If you set up your financial provision on the basis of the supernatural, you will regret it.
If you don't want to live in regret and expose your family and ministry to crises, trust God, walk by faith, walk in truth and integrity, but you must also leverage on the wisdom of God to take practical steps along any of the... lines and even more as led by God. Remember, Satan does not want resources in the hands of faithful ministers for obvious reasons: they will be a threat to his kingdom.
I have been seriously concerned about the perennial financial troubles that have faced and are still facing faithful ministers of the gospel in the body of Christ. If there is any potent weapon of frustration in the hands of Satan against faithful ministers, it is, "lack of finance", and here is the truth: most of us are experiencing the lack of finance or inadequate finances at different levels.
Don't trivialise the subject of finance. Don't say it's not important. Satan is luring pastors into the occult and into different shades of corrupt financial practices, using grinding shades of financial crises as weapon. Hear this again, the lack of finance is like the lack of oxygen. It is destructive. At the moment, we've just lost a dear servant of God to Satan as a result of his years of impoverishment. Although, being impoverished is not a justification for backsliding. A faithful minister of Christ must be able to live or die for the sake of truth, with or without resources. However, we all operate at different levels of strength, and it is very possible for people --regardless of how spiritual they are -- to break down under the protracted weight of financial crises. Let me remind us -- two major weapons are used by the devil to weaken and frustrate faithful ministers -- sexual immorality and financial crisis.
It is much easier to overcome sexual temptations than financial crisis. Consequently, we must always extend our hands of fellowship to one another, particularly to people we've found amidst severe financial challenges. I cannot tell you what I know and what I have heard about the activities of occultic pastors, who are putting pressure on faithful ministers who are in lack to join their groups. Financial challenges are not specific to pastors, but to everyone on earth. However, the consequences are far more devastating for a preacher, given the reclusive and secluded nature of his or her work.
The Consequences of Lack of Finance On a Minister
- It weakens the prayer life of the minister;
- It exposes the man of God to the temptation of preaching errors and embellishing messages to please people;
- It slows down the spread of the gospel; a development that may ultimately prevent a minister from fulfilling his ministry to optimal levels;
- It exposes the man of God to occultic embellishments and fortifications for supernatural powers to manipulate people for money;
- It strips the man of God of the boldness and confidence required to confront evil, sin and ungodliness in the life of men;
- It puts enormous strain on the marriage of the man of God to the extent of eroding the cordial relationship between the man of God and the wife, thereby exposing him to sexual temptations;
- It creates enormous scale and scope of distraction for the minister, to the extent that in the attempt to look for money to solve problems, the man of God could eventually be derailed from his primary calling.
If you set up your financial provision on the basis of the supernatural, you will regret it. By the supernatural, here is what I mean, "God will always send me money whenever I need it, and I don't have to do anything". That is what I am talking about. If you are living like this, you are preparing for poverty and penury.
The list of consequences is endless. What are the remedies? No quick fixes. I do not have a magic wand for solving this problem, neither do I have a one-cap-fits-all strategy, given the uniqueness of every minister and differences in assignments and callings. However, there are certain things I need to put out here that could be of significant help to many of us. First, do not make the mistake of thinking that financial provision in ministry WILL ALWAYS be supernatural; that is, someone will always say to you, "God told me to give you this car or this house or these ten million dollars". The supernatural is real and tangible. Yes, God supplies our needs. Yes, God brings the provision. But here is the greatest truth some of us don't like to hear: principles are superior to miracles.
Did you hear that? I am speaking about the principles of God's word. Miracles are needed when principles fail. If you set up your financial provision on the basis of the supernatural, you will regret it. By the supernatural, here is what I mean, "God will always send me money whenever I need it, and I don't have to do anything". That is what I am talking about. If you are living like this, you are preparing for poverty and penury. This medium will not be sufficient for me to completely and clearly explain some of the strategies that have helped thousands of faithful pastors to build enduring financial provisions for themselves and their ministries. But to sum it up, sustainable finances come through principles or by setting up systems. Yes, we walk by faith. Yes, we must trust God. What happens when we walk by faith and trust God? The Holy Spirit will open up our minds and deposit into them unique ideas to set up systems for producing enduring financial supplies. Here is my point: Trust God to help you set up systems. Now, there are some ministers with specific and undeniable instructions from God not to engage in any business or secular work. If you are in that category, please stay obedient to God. He will take care of you. However, for those without such instructions, here are some of the systems that produce legitimate and credible streams of financial supplies for many faithful pastors that I know.
- Investment in real estate (rents, small scale student hostels, Airbnbs, land banking and land flipping) -using your money or savings or money gotten from other legitimate means to invest in real estate;
- Donations (setting up systems of faithful donors and givers who will commit to supporting you on a monthly basis);
- Setting up crèches, daycare centres, schools, and other educational facilities with your own money (not with the tithe and offerings of the church);
- If your ministry's work is still at the infancy level, take up a job if you are educated and also empower your wife to work and earn a decent income;
- Identify very credible and reliable stocks, forex and crypto trading platforms; get trained and invest wisely in these;
- Build a very strong online ministry platform on YouTube and on any other content monetisation platform;
- Empower your wife to start selling goods on Amazon. Go and learn about this. With little money, you can earn an unbelievable income through Amazon;
- Trust God to open international doors to you -- not the doors you open to yourselves illegally. If you can obtain US, UK, EU or Canadian residencies or work permits; you can secure remote jobs and do remote businesses with foreign communities while in Africa. Also, as you minister around the world, it is certain that God will use people to bless you financially.
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... I have not said that you should not trust God and live by faith. We all do. But you should remember that Paul was one of the greatest men of faith in the scriptures. Yet, he still engaged in tent-making work (Acts 18:3) and some other activities to generate the income that sustained his global ministry.
Now, I have not said that you should not trust God and live by faith. We all do. But you should remember that Paul was one of the greatest men of faith in the scriptures. Yet, he still engaged in tent-making work (Acts 18:3) and some other activities to generate the income that sustained his global ministry. Hear what Paul told some brethren in Acts 20:33:
"I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
If you don't want to live in regret and expose your family and ministry to crises, trust God, walk by faith, walk in truth and integrity, but you must also leverage on the wisdom of God to take practical steps along any of the above lines and even more as led by God. Remember, Satan does not want resources in the hands of faithful ministers for obvious reasons: they will be a threat to his kingdom. I pray for you that in this New Year, doors of unique opportunities for ceaseless supply of resources will locate you in Jesus' mighty name. AMEN!!
Ayo Akerele, a leadership and system development strategist, and minister of the word, writes from Canada and can be reached through ayoakerele2012@gmail.com.
