Why produce more if it only multiplies your misery?

Money is an amplifier, not the music.

The music is the tune that plays in your heart.

Scripture does not teach that money is evil. It highlights that the love of money opens the door to all kinds of trouble. However, the Good Book does point to the unredeemed and unhealed heart being evil and prone to deception. That is where the music plays, for good or for bad. All issues of life flow from the heart and the boundaries we choose are first drawn inwardly.

Work on your heart.

Work on developing your inner man or woman, not just your income.

Easy to say, you say, when your income is sweet and dripping with fat.

I cannot deny that God has been good, but each one of us faces challenges. I own no house. Have no savings. Spent the majority of my life terrified of the money conversation, so have only been in the money game for a few short years. Still feel inadequate and insecure around ‘successful’ people. Wrestle with a small picture of myself, and an inflated picture of others. Push hard and experience resistance within and without. Am fearful to ask for or accept help. Don’t really know what value I bring to the table, especially in situations where I have an exalted view of what others are carrying compared to lil’ ole me. Tussle with fear of the future. Take one step forward and two back on many occasions as I seek to move forward.

I’m not complaining. Not even confessing. Just being real.

I’m sick of pretending. Tired of parading. Committed to truth. If we cant be real with ourselves and others, and seek to present an unreal, glossy charade instead of the charred but beautiful masterpiece God is chiseling what hope do we have of finding happiness.

But how is this relevant? Why empty the laundry basket like this?

Because facts are persistent things.

They will fight against the truth tooth and nail.

This is where the positive confession-ists and law-of-attraction-ists miss a key component. The facts must be owned before the truth can be received.

Confessing the destination is powerful, but for the internal GPS to work you need to have a grip on your current location.

Locate yourself first and then launch toward a more attractive future.

Jesus put it this way:

“Repent,” (own the facts)

“And believe” (reach for and receive the Truth)

Expanding into all that you can be, your biggest most audacious self, is preceded by a clear and unapologetic appreciation of where you are right now.

Facts are facts. Neither good or bad, they just are. Their effects are felt however, and can provoke behaviours that lead to good or bad results. I’m not suggesting you lay a guilt trip on yourself. Jesus did not instruct us to, “feel guilty, and believe.”

Locating your facts is a means to shine a light on areas where your present thinking, attitudes, and actions are not measuring up to your full stature in Christ.

They provide a baseline from which we can grow and become bigger, better people.

Of course, public confessionals are not really the forum for laundry room confessions. I have lifted the lid to expose some of my struggles here for a reason.

Choose your time, people, and place for honest laid-bare reality carefully.

But let’s learn to be real, even if it’s uncomfortable in a world of lies and half-truths (there is not really such a thing as a half-truth!).

Contentment and peace cannot hide behind the fig trees. Our naked self must be exposed to the elements and open conversations entered into for truth to prevail.

Expansion, productivity, and impact outwardly will be the result of the inner work. The hard digging down to motives. The opening up of wounds so the Holy Ghost can heal them.

The heaviest loads you carry are the unspoken ones. Fears seek the shadows so they can speak when no one else is looking.

Bring them to the light. Let them fry in the glare of reality.

God is good.

I do not have a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.

My worth and value is not based on any estimation other than God’s, and He gave His best to redeem me as His own. I was not a bargain buy.

I bring tremendous value to every relationship I pursue. I am an asset to others and an encouragement for them to break out and become all they were created to be.

My God is a Rewarder, and sees in secret all that I sow. He is no man’s debtor and I am not owed a penny. His treasures are storing in Heaven and will pour through the windows into my hands through my faithfulness to His cause and His covenant.

This house, life, and business are being built on foundations dug deep and hard. I’m not staying on the surface sands and presenting an inch-thin persona to the world.

I refuse to stay small in my own eyes. I refuse to accept the testimony of anything other than Truth.

And He, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, is far more committed to my prosperity and my peace than even I am.

“The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” (Proverbs 10:22 KJV)

I believe I will be rich, in pounds and dollars, but more so rich in peace.

Peace will fill my account.

Righteousness will be my reward.

And with it as an overflow, all that I can imagine and more will be added.