Declaration of Dependence
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
For I the Lord your God hold your right hand; I am the Lord, Who says to you, Fear not; I will help you! (Isaiah 41:13)
As we just celebrated Independence Day in our country, let us point our attention to our dependence on the Lord, and the proper mindset attached to that - including in our finances.
Let's start at the ground floor of simply our existence... it is a gift from God, as stated in Acts 17:25 in "for it is He Himself Who gives life and breath and all things to all [people]." He began with the dust of the ground and breathed life into us, causing us to be here. We received our first breath from Him... as well as our most recent one.
Moving onto our occupations, each of us knows it requires strength, physically and mentally to meet the challenges that arise and also to excel and go that extra mile towards excellence. Below are two verses to help align our focus.
From Colossians 3: "Whatever may be your task, work at it heartily from the soul, as something done for the Lord and not for men".
From Ephesians 6: "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people."
I feel if we take to heart what is written above, it reduces the friction of our flesh getting in the way of doing our best. With our focus on serving the Lord, being dependent on Him, we receive His strength, His wisdom and His power.
Having completed our work and receiving our wages, we are called to this verse of dependence, "But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth." (Deuteronomy 8:18). In showing our remembrance, honor, love and dependence back to the Lord we then give to Him in tithes and offerings. In Leviticus 27, God calls the tithe as His and is holy to Him. Whether you give online or write a check, I feel that to do so promptly when we have received our pay reaffirms that reverence and deference to Him.
Think in these terms, you already have placed your dependence on Christ... how He shed His blood to cover your sins and rose again from the dead as your dependence on eternal salvation. Here, we are talking merely about declaring our dependence on Him with the first tenth of our income.
As a result of showing our dependence and giving to the Lord, He in turn promises in Malachi 3 to show Himself faithful on your behalf, saying He will open the windows of heaven for you and pour out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And that He will rebuke the devourer for your sakes.
In this mindset of dependence and giving, consider that there may be others around you who are depending, praying, waiting on God to meet a need, and that you may be that vessel God wishes to use to meet some or all of that need. In 1 Peter 4:10 it is written, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms."
Dependence on Him also means yielding to Him in how we manage the rest of our finances. Because He has spoken His wisdom here, saying in Romans 13:8 to "owe no man any thing but to love one another", He shows how He cares to instruct us, encourage us to keep away from debt as much as possible and especially debt that is overbearing. He also illuminates to spend less than we make in Proverbs 21:20, "There is desirable treasure and olive oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish person devours all that he has".
In sustaining through to be obedient to those two verses above, reflect on what Paul said in Philippians 4 that his inward strength to be content in all circumstances (circumstances much worse than we experience by denying our flesh wanting to overspend) comes from Christ, that if we have food and clothing we shall be content. Paul was saying He has his dependence on Him.
In closing, carry on in dependence of the Lord and carry with you these words from Psalms 18:28:
"You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light."
God Bless you and may He show Himself greatly to you,
Paul
