it's just all this magical. And it's. It's so easy. No, no, but it's fun. And the thing is, fun is you become a different person in the process. See, for every hundred people that can pass the test of lack, there's only one that can pass the test of plenty. So, see, God's more concerned that you become the kind of person who can carry the weight of blessing without it crushing you. He's actually more concerned about the person that you become than the number of zeros in your bank account.

That is so powerful. That is so. Oh, my gosh. I'm just processing everything right now. That is so good. And that idea of being fitted and perfected and strengthened, like, we understand about, okay, I go to the gym and I should expect a level of pain.

Right?

Like, we know if I'm going to, like, build up my muscle, then I've got to experience the pain in the process. I got to push one more rep. I got to show up and do the work. And we don't resist pain that way. However, when we think about our spiritual journey, how God is strengthening us and growing us, we think, oh, no, I don't. This shouldn't be uncomfortable. This isn't Christian.

Yeah, this is a Christian. Yeah. Like, the reason God sent the Holy Spirit to be your comforter is because you're not going to get your comfort from your circumstances all the time when you're following him.

Right. That's so funny. Like, we sins a comforter, so we should say, wait, wait, what are you talking about here?

I see what you're doing. Well, let's talk about this. Let's talk about the spiritual gymnasium. You know, James 1, verses 2 through 4. Consider pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. So, like, like, hold on. Like, heaven has got a whole different perspective. Counted all's joy when I got trials. Like. Like, I'm going to call up Hannah. I'm going to be like, hannah, I got a trial today. She's gonna be like, happy birthday to you. Like, no one's saying that. Right? Why would you do that? He says, because the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance Must finish his work. You ready for this? They may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. So the enemy's plan for a trial is to take something away from you. God's plan for a trial is to add something to your life. And so people are. They're cursing their destiny. They're like, God, give me an upgrade. And there's a trial that's literally the stepping stone into that very upgrade that you have. But you won't get heaven's perspective and ask for wisdom. Because the next verse is, hey, if anybody lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all. His hand is open. It's not like, oh, God, I need wisdom.

Right? Right. That is so Good. I remember one time going through, I mean, it was a big financial trial and it was hard. Like, I'm just, I'm just laying it out for you. It was.

I hate them. I hate.

It, hate it. And it was like I was constantly trying to get that belief right. We shouldn't have to deal with this. We shouldn't have to deal with financial hardship. And I was going through this and it was just like so gut wrenching having to stay in faith and belief even though I'm not seeing anything happen right. In the physical realm. And it just, it just hit me that every, like this is a valley. I'm walking through it, but it's a valley. And I remember when one of my mentors told me, hannah, every mountain has to have a valley by definition. I'm thinking, what if this period right now perfecting me is to enable me to climb that next mountain? Because growth happens in a curve pattern. You know, like we have to have the dips in the, and the, in the valley. I mean, we have to have the valleys in the mountains. We have to have the dips and the, and the, in the, in the high places. But we don't want to go dip down. We don't want to walk through that valley of the shadow of death. And it does feel like because you're dying to that physical provision, you know, you can't make your, your finances your source, which is what we do so many times. That's why we can't serve God. And Mammon is. It's almost that switching of the source when we don't see the provision. Now we're almost full, forced to grow spiritually and now stay connected to our source, which is God. But in that process, we become a different person. We showed up, we did the work and now we could be promoted. That's how God works, by promotion, not just by placement.

