Ep. 54 How to Have a Financial turnaround (Biblical Principles)

In today's episode, I delve into a powerful story from 2nd Kings Chapter 4 to outline six actionable steps you can take to achieve a financial turnaround. Whether or not you believe in the Bible or follow Christianity, these principles can significantly impact your financial situation. From developing a strong desire for change and seeking a coach, to discovering and developing your unique gifts, and finally, learning to sell effectively—each step is crucial for transforming your financial future. Join me as I break down these essential principles and provide practical insights for achieving financial growth and stability.

00:00 Introduction to Financial Turnaround Principles
00:23 The Story of the Widow and the Prophet
01:39 Step 1: Desire a Financial Turnaround
04:38 Step 2: Draw on a Coach
07:26 Step 3: Decide to Take Action
09:12 Step 4: Discover Your Gift
14:18 Step 5: Develop Your Gift
19:38 Step 6: Learn to Sell
21:47 Conclusion and Recap

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Transcript

Dr Uche Okere: 0:00

If you need a financial turnaround, there are principles in the Bible that you can benefit from. And today I want to share with you six steps from a story in 2nd Kings Chapter 4 that whether or not you believe the Bible, whether you believe that Jesus is who he says he is or not, whether you believe in God or not, that can make a huge difference in your finances if you follow these principles. For the benefit of those of you who may not know this story, in 2 Kings chapter 4, Second Kings chapter four. Second Kings is one of the books of the Old Testament, the story is told of a woman who was a widow. She wasn't just a widow, but she was a widow of a prophet. So her husband, while he was alive, was a prophet. Well, he died. And, we get the story from the woman's perspective because she goes to a man of God, she goes to a prophet and she says to him your servant, my husband is dead and there are people who he was indebted to while he was alive and they've come to take my two sons. The prophet gives her some instructions. He asks her some questions first of all, and then he gives her some instructions. She goes and does what the prophet tells her to do, and we see that she has a financial turnaround. These same principles that the woman applied as was given her by the prophet are still relevant today, and I'm gonna share six of those principles that no matter where your finances are, if you want to take it to the next level, if you want to improve on your finances, and if you wanna have a financial turnaround, these principles can help you. Now, the first thing I see from that story is that the woman desired a financial turnaround. The first step of having a financial turnaround, the first step of improving your finances, the first step of having a better tomorrow as it relates to your finances is desire. She had a desire to change her financial circumstances. I don't know what the situation was. The story doesn't tell us how affluent or otherwise her husband was while he was alive. We don't get a sense of the financial status, but the fact that he had to borrow while he was alive, perhaps we could assume that that was because he didn't have enough. So things did not start getting bad the day the woman came to the prophet to ask for help. Things were already bad. We don't also know how long ago her husband died. We don't know how long the creditors had been speaking to her about repaying her debt until it got to the point where they were coming or they were threatening to take her two sons away. We don't know how long that situation lasted, but things did not begin to change until she desired a change in her financial circumstances. And this might seem like a moot point or it might seem like a point that doesn't need to be made. Everybody desires a better future. But how many times do we accept the status quo? How many times do we accept where we are financially? How many times do we accept that things are bad. We live in a bad economy, for example, and so we should suffer financially. How many times do we settle for that which we are currently experiencing and not desire a better financial tomorrow? I want to say to you that your finances will not improve until you desire a better tomorrow. And if you allow me to speak to Jesus, followers for a minute. Many Christians, unfortunately, have a view of money that is not healthy. The view that money is bad, and a misunderstanding of the scriptures also doesn't help. That money is the root of all evil. But the Bible doesn't say that. The Bible says it is the love of money, that is the root of all evil. So many Christians find themselves in a situation where they are suffering financially, but there is no desire to move away from that status. If you will change your financial situation if things will get better for you, you have to recognize that there is a need for change. You have to recognize that things are not as good as they should be. Until you have a desire for a financial turnaround things will not begin to happen. So the woman had a desire that was the starting point and the desire made her to do something. So, the first step I'm giving you today is desire a financial turnaround. The second thing we see from that story that we would have to do as well if we would have a financial turnaround is you have to draw on a coach. Draw on a coach. The woman desired a financial turnaround but she did not try to do it all on her own. She reached out to somebody. All high performers have coaches. Look at the top athletes in the world. Look at the top speakers in the world, people who excel in any sphere of life, when you get close to them, you will discover they have somebody in their corner who