Ps 127:1          Unless the LORD builds the house, they labour in vain who build it; unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

Matt 6:33        "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Prov 3:9-10     Honour the LORD with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; So your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

Heb 6:12         imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

You need staying power.  Most people want the blessing and promise but they want it NOW.

Heb 11:1         Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Heb 11:6         But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Heb 10:38       Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him."

2 Cor 5:7         For we walk by faith, not by sight.

Rom 10:17       So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The God we serve is not a God of chance.  Lottery is out!

Prov 13:11      Wealth from gambling quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows.  (TLB)

Ps 37:7-10       Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.  Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret-- it only causes harm.  For evildoers shall be cut off; but those who wait on the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.  For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more.

Matt 6:25-34   "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?  "Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?  "Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?  "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; "and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  "Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'  "For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.  "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.  "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Many Christians speak out negative confession about their finances.
"I never have enough money.     I will always be in debt.     I will never afford it."

Jesus is the high priest of our positive confession.
Speak positively, and prophetically to your future.

Ezekiel prophesied over dry bones and they sprang into life.  Speak to your bank accounts prophetically, and with authority saying “finance come forth”!

There really is life and death in the tongue.
Positive words are creative, negative words are destructive.

Prov 18:21      Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Do as you want done to you

Matt 7:12        "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Pray for your customers and suppliers

Matt 22:37-40 Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'  "This is the first and great commandment.  "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself.'  "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

… and pray for your competition!

1 Tim 2:1-4      Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Matt 5:44        "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,

Rom 12:20       Therefore "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head."

If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.

Prov 21:5        “The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.”

Prov 29:18      “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (KJV)

God has an incredible, specific plan and purpose for your life.

Prov 24:3-4     Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

Business plans and cashflow forecasts

Luke 14:28-31 "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- "lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, "saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  "Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

Be content in all financial seasons.  Paul wrote in Phil 4:11-12 “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”

Giving is a lifestyle, but spending is different – it is seasonal.  Don’t spend what you don’t have.

Every choice we make has consequences  -  but YOU make the choice.

Deut 30:19      "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Where we invest determines whether or not our money is effective.

Matt 25:14-29 “"For the kingdom of heaven is like a man travelling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them (no striving).  "And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and IMMEDIATELY he went on a journey.  "Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents.  "And likewise he who had received two gained two more also.  "But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord's money.  "After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.  "So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, 'Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.'  "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'  "He also who had received two talents came and said, 'Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.'  "His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'  "Then he who had received the one talent came and said, 'Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed.  'And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.'  "But his lord answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.  'So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.  'Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.  'For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”

ROI = 100%

Prov 10:4        He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

When someone has nothing, what they have gets taken away.  Money is far more powerful in the hands of someone who knows how to invest it wisely, than in the hands of someone who tries to hold on to what they’ve got.

Rom 13:8         “Owe no one anything …”

doesn’t mean you cannot have a mortgage or loan?
It just means you shouldn’t have debts you cannot pay when they fall due.

Prov 22:7        “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.”

The enemy loves to contain us by getting us stressed and pressured about money.
Therefore, YOU choose whether money is a blessing or a curse in your life.

Prov 22:3        A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.

Joseph knew about setting up reserves for the lean years.

Gen 41:47-49  Now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth abundantly.  So he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; he laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them.  Joseph gathered very much grain, as the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting, for it was without number.

Gen 41:53-57  Then the seven years of plenty which were in the land of Egypt ended, and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. The famine was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.  So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, do."  The famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine became severe in the land of Egypt.  So all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all lands.

Lev 19:23-25   'When you come into the land, and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as uncircumcised. Three years it shall be as uncircumcised to you. It shall not be eaten.  'But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, a praise to the LORD.  'And in the fifth year you may eat its fruit, that it may yield to you its increase: I am the LORD your God.

Make sure you have sufficient working capital planned for the first 3 years.

Acts 20:35       "I have shown you in every way, by labouring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

Lev 19:9-10     'When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.  'And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

Lev 19:13b      The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning.

If terms are 30 days, then pay within 25 days – go against the worldly way.

Prov 14:23      In all labour there is profit, but idle chatter leads only to poverty.

Prov 28:19      He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.  (NIV)

Prov 13:4        The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied. (NIV)

Exod 20:8-11  "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.  For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

1 Cor 10:31     “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Col 3:23          And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men,

Prov 22:26      Do not be one of those who shakes hands in a pledge, one of those who is surety for debts;

Prov 17:17      A man devoid of understanding shakes hands in a pledge, and becomes surety for his friend.

Prov 11:15      He who is surety for a stranger will suffer, but one who hates being surety is secure.

Prov 6:1-5       My son, if you become surety for your friend, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, You are snared by the words of your mouth; you are taken by the words of your mouth.  So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; for you have come into the hand of your friend: go and humble yourself; plead with your friend.  Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.  Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Eccl 11:4         If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.  (TLB)

Risk and Return

Prov 11:14      Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

Prov 15:22      Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counsellors they succeed. (NAS)

Ps 1:1-3           Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.  He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

Include your spouse

Matt 19:5-6     'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'?  "So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."

Eccl 11:2         Divide your portion to seven, or even to eight, for you do not know what misfortune may occur on the earth. (NAS)

Eccl 12:13       The conclusion, when all has been heard, {is:} fear God and keep His commandments, because this {applies to} every person.  (NAS)

Prov 17:17      A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

Prov 27:18      Whoever keeps the fig tree will eat its fruit; so he who waits on his master will be honoured.

Prov 11:13      A talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter.

Prov 22:1        A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favour rather than silver and gold.

Col 3:25          But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality.

Lev 19:11        'You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.

Lev 19:13a      'You shall not cheat your neighbour, nor rob him.

Lev 19:35-36   'You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume.  'You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Eph 4:28         Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labour, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.

Matt 5:37        "But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.