Yeah, yeah. So like, so there's miracles in the desert, right? And, but the miracles in the desert were to sustain them. The miracles in the promised land were to advance them. And so the miracles in the desert, the lesson was, nobody can take better care of me than Dad. I mean, there's, there's no water, there's no, there's no food stores, there's no, there's no anything. So that, but that lays the foundation for the promotion. And so every, the only people that made it through the promised land were the ones who made it through the desert. And so there's people listening today. I know I've had lots of these in my Life where they're going through a desert season. You know, it's like, I don't remember the old redneck jokes that Jeff Fox where they tell you, you know, you're a redneck if you know, possums, the other white meat. Well, it's like, you know, you're in the desert if every time you get extra mana, it spoils. Remember, they can only gather for the day, except on Saturday, right? And so it's like, oh, we just get enough extra and the car breaks down. We get enough extra and the kids need braces. That's the desert season. Don't despise the desert season, but also don't get your identity from it. Get your identity from who? God says, just recognize, this is training. I'm learning. Nobody can take better care of me than dad. So as they're getting ready to go in the desert, he gives them this. This verse in Deuteronomy 8, Jeremy 8 is really almost a heartbreaking chapter, because God is like, I am going to bless you. There's going to be copper in your fields, and I'm going to bless your kneading bowl. Bless you going in, bless you going out. You know, bless, bless, bless, bless. Then he says this in verse 17, he says, remember the Lord your God, don't forget me. It's like, you know, there's all this blessing. It's going to be. It's going to be so easy to, you know, you know, he says, remember, don't forget. It's the. For it is I who've given you the power to create wealth. Don't say, by the work of my hand I've done this. And it would be. It's so easy because it was like, provision, provision, provision. And now when they got in the desert, God's blessing, the work of their hands, not their butt on their couch. A land with milk and honey. Well, milk meant they had to learn how to milk goats. They hadn't done that for 40 years. Honeymoon. They had to learn how to keep beasts, you know. So now they are taking ventures they didn't plan and houses they didn't build and slaying giants and taking down walled cities. They're doing all these things and it'd be so easy to go, wow, look what I do. Because in the desert, you can't take any credit. There's nothing you can do, Right?

Right.

That's the foundational trust. And so here's the deal. When you don't have much money, you need to draw close to God to find out what he wants to do with what you have. When you have a whole bunch of money, you need to draw close to God to find out what he wants to do with what you have. It's the exact same thing. And the desert lays the foundation for you to be able to recognize when it doesn't look like you need God. Because, hey, I got vineyards now I didn't plant. I got houses I didn't build. I got this favor, I've got these job opportunities. This real estate deal fell on my, on my lap. And like, it doesn't look like you need, but you got to have that underlying radical trust. Nobody can take better care of me than dad. I recognize my source. So important.

Oh, that's so good. That's so good. And that's why we can't have two sources. Like we are always tempted to plug in to our resource, which is money. But that's just the commerce system that's used in the natural realm, like the supernatural realm, uses faith, uses our belief, like we have to stay plugged into that source. And it's almost a constant reminder, only because I've come through those valleys that money is a resource, not a source. My source is God. And it comes through people into my life. He doesn't throw it in my lap. I don't know, I mean, maybe he does for some people, but he's never, like, I've never looked in my lap and found, you know, like a hundred dollar bill ever. What happens is he gives me ideas. You take it to market, you provide value. Money comes from man into your bosom and now you're blessed.

That's it. Yeah, I think a lot of Christians are waiting for money to fall on their head like ripe cherries falling off of a tree. But that's, that's not how it works. And they're waiting for this, this big check. If I, boy, if I can just sow the right seed in this offering, then I'm going to have this money, right? But here's the thing is, you know, they're waiting for this million dollar check. And if I was a millionaire, I'd give away 90 live on 10. Listen, if you're not generous now, you're not going to be generous in some fantasy scenario.

So good.

And so I lost my track. I thought, here, where did I go with this? I had a good.

We were talking about like, he never puts, like money, it drops on your head, puts in your lap. It's providing value to the world and then out of them comes the money. That's Given into you. Like, that's how he works.

Yeah, that's it. I totally lost my thought. I haven't had breakfast.

Okay.

Oh, well, rewind to listen to some of the. I just got water here. So. Yeah, rewind to listen to those other good things. That sounded good when I had some calories in my brain. So.

Yeah, not enough. You need all those good nootropics. You need to get that stuff in your body.

I've got protein bars here. I just haven't gotten to them yet.

Okay. Okay. That's what. Yeah, I wouldn't want to eat and record a podcast, but that's, That's. That's such a powerful concept of relaxing into this belief that he is El Shaddai, that he is all sufficient. He's my source. But I'm telling you, Jim, unless you go through that valley, you can't get to that place because no one has worked through powerful money beliefs in a place where every. All the needs are met. I've never met. I've never known that, like, maybe it has existed. But he's always shown me his principles, like you said in the desert, because then you have no other option. Like, I just don't think you can build muscle sitting on the couch and. Well, maybe you can, but I don't.