is speaking into their ear. They have somebody in their corner who is holding them accountable. They have somebody in their corner who is encouraging them because by design, we're not wired to do life on our own. Life is not an individual race. It's not, it's not an individual journey. You're designed for companion. You're designed for fellowship. You're designed for community. You're designed for relationships. So in your finances, if your finances are going to change, you need to draw on a coach, I would hazard a guess and say that if you've found yourself in debt and things are not going as well as they should go financially. It's probably because you took decisions without counsel. You took decisions without knowledge. You did not speak to people who knew and I raised my hand and say that that has been the case for me at times in my life. There were tines when I made financial investments, I made financial decisions without the right knowledge, without the right coach without the right person speaking to me. And many times, those were the things that got me into trouble. Those were the things that did not go well. So this woman drew on a coach. You may say to me, oh no, Elisha um, was a prophet, so it was a prophet she went to, not a coach. But I need you to see the role he played in this story, because again, Many Christians would want their financial situation to change by a prophetic word. So let somebody just speak over them. Let somebody just prophesy or pray for them and things will change. But when this woman came to Elisha, he doesn't pray for her. He doesn't prophesy over her. But he has a very practical human conversation with her. What you need is a coach, someone who will give you instructions and hold you accountable so that your situation can change. The first thing Elijah says to her is, what do you want me to do? What has it got to do with me? In other words, I'm not responsible for your financial situation. You've got to change it. And that's a sense of responsibility there. That, financial situations do not change until people begin to have a sense of responsibility. And that takes me to the third point. Decide to take action. It's one thing to have a coach, somebody who speaks to you, somebody who holds you accountable, somebody who advises you. It's an entirely different thing for you to do the thing that you've been instructed to do. I have learned both in my own personal life and as a coach that people's results are dependent on them. And that is why people get different results. No matter how good a coach one is, no matter how excellent your principles and your, your frameworks are, people would only get results to the extent to which they apply it. The difference between this woman and perhaps other people who Elisha could have spoken to was that she actually did what the coach asked her to do. So if you want to have a financial turnaround, you have to take responsibility for your journey and make the deliberate choice to take action. You have to take action. So I know people who read loads of books. I know people who attend loads of seminars and webinars and challenges and all of that. But, they never get to the point where they take action. They are perpetual learners, but they never start traveling in the direction of the actions that they need to take to have their financial turnaround. If you are going to have a financial turnaround, you must decide to take action. So, Elisha has a conversation with her. This conversation gets to the point when, first of all, he makes it clear to her that her financial turnaround was her responsibility because he asked her, what's it got to do with me? And then, the next thing he asks her, Notice that he's just asking her questions to begin with and then he asks her what is in your house? So step number four is that if you will have a financial turnaround you need to discover your gift. What is in your house? The tragedy of many people Is that they think that the solution to their financial circumstances will come from outside. It will come from something that they do not already have. They're looking to a source somewhere, something that is not already present for them to have that financial turnaround. But Elisha says to her, what you need is already in your house. So what is in your house? What you need to get out of a financial situation is already in you. You already have those resources, but like many of us, this woman responded, there's nothing in my house. I've got absolutely nothing. I don't have any special talents. I don't have any special gifts. There's nothing unique about me. I've got nothing to offer. There's nothing in my house. That's absolutely nothing that I've got to give, but as someone who believes the Bible and whose worldview is framed by the Word of God from the Bible and the principles from the Bible. I see Genesis chapter 1 verse 28 as a foundational Bible verse when it comes to your finances, when it comes to your flourishing, when it comes to how you make money because the record there is that God blessed them, bless Adam and Eve. This theologian has called this Bible verse the creation mandate. And this is not, again, it's not applicable to just Christians. It's every human being. God blessed them and he said to them, be fruitful, multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it. So what's the principle there? The principle is that because you cannot have fruitfulness without seed, if God is saying to man be fruitful, my safe assumption is that he has put a seed in man. If he's saying to man be fruitful there's a seed that he has put in man already to bear fruit. And again, this is not only applicable to biological reproduction or biological fruitfulness, but the principle stands. The seed of fruitfulness, of biological