People often mistake faith for plain old or dangerous recklessness. I was talking with a friend at church a while back—a guy who really loves God and stays focused on living right—and our conversation stuck with me. It’s actually why I’m writing this now.
This friend told me he was waiting on a huge financial breakthrough. He was “standing on the promises.” When I asked him what his actual strategy was, he looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. He said his plan was in God’s hands and he was just fasting and giving money to his pastor as seed.
I asked him if he had a budget. Or an emergency fund. Maybe a business or some investments? No and no. He was just “believing.”
I had to pause for a second to pray so I wouldn’t be too blunt. But I had to tell him the truth eventually: that isn’t faith. It is just foolishness.
There’s a strange idea some people have that saving money or keeping a strict budget somehow means you don’t trust God. It carries over into how people handle their giving—sometimes to a fault. You see cases where someone will pay their tithes while their own mother is sitting there sick and needing financial help. They’re taught that those funds shouldn’t be used for a family emergency or basic health needs. Some folks even take chunks out of their business working capital just to pay tithes and sow into a specific preacher’s life. But it’s all mixed up. That is backwards and honestly makes little practical sense. Proverbs 21:5 is pretty straight about it; the plans of the diligent lead to profit but haste leads to poverty. God expects a strategy and God wants you to be a good steward. You can’t really be a steward if you don’t even have a plan for what you are meant to look after.
You cannot pray your way out of bad habits. You cannot use tithing to get around poor decisions and expect speaking in tongues to fix a bank account that you are completely ignoring. Faith without works is dead. Confusing faith with being totally unprepared is a massive mistake. God gives the increase, I know, but He expects and wants us to do the dirty work of preparation first.
Thanks for reading dear; May God’s Wisdom lead us and may His Peace remain steady within you. I urge you to like , subscribe and share it to bless others. Shalom Chaverim.
By: E. A. Randolph-Koranteng (Rev)
Author of The Book (Tomorrow Happened Yesterday…on Amazon .com)