I don't. I don't know.

Contraction. You know, you can do some bicep curls or something, but then you're not sitting right.

You're still doing something, right?

Yeah, you're still doing something, but you can't build the money. Belief to prosper financially in this world and that place where everything's met because you don't have to really work through any belief challenge.

Yeah, those difficult circumstances is how you put weight on the bar. And we don't ask for it.

You know, we don't want that.

All of God's trials are pop quizzes, right? There's never God's, like, okay, okay, listen, you're going to have a little vacation here afterwards, you can have another little break. But in between here, so get ready. You know, it's only going to last three weeks and, you know, no, no, no. It's always like, oh, boy. And so. But yeah, yeah, it gives their, Their blessings. They really are. I mean, I. Again, I'm. I'm not asking for one. I don't pray for trials. I don't. You know, we're not going to do a prayer of impartation for trials at the end of this, you know, but, you know, as far as I know, I was getting the mailbox money thing. You know, a lot of Christians are waiting for that million dollar check. But Proverbs says wealth quickly gained becomes a curse. I don't know how we as Christians miss that because we're always picturing this lightning strike event where all of our financial problems, this is why you see the trust fund babies that they are, they're a hot mess. Is because wealth quickly gain becomes a curse. You have to have the weight bearing capacity to carry that load. That's why, you know, people are talking about generational wealth and leaving inheritance for your children's children. You need to watch how you do that because if you give them financial independence, then without them building the character and the trust in God, it'll kill them. And so you have to do that a different way. You have to give them access to money that can advance them, but it doesn't, you know, like maybe you know, some type of trust fund where they, you know, they can get access to, you know, college or training or coaching or masterminds or real, you know, down payments for real estate or, you know, but don't give them, don't give it to them, you know, help them develop the knowledge and the capacity with it.

So yeah, so powerful. And we all, we all want the east, but we, we never have the growth. Yeah, like it just, it just doesn't happen. And, and I found like the more I've been able to learn about money, like through scripture, the more I realized that God's deepest desire is to bless us. He really truly wants to do that. It was his idea from the very beginning. He blessed us and then he said, be fruitful, multiply, go subdue the earth. I mean none of that happens. Our fruitfulness cannot happen as believers outside of the blessing. So if we realize, wait, I'm already blessed. I don't have to like beg God for blessing. I'm already blessed. It's the finished work. Now I can trust that God is giving me ideas to now prosper me. Like it happens. Deuteronomy 8:18, it tells us the blessing of the Lord creates wealth. Like he is the blessing and he doesn't add any toil to it. Like he now he gives us that ability to create wealth. So I think that's one big place that, that we need to help people. And I think people are tuning in today begging God for a blessing, begging God for financial providence or pay this bill. However, it's probably already inside of them. But it's scary to take the leap and say like, like when you signed up for the real estate course, you had to put that on a credit card. That was scary. You know, like doing things like that and being able to branch out and walk through a door and where your prosperity could be on the other side of that, he's saying, can you trust me enough to now step into this place where I can use you to bless the world so that the wealth pours in?

I love it. Yeah, I think you're absolutely nailing it. And, you know, blessings more powerful than a curse. You know, if a witch were to come on the show right now, boom, they came on, on the zoom screen here, and a witch were to pronounce a curse over your audience, more of them would have more. There'd be, there'd be many members, maybe not your audience, but in someone's audience. Christian church, that more people would be more worried about the curse that the witch had placed on them than the blessing that God has commanded over their finances. According to Deuteronomy 28 says he's commanded a blessing on your finances. People like, well, that's Old Testament. Well, yeah, thank God it's Old Testament because under the new covenant, we got better promises with a, with a, a better covenant. So that means you get all the promises of the Old Testament on the inside and the outside, you know, so it's not just limited and people. I remember I was in some, some church and this guy was giving an offering for if you want the blessing of Abraham, give so much money in this offering. I thought, what a bunch of garbage, the blessing.

