2025 is our year of immense increase at Tree of Life Church, and the number one way God brings increase into any area of your life is through a person. Not a sugar daddy, or some kind benefactor with more money than sense – even though some of you are praying that way, you will not get that because you are asking amiss from God’s will, purpose and principles. No – God brings a money man into your life to teach you the truth about money and prosperity and increase.
Poverty is the greatest evil in the world. It causes pain to more people than anything else. It stops more people walking in their dream and destiny than any other force of satan. It steals from you, and worse than that it steals your ability to be a blessing to others. Especially if – like me – you are from the UK – you will find culturally that when God sends a money man, that money man is often rejected because talking about money is seen as inappropriate in the house of God. But unless the church and unless pastors talk about money then the only place you learn about money is the world – and that is why you are so worldly about money.
There are very few money men in the UK – very few pastors with the courage, the wisdom, the experience, the knowledge of the Word – to set you free from financial poverty, and when you meet one – you need grace to perceive them. If you fail to perceive them, you will not honour them, and you will fail to benefit from them.
It’s even harder in the UK because the church has been possessed by a mentality that hates prosperity. They call anyone who talks about prosperity a cult. I personally think the anti-prosperity people are the cult, so far removed from the Word of God, quoting each other and being disfellowshipped if they dare to break tradition. The reason is that a true money man – a true man of God prepared to tell you the Biblical truth about money – will wind you up because you still think you can do what you want with your money and win in life. You cannot.
Any pastor who teaches on money immediately sets into place an attack on his credibility across the entire United Kingdom. That’s why I say it is an anti-prosperity cult that dominates the UK churches. Even ministers in the US and other nations who teach on Biblical prosperity are vilified, sometimes even by their UK staff and partners. It’s a cult – a poverty cult!
Imagine having toothache and going to the dentist, then getting upset because your dentist wants to talk to you about teeth! Imagine going to a steakhouse and getting upset they are not selling sushi! Imagine going to church poor, worried about money, working yourself to the bone and getting upset that the pastor is not talking about the antichrist and the number of the beast. A good pastor should be a money man, but so few are.
Forty percent of all bankruptcies in the UK are born- again Christians, when we are less than ten percent of the population. You know people in your church who are struggling to pay bills, taxes, their rent! Yet, when a pastor talks about money and prosperity they get annoyed! What is wrong with people – a failure to recognize God’s gift of a money man to them.
Someone recently told me if God wants to prosper people He will do it without my help. That sounds spiritual but it is stupid. That’s like the people who told William Carey that if God wants to save people in India He will just do it without you. No – if you do not hear you will not believe, and if you do not have a preacher willing to preach then you will not hear! That’s how God works.
A good pastor will tell you to tithe. Any pastor that says tithing is not for today or not relevant is not a money man. They will never help you financially, they are too scared to upset you to help you. A money man will also tell you to pay your taxes and not defraud the government. They will help you come to a place where you have enough money to leave an inheritance for your children’s children, to give to the church, to give to other ministries, to give to world mission, to give to your future and your success – and to give enough to ensure your pastors are paid well.
A good pastor will not platform someone through preaching, the gifts or worship who does not have the integrity and faith to tithe, even if that person then gets so upset they lie and tantrum. They will love people enough to help them, no matter the evil treatment they receive. No matter if people misunderstand them. No matter if people think they are only after their money. They know that unless you know the Biblical principles about money you will never have the power to change the world.
One of the most powerful moments in your life is when you hear a pastor preach on money and rather than criticise, faith rises up in your heart. Just like God sent Elijah to a broke, starving, dying widow with no income and no assets and changed her life forever, God has sent a money man into your life to change your life forever. I pray you recognize them. If it is me, if it is Tree of Life, I suggest you become a tither if you are not right now, I suggest you give a generous gift, and push past your unbelief and get into a place of sowing generously so you can reap generously. If you think I wrote this just to get money, you are not there yet, keep listening.
Let me help you recognize your money man. They will have to be a very strong person because the persecution when a pastor speaks honestly about money is exceptionally intense. When a pastor has money, that’s even worse. There will always be satanically inspired people in that pastor’s church who will not tithe or give (sometimes saying things like – “we give to better ministries”, and if you believe that you need to get into the Word) and dissuade others to stopping giving too. Or at least just tip a few pounds, the church doesn’t need that much money. No – it doesn’t – you desperately need to give that much money because you are trapped in a weak, faithless life and need to do something to break free. A money man is not looking to learn about your chains, he just wants to break them.
Every money man is like Elijah, they know what it is to have the ravens feed them, they have seen miracle after miracle in their own lives. They will be tithers. They will not be sharing things they do not know. They will have testimonies of giving huge amounts of money, they will be giving far more than a tithe every month. You may fail to recognize them because they are not interested in listening to how bad things are or giving their money to you because what you need is not money but wisdom. DId you notice that Elijah never once moans or whines about the brook drying up to raise money! A money man is not whinging about his own financial pressures, he lives above them to help you!
Like Elijah they may seem very controlling. Elijah said to the woman – give me a cake first. That would not be appreciated by most British Christians today at all! But it was the key for this woman to become rich! He gave her an instruction she did not want to do. He didn’t cry with her, give her money, give her some raven food. He came with an instruction to give. She could obey or disobey. She chose to obey in faith and became rich. That’s a money man! Do not fail to perceive who God is bringing to you.
A money man will confront the biggest problem in your life to prosperity. It’s not a lack of money, it’s a lack of faith for money. It’s a lack of imagination, a lack of a renewed mind, it’s a lack of knowledge about the Biblical principles about money that is destroying you.
Your money man will speak words that provoke you to either act in faith or back off and have unbelief. He has faced a dried up brook and the loss of raven partners so he knows how to handle these situations. He has personally fought poverty and won, and therefore can help you win.
He is not interested in experience, he is interested in expectations. He is not interested in your past, but wants to help you build a future. And it’s your job to perceive your money man and honour them. Then their wisdom will be close to you. What you perceive you honour, and what you honour will move closer to you.
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