Thoughts on Stewardship

Stewardship

What is Stewardship?


This past Saturday night at our house church, Agape House of Chattanooga, I shared some things that Papa has been speaking to me on stewardship. I decided it might be a good idea to post some of these things here on my blog.


Let me preface this by saying that prior to a year ago I always thought stewardship had to do with money. However, as I have thought and meditated, talked to Papa, and studied His Word, I have come to understand stewardship as the ability to manage and care for all the amazing things He has entrusted to us on this earth. This can be anywhere from our time, our talent, our treasure (incl. finances), our body, relationships, the earth, our salvation/healing, our inheritance/legacy.

In short, taking responsibility for doing my part



Stewardship Will Protect What It Values

My child never forget the things I have taught you. Store my commands in your heart. If you do this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying.
Proverbs 3:1-2 NLT

a. When we value and trust in the command and teachings of the Father, we will store them away and keep them safe.

a. The Father has entrusted to us many wonderful things! Not only has he given us these things, but he has also given us instructions on how to care and manage matters of His kingdom. However, if our value for matters of the kingdom do not match his, we cannot adequately protect it through stewardship.

b. The ability to steward things well is motivated by our value for it. Which is usually a reflection of our value for our relationship with the Father, Christ, and Holy Spirit. As a steward in a love relationship with all three, what is valuable to them will be valuable to us therefore motivating us to protect, manage, and care for it.

c. I don't know about you, but I can always tell what people have a value for. You see it in how they steward things in their lives. Have you ever seen someone who was responsible for managing, protecting, or caring for something but didn't do it well. Could it be because they had no value for it?

d. A few examples


1. It seems Nathan and I are always getting frustrated because our kids dont seem to place the same value on things in our house. They won't keep their room clean, they don't pick up after themselves, etc. Can anybody else relate?

3. Taking care of the earth…..He made it…custom designed and hand-crafted this beautiful place just for us…am I doing my part to protect, take care of, manage the earth which by the way contains His family.

4. So how all this started is... I was at home one day reflecting over the past year or so and just thanking Papa for all He has done in my life. I have experienced so much healing, restoration, freedom, and transformation through His love. Inside I felt brand new and changed. Yet when I looked in the mirror, I was less than satisfied with what I saw. Physically, I felt horrible. I seemed to never have energy and was always tired. The scale kept creeping up more and more. Then Papa began to speak to my heart. I got this vision. In this vision He was contrasting my inner spirit with my physical body. They weren't in alignment. Through Bible study, prayer, worship, Sozo ministry, and Restoration prayer ministry I had taken all these steps to start managing, caring, and stewarding my spirit. Then there was my physical body.....not being managed, cared for, or stewarded. My value for my inner spirit needed to be stretched out to my physical body. I asked myself, "What have I done to manage, care, protect, and steward this body? I need this body. I need it to be in complete alignment with the will of heaven, which is healed, whole, and restored! NOT PERFECT, though, Ive been healed of that! Yay!!


Final thought: Is it possible that in areas where we struggle with stewardship, there is something about that area that we need to receive healing, where there is dishonor or lack of value?


Stewardship is a Privileged Position

After I received Papa's forgiveness for not stewarding my physical body well, I started asking him, "Where else can I do better at stewardship?" He then reminded me of my privileged position as His daughter to be a faithful steward of kingdom matters.

You know he could have just made us slaves….He could have just created the earth and the humans in it so he could exert his power over us to create a perfect family. He didn’t though, He gave us freedom and a will. He gave us a choice. In the garden, Adam and Eve used their freedom and chose poorly, enslaving us to sin until Christ came to redeem and rescue us. He set us free! He redeemed us to our original position as sons/daughters.

Check out this scripture from Galatians 4:

Let me show you the implications of this. As long as the heir is a minor, he has no advantage over the slave. Though legally he owns the entire inheritance, he is subject to tutors and administrators until whatever date the father has set for emancipation. That is the way it is with us: when we were minors, we were just like slaves ordered around by simple instructions (the tutors and administrators of this world), with no say in the conduct of our own lives. But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage. You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Papa! Father!” Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.

Galatians 4:1-7 MSG

I believe that the Father wants us to embrace and own the position and freedom we have in him. As sons/daughters we have access to a heavenly inheritance. We are uniquely positioned now to bring heaven to earth, steward it, manage it, and care for it. That is Good News!

We can release heaven and expand the kingdom through faithful stewardship in our church, job, marriage, friendships, community, etc. Ever been in a public place where you felt tense, anxious, and unsettled? Did you know that as a son/daughter of the Most High you have access to the peace of heaven and the ability to release it into such a situation? By managing, protecting, and caring for peace (bc you value it) in your own life, you will be able to release it to those around you. We don’t have much, if any, control over other people, BUT we can be responsible for what we bring to the situation or environment. Its important to remember that when your goal is to have love in a relationship….you need to bring love with you. When your goal is to have understanding in a relationship….bring understanding with you. When your goal is to have forgiveness in a relationship…you need to bring forgiveness with you.

Our position in the family of Papa God is privileged, free therefore powerful.(I don't mean that in a way that takes anything away from Papa)We are powerful because we are free...we are sons/daughters carrying His presence...stewarding the things of heaven and the kingdom to bring Papa glory! We don't HAVE to do it. We GET to do it!


Interesting story: Yesterday, was day 2 of Andrew being inside because he had not cleaned his room. 6 out of 7 days I ask them just to straighten their room. Easy right? Well, Andrew likes to throw everything in his closet in order to get it done faster. 1 out of 7 days (same day every week!) they have to CLEAN ( everything in its place, bed changed, laundry done, furniture dusted, and vacuum). All a result of me trying to be a better household manager by the way. When Andrew’s “cleaning” day came, he didn’t want to deal with the “mess” in his closet that was now as tall as him. He cried and pitched a fit. He said, “Mom, when can I go outside?” I replied, “When you clean your room. Andrew, you hold all the power in determining how long it will be before you go outside. Its your choice.
Next he said, “Well alright then.” 30 minutes later it was done. I told him, “Dude, you are a ROCK STAR!”

I think Papa says the same thing about us when we steward the things that mean a lot to him correctly. When we make choices that protect his heart, and just simply when we get it right. I believe it makes his heart happy, joyful, and proud to see us get it right. Why, because he is our Papa!


Wisdom Steers Stewardship

This was a big one for me. As Papa was speaking to me about Stewardship, I kept hearing the word “choices”. We’ve been trying to re-train our kids to become more aware of their ability to choose and consequences or rewards of choices.

How do we make good choices and decisions in being good stewards? Good information! Godly wisdom. I began reading Proverbs and discovered some neat stuff.

If we come and listen to the counsel, wisdom will share her heart with us and make us wise. Prov. 1:23

Listen to what I say and treasure my commands. Tune your ears to wisdom and concentrate on understanding, cry out for insight and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would silver, seek them like hidden treasures; Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord