4 Ways to Discern How God Wants You to Spend Your Money | How to Be a Good Steward
Money is neither good nor bad. It is simply a tool that has been given to us by God. The purpose for our money is to glorify and honor the one who has blessed us with it.
So let’s examine the question, “Does God really care about the way I am spending my money?” and then I’ll share 4 ways to discern how God wants you to spend your money. This way, you can become a good steward and ultimately start using your money as a tool to advance the Kingdom of God.
Here’s the big list of money topics in the Bible, and here is a list of over 100 Bible verses about money.
Does God really care about the way I am spending my money?
The short answer is yes!
There are plenty of examples throughout the Bible that show that our actions matter greatly to God and I believe they each easily apply to the way we are using our financial wealth. One of my favorite examples of this is in James 2, where James explains that faith without works is dead.
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
– James 2:17
Philippians 1:27 is another great verse to consult about our actions:
“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel”
If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are given the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us and prompts us to live in a manner that is pleasing to God. The Holy Spirit’s prompting should therefore lead us to become excellent money managers. We have a biblical responsibility to track our wealth and know where our money is going.
The way we spend our money is a true reflection of the place God has in our hearts.
It was the late Billy Graham who said, “Give me five minutes with a person’s checkbook, and I will tell you where their heart is.”
Now I’m not here to point fingers and tell you that you’re spending your money all wrong, but I want to equip you with 4 ways you can begin to discern where God wants you to spend your money. Because ultimately, the way God calls me to spend my resources, is going to look different from the way he calls you to spend yours.
Where Would Jesus Spend His Money?
If we are truly transformed by the Gospel and make the commitment to become more like Jesus through the way that we manage our money, we need to ask ourselves, “Where would Jesus spend his money?”
Jesus would most likely want to spend his money on the thing that matters most to him – the Kingdom of God. The easiest way to invest in the Kingdom of God is through our tithes.
Tithing is simply the act of giving 10% of your income to your local church.
Whether you believe tithing is relevant or not for modern day Christians, helping fund God’s primary mission to grow his Kingdom is important for believers to financially support.
After giving 10% of your income back to God, this does not mean we have 90% to throw away on whatever pleases us. We want to manage that 90% in a way that is glorifying and honoring to the one who provided it to us.
Remember, the way we spend our money directly reflects what we value most and what place God holds in our hearts. This is what it means to be a good steward; by asking yourself, “How can I be more like Jesus through the way I spend my money?”
In order to discern how God wants you to spend your money, I want to share with you 4 tips.
4 Ways to Discern How God Wants You To Spend Your Money
1. Become more intimate with God
Get to know God on a more intimate level. When you do this, your eyes will be opened to His likes and dislikes.
Example:
A great example of this is the relationship a husband and wife have together. Because their knowledge of each other is on a very intimate level, they understand the things they like and would want to spend money on, as well as what they don’t like and would never spend money on.
Becoming more intimate with God can be done simply by reading the Bible daily (Joshua 1:8), attending church, listening to online sermons, and praying that His character may be revealed to you. You will be amazed at how you will grow in wisdom on how to spend your money.
Listen to hear His voice and direction on how to spend your money. You are going to hear him if your heart is open to receiving his guidance. Be ready to make a change when you hear God calling you to spend your money differently than you are currently doing.
Do not conform to the patter of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing, and perfect will. Romans (12:2)
Get to know God with these faith & money resources:
2. Understand your unique calling
God is going to call you to spend your money in a different way than he calls me to spend my money because he has uniquely equipped and called you and me to do different things in life. So getting to know your own unique calling will help you discern how God wants you to spend your money.
Example:
I personally invest a decent amount of my money and other resources (time & energy) into creating content just like this. I know that God has uniquely equipped me to teach Christians about what the Bible has to say about money and help them learn excellent money management skills in order to glorify God.
I invest money in recording equipment to create YouTube videos, and I invest in having a blog and online community. I also invest money in my own education so that I can learn how to better teach and mentor my coaching clients.
If you have yet to discover your calling, ask God what he has uniquely equipped you to do, and pray that your calling may be revealed so you know how to allocate your finances toward that calling.
One thing God has called each believer to do is to be radically generous! So if you don’t know your unique calling just yet, I recommend looking for new ways to be generous. To help focus on increasing my own generosity, I like to track my giving. This practice gets me excited to find new opportunities to give to others!
3. Compare your spending to the greatest commandment
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Matthew 22:37-39
Examine your last few months of expenses. Then ask yourself if your spending is abiding by the greatest command to love God and to love your neighbor. Your neighbor can include your family, friends, coworkers, neighborhood, and anyone else you interact with.
Example:
Some practical examples of how you can love your neighbor through your spending are by saving up for your kids’ college education, setting aside money for emergencies so you don’t have to ask family members to bail you out, and surprising your coworker with their favorite drink from Starbucks.
There are so many ways you can be loving God and loving your neighbor through your spending. The key is to begin to shift your focus from “how can I serve myself with this money?” to “how can I be a blessing to others?”
4. Using common sense
So when it comes to discerning how God wants you to spend your money, the last tip I will share with you is to use common sense!
God has blessed you and I with a brain to think logically and make common sense decisions with.
One of my favorite biblical examples of this comes from Luke 14:28 which says, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?
Example:
A few quick practical, common-sense money tips I like giving my coaching clients when it comes to using their money are setting aside money for emergencies because we all experience unforeseen expenses that we hope aren’t going to happen, but inevitably do at some point. As well as saving for those expenses we do know are coming like car maintenance, preventative home maintenance, taxes, Christmas presents.
Another common sense tip is to spend money taking care of your health, both physically and mentally. This will help prevent long-term problems.
These things all make sense and are simple ways we can practically use our money to honor God.
There you have it. I hope you find these tips extremely helpful in becoming an excellent money manager for the glory of God.
Which of these tips was the most helpful for you to discern how God wants you to spend your money?
Ready To Apply This Lesson?
If this lesson inspired you, you would LOVE my signature coaching program called The Redeeming Your Finances Mentorship. It is a 12-week group coaching program to elevate your financial journey and help you become an excellent money manager for the glory of God and the good of others. We tackle all the big topics like, budgeting, paying off debt, saving more money, buying a home, and even touch on the basics of investing.
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God or mammon. To chose mammon, is to reject God. God’s mind who made free needs to be in our mind. God will not contradict himself. God will not put his name on money saying he endorses it. God will not try to fool people saying no money, still keeping it with electronic money. That is Satan saying: Look, God, I am good getting rid of money. It even says, moneyless. God says: Yea – sure, Satan. The teaching I said through Jesus is not used, even untill now. A moneyless society with electronic money fools the mind. God is not into fooling people. Satan is.
God thinks spend? Of every tree you may freely eat, is thinking spend? Freely we have received all things freely give, is thinking spend? That which we use to spend, is coming from nothing. The more nothing there is, the bigger the debt. The bigger the debt, the more god’s image panics. God does not want his image to panic. Satan is in a constant state of panic, not knowing when Jesus will destroy all that is. That being wants to be in the minds of panicking people. Jesus is grieved out. Satan comes in.