FINANCES

Reading Time 2 mins 13 secs – In John 6, we read the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. Do you know it? It’s where we see Jesus teaching the disciples how to release the Kingdom of God into the earth realm. Basically, a large crowd was following Jesus, listening to Him teach, and watching Him perform miracles. It got to a point where the people needed to eat, and Jesus asked the disciples what they planned to feed the people. Of course, Jesus knew the disciples would freak out. They couldn’t feed 5,000 people. In fact, they started talking about how it would take more than half a year’s wages to buy just a bite for that many people. Jesus was teaching the disciples, and He was teaching us— the Kingdom of God has all the answers you need . How can you release the Kingdom of God into your life? Here are the five steps Jesus took. 1. Look at what you have. Jesus asked the disciples what they had to feed the people. What do you have in your life that you can give God to work with? Jesus multiplied bread into bread and fish into fish. What do you need multiplied in your life? Find some of it. That’s your seed. Also, remember that money can be named. You don’t sow money to believe for more paper or digital money. Money represents your life and can be named to be the thing you need multiplied. 2. Make sure you’re in faith. “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see” (Hebrews 11:1, GNT). You have to know how to judge whether or not you’re in faith. How? Do you have the right picture? When you close your eyes, what do you see? Do you see yourself with the thing you’re believing for? Can you defend your position? Why do you believe it? Prove it! Because you can be sure that between the “Amen” and the “There it is!” the enemy is going to contend for it, so you better be able to defend it. Do you have joy, expectancy, and peace? Are you in agreement with your spouse? 3. Confess over what you have, and release it in faith. Be specific. Say exactly what you’re believing for and release the seed to God. 4. Get the plan from God. Be ready for new direction, new ideas, and new concepts by revelation from the Holy Spirit. Carry a notepad and a pen. Write everything down. 5. Act quickly! When God gives you the plan, MOVE! It’s wise to have counselors and get wisdom, but you need to act swiftly on any direction you receive from the Holy Spirit.

Reading Time 4 mins – I couldn't even afford to buy a postage stamp. Then, everything changed. We finally had rest. We could think about our future and not just about paying the bills. We could dream again of good things instead of worrying how we would survive one more week. Do you know my story? Many years ago, well before we were in ministry, we lived hand-to-mouth. We lived in downright poverty. We were believers, and we had a great family life. We enjoyed our marriage and our family, but we were struggling. Really struggling. We went to a church that taught us how God loves us and that He has great things planned for our lives, but we weren’t living it. We weren’t experiencing God’s promises in our lives. We were barely surviving. Pawnshops were a way of life. We didn’t own anything new. Everything we had was used, very used. The carpet on my kids’ bedroom floors had been retrieved from a trash bin. Their mattresses came from a nursing home. We had two cars that each had more than 200,000 miles on each of them and had definitely seen better days. The floorboards in both of them were rusting out; they were beat up and the frames were bent. The little, 1800s farmhouse our family of seven lived in had also seen better days. We had weeds growing through any cracks that could be found in the window frames. For years, our finances had been on a slippery downhill slope. Working on straight commissions in the insurance industry had left us with too much month at the end of our money time and time again. And while I always intended to pay off our debts, or whatever we may have borrowed each month, we only ended up further behind. For nine very long years, we were in financial chaos. Not only did we owe on our broken-down farmhouse and two rusted-out, bent up, high mileage cars, we also had ten maxed out credit cards, three finance company loans at interest rates of 28%, more than $13,000 owed in back taxes, more than $26,000 owed to relatives, and judgments and liens filed against us. Intense financial pressure anyone? I remember one specific time I had to mail an envelope. Not a $10 envelope. A regular envelope. A letter. But I couldn’t even afford the stamp. We had borrowed money from anybody and everybody we could. We had exhausted all of our options. In fact, we owed money to nearly anyone you could imagine—hospitals, dry cleaners— everyone. I had to call my dad to ask if he had change I could have to buy a stamp. Let that sink in: I couldn’t even afford to buy a stamp. “Do I have breathe for you, too?” my dad asked me. Ouch. My dad was funding everything, and he wasn’t a believer at the time. Drenda and I were the believers. But for nine years we lived like that. I was sick during those days, too. I was miserable. I lived in stress. I was anxious and fearful. The doctors put me on medication to deal with the panic attacks I was having, but that only seemed to make things worse. Fear consumed my life. I even got to the point of not wanting to leave my house. You can imagine how much that was helping my sales business. Everyday life became a game of survival, and I was constantly looking over my shoulder, waiting for the next thing to go wrong or blow up. I had no joy, no peace, and no rest. I reached the end of my rope when an attorney called our house one morning and warned me that his firm was going to file a lawsuit against me if I didn’t give them $1,900 within three days. I was desperate. I had exhausted all of my options. I knew it was over; I had nowhere to turn. I clearly remember collapsing on my bed, desperately crying out to God. To be honest, I was shocked that God spoke to me immediately. He told me that I had trusted in debt to meet my needs and that I had never taken the time to learn how His Kingdom operated. He then went on and told me that most of His body, the Church, was in debt and that He wanted them free financially. He said, “Take the time to learn how my Kingdom operates.” My life completely changed after that. Drenda and I began to learn how the Kingdom operated, and what we learned was amazing. When we discovered and began to apply Kingdom principles, it was like a light switch came on. We truly began experiencing the promises of God in our lives. In less than three years from that day, we were completely out of debt. We started new businesses during that time that kept growing. We paid cash for our cars, cash for our 55 acres of land, and built and paid for our new home. We were extremely excited, and still are! In fact, we’ve been on a mission ever since to help others experience the Kingdom of God. Of course, all of those things were really exciting, but the best thing about our journey was that we finally had rest. We could think about our future and not just about paying the bills. We could dream again of good things instead of worrying how we would survive one more week. Friend, that is real rest, and that’s what I want for you this year. You may find it hard to believe right now, but I assure you that what Drenda and I discovered is just as much available to you as it was to us. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The power of rest is a law of God’s Kingdom that frees you to stop chasing after money. It’s one of the most life-changing principles God has ever taught me and I share it in my book Your Financial Revolution: The Power of Rest . I really believe the Holy Spirit has given me a message that is going to change the way you work forever! Get your copy of Your Financial Revolution: The Power of Rest today!

