Money matters

A faithful man will abound with blessings, But he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished (Proverbs 28: 20).

Recently, Ooi and I have been discussing about our financial situation more often than I would like..As you all know, we both just married…we not only spent all that we had in our wedding…we thought everything would be alright once the wedding dinner was over…we thought we could then resume to starting to save our monies once again to prepare later for other things (such as having a baby)…

Little did we know, after the wedding dinner, so many things that required money kept popping into our lives…first of all, we had to go back to Brunei for CNY and the air-tickets cost a bomb, even though it was already discounted (costing around RM800 each!)…then, we had to give out ang paus (in Brunei Dollars!! And also double portion due to the status of being newly-weds)…and then when I came back to Msia, my car road tax, insurance and my half-yearly insurance premiums were all due!!!

We also had many birthdays keep popping up too…birthday lunches/ dinners don’t come cheap anymore…and I also had guests coming down from overseas…frens who wanna meet up to catch up…etc…therefore, the usual belanja-ing took place….we have our relatives and frens’ weddings coming up too…urghhh….

And the list goes on…we still have our house loan, car loan, electricity bills, water bills, telephone bills, credit card bills, bills, bills, bills….hahaha…

One thing I know is that despite all the above, I must still give and sow into God’s house..Many at times, I consider looking for another job..one with a better pay..but then, I remember what the Lord says in the Bible..tat if you hasten to be rich, you will not go unpunished…if I leave my current job for one that pays more, I may no longer have the time to spend with my friends..i may no longer be able to attend cell groups…I may no longer be able to have timely dinners with my Ooi…etc etc…

I am not looking for an excuse to why I am in my current situation…I know that I am not financially tight because I have to pay my tithes and offerings…No..I know I am financially tight because my expenses are too high and that I mostly have no courage (and maybe too much pride) to admit to my friends and relatives that I cannot afford to bless them as much or as often as I like..this is something I need to overcome…and I need to overcome it soon!!!…heheh….However, I know I have to keep being faithful in my giving to God because I know He will abound me with blessings!! Not just financial blessings..but also great health and wisdom to enjoy my financial blessings with my loved ones..

~end~

You’ll feel great after reading this ^-^

So, yesterday I blogged about the mind-blowing conference by Pasor Pat Mesiti in my church just recently. Most of the things that he preached on those 4 days are still fresh in my mind…I can’t remember the last time I felt this blessed by anyone….

Hence, I would like to also bless others too with what I have jotted in my notebook some of my favourite quotes from Pastor Pat:

a) You must have a dream in your heart, a plan in your head and a seed in your hand for you dreams to become a reality.
b) God responds to seeds and faith. He responds to belief, and not emotions. You need to sow in good soil.
c) A seed is a potential future. Sometimes, the small seeds can bring a huge harvest.
d) Seed Sowers are committed people.
e) Failure is a result of broken focus.
f) Your net worth is linked to your self worth.
g) You cannot fail without your permission. You cannot succeed without your participation.
h) Education is not expensive. Ignorance is! We must never ignore the Word of God.
i) Giving is God’s way of raising children, not raising money.
j) Money makes a great servant, but not a great master.
k) Money does not make the man, but it magnifies what the man already is.
l) If your believing is wrong, then your giving is hindered.
m) Money has no power except how you give it.
n) Our God is not a God into scarcity. He is a God of abundance.
o) Money is not the root of all evils, but the love of money is the root of all evils.
p) Prosperity is a mindset. You need to shift from negative to positive, from doubt to belief.
q) He who wins souls, is wise.
r) The plans of the diligent will prosper.
s) Where your focus is, there your future is.
t) God wants us to build our assets first, before our expenses.
u) Sowing seeds are harder than reaping your harvest. Even receiving can be harder than giving.
v) It is not experience that gives wisdom, but learned/ applied/ evaluated experience is.
w) With prosperity, there is responsibility to help others.
x) We must know not just the Lord, but the ways of the Lord.
y) The Lord will provide in the place of the Lord (the place of vision). You must be in position, for God to do the provision, to achieve the vision!
z) When vision and sacrifice meets together, that is when the Lord becomes Jehovah Jireh (a provider!).

There you have it. I may not have everything jotted down because I was just so caught up listening to Pastor Pat, having not enough time to write down everything. However, I believe the above quotes up there are enough to stir your thinking and your spirit. Hope you are all blessed!

SOWING INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD FOR A LIFE OF PROSPERITY

First of all, I must apologise for not updating my blog for a weeks now…as usual, life’s been hectic at the work place…my boss just informed me of a new project that I am to undertake and at top priority, as this was the request from our Deputy CEO…so not only am I short handed at work, but I have more work, at work..hahaha…however, praise God that I was given the task at hand..i’ve been praying for the Lord to give both me and my boss favour in the eyes of our Senior Management…and here, opportunity is knocking at my door again…

God has truly been real and good to me…particularly the past 4 days, when my church had this amazing speaker from Australia..Pastor Pat Mesiti..this amazing man of God has blessed me with his preaching throughout…His energy and excitement from God was just so refreshing and at the same time, so contagious…I just wanted to sit there and just drown in the revelations that was revealed…

(Picture taken from: http://www.chc.org.my)

Also, we were challenged by Pastor Pat to give, every single day he preached…I must admit that I wanted to skip the last day of his conference because I thought to myself “Could I afford any more to attend? I have already given so much! To make matter worse, I just got my April’s salary last week and now, I have almost emptied it…and it’s not even the month of April YET!!!”.. But then, neither could I handle the thought of not being able to listen to what God’s plans for my prosperity were …I had to be there no matter what…so I just mustered up all my courage and faith and went…and made sure I sat as near as possible to the front so that I can see this man of God preaching!!!

I was truly blessed and have no regrets at all going to listen to Pastor Pat for 4 DAYS consecutively…one thing he said last night, which will shift my thinking forever when it comes to giving my tithes and offerings to the Lord..He said:

Most times, sowing is not the most difficult part…Reaping your harvest it!!

Wow….~!! That truly blew me away…it is true…we are always so consumed with the “what do I need to give to God”, the “How much to give?” and the “Why to give?”..this is because most of us are doubtful on whether God will bless us back later….

However, we should always continue to have faith in our God that He has only plans of prosperity for us and shall make us the head and not the tail…It is our obedience that God seeks in us…when we return back the 10% tithe which is his, and when we give offerings into His house so that more can be done…tat’s when God cannot wait to bless us back with so much that we would have problem figuring how to best maximize the returns!!!

(Picture taken from: http://www.chc.org.my)

So to myself, and also to all those out there reading this..i hope u are motivated and on fire to continue to sow into the wonderful Kingdom of God!! Let us pray together in one accord, for the courage, determination and faith to Give more and more and more to our Father God!! And can I get an Amen with that? Hehehe….AMEN!!!