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Hello, Fairless One.

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Welcome to Fairless One with Nerissa Golden.

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Let me begin with a question.

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If God gave you more money today, would you know what to do with it?

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I don't mean what would you buy first.

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I mean, would you know how to manage it,

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multiply it, and use it to accomplish the purpose for which you were created?

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Many of us are asking God for more, but we have never stopped to consider what more is for.

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We think about paying the bills,

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clearing the debt,

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buying a home, taking a holiday, or finally having enough money to breathe.

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There is nothing wrong with wanting those things,

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but if our entire financial vision ends with our own comfort,

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we are still thinking too small.

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God's provision is personal, but it is really meant to stop with us.

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He blesses us so we can become a blessing.

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Today,

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we are talking about five money mindsets that may be keeping you from receiving,

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managing, and multiplying what God wants to place in your hands.

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This is not a message promising that every believer will become a millionaire.

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It is also not a message suggesting that wealth proves someone is more spiritual

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than everyone else.

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Money is a resource.

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It can create options,

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solve problems,

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build institutions, support families, fund ideas, and advance good work.

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But it also exposes what is already happening in our hearts.

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The question is not simply how much money do you have?

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The deeper question is,

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what do you believe about money and what are those beliefs causing you to do?

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The first mindset is believing that you only need enough for yourself.

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Enough to pay your rent,

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to buy groceries, to keep the lights on, enough to get through another month.

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Survival has a way of shrinking our imagination.

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When you have spent years trying to make ends meet,

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just enough can feel like an ambitious prayer.

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But what if God wants to provide through you, not only for you?

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What if the business you are building is meant to employ other people?

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What if your income is meant to educate a child,

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support a ministry,

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finance an invention,

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restore a building,

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care for an aging parent, or create opportunities in your community?

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God told Abraham that he would bless him and that he would become a blessing.

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The blessing was never intended to end with Abraham.

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This connects directly with the fearless framework.

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You are blessed.

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That is your identity.

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You are fruitful.

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You develop what God has placed within you.

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You multiply.

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What you have begins to create value for others.

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You exercise dominion.

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You store resources, responsibility, and influence well.

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If your financial vision only includes your own needs, multiplication never enters the picture.

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Thinking bigger is not about buying more expensive things.

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It is about accepting a larger assignment.

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In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches us to ask for daily bread.

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He also tells us not to become consumed with questions about what we will eat, drink, or wear.

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Our Father already knows what we need, He says.

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The message translation captures the heart of the passage beautifully.

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We are not to become preoccupied with getting.

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We are to respond to what God is doing and trust Him with the things we need.

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Daily bread is God's responsibility.

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Our responsibility is to seek His kingdom and ask for the wisdom to manage what He provides.

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Maybe your next prayer should not only be, God, give me more money.

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Maybe it should be, God, increase my capacity.

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Show me what the money is for.

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Give me the wisdom to manage what is already in my hands.

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Show me whose life should be better because you blessed me.

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The second mindset is hoarding.

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Hoarding is not the same as saving.

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Saving is wise preparation.

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Hoarding is fair dressed as financial responsibility.

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Saving says I'm preparing for the future and Hoarding says,

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I cannot release anything because I may never have enough again.

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You can have very little and still have a hoarding mindset.

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You can also have millions and live as though every pound,

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dollar or euro must be protected from everyone else.

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Hoarding places your security in what you have accumulated.

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It teaches you to trust the storehouse more than the source.

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There is wisdom in emergency funds, pensions, investments and planning.

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The Bible does not teach carelessness.

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Joseph stored grain in preparation for famine.

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The problem is not having reserves.

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The problem is believing that your reserves are the only thing keeping you safe.

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Jesus tells the story of a wealthy man whose land produced an abundant harvest.

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The man decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones.

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His entire conversation was about himself, my crops, my barns, my grain, my goods.

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There was no thought about God,

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his community, or what the abundance had been given to accomplish.

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The problem was not that he had a successful harvest.

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The problem was that his vision for the harvest ended with himself.

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Generosity interrupts hoarding.

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It reminds us that money is a tool.

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It's not our God.

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Generosity does not mean saying yes to every request.