Did you walk out? Did you stand up? Did you like what happened? No, you gotta.

I was sitting, I was sitting on the front row and our church was the ministry team for the speaker.

Oh.

And so the whole front row is looking down at me. And I just sat there with my arms folded, burning. And I thought, I don't. I. I didn't know what to do. I'll just be honest with you. And. But yeah, it was. Yeah, you're going to get the blessing of Abraham. And so. But the blessing of Abraham is, is one of the pictures of salvation. We have pictures of rest. We, you know, there's, there's lots of different pictures of the finished work, but one of them is the blessing of Amen. What was the blessing? Abraham. God was with him in everything that he did, and he prospered. And it wasn't dependent upon his performance. It was dependent on God's promises. This is crazy. See, Abraham, I mean, like, he remember, so he's like, I wouldn't let Abraham be a deacon in the church. He's like, Abraham. Abraham's like, sarah, you're beautiful and I'm not going to die for you. So let's just tell everyone if they. If they want to have sex with you, that you're my sister. And then so dirty old Pharaoh says it, he gives him over to him. And then remember, you know, everyone goes barren. You know, Pharaoh has the dream. And as he leaves God, Pharaoh blesses Abraham with more, more increase. And God calls Abraham a prophet. I'm like a prophet. He's a liar. He's a liar. But why? Because, you know, Abraham, I'm not saying go out and do bad things. I'm just saying God is not blessing us on the basis of our performance. He's blessing us on the basis of Jesus performance.

Right.

My kids were little, you know, they brought the report cards to us and we would give them money for A's and stuff like that. And so a lot of people are still coming to God with the report that God, I've had. I mean, you know, God, I deserve to say I've been praying, I've been tithing. I've been doing this and that. We just told me the whole problem. You're coming to God with your report card. Under the new covenant, we come to Jesus with. Come to God with Jesus's report card. And he got all A pluses, even in the advanced placement classes, which is.

Good for me since I was put in special ed when I was in middle school. I mean, that's a relief.

There you go. There you go. Yeah. That's why I said I graduated. Thank the Lottie rather than summa cum laude. Right? So and so. Yeah. And so, I mean, that's just good news. And so I love that you're talking about the blessing. And that is. That's just. That's one of the pictures of our salvation. I'm not saying God wants every Christian to be a zillionaire, but he does want you to have more than enough resources to fulfill every divine assignment.

Yeah.

Enough left over to help others fulfill theirs. Fulfill theirs. Let me say it again. That's my definition of prosperity. You have more than enough resources to fulfill every divine assignment and enough left over to help others fulfill theirs. That means you're gonna, you know, the money is in proportion, your assignment. So we stay in our lane and God gives us the provision for our vision. God would be cruel and unjust if he gave. Hannah, if you gave you or anyone listening to this, gifts and dreams. And prophetic words and promises and then just pull back the provision and watch you squander. But he's not like that, you know, I mean the fact that he called himself El Shaddai, the God of infinite supply, Jehovah Jireh, our provider, that should have given us a big clue that, you know, he wasn't, you know, he's not Jehovah lackey or you know, you know, you know, El Scarcity. Oh, you know, like, you know, that should have given us some big clues just from his name.

Yeah.

I'm not saying these things to be silly. I'm saying it so we can anchor our. Some, some people are in a difficult circumstance right now and your hopelessness about the problem is a bigger problem than the problem.

Say that one more time because there are people in that situation. Say it again.

I get it. I've been there before. I have compassion. I mean I have, I have a whole, you know, I have a whole business dedicated and helping people get free from this stuff. But you're, you're, you're see hope. When you're hopeless about a situation, you're believing a lie. You have full permission to be hopeless about any situation that Heaven, Heaven is hopeless about. There's no emergency meeting of the Trinity, meeting over your finances, trying to figure out what to do, okay? And so the first thing you need to do is you need to break off that hopelessness. I wish there was an app on the phone that when you had hopelessness, it went off. It's like, hold on, oh, I'm believing lies?

Yes, yes.