fruitfulness is already in the human being. So God can say to them, be biologically fruitful. But the same thing applies to being fruitful in other areas of life. So what is in your house? Woman, you've got to identify your gift. I call this thing that is in your house, your gift. It's your inherent capacity to fulfill a function or meet a need in creation. It's the thing that God has given you to prosper in the world. It's the thing that God has given you to fulfill your purpose so that you can make profit with it. So what is in your house? What do you have? You need to sit down and assess yourself. Think of what you already have. I describe your gift as a place where your passion and your proficiency meet because the things you're passionate about are not by chance. They're not an accident. They're by design. Your proficiencies are the things that you're able to do. Where do they meet? That is an indication of what your gift is. If you're going to make profit with your gift, if you're going to have a financial turnaround, then you have to also find out what expression of that intersection between your passion and your proficiency that people are willing to pay for. What do you have already if you're listening to me and you are maybe a pastor or you're somebody who has preached so many messages or sermons or you have something in your heart that you're really passionate about, a message in your heart that you're really passionate about that you teach or that you preach that could be an indication of your gift. So when I say to you from this story, what is in your house, that could be it. Because you can profit from your message. You can profit from the word that you're convinced about. You can profit from it. What is in your house? That was what Elisha said to the woman. Eventually, she agreed that the jar of oil which she had was something. Because at first she thought it wasn't significant. She goes, I've only got a jar of oil. It's small, it's insignificant. Everybody has oil. And that's the thing. Many times, we despise our gifts. Because it comes naturally to us. It comes easily to us. We don't struggle to use those gifts. I enjoy talking. I've never had an issue standing in front of people and talking. I've never had an issue. Whether I have something to say or not, it's, there's something about it that just gets me going. Standing in front of people and communicating. And then if it's on a subject I love, that's on another level of excitement. Now, you have something that comes very easily and naturally to you. What is it? You've got to identify it. You've got to, you've got to place your finger on it because your financial turnaround is dependent on your gift. It's not in something else out there. It's in what you already have. So that's number four, discover your gift. Discover what is in your house. Number five develop your gifts because Elisha says to her now You're going to do some things you're going to borrow some vessels and you're going to start pouring that oil into all the vessels. So, your gift as it is could be in an undeveloped form. That's the thing with seed, isn't it? Because seed has to be planted some things have to happen to it. Seed have to go through some processes before it begins to bear fruits. So he says to her, you've got to multiply your gift. So I see that as developing your gift. You have a gift, you have to develop it because until you develop it, you cannot do the next thing, which we're going to talk about, which is the sixth and final point. Develop your gift. What does this mean? How do we develop our gift? This is how I see it. You already have this gift. But how are people going to pay you for the gifts that you already have? The answer is very simple. People would pay you when you provide value to them. What is value? People would pay you when you solve a problem for them. Now if we go back to value, because at the end of the day what is gonna happen is an exchange. A transaction that involves people giving you money for something that you have because money is not going to fall from the sky. It has to come from people. Why would people give you money? They would give you money because they value the thing that you have to be either equal or more valuable than the money that they have. That is the only reason people would exchange money for what you have. That's the only reason because they've seen what you're offering and they've done the calculations and they've come to the point where they've convinced themselves that the value you're offering is either equal or less than the value of the money you're asking for. And so they'll be happy to exchange it. With the money that they have. So what is the problem that you can solve for people because that's the measure of your value. Unfortunately, many people focus so much on themselves especially when things are not going so well when your finances because that's what we're talking about when your finances are not going so well, the temptation is to even focus more on yourself be more selfish. It's all about you. It's all about you. It's all about your challenges. But that really is a time when you should start thinking about other people's problems. What are the problems around you that get your attention? What are the problems around you that if you could change, you will change? Earlier, I was talking about my gift and how I feel that teaching and talking is one of my gifts, perhaps my dominant gift, but I'm passionate about the subject of purpose. I've always been passionate about the subject of purpose right from a young age, I think when I read Myles Monroe, it's, it's kind of sparked something in me, but there was already something, there was some thoughts already forming until I began to read Myles Monroe and that even fanned that