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It does not mean allowing people to manipulate you.

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Good stewardship requires wisdom, boundaries, and discernment.

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But if you never release anything,

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you may need to ask whether FAIR has taken control of your finances.

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Who benefits from what God has placed in your hands?

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What problem are your resources helping to solve?

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What would generosity look like at your current income level?

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The third mindset is refusing to invest.

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Some people spend everything, some hoard everything.

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Others bury what they have because they are terrified of losing it.

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Jesus addresses this in the parable of the talents.

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A master entrusted resources to three servants.

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Two of them put what they received to work and produced more.

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The third servant buried his portion.

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He did not waste it.

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He did not steal it.

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He preserved it.

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But the master still challenged him because he had done nothing productive

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with what he had been given.

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The servant's problem was not a lack of resources.

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It was fair.

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He was so afraid of making a mistake that he refused to make a move.

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Many of us are doing the same thing.

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We are burying money that could be developing us.

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We refuse to invest in education because the costs cost too much.

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We postpone looking after our health, although poor health may eventually cost far more.

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We avoid investing for the future because we think the amount we have is too small to matter.

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We will not invest in our business,

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our systems,

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or professional support,

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but we remain frustrated that the business cannot grow beyond our personal capacity.

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Investing is not limited to the stock market or property.

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You can invest in knowledge.

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You can invest in your health.

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You can invest in relationships.

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You can invest in technology that gives you time back.

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You can invest in assets that continue producing value after the initial work is done.

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You can invest financially and allow compounding to work over time.

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Compounding often looks unimpressive at the beginning.

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The early growth may seem small.

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But consistency and time can turn small amounts into significant resources.

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That is true of money, knowledge, relationships, and reputation.

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This does not mean investing recklessly.

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It means learning,

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seeking qualified advice,

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and taking appropriate action rather than allowing fear to bury your resources.

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God does not require you to produce what someone else produced,

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but He does expect you to store what He entrusted to you.

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The fourth mindset is resentment and comparison.

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Someone else buys a home,

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signs a major contract,

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receives a promotion or grows a successful business,

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and something tightens inside you.

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You may congratulate them publicly while privately asking, why them and not me?

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Comparison makes someone else's success feel like evidence of your failure.

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But we do not all have the same assignment.

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God may entrust one person with the resources to build a school.

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Another may be called to fund the school.

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Someone else may teach there.

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Another person may create the technology the school uses.

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Each assignment requires different resources.

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If you spend your time studying someone else's portion, you will neglect what is in your hands.

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Their success has not reduced God's capacity to bless you.

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Their opportunity has not canceled your assignment.

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Their harvest may also be the result of seeds they planted years ago.

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Sacrifices you never saw and responsibilities you may not want.

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Instead of begrudging what someone else has, become curious.

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What can their success teach you?

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What decisions did they make?

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What skills did they develop?

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What systems did they build?

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What doors did they have to knock on repeatedly before anyone opened?

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You do not need their life.

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You need the wisdom, courage and resources required for your assignment.

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Celebrate people without turning their lives into a measurement of your worth.

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Their success is information, not an indictment.

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The fifth mindset may be the deepest one.

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Some believers feel guilty about wanting financial success.

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They have absorbed the idea that poverty is automatically holy

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and wealth is automatically corrupt.

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Certain Christian traditions have honored voluntary poverty as a particular religious calling.

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But that is not a command given to every believer

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and not every Catholic priest takes a vow of poverty.

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The Bible presents a much more complete picture of money.

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Abraham was wealthy.

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Job had substantial wealth, lost it, and later had his fortunes restored.

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Solomon possessed extraordinary resources.

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Lydia was a businesswoman who used her money and resources to support the early church.

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There are biblical accounts in which material abundance demonstrates God's generosity.

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But wealth by itself is not proof that someone is righteous,

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approved by God, or spiritually mature.

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Money can be a blessing and it can become a trap.

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The Bible warns us about greed, exploitation, pride, dishonest gain and trusting in riches.

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The problem is not money itself.

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The problem is what rules the heart.

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Ecclesiastes says that money answers or provides for many practical needs.

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That observation is not permission to worship money.

