Discipleship and Money
Theme For The Week: Our main text for this series of devotionals is from Luke 8.1-3. You can listen to teaching on this passage here: (part 1), (part 2), (part 3) and (part 4).
Intro Prayer: “Jesus, please help me in this time to be fully present to You and to myself that I may commune with You for the sake of your glory and the world around me.”
Silence: In this time, try and become silent before the Lord both internally and externally for 5 minutes. If your mind wanders, gently bring it back to stillness.
Praise: Bless the Lord by declaring these truths about Him!
“You are the mighty God who made heaven and earth. You are meek and humble of heart. Your gentleness makes me great. You are mindful of my weakness and that I am but dust. Your presence is more than enough for me. Your mercies are new every morning.”
Devotional: Over and over again in the Bible, when we see someone become a disciple of Jesus, they go through a deep re-orientation in the way they think about and use money as a fruit of their discipleship to Him. Peter, James, and John all encountered the power of Jesus in their business and left their massive catch of fish to follow him. Zacchaeus the tax collector is transformed from greedy to generous. The women in Luke 8, now use their resources to advance the Kingdom of God. We will see this over and over again, discipleship to Jesus reorients the disciple’s view of meaning, priorities, and usage of money.
In fact, we are going to be hard pressed to find a disciple who didn’t encounter profound changes in the way they thought about their finances. This is contrasted with the rich young ruler who we will meet in Luke 18, who wants to follow Jesus but loves money more. In Luke 16, Luke lists one of the reasons the Pharisees who rejected Jesus- their love of money- and they saw Jesus as a threat to their finances. In Luke chapter 8, Jesus teaches explicitly that our relationship to money can choke out His work in our lives.
As you read today’s text, reflect on why discipleship to Jesus changes our relationship to money. What has that looked like in your life?
Scripture: Read today’s text slowly. Feed your spirit on the words. Your goal in this time is to commune with Jesus through His Word. Take note as you sense His Presence.
Matthew 6.24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Worship: Worship forms the truths of Scripture deep within our lives. This week we will be worshipping to the song Find Me, which brings us back to a place of gratitude each day.
Listen: Take time to listen to the Holy Spirit. Write down anything you sense the Lord speaking.
Obedience: What from today is the Lord calling you to put in practice? Could be to pray for someone, to call someone, to serve someone etc.