When you believe truth about something, that's what a stronghold is. The stronghold is anything that's normal for you. That's not normal in the kingdom. It's not normal to have hopelessness. It's not normal to be in consumer debt that you can't pay off. It's not normal. Like there's no 30,000 year mortgages on the mansions in heaven, but you just believe it's normal. Everybody's got debt, everybody's got credit card, every. That's normal. When you go, hold on, this isn't normal, you know, God, God, one of his names is Redeemer. So it doesn't matter how big of a pit I'm in. He walks into that pit with me and walks me out in his strength, not my strength. And you're like, hold on, I got solutions for this.

You know, wow.

Yeah.

That is just so powerful. I want to camp out that just, I know we're coming up to the end of this podcast. But I want to. I want to help people who right now are feeling hopeless about their finances. Like, that just hit me on a different level when you said that hopelessness is anything that's normal in your life, like a stronghold. Anything that is normal in your life, that is not normal in the kingdom. And that is one of those. So here's someone who is like, I'm working hard. I'm praying over it. It just is such a struggle, Jim. And I can't not feel hopeless. That's just kind of this. This pit I've dug. How do you get out? Like, what would be the first step? Just for someone who's listening today, watching.

Today, if that's a good friend that came to me and said, I just can't do it, I would say this. Would you like me to partner with you on that belief? Should we say, okay, Lord, like, I can't do this? Okay, thank you, Jesus. We just thank you that she can't do this. Or give her a double portion of I can't do this. Like, like. Like, here's someone's. Like, when someone says, well, would you like me to come into agreement with you? Like, well, no. So. So first of all, you gotta. You gotta see we're not just talking about this foo foo manifesting thoughts. But you know what, right? No, you transform by renewing your mind, right?

Like Romans 12:2, baby. Romans 12, right?

And so, like, people think it's this foo foo esoteric thing. It can be, unless it's anchored in the reality of God. And then it's where it all starts, you know, literally how you access the invisible realm is for your thoughts, you know, I love Romans 12:2 in the New living translation. Change your life by changing the way you think. And so, so, yeah, the word of God comes in is, you know, and we. When we meditate on it, we're giving it that gestation time, though. The word for. For mind in the Old Testament. I'm sorry, the word for imagination in the Old Testament is the same word for womb. Now, I want you to get this picture. So your mind is the womb. The one of the word, the one of the Greek words, the New Testament for the word of God. This seed is sperma. So when the sperma of the word of God goes in the womb of your mind and you meditate on it, it gives it time to bear fruit. So I would encourage somebody to get some truth in your mind. Like you're believing lies. And so don't get your identity from your circumstances or your Past history. If I got my identity from my past history, I'm gonna go, oh, I'm that guy that went bankrupt. He didn't know how to manage risk. He didn't understand leverage. He. I just must not be, you know, supposed to be good with money. I'm, you know, I'm not good with money. I don't know if, you know, you know, there's just so many lies people believe, so many. I just encourage somebody. You need. You need to fill your mind with truth. I don't care if you got to get flashcards. And when some stupid thought comes, you're like, you know what God said? He's given me the power to create wealth. He's commanded a blessing over my finances, that though he was rich, yet for my sake, he became poor so that me, through his poverty, might become rich. When was Jesus poor? Six hours on the cross. God would no more rather have you in poverty than he would have you in adultery. He paid for you to come out of both. He called it the grace of the Lord Jesus that he became poor. And so people are like, well, let's talk about spiritual poverty. Well, that's not what it's talking about. The context of Second Corinthians 8, 9 is finances. The word used for rich is used of financial provision in every case in the New Testament when it. So Jesus, though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor so that you, through his poverty, might become rich. He paid for the forgiveness of your sins, the healing of your body, and the abundant provision, your finances, all on the same cross.

Dude, that is mic drop moment right there. Every more.

One more, real quick.

One more, one more. How did the curse do this all day?