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It is an acknowledgement that money has practical power in the world.

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Money pays for food.

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Money builds homes.

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Money funds research.

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Money provides medical care.

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Money supports missionaries.

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Money creates jobs.

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Money gives people options.

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It is dishonest to say money does not matter.

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It does.

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But money is a servant.

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It is a terrible master.

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If God gives you wealth, the question is not whether you are worthy enough to have it.

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The question is whether you are willing to become responsible enough to store it.

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Your identity does not come from your bank balance.

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You are blessed because God created and called you blessed.

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You do not have to use poverty to prove your humility.

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Neither should you use wealth to prove your importance.

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You can receive without shame,

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give without fear, invest with wisdom, and build without apologizing for succeeding.

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In 1 Chronicles 4, we meet Jabez.

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His story is only a few lines long, but his prayer is bold.

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He asks God to bless him, enlarge his territory, remain with him, and protect him from harm.

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Jabez does not specifically ask to become wealthy.

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He asks for enlargement.

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More territory would bring more opportunity, but it would also bring more responsibility.

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That matters.

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We often ask God for expansion without asking for the character,

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discipline and wisdom required to manage it.

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Isaiah 54 also tells God's people to enlarge the place of their tent,

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stretch the curtains, lengthen the cords and strengthen the stakes.

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Notice that expansion requires preparation.

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You cannot simply stretch the tent.

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You must strengthen what will hold it in place.

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You may be praying for more clients while your systems cannot serve them.

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You may be praying for more money while avoiding your accounts.

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You may be praying for a larger platform while refusing to develop your message.

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You may be praying for greater influence while neglecting your character.

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Expansion without stronger stakes can cause the entire structure to collapse.

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Ask Him to enlarge your territory,

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but also ask, Lord,

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enlarge my capacity,

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strengthen my character,

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teach me to manage money,

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show me where fear is controlling my decisions,

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help me recognize the purpose attached to the provision,

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make me a trustworthy steward of more.

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Before we pray, take some time to consider these questions.

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Where am I thinking too small about what God could accomplish through me?

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Am I saving wisely or hoarding because I am afraid?

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What resource have I buried because I am frightened of making a mistake?

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Do I resent what someone else has instead of focusing on my assignment?

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Do I feel guilty or undeserving when I think about receiving more?

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What would I do with additional money beyond meeting my own needs?

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What stakes must I strengthen before my territory can expand?

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Father, thank you for being our provider.

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Thank you for knowing what we need before we ask.

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Forgive us for the times we have allowed fear,

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shame, comparison, or selfishness to control our relationship with money.

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Renew our minds.

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Teach us to see money as a resource to be stewarded, not a source of identity or security.

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Give us our daily bread and free us from anxiety about tomorrow.

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Give us wisdom to manage what we have already received.

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Show us what to save, what to give, what to invest, and what to build.

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Help us to stop thinking only about our own needs.

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Show us how our lives and resources can become a blessing to others.

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Where we have buried what you gave us, give us the courage to take wise action.

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Where we have begrudged the success of others,

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help us to celebrate them and return our attention to our own assignment.

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Where we have believed that we are undeserving,

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Remind us that our identity is established in you, not in wealth or poverty.

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Bless us indeed.

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Enlarge our territory.

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Let your hand be with us.

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Keep us from evil and from the pride, greed, and fear that can accompany money.

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As you enlarge our tents, help us to lengthen the cords and strengthen the stakes.

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Give us the capacity, character, and discipline to manage more.

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May everything you place in our hands accomplish the purpose for which it was given.

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In Jesus' name, amen.

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Fairless one, money cannot tell you who you are.

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It can only reveal and resource what you already believe you have been called to do.

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You are blessed.

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You have been created to become fruitful.

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What you develop can multiply and create value for others.

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And you have been called to exercise dominion by stewarding it responsibly.

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If this episode challenged you,

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share it with someone who may need to rethink their relationship with money.

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You can also find more about identity,

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purpose,

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and building from God's original design in my book,

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Live Fairless, A Christian Entrepreneur's Guide to Life and Business.

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Thank you for listening to Fairless One with Nerissa Golden.

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Until next time, live fearless.