How God Gets Money To You

Today we are going to look very practically at the natural mechanics of divine provision.  We all want God to provide for us, we all want God to help us have enough money, but how exactly does He do that?  How does that work?  I’m going to teach you about that today, and honestly, your financial life may never be the same.

Personally, I’ve been self-employed for 16 years, and there is no explanation for my financial life other than God’s provision.  But just to be clear, I’ve never had money magically appear in my bank account.  Other than finding a few bucks in the street, I’ve never had someone drop a bag of money on me.  I’ve never found an inheritance I didn’t know about or had any other windfalls seemingly come out of nowhere.  So does that mean God isn’t providing?  Does that mean I’m not financially blessed?  How does this work exactly?

Friends, if you can understand the true mechanics of divine provision then you can live in God’s financial plans for your life.  God wants you to be satisfied, content and generous.  God wants you to have more than enough.  This is true for all of you.  I don’t care where you live, I don’t care about the economic struggles in your country or industry, I don’t care about your level of education.  God wants to provide for you and He will.  Let me show you how this works, and, truly, your life will never be the same.

Let’s first look at how God provided for the Israelites in the wilderness.  Remember, the Israelites have left Egypt, and, because they were afraid to go against the giants in the Promised Land, God punished them with 40 years in the wilderness.  But God supernaturally provided for them there.

(Exodus 16:1-4, 35 NKJV) – And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, "Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not . . . And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 

So, as much as anything else in the Bible, this is an example of divine provision.  God miraculously provided food for somewhere between 1 and 3 million people, every day for forty years!  But let’s get granular and detailed on this.  How did it work?

Did God miraculously put food in their stomachs so they didn’t need to eat?  No.  He could have, but He didn’t.  Did God miraculously put food in their mouths, no.  Did God even miraculously put food in their houses, no.  He did, however, miraculously put food outside, and they had to go and gather it.  I’m not sure exactly why He did it like that, but that’s what He did.  He could have put the food wherever He wanted, and He put the food outside for them to collect.

(Joshua 5:12 NKJV) – Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.

When God brought the Israelites to the Promised Land, the land of Canaan, He stopped giving them manna and they were to eat the produce of the land.  Now they were supposed to farm.  God did supernaturally give them farms that they didn’t plant, that’s true, but God was no longer going to supply the manna.  The Israelites were going to have to farm.  God gave them farms and land to farm.  And in the same way there were rules about gathering manna, there were also some rules about farming. 

(Exodus 23:10-11 NKJV) – "Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.

(Leviticus 25:20-22 NKJV) – 'And if you say, "What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?" Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest. 

Putting those two passages together shows us a lot of interesting things.  First of all, those passages both come to us before the Israelites got to the Promised Land.  They show us that God intended for them to farm.  That was always the plan.  God was going to stop dropping food on their doorstep, and they were supposed to farm.  But that did not mean God’s supernatural involvement would cease.  In fact, God was going to supernaturally get into their farming.  God was going to supernaturally touch the plants so that they produced in abundance, and this rule about not farming the seventh year is just an example of God doing so.

(Deuteronomy 28:11-12 NKJV) – And the LORD will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. The LORD will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.

If the Israelites lived according to God’s directions, God was going to bless their farms, including their animals and all their crops.  God was also going to bless their bodies so they would have lots of kids.  If you read Deuteronomy 28, you will see that God wanted to bless every area of their lives. In fact, God wanted to bless them so much that they had more than enough and could get into the lending business.  Remember, in the lending business you can sit back and let the interest and the payments roll in.  And note also specifically, God says He will bless all the work of their hands.

(Deuteronomy 8:11-14, 17-18 NKJV) – "Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God . . . then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.' "And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

(Psalms 1:1-3 NKJV) – 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.

My friends, this is the key.  This is the key.  This is the key.  God gives you the power to get wealth.  And He does that by blessing the work of your hand. He does that by causing everything you do to prosper.

(Philippians 4:19 NKJV) – And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

(2 Corinthians 9:8 NKJV) – And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

In the wilderness the people collected the manna.  They were not allowed to store it up, and they were on the move, so farming was not an option.  But in the Promised Land the people were supposed to work.  And a major difference between the wilderness and the Promised Land is that in the Promised Land the Israelites could prosper.  In the Promised Land the Israelites could save and store.  In the Promised Lands the Israelite could have more than enough, so much more that they could lend to the nations around them.  In the Promised Land they had to work, but the work of their hands was blessed, and they were empowered to get wealth. 