desire and those thoughts into more flame. So when I put those two together, my ability to teach and my passion for purpose, I find myself in a position where I'm either pastoring people, even before I was formally or officially a pastor, where I was pastoring people, providing guidance with the little knowledge I had when I was much younger, or as a coach today, providing practical steps for people to be able to pursue their purpose. So that's where my passion and my proficiency meets. My proficiency to teach. I've also trained and gained qualifications in how to teach and what to teach. Okay, but the passion, the subject is there as well. So, what is your passion? What is your proficiency? You have to develop it into a thing that solves a problem. Not all problems are equal. There are problems that people will be happy pay you for. There are problems that people will be happy to keep suffering because it's not painful enough. So you have to find a painful problem that you can solve. A problem that is serious enough for people that they want to exchange their money for the solution that you provide. So what problems can you solve? I talked about pastors and people who teach earlier. What sermons and messages have you taught or preached that have solutions that you can offer in a course to help people? That is you developing that gift into something that actually helps people and solves problems. So you've taught series on marriage, you've done teaching series of finances. Can you break those things down into a course that would help people? That is you developing your gift. That is you doing what Elisha said to the woman. What is in your house? Your response is, Oh, I have notes and notes of sermons and messages I've preached right now, you go and multiply it, develop it into something that people will pay you for, create a course out of it, package it in a way that people can access it. That is you developing that gift into something that can help people. So develop your gift is number five. And finally, Elisha said to her when she went and did what Elisha asked her to do, he said to her, now sell it to your neighbors, go and sell it to your neighbors. She needed money. So there's a principle there that it is by selling that we can get money in. Because I know, especially again for Christians and not all Christians, but some Christians have a view about selling and you probably get easily attacked as well as a Christian if you sell anything that is, related in any way to the Bible or to the principles from the word of God. People automatically classify you as someone who is trying to make a merchandise of the gospel. But you've got to realize that you need money. That's number one. Okay, so so don't be like the woman who sits with this problem until it gets to the point where the creditors are about to take her sons realize that you need money, but that how you profit And I call this purpose driven profits that how you profit from your purpose is by developing your gift into a position or to a point where you can sell it. You can exchange it for financial resources. So you have to learn to sell. If you're going to experience a financial turnaround, can you sell? Do you know how to sell? Develop that skill of selling. We're selling every day anyway. If you go for a job interview, whatever it is you're doing, you're either selling or you're being sold to. So why not learn to sell. If you develop a course, do you know how to put it online? Do you know how to market it? Do you know how to talk to the people who can buy the course? Do you know how to do all of those? Do you know how to close the sales? Do you know how to talk to somebody and bring them to the point where they see the value in what you're offering? That is selling and you need to learn to sell. Elisha said to her, go and sell the oil to your neighbors and then go pay your debts. That's how you have a financial turnaround. Number one, you must desire a financial turnaround. As long as you're comfortable with the situation, it's not going to change. Number two, you must draw on a coach. High performers have coaches, get someone who would hold you accountable, who would tell you what to do because they've done it and then do what they ask you to do. Number three, decide to take action. You probably got to where you are today in your finances because you were not taking action. You probably have a lot of knowledge, but you're not acting on that knowledge. Decide to take action. Number four, discover your gift. What is in your house? Discover what you already have. What are your passions? What are your proficiencies? When these two come together, how can you package it in such a way that people will pay you for it? Number five, develop your gift. Develop it into a solution that people are willing to pay you for. There are people today who are going to bed and they're asking, Oh, I wish somebody could help me with this. I'm fascinated when people come to join my coaching program and one of the first things they say is, Oh, I saw your ad and it was an answer to prayer. I was literally praying about this yesterday and I saw your ad. It's amazing. It's amazing. How about the solution that you put together can be an answer to somebody's prayer and finally sell what you've developed, sell your oil. Sell your oil, learn to present it in a way that people will see the value of what you offer because selling is a service when we sell to people, we're not doing something to them, we are doing something for them. We're helping them when we're actually providing value that helps them in their situation. So I hope this blesses you. This is how you have a financial turnaround from the story of the prophets widow and prophet Elisha in second kings chapter four. God bless you. Bye. Bye