Reading Time 4 mins 30 secs – God wants you to be able to: Dream dreams — BIG dreams!. Walk out the calling He has on your life. Do the things He prompts you to do, like pay for someone’s gas or groceries, sponsor a child who needs help, advance the Kingdom…. How much time do you spend doing any of these things ⇧⇧⇧ when you’re worried about paying your bills or having enough just to get by each week? So many people are under great stress in their financial situations because of debt. Debt steals your peace by demanding more and more of your labor, of your life. Debt keeps you from fully serving God. Debt keeps you from following the path God has for your life. Debt keeps you enslaved. That’s why I talk about money and finances. The enemy has schemes and tricks designed to put us into servitude to debt or anything else we’ve made a master in our lives. He wants us strapped financially so we don’t have the freedom or time to have relationships with God and the people we love, or to do what God is calling us to do. I talk about money and finances because I care about your freedom, friend— your freedom to follow God, to make choices, and to pursue your dreams and your God-designed destiny as YOU desire, not as your bills and debt dictate. That’s why you’ll also frequently hear me share my story. The Bible says that God is not a respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). That means He doesn’t play favorites. What God has done for Drenda and me, He will do for you. Research tells us that most people need to hear/read/see a message between 18 and 20 times before they really get it. So Drenda and I keep sharing—for you and for anyone who hasn’t heard the Good News of the Gospel and the Kingdom principles that completely changed our lives, so that you can GET it and live FREE too. See, Drenda and I know what it’s like to feel hopeless. When we were first married, we had no money. In fact, we borrowed $500 from a friend to even get married, so we really started out in debt. We lived on commissions from my work at an insurance company, but my commissions just weren’t enough to keep up with life. Not knowing better at the time, we started using credit cards to buy what we needed. Then, when we ran out of credit card options, we used finance company loans to consolidate those cards. When money got tight again, we’d get new credit cards. We also had two car loans. Then, of course, we bought a house, which we didn’t really qualify for. Drenda’s parents loaned us the down payment, and my boss wrote a letter, which actually exaggerated our income, to the mortgage company. The mortgage company approved the loan. But when the first payment came due, we didn’t have it. We scraped by. And when things broke, we used more debt. Then, there were taxes. Working on commission means you pay your own taxes, and since we didn’t have the money to pay them, I didn’t file. I really thought I’d get around to it when the money was there. But the money just never was there. Eventually, we had to file, and we ended up owing thousands of dollars, which led to tax liens and extreme stress. After just six years of marriage, we had accumulated 10 maxed out and canceled credit cards, two car loans on old run-down and broken cars, three finance company loans at 23% interest each, judgments filed against us, and thousands of dollars in tax liens. On top of that, we owed our parents tens of thousands of dollars, which we had borrowed from them just to survive. Life was horribly stressful, and I was having trouble coping. I ended up having panic attacks and being put on antidepressants. One day, I woke up to find my body paralyzed. I couldn’t move. Fear had a death grip on me. I lived so stressed out that I even became afraid to leave my house. Drenda even began to plan how she and our children would survive. It was hell on earth. I wasn’t living life. I wasn’t at peace. I couldn’t even rest, let alone dream dreams, walk out the call God had placed on my life, or do even little things to help others financially. I had no freedom. Fixing our situation looked impossible. We were beyond desperate. We knew we must have been missing something. And that was when God revealed several life-changing things to us. First, He told me that we trusted debt and the world’s system more than we had trusted in His Word and His Kingdom. God said, “Take the time to learn how My Kingdom operates. Most of My church is in the same situation that you are … I want my people free financially. ” We went from financial ruin to being completely debt free over the next two and a half years! I can’t even describe how that feels. We went from feeling completely hopeless to the elation of being able to pay cash for our new cars, building and paying for our dream home, and prospering at a level where we were actually giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to various ministry projects around the world. We’re not exaggerating whatsoever when we say our lives drastically changed. Our memories of those nine dark years gave us a passion to teach people about the Kingdom of God. Drenda and I are on a mission to help people all around the world experience the same financial freedom that we experienced. YOU can be financially free too. That’s why we frequently share our story, and why I frequently talk about money. As a friend of Faith Life Now, we want to help you. Financial freedom doesn’t just happen. We’ve been there. There are some steps to take. It will take some work. There will be a price involved, and it may take you some time. But know this… Your FREEDOM is worth it. So, how do you get there? How do you move from wherever you are now to financial freedom? #1 You have to learn what the Bible says about money and how to apply the financial principles of the Kingdom to your life. Matthew 6:33 tells us that if we seek His Kingdom first, “all of these things will be given to you as well.” If we take the time to see knowledge regarding His Kingdom and how it works, then we can access it and walk in it. For your life to change financially, you must take the time to study, write down, dissect, and understand the function of the laws that govern the Kingdom of God, specifically in the area of finances. #2 You have to make important practical decisions to change your financial future. We are born into a world that survives through the debt system. It's natural to trust it to meet our needs—especially when the going gets tough. In order to operate in God’s system, we must turn away from that system and learn to exercise faith in God’s Kingdom. This can be YOUR YEAR! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take steps today to live financially free; to build the life you want; to make 2021 your best year yet—the year you experience financial freedom. Order the complete Your Financial Freedom Package here. These tools will help you dramatically change your financial situation and future!

Reading Time 5 mins 30 secs – What can you expect in 2021? Buckle your seatbelt friend! You may have heard me talk about how God gave me several dreams concerning the direction of our country over the last year. The first one was on New Year’s Eve 2019 and was a prophetic glimpse of what would spiritually occur in 2020. In the dream, I was in a major city that was empty of people. From building to building hung spider webs. And on one skyscraper sat a huge spider. The city was vacant of people except for one young guy who was headed directly toward the spider’s web. In the dream, God said, He doesn’t understand the danger of this deception. You need to tell him. I never expected to see anything like that happen—cities vacated and Satan bringing such deception. The dream didn’t end there. I heard the words Rosh Hashanah bellow, and the power of God knocked me down. What does Rosh Hashanah mean? Rosh Hashanah is a time for reflection, prayer, and repentance. Rosh Hashanah was symbolic of repentance and the power of God coming into the situation. The other two dreams I had in 2020 were warnings for America that I felt I needed to share publicly. The second dream was of socialism coming into our nation, and God instructed me to tell people the danger of this agenda. Drenda and I took that very seriously and launched out together on television and in daily updates to warn and instruct people about what was happening. It’s critically important that the Body of Christ understands the dangers of what we’re hearing and seeing in our culture. In the third dream, I saw our United States Constitution under attack and our guns being taken away. Russia and China were somehow involved. Since then, God has spoken to me TWICE more concerning the future and about 2021. Before I share what He showed me, I want to remind you that God’s Word does not change no matter what is changing in the world. God does not lie, and He cannot fail. We don’t need to look for a prophetic word to help us know our future. His precious promises already tell us our future. Many times, though, God sends a prophetic word to encourage us amid our battles. He gave me an encouraging word for you for 2021 on September 4, 2020. We celebrated Faith Life Church’s 25th anniversary that night with a banquet with some of our church leaders. During the evening, several people gave Drenda and me cards and gifts and thanked us for the impact Faith Life Church has had on their lives. One family walked up and handed me a container that held 25 one-ounce silver coins. The minute I laid my hands on the container, the Spirit of God spoke to me. I knew there was more to the gift. I opened the container and was surprised to see that the front of each coin had an image of a prospector mining, or panning for gold, on them. Instantly, I remembered a dream that I had many years ago when we were building The Now Center, money was very tight, and I was under a lot of pressure. In the dream, I saw two mining carts that were each completely overflowing with silver coins. At the time of the dream, I was confused as to why the carts were full of silver coins instead of gold coins. After a bit of research, I understood. Silver is used as currency in everyday life. Gold is used primarily as a way to hold wealth. I understood then that those two carts full of silver coins meant that money— provision —was going to come in and take care of our needs. And the second cart represented God’s promise of double portion, overflowing provision, more than enough. As I held those 25 silver coins in my hands that night and reflected on that dream from years ago, the Lord spoke to me: In this season, I am going to bring great prosperity to my people, to the ones who know My Voice and follow My Spirit. They will be as the ones who came out of Egypt. He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold and from among their tribes no one faltered. - Psalm 105:37 (NIV) To be “laden” means to be heavily loaded or weighed down. Think of the Hebrew slaves coming out of Egypt—they were weighed down with gold and silver. They had one chance to carry the wealth of Egypt with them. They were loaded up with prosperity! Think of the boats in Luke 5, when Peter, James, and John caught so many fish that their nets almost broke and their two boats began to sink from the weight. Those nets were laden with prosperity. Of course, overflowing prosperity is already a promise for every child of God, but God wants to use this as a sign: God is going to bless His people in this season. There will be a distinct difference in how God’s people—YOU—live in 2021. Just before Christmas, I had another dream concerning 2021. It was a simple one. I just heard the word “contend” and saw a picture of the communion table with the bread and wine and heard the word “covenant.” Of course, a covenant is a legally binding agreement. But what does contend mean? It means to struggle or strive to overcome a problem or difficulty. I know that definition sounds negative, but God didn’t mean it that way. He said: You contend and I will show up. You step into the chaos, to where I lead you, and I will meet you there. I will back you up. You have an enemy that wants to stop you. Spirits and demonic forces are real, and satan wants to distract you, deceive you, and discourage you. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8 that the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Do not fear. You have a covenant with the Lord Almighty. You can resist the devil and his lies. The culture keeps telling us to back down and back off, but that is NOT what God is telling His people to do. This is the time to go forward and CONTEND. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Friend, no matter what you faced in 2020, God STILL has a great plan for your life. He wants you to live a full, supernatural life in 2021, and to leave room for the SUDDENLY! He wants to defend His people and show Himself strong just like He has time and time again—when the walls of Jericho fell; when Goliath fell dead from a stone—when situations looked impossible, then… SUDDENLY! How can you CONTEND in 2021? How can you posture yourself for the SUDDENLY God wants to bring you in 2021? Here are five quick tips: 1. Make sure you have a faith picture. Know in your heart what the Word of God says about you and your situation. 2. Spend time in His Word and hear His voice. He has instructions and encouragement to give you. 3. Reject anything that doesn’t line up with what God says. Keep the Word in your heart and take every thought captive. Cast down negative, toxic, fearful, and lying thoughts. Stay in agreement with what heaven says about you and your situation. 4. Exercise your spiritual authority. CONTEND! Stand boldly on the promise that God is for you and no one and nothing can stand against you. Stay the course. Don’t let discouragement set in. Persevere with the Word! 5. ALWAYS be in agreement with your spouse. Never, ever march out into battle without being in total agreement and faith with your spouse. Agreement with your spouse is required in order for you to see Heaven move in the earth realm. We can’t stress enough how important it is that you and your spouse are in agreement and that your family is on the same page spiritually. Friend, our nation is at a crossroads. The world is growing darker. You are called to be a light in the darkness. You are called for such a time as this. Contend, and release the Kingdom of God into the earth in 2021!

Reading Time 4 mins – It's been a weird year. Things have been really different. Things have been so different that, for months, I’ve heard people wishing 2020 away—wanting the year to be over as quickly as possible, so they can just move on. Let’s look at an important story in the Bible about someone who had every right to wish away time. In fact, this guy's life, as he knew it, seemed to be over not just once but TWICE. Who am I talking about? Joseph. Because now more than ever, there’s an important principle you need to know from Joseph’s story. Joseph’s family was dysfunctional. He had one brother and 10 half brothers that hated him, partly because their father seemed to play favorites and partly because Joseph would tell them the dreams he had about them bowing down to him. (Who does that?) His brothers hated him enough to kill him. They actually debated it. But instead, they sold him into slavery and pretended a wild animal had killed him. The comfortable life Joseph had known seemed to be over. Sound familiar? As a slave, Joseph ended up working for a man named Potiphar. And something pivotal happened: The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. —Genesis 39:2-6 (NIV) Things started to turn around for Joseph. He was in leadership. He was trusted. Things were getting better and better. But then more trouble came at Joseph—Potiphar’s wife falsely accused him, and he was thrown into prison. And once again, life as Joseph had known it appeared to be over. Do you think he sat in prison wishing the time away—wanting it to be over as quickly as possible? No, he didn’t. The Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did. —Genesis 39:21-23 (NIV) Even in prison, Joseph prospered. He had success in everything he did. Just like Joseph, you can have success in everything you do. So we’ll fast forward to Genesis 41:41. Look what happened: So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt." Wait, what? How does a guy go from being a slave to being in charge of the entire land of Egypt? It’s quite a story. And it only gets better. A seven-year famine hit that no one saw coming. It was a terribly hard time for several nations. But because God had continued to be with Joseph, Joseph was prepared. For seven years, Joseph accumulated piles of grain for the Egyptians. Those piles of grain didn’t just mean life for the people of Egypt during the seven-year famine that followed; the piles of grain meant success. THIS is the principle YOU MUST KNOW RIGHT NOW, friend. Take a minute right now and close your eyes. Get a mental picture of what “success” looks like for you for the rest of 2020. (Yes, stop reading and take a minute.) Write it down somewhere. Go on. I'll wait. Just like Joseph, God has promised YOU that He will be with you wherever you go and that you can be successful at whatever you put your hands to. It’s not too late for your 2020. Ephesians 3:20 tells us God is about to do more than all you can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within you. You can still see the promises of God come to pass in your own life and the works of your hands blessed in 2020. Making something out of this year may be impossible in your own strength, but it’s not impossible with God. Just like Joseph, no matter where you started or where you are now, you have the ability to be successful. GOD IS BIGGER than anything you’re facing. Joseph was in impossible situations, hopeless situations. But Joseph didn’t give up hope; and time and time again, God made a way THROUGH for Joseph, and he prospered. God will make a way THROUGH for you too. Just like God was with Joseph, He is with you, and you can prosper. Now that you’ve written down your picture of success, how can you see it come to pass? Answer: You learn more about this important principle I call The Grain Pile Principle . Why call it The Grain Pile Principle? Because God used piles of grain in Joseph’s story to show us a clear picture of His promises to us. Friend, there is so much more you need to know about this life-changing principle . You especially need to know how you can apply the FIVE crucial steps that led to Joseph’s extraordinary success to your own life and see YOUR OWN picture of success come to pass. Like Joseph and the grain piles, we want to help you increase your success so much that it can’t be contained, let alone counted. We want to see you win, not just in 2020—in LIFE . Click here to get your instant download of The Grain Pile Principle series. Or click here to get your CD copies, plus Drenda's incredible mentorship teaching, Hearing God's Voice .

Are your dreams on hold because you’re a slave to your paycheck? Every day, millions of people show up to jobs they hate just to get a paycheck. They’re slaves to their financial situations. “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted […] The post How to Stop Being a Slave to Your Paycheck appeared first on Gary Keesee Ministries.

Do you know how to use biblical partnership to your advantage? Do you even know what biblical partnership is? The principle of partnership in the Kingdom of God is really powerful. But many people don’t understand it, let alone use it to their advantage. In fact, if you’re like many people, you probably think “partnering […] The post Looking for a Great Return? You Need to Know This Principle appeared first on Gary Keesee Ministries.

Do you want increase in your life this year? Start here. Read Part One here. God knows exactly when and how to bring you increase. He has the best timing and the best strategy. Sometimes that means He shows up at the midnight hour, or what might seem like the last second, so the enemy […] The post Want Increase This Year? You Need to Know This – Part Two appeared first on Gary Keesee Ministries.

Fourteen hundred acres of farmland. But farming wasn’t going well for Dan. In fact, farming wasn’t even paying the bills. Dan and his wife weren’t making ends meet. Until one day… If you’re anything like me, you love a good story, especially a good story that has God’s timing written all over it. Stick with […] The post Want Increase This Year? You Need to Know This appeared first on Gary Keesee Ministries.