Winning

One of the most peaceful sounds water flowing through a fountain. We have all marveled at the beauty of water fountains. We put them in our offices, our homes, and our gardens. I love watching the multilevel water fountains. It is so peaceful and calming. It is also a good picture of the winning life God wants for us.

“The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace” (Psalm 29:11).

Just like the multilevel water fountain, there are multiple areas in our lives in which God wants us to experience peace. As we experience this peace, we win in this area of our life. I call these the five tiers of peace:

1. Peace with God

2. Peace in relationships

3. Peace in health

4. Peace in finances

5. Peace in purpose

These five tiers are in order of priority. Think of the five tiers as a multilevel water fountain, like the one illustrated here.

If there is no water flowing in the top tier, then obviously the bottom tiers will eventually dry up. Water flows in one direction. The higher tier has to fill completely in order to have water flow into the lower tiers.

As stewardship pastor at my church, one of my responsibilities is to provide money coaching to those needing help with their personal finances. A couple came to me for money coaching because they were experiencing chaos in their finances. They were in debt and struggling to pay their bills each month. Both the husband and wife were frustrated and wanted our help getting peace in their finances. What I found was that they didn’t have a money problem at all. They had a relationship problem. They had separate bank accounts and handled money separately. There was no common vision for handling money. The issue in their relationship resulted in chaos in their finances. They had to address their marriage issues in order to have peace in their finances. Water has to flow freely in the higher tiers in order to have water flowing in the lower tiers. They only felt it in their financial tier because it dried up first. We also must have water flowing in each of those tiers in order to experience all God has for us.

Something that I have been intrigued about is prosperity teaching. I often hear ministers say God wants me to prosper, but it always seems to end with me giving more money to their ministry. I would hear prosperity equated to a big house, luxury cars, vacation homes, diamond rings, expensive clothes, and eating out at fine restaurants. This didn’t feel right to me, and I asked God, “Is this really what You mean for us?”

To get answers, I did a word search to study what God meant by this term prosperity. I studied every scripture I could find on the subject. I found the word used over sixty times in the Bible. I was surprised to find out that prosperity has little to do with material possessions. In many cases, the word prosperity was interchangeable with the word peace. A Hebrew word used for prosperity was Shalom, meaning “peace.” Shalom means the absence of chaos, being complete, and lacking for nothing. It means to have peace on all sides, including financial peace. I was convinced through scripture\ that God wants us to have peace. It included financial peace, but it was so much bigger than that. God wants us to have peace and prosperity in every area of our life.

I asked myself, “Can the world give us peace?”

Jesus tells us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you—not as the world gives, do I give to you” (John 14:27).

The world tells you to go out and get the big house and big car and then you will have peace, but any peace you get out of these things is temporary at best. When we get those things through the use of debt, our peace is very short-lived. To those around us, we look like we really have it going on, but in reality, we are in financial chaos. Although we have all the luxuries of life, we struggle to pay our bills, have no investments, and have no peace in our finances. In contrast, God offers us true peace.

“The peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).

God promises peace in the storm, not the absence of storms. Jesus tells us, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Our situations in life will not always be positive. The Bible tells us that bad things happen to both the righteous and the unrighteous. In spite of that, it’s clear that God’s will for you is peace. Proverbs 10:22 says, “It is the blessing of the LORD that makes rich, and He adds no sorrow to it.”

God does not bless you with a house and then bring sorrow when it’s time to pay the mortgage. If we’re not experiencing peace in our day-to-day lives, then it’s quite possible that we have not allowed God to control a particular area of our lives.

Each of us has to determine where we are today in each of these five peace tiers and then whether we are willing to trust God to provide us peace.