From Dream to Destiny: The Ten Tests You Must Go Through to Fulfill God's Purpose for Your Life (19 page)

As a pastor, I just love to see such love demonstrated—and I believe God likes it, too! Why? Because God’s heart is about people. He likes to see His children serving one another and ministering to one another. That is why He gives us power and ministry gifts, particularly the prophetic ministry.

And every time God promotes us or gives us a position of influence, it is because He has
people
in mind. He has someone in mind—someone He wants us to minister to.

One day, a lady in our church was driving her daughter to school, and her heart was breaking for her little girl. Her husband had recently abandoned the family, leaving her and the children to fend for themselves. And now it was “Father-Daughter Day” at school.

Yet when this mother pulled up to the school, she was surprised to see Pastor Jeff Drott (one of the pastors at our church) standing there at the curb. The little girl ran up to Pastor Jeff and hugged him, her day obviously brightened by this unexpected surprise. Then she said, “Pastor
Jeff, what are you doing here?”

“I’m going to be your daddy today,” he replied. The biggest smile you have ever seen appeared on that little girl’s face; and off they walked, hand in hand. She would have a “daddy” at school with her that day just like the other little girls!

That is what influence is for. That is what power is for. God gives us power and influence because
He loves people desperately
. He wants us to use His power to reach them with His love.

Power is not a bad thing, it is a good thing—and it comes from God. It comes for the purpose of helping others. You may not even know how much influence you have, but you do have influence. And God is watching to see if you will handle your power wisely, to see if you will use it to do His work. He is watching to see if you will use your influence and authority to share His love with a lost and dying world. That is the Power Test. Will you pass it?

C
HAPTER
E
IGHT

As we discovered in the
previous chapter
, power will test your character. But so will money. In fact, money is really just another form of power. Money can give us the power to do certain things; and in the same way, the lack of money can hinder us from doing certain things. Thus money empowers us to some extent.

The Prosperity Test: Using Money Wisely

The question is, What do we do with the power that our money brings us? Do we use it as God would have us use it—to further His purposes for our lives and the lives of others? Or do we squander it in foolish ways—or worse yet, in ways that are actually harmful?

This is the Prosperity Test, and every one of us has taken it. We will take this test as long as we are living on this earth because while we’re here, we need material things in order to survive. We need food, we need shelter, and we need clothing. And money is just something that we use to exchange for those things we need.

If you think you’re too spiritual to bother with material things, try going without food and clothing for a while. You’ll quickly discover that while money cannot provide happiness or contentment, the lack of it can certainly create problems!

This is why God is so interested in the way that we handle our money. Our money is a medium that God Himself uses in order to further His purposes on this earth. God wants to see people fed and clothed and provided for. And He uses
people
to distribute His resources. He uses
people
to distribute money and take care of needs on this earth. So it is only natural that He looks for those who know how to manage money wisely, according to His principles.

He found such a person in Joseph.

In Genesis 41:2-7, we find the account of Pharaoh’s perplexing dreams. First Pharaoh dreamed he saw seven fat cows and seven thin cows; and the seven thin cows ate the seven fat cows. Then Pharaoh dreamed that he saw seven plump stalks of grain and seven thin and blighted stalks of grain; and the seven thin stalks ate the seven plump stalks. The Bible tells us that Pharaoh’s spirit was troubled about these dreams (see Gen. 41:8). Somehow, Pharaoh knew that these dreams were significant!

So he searched desperately to find someone who could tell him the meaning of the dreams. This is how Joseph came to be called out of the prison and stand before Pharaoh. Let’s pick up the story in verse 25.

Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do: The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years; the dreams are one. And the seven thin and ugly cows which came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind are seven years of famine. This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt; but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land. So the
plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe. And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass” (Gen. 41:25-32).

Two times Joseph said, “God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do” (v. 25,28). God had a purpose in showing Pharaoh those dreams—a purpose of blessing, provision and deliverance from starvation! God knew that seven years of famine were coming, and He wanted to make sure that people didn’t starve. So He showed Pharaoh what was about to happen.

But there was more that God was trying to do. God had a plan to provide food for everyone during the famine—and He had to have someone whom He could trust to carry out His plan. He had to have someone who would obey Him in the area of money. And He found that person in Joseph. Joseph understood God’s principles about managing finances—and like the faithful servant that he was, Joseph offered that wisdom to Pharaoh.

Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years. And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land may not perish during the famine (Gen. 41:33-36).

God had a plan to make sure that there would be plenty of food for everyone when the years of famine came. But His plan would have failed in the hands of someone who did not know how to manage money wisely. God couldn’t choose someone who wouldn’t let Him be first in their decisions and whose checkbook was in disarray. He couldn’t choose
someone with a pattern of unrestrained spending, who didn’t know how to save up or to wait. If He had chosen someone like that, the grain would have been gone before the famine arrived! God looked for someone who was a good steward, someone who knew how to manage material things according to His principles. The Prosperity Test was a huge part of Joseph’s destiny. Would he manage the wealth of those years of plenty as God wanted him to?

The Prosperity Test will be a huge part of your destiny as well. Until you are found faithful in the area of money, you will not be able to step into your destiny to the full extent that God desires—because God’s plans for you will always involve bringing His blessings and provision to others.

Like it or not, it takes money to do that! It takes money to meet the needs of hurting people and carry the gospel around the world—and it takes money to support your family while you are doing that! God will give you everything you need to carry out His plans for your life. Can He trust you to handle it wisely? Or will you squander what He gives you by foolish spending? This is the Prosperity Test.

You might be saying to yourself,
I never have any money. I always seem to be broke. How could I be taking the Prosperity Test?
The truth is, everyone has financial resources to manage. Every time you get your paycheck, you are taking the Prosperity Test. Every time that you get any extra money, you are taking the Prosperity Test. Even if you are living on welfare, you will take the Prosperity Test each time you get that check from the government. (Remember that Jesus took note of how people gave offerings in the Temple, including the widow with only two mites to her name [see Mark 12:41-44].)

It’s unavoidable. We will all be tested in how we handle our money. And it seems that here in the United States we have a lot more money to be tested by!

You Take the Prosperity Test
Every Day

I know you’ve probably heard this before, but it is worth repeating: The United States is the most prosperous nation in the world. People in
America have more materially than four out of every five people on this earth. So if you live in the United States, you take the Prosperity Test every day.

Let me give you some statistics to help you see what I mean. According to the World Bank, the average household income of someone living in the United States in the year 2002 was $35,400. Now let’s compare that figure with the average household income for people living in other countries of the world that same year:

Source:
World Bank; GNI Per Capita in US$, Atlas Method

Those figures show the difference between the income that the rest of the world lives on and the average income that we live on here in the United States. When we look at those numbers, it helps us understand that we in the United States enjoy a greater degree of material prosperity than nearly everyone else on this planet.

Here in America, we are so prosperous that we pray for things the rest of the world would never dream of praying for. We pray for things like new clothes or a bigger home. While the rest of the world is praying for a bicycle for transportation or food to put on the table, we pray for a better car than the one we are already driving.

A friend of mine is now involved in full-time missions work; but when he first began traveling as a missionary, he didn’t have much experience
with the economic differences between our country and most other countries. This became painfully obvious on one occasion when he was preaching a message on suffering—he made the mistake of using an illustration that he had developed here in America. The example that he used was taken from a year in his life when he and his wife had to get by with only one car.

That was his example of suffering! And yet he was preaching that message in a country in which 96 percent of the people did not even own one car! He was preaching in a country whose average citizen earned about $2,000 a year!

Unfortunately, many of us have absolutely no comprehension of how the rest of the world lives. Here in America we live in a prosperity bubble, and we have no idea how richly blessed and prosperous we really are. We are living the Prosperity Test every day. Whether we realize it or not, we have been entrusted with great material wealth.

The critical question is, What are we going to do with that wealth?

In the same way that power tests the true character of every person, money tests it too. Every time you get your paycheck, you have a test handed to you.

Unexpected income is a particularly revealing test. Have you ever had a windfall—perhaps a raise or a surprise bonus at the end of the year? When you did, you took the Prosperity Test! It doesn’t matter whether it was a $10,000 raise, a $1 per hour raise, a $1,000 bonus or a $50 bill. Any time you receive additional funds, you take the Prosperity Test. Because every time you receive extra money, you have a chance to tell God how well you’re going to manage the income He gives you.

What did you do with that extra money? Did you save it, did you spend it, did you blow it, did you pay down your debt?

It is amazing how we pray and ask God for extra money—but then when it comes into our hands, we’re not faithful to do what God would want us to do with it. Why would God continue to give us extra funds if we’re not faithful with the funds that He does give us? Let’s think about that—and realize that every time we receive any additional funds we will take the Prosperity Test.

Every person will be tested by money, whether he or she has only a little or a lot. That’s why Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your
heart will be also” (Matt. 6:21). In other words, Jesus says your
money
will always be tied to your
heart.