My friends, we Christians are in the Promised Land now.  I don’t care if you live in Manhattan or Mozambique, you are blessed and empowered to get wealth.

(Ephesians 1:3 NKJV) – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ[.]

God wants to supply all your needs.  God wants you to have wealth.  In fact, God wants you to have so much that you can abound to every good work.  But God is not going to put the food in your stomach, and God is not going to put the money in your bank account.

Now, before I move on, I briefly want to address some other types of provision in the Bible that we do see apart from work.  I know that I’ve been very strong on the importance of work, and that God’s not going just to drop provision on you.  And that’s true, and that’s the deal if you want to really prosper.  Blessed work is God’s plan for your life. 

However, and first of all, I do acknowledge that there are times when God will provide for you in a manna or wilderness type manner.  Perhaps you are dealing with health issues.  Perhaps you have a significant family issue or other time-consuming matter that keeps you from working.  Perhaps you are doing a lot of traveling for some important reason.  I do acknowledge that there are times where working may not be an option, and in those seasons you are looking for God’s divine provision by grace. 

Just as some examples, remember the women with the jar of oil and the bin of flour that didn’t fail.  That was a period of divine drought, so God supernaturally provided for the woman, her son, and Elijah.  My mother recently passed away and she and my stepfather have been in poor health for years.  God has supernaturally provided for them through an unexpected retirement my stepfather received, a reverse mortgage they were able to get, and some occasional checks from me and other loved ones.  Working was not an option for them, but God sustained them.

Let’s also recognize that there are times of miraculous wealth transfers, miraculous debt forgiveness, and other moments of quick financial increase.  The Bible has a few of these – David recovering all and getting spoil at Ziklag, the Israelites plundering the Egyptians on their way out the door, the lepers finding great spoil at the vacant enemy’s camp.  These things do happen occasionally, and I’m not saying they won’t ever happen to you.  But this is not the way you should be thinking, you should be looking for work.  You should be expecting God to bless the work of your hand.

So now let’s talk about work.  As you probably know, I’m a real estate lawyer.  In general, I work on commercial real estate transactions.  My job is not easy, and chances are that yours isn’t either.  Work can be hard.  Some jobs are hard mentally, some are hard physically, and some are hard because of the toll they take on the rest of your life, lots of travel, for example.

Regardless of how hard your work is, or how much you don’t like your job, remember that, if you are a Christian, you are blessed with every blessing, and God has blessed the work of your hands.

Approach your job expecting to see the blessing.  Expect favor.  Expect increase.  Expect the job to get easier and easier.  Expect the job to get more and more lucrative.

(Proverbs 10:22 NIV) – The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, without painful toil for it.

God will bring you wealth through your job, and God will do so without making your job painful toil.  

God will also bring you wealth through your job regardless of what the economy is doing.  There are lots of verses you can research about God providing for us in famine.  Just as an example, for my first ten years practicing law I basically did all multifamily transactions.  Now that market is very different, and my primary client has started buying golf courses.  Glory to God!  And just as of a few weeks ago he has decided to buy a couple of hotels.  It may not be the best time in the multifamily world, which is my specialty, but God is providing for me in this season.   God is continuing to prosper me even in this crazy interest rate environment. 

Now, I’ll be honest, I didn’t want to start working on golf course, they are much harder than apartment complexes.  But fortunately my client nudged me a bit on this, and I knew it’s the right thing.  To be honest with you, and it might be a little embarrassing if he heard me say this, but God has told me just to stick close to my one client and do what he wants, that’s how God’s going to provide for me.  I don’t need to go and glean from someone else’s field (if you will).  It’s been a lot of deals and a lot of years with this client, and man has that been a fruitful direction. 

(Hebrews 4:2 NKJV) – For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.

So, regardless of where you are today, mix faith with what I’m telling you.  God has blessed you, you are blessed, and the work of your hands is blessed.  In the same way God would get into the animals and the crops at the cellular level to prosper the Israelites, God will get involved however He needs to so that you can prosper in your job.  Have faith for this!  Expect this!  Believe for this!  Maybe you need to expand what you do, take on another client, take on another roll, or make some other alteration.  God will help you.  God will lead you.  God will empower you to prosper.

