Managing personal finances
- 2. Children Family World God Eve Adam Adam Eve The Original Course Children Family World God Eve Adam The Restoration Course Children Satan Eve Adam Family World 3 The Way of the Principle 2 Rebirth through True Parents Blessing 1 The Way of Restoration Foundation of Faith Foundation of Substance
- 3. The Three Essential Elements of our Life of Faith 1) Worship 2) Witnessing 3) Donation Tithing Recreating vertical relationships me God Recreating horizontal relationships me others Recreating t rue dominion me things
- 4. “ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)
- 5. What is tithing? Tithing is a spiritual law given by God to humankind to assist people in finding abundance, fulfillment, and gratitude in their everyday lives. When a person tithes, the universe that works under the spiritual law of tithing says, “If you have that much to give, that means you are open to receive more.”
- 6. The origin of tithing As soon as Abraham saw Melchizedek, the wisdom of his heart knew he was seeing one who is with God. Abraham knew intuitively that he was to give back 10 percent of all that he had in the world to the representative of God, and so began the practice of tithing. When Abraham was blessed by Melchizedek and then gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything, a spiritual covenant was set up for our time, whereby humankind is to give a tenth of its increase (what a person receives that is his or hers) back to God.
- 7. True Father : Making an offering to God should be the first priority in life, before thinking of your own life. Thinking that you are offering a percentage of your income can easily lead to a habit of putting your life first, before God. If God is placed as a second priority, He will later end up being in the last place. Do you think it will become like that or not? (96-101, 1978.1.2)
- 8. The No.1 competition God faces for our heart is our stuff. "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and………..“ Luke 16:13
- 9. Turn your temporary worldly wealth into eternal wealth. To be rich towards God is to give ‘our extra’ what we don’t need to those who are in need. Use your stuff as a tool to allow you to join in achieving a vision that is greater than your own comfort.
Editor's Notes
- #2: Why talk about this in church? In a congregational environment? Don’t we come here to get away from all of that, and focus our attention on God, and what does God have to do with money, isn’t it better to keep them separate? Certainly don’t try to talk to me about my personal finances and my commitment to God in the same breath, in the same sentence. Tension. If this strikes u as uncomfortable or the mixing of 2 things that should be kept well apart then once u have finished talking later on about how our pastor just wants our money, then take a bit of time to run over these points by yourself just later on in the day when u have some quiet moment. Most of us often get lost and confused in our finances. There are a lot of emotions attached to this whole arena of our life. But we cannot remain lost in our finances and at the same time surrender our selves to God. Another example: love God but not willing to be reconciled with my brother. Jesus said too much about money, TPs have said too much about money. (“I want to follow this guy but ignore a big chunk of what he is teaching.”)
- #3: My world view as a Unificationist, my lense: original plan – fall – restoration. (if u want to explore, a perspective on life that u question, intrigued, strikes a chord, unsure, etc: Monday night informal study program.) So my context is that my life is part of a bigger picture, in which God is recreating everything, through getting us to reconnect. I want to reconnect every aspect of my life. I do get challenged in every aspect of my life.
- #4: I do get challenged in every aspect of my life, and so I look to God for guidance on how to harmonize everything. So as we struggle with money (wanting more, holding on to it, counting it, developing an artificial need for it) we want God to show us how to use it properly. The more we include the different aspect of our life in our relationship with God, the more we will have a relationship with him. This is a big area of our life. Everyday it comes up many times. Every time you take an area of your life and surrender it to God, incredible things happen. Principle teaches us about how every aspect of God’s creation has dual characteristics: internal nature and external form. Everything that is manifested in this world has a spiritual origin.
- #5: This is a huge principle. This is not an indictment, or a judgement. This is just a self evident truth. When people invest their money into something a bit of their heart goes to that thing. It commands their attention. Where we send our money our attention follows.
- #6: The law of tithing is to give 10 percent of one's increase back to God, with God represented on the physical level by the source of one's spiritual teachings — often a church, synagogue, mosque, or a spiritual teacher. As humankind fulfills its part of the covenant by giving 10 percent to God, then God fulfills Its part by continually blessing us. So, you may want to check it out with a joyful attitude of saying, “Lord, I am open to receive whatever it is that you bless me with.” And then discover for yourself the Blessing of fulfilling God`s covenant.
- #7: When the prophet Abram (later Abraham) was traveling home with the riches of battle after warring with a nearby king, he was met by a high priest in the order of God. This priest was Melchizedek, and it was at that time that the Priesthood of Melchizedek was established on the planet. God, of course, is always fulfilling his part anyway, so the question is, are we lining up, are we fulfilling the covenant?
- #9: “ U have to bring this arena of your life into your relationship with me, as u should bring your marriage, friendships, etc” But often it is the last thing that we want to surrender. God is not interested in getting your money, he is interested in capturing your heart and your hearts are connected to your personal finances. He does not want your money, he wants to stop your money getting you. We all know what it feels like to be gotten, and God wants to help us to untangle our finances. Money is a spiritual issue.
- #10: Wealth is essentially created and sustained by the success of people’s values, over generations. There is an infusion of joy, that is experienced when u use your stuff and invest it in saving another persons life. Just as there is incredible freedom in our relationships when we surrender them to God, so there is an incredible freedom that comes when we surrender the arena of our finances to God.