I know. I love this stuff. I love that you're like. You're like, the Lord's showing you all this stuff, too. So the. So how did the curse of poverty. Poverty wasn't God's idea. You know, Adam and Eve didn't wake up with one apple. And I got. They woke up with a whole park full of food. And so the. So the curse of poverty came with thorns and thistles and sweat of the brow. What did Jesus take on the cross? Thorns and thistles. And he shed blood on his brow to break the curse of poverty. Dude, was it? Well, look at his inaugural sermon. The spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's anointing me to preach good news to the poor. Open blind eyes, set captives free. So what's the negative condition? Blind eyes. What's the Messiah going to do? Open them up. What's the negative condition? Captivity. What's he going to do? Set them free? What was the solution to poverty? The spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's anointing me to preach good news to the poor.

The good news, the good news of.

The gospel has the season it to pull people out of poverty.

Let's go. Let's go. I love this man. I would keep this guy. I think we might need to do a series.

We might need to do. We might need to do.

I, I'm feeling, I'm feeling the itch. And I think we gotta scratch it because this is so powerful, this truth that will set people free. Because sometimes we want to spiritualize everything in, in God's blessings. Like his promises are all yes and amen. But we don't realize that that is supposed to leach over into the tangible, into the natural world. It's supposed to be seen in a and objective evidence. And so we think, oh, the joy of the Lord or I have peace. And that's all very important. But yes, what about the physical too? Because everything that is seen comes out of that which is unseen. So when we claim the promises in the unseen realm, it has to show up in the natural. It has to.

I love it. Yeah, we'll talk about how everything we receive is by grace through faith. And so a lot of people, they're just, it's all grace. If God wants it to be, it's going to happen. Or they're all faith. If it's going to be, it's up to me. And it's this balance. Grace is what God paid for. Faith is our response. A lot of people think faith is the currency of heaven. Faith moves God's hand. No, no, no. God already moved 2000 years ago. If he didn't pay for it, you ain't getting it. And so like he didn't pay for you to grow wings and flies. You can believe all you want. You're not getting it. So grace is God's part of faith is our positive response. And so there's this balance. It's like sodium and chloride. Sodium by itself will kill you. Chloride by itself will kill you. But you put them together and it's salt and it becomes the very essence of what we need to survive.

We need and that is that beautiful. That's a beautiful road.

We need grace and faith. We need to recognize you already paid for it. I'm just responding. Here's what faith looks like. Thank you, Jesus. This belongs to me. I'm not going to be moved by what I see, taste, hear, smell, or feel. I'm moved by what you did on the cross. I'm gonna move about what your word says. That's faith. I'm responding to what he's done and not making a move.

That's so beautiful. It's that beautiful road that he allows us to travel on in partnership with him. We're not doing it all. He's not doing it all. He does everything by participation with us.

Perfect.

And it's a beautiful road that we travel on. So if you could that one thing you said, that it is reaching into and agreeing and taking possession of it. Would you just for everyone who is watching, listening, can we please pray right now? And you just help people right now who need to take action. Maybe they feel hopeless. Maybe they've been on one side or the other and they're ready to just that. That ease, that yoke of ease, of living in agreement with God and receiving everything. Could you just pray over those people right now?

Or I just. I just thank you for just precious people who want to do it right. And, Lord, I just thank you that it's not up to our financial wizardry, our brilliance. That, Lord, the blessing of our life comes because of what Jesus has done. And so I just pray just to break any lies of people who think I've done. I'm not good with money. I've gone too far. This isn't for me. I'm afraid to invest all these other things. Lord, I just pray right now, if you're listening to this, just say, God, this is for me. Lord, I just thank you that you became poor so that I can become rich. What does rich mean? More than enough. Let's just put it that way.

Yeah.

Lord, we just repent of any anxiety over money, of looking to money as our source instead of our resource. And I just pray for the revelation that nobody can take better care of me than Dad. I pray that that would go deep into hearts right now, that truth. And nobody can take better care of me than dad. And that, Lord, as things break off, as they break off, that fear and that partnership with the spirit of mammon, that opportunities will open up and ideas will come into their life and even money supernaturally to meet needs. And so we just pray a blessing on them that this. This isn't some prosperity gospel, but the gospel includes prosperity. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Amen. Dude, this was awesome. Thank you so much.

It's a lot of fun. You do a great job of this.

So much fun. I love this. We'll have to do it again. But remember, guys, lean in. Like, lean into everything God has for you. He does not disappoint.