Maybe there are some of you who hate your job.  God knows I have complained about my job and dealing with lawyers a time or two.  But regardless of how you feel about your job, and regardless of how bad it may seem, start putting your faith on that job.  Start prophesying and speaking over your job.  When I first started practicing law, I walked the halls of this house where I had my office speaking the promises of God.  And now I still regularly speak God’s promises over my finances.  In the Name of Jesus’ I agree that I am blessed, I agree that the work of my hands is blessed, I agree that everything I do prospers.  I agree that God has empowered me to get wealth, and I’m going to prosper and be a blessing to others!

So get your mind right about your job and put your faith on it, even if you hate it.  Then start praying.  Maybe God will lead you to make a change.  Maybe God will open a door for a new job.  That’s great if He does.  But He may just tell you to tighten up, given thanks, and use your faith for the job you have.  I think God has said that to me about 25 times. 

(Matthew 6:31-33 NKJV) – "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.

God gave the Israelites rules about gathering manna.  God gave the Israelites rules about farming.  God gives us rules about work.  You cannot serve God and mammon.  You need to serve God first.  You need to seek His Kingdom first.  If you want wealth just to make yourself rich and spend your retirement on a remote beach with nothing to do, you’ve missed it.  You’ll be miserable anyway.  I’ve had a few friends strike it real rich and retire.  They get bored quick.  You’d be bored too.  And if you are a devout Christian, you’ll end up having real issues if you try to live without bearing fruit for the Kingdom.  Just trust me on that. 

We need to seek wealth for the Kingdom.  I don’t know what’s so hard about this concept.  I want to give big money to the Kingdom.  I already tithe and sow and give.  But I want to do this on a bigger scale.  I also want nice things for me and my family.  Those are not mutually exclusive concepts to God or the Bible. 

If you sow bountifully you will reap bountifully.  Listen to my other teachings on Biblical economics and divine provision.  God is primarily going to provide for you through your work.  But you need to be in the sowing and reaping business to truly move up to different levels of wealth.  The greatest way to move up the wealth ladder in the Kingdom of God is by seeking the Kingdom and sowing bountifully.  So as you work, keep that in mind, especially if you want to see big increase in your life.

(Matthew 6:26 NKJV) – 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?

You may recall that we discussed that verse on a previous episode.  If you were in a conversation with a bird and you talked about this verse, the bird might tell you that He’s never seen God feed him, that he is always out there having to gather fish or insects or whatever he eats.  And you might feel the same way.  Maybe you haven’t felt like you have seen God’s provision.  But just because you haven’t seen manna fall from the sky doesn’t mean you and the bird haven’t experienced God’s provision.  This verse tells us that God is the one providing for the birds.  Yes, they have to go and gather it, but it’s still God.  It’s the same way for us.  You can’t always see how God brought you a job or a client or a deal, or something like that, but in the same way God provided the insects for the bird, God provides for you.  How He does it will look different depending on your business.  But just because you don’t feel like you’ve seen God’s hand doesn’t mean He’s never used it for you.  Consider the years, consider all the months where you had enough, consider all the unexpected expenses you’ve overcome.  Now consider whether God has been involved providing for you.  As for me and my house, there is simply no question, and I have no doubt, that God has provided for us.

My friends, exactly none of you should be struggling with money.  If you are a Christian, you are blessed and empowered to prosper, and God wants you to have so much that you can bless others.  God wanted the Israelites to have so much that they could lend.  But God wants us to have so much that we can bless.  We are in the age of grace now, and God wants you to be a part of His economy to bless the world.

I appreciate that we go through seasons in life, but no Christian should struggle to pay rent, buy groceries, or have a comfortable existence.  God never puts you in a season that violates His promises.  And yes, God promises to provide for you!  People think that God puts sickness or poverty or hardship on them, when those things go expressly against His promises that are your inheritance.  Nothing could be further from the truth, and that’s a lie from the pit of hell.  If you aren’t experiencing God’s promises, then you need to get with God, get in the Word, and see where you’re missing it.  You should, in fact, be experiencing all of God’s promises, including His promises of provision.

So work like you work for God.  Mix your faith with God’s promises over your job.  If you don’t believe you’ll never be established.  Prophesy and speak over your job.  Listen to God for directions on how to improve your job.  He may tell you to change jobs, but it’s just as likely that He tells you to apply His directions and principles to the one you’ve got.  You are empowered to get wealth for the Kingdom of God.  Now go out there and get it.

My friends, thank you so much for joining me today.  If you enjoyed this please like, subscribe, follow, share this, etc.  Thank you again, and we’ll talk again soon.