Are my finances cursed? Is there spiritual warfare that's taking place in the area of my finances? We
must understand, is that world is more spiritual than we realize. A lot of things we see in the
Bible that had spiritual forces behind financial problems. For example a famine during the days of
David. The scripture says that first few years it was fine, you know David just thought it was just
weather. But after a while he started to inquire of the Lord and the Lord revealed that there was a
spiritual cause behind a financial problem. We see similar things with like Achans disobedience to
God in the terms of the forbidden or the accursed things in the city of Jericho, brought a calamity
on the whole nation and then eventually brought destruction upon his life. When the servant of
Elisha took what was not supposed to be taken, he received leprosy. When the disciple of Jesus,
Judas who lived a lifestyle of stealing, who would take money from the offering. It opened the door
to the enemy to deceive him and eventually at demons. You know satan himself the Bible says,
it entered him. And then you know this devil not only deceived him and led him to betray Jesus,
eventually he took his own life. The Bible says that satan has put in the heart of Ananias to lie
to the Holy Spirit concerning finances. So if you think for a moment that spiritual warfare
only happens in the area of your sleep, in the area of your health, in area of your emotions,
in the area of your mind, in the area of the world but it doesn't touch the area of your finances,
think again. Which area is the competition to your worship of God? It's the area of your finances.
You cannot worship two gods, Jesus says. You cannot worship God and Mammon. He didn't say you
cannot worship God and satan. Mammon is the money god. It's the, it's the riches, it's the wealth,
it's that. It's the deceitfulness of riches, cares of this life that choke the Word of God and make
it of no effect in our life. The reason there is a warfare on the area of finances is because
whoever has the area of finances has your heart. If God has the area of finances in your life, He
has your heart. If satan has the area of finances, he has your heart. You can proclaim your loyalty
and allegiance to God all day long. But if the area of your finances is not submitted to God,
then you are honestly deceiving yourself. In the area of finances I want to highlight a few truths,
one of them is a blessing and a curse. The scripture says, "The blessing of the LORD makes
rich, and it adds no sorrow with it." Proverbs 10:22. I want you to notice that the blessing
of God is not riches. The blessing of God brings those things, but the blessing of God is not those
things. The blessing of God is not stuff. The blessing of God is not possessions. The blessing
of God is not bling and bling. The blessing of God is not money. The blessing of God is a spiritual
empowerment for expansion, to help you fulfill your assignment. That's why God blessed Adam
and Eve before He told them to be fruitful and multiply. God blessed Noah before He told him
to be fruitful and multiply. God blessed Abraham before He told him to be fruitful. Jesus blessed
the five loaves and two fish and they multiplied. He blessed His disciples and then He commissioned
them to go into all the world and make disciples. You can't advance, expand, move forward without a
spiritual empowerment that we call the blessing. It's a spiritual reality that manifests itself,
reveals itself in natural world. People that are blessed are not necessarily people who are rich.
They are people who have what it takes and more, to do what God called them to do. And that's
really what we're after. We're not after money. We're after His blessing. Like Jacob, we wrestle
with God that you will bless. Like Jabez, we would say that you would bless me. That I will not cause
pain. That you will expand my territory. And God heard his prayer and God answered that. Through
the beatitudes, Jesus says blessed are the people and He tells us how to receive that blessing.
The opposite of blessing is curse. Now there's different people who can use different words,
okay. And there's a play of words that really happens. People who say Christians can't have
curses and everything. Honestly a lot of that is a play of words okay. And you can choose whatever
words you want to use for that. I'm just going to use the words that I'm familiar with. And why
I'm using the word curse, is because I see it in the example of Jesus. When Jesus pronounced
the curse over it, it was a big tree that had no fruit. But after the curse was released on it,
this big tree that was fruitless became a tree that became withered. So everything that's cursed
withers. Everything that's blessed is empowered for expansion. In the area of finances, when
you look at your finance. Can we just be honest. Are your finances, do you sense an expansion and
advancement moving forward? And no, not for our purpose, the purpose of advancing God's kingdom.
For the purpose of helping other people, for the purpose of living generous. Or you sense
that everything you try, something is holding it back. Something is withering it. There's constant,
constant like, like a chain that holds it back. If that is happening in the area of your finances,
you might be in a spiritual warfare. I would encourage you with few practical things on
what to do. Examine first and foremost who is the master, your money or your Lord? Who is the Lord
of your life? Do you worship God or you worship money? Because if money has become your idol,
you're not just in a spiritual warfare, you're in spiritual defeat. Many people when they experience
repentance from the idolatry of money, they experience victory in the very area they
surrendered and yielded to God. And you can examine that very easily. Are you generous
person or are you stingy person? Do you trust God with your finances or you trust in your finances?
Are you a covetous person or are you a person who lives in contentment? The other question that I
would examine in your heart is, is there traces of stealing in your life? Do you currently live
a life that is stealing? Do you live a life where you're taking what is not yours? It doesn't matter
how fast you speak in tongues and how many times you've been in church or which Christian t-shirt
you wear. If you are actively stealing, you're under a curse. You're representing the nature of
satan. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. Jesus comes to give and more abundantly. If you are
stealing you're no different than Judas, you're no different than the thieves on the cross. Now
there's redemption for you. There's forgiveness for you but you must understand your finances
are cursed. There's a verse in the Bible that says, "In the life of a thief even the timbers
in his house will come you know under destruction because of stealing." Repent of stealing and stop
stealing. Be like Zacchaeus who says, "I will return four times more of anyone that I ripped
off and half of my income I give away." And Jesus was impressed with that transformation of heart,
by seeing the transformation in Zacchaeus's finances. But also I would ask, are you lazy?
Are you hard-working? You know praying against financial curses, all of that, even giving does
not replace the importance of being early for work. Being late, you know after work,
meaning you're a hard-working person, you're diligent, you're disciplined, you're a focused
person, you do a great job. A lot of people are experiencing spiritual warfare is because they
are not working hard at their job. Perhaps you're facing a just demonic attack on your finances. You
know mammon is the word for money but Mammon is also a powerful demon that is commonly personified
as greed, demon of lord of riches, abundance, wealth, prosperity and injustice. In fact
throughout the Christian culture people have seen Mammon as like a spiritual entity. And so riches,
who rules your life today? If it's the Lord, who is the owner of all the wealth, all the goodness.
He will help you to get through this season. But if you have made wealth into your lord,
then my friend you're not just in a spiritual warfare, you're in spiritual defeat already.
And I'm inviting you to repent. I'm inviting you to repent of making money into god and make God
your Lord. You will see His spiritual blessing follow your life. That doesn't mean you will
have stuff. It means you will have whatever you need to fulfill whatever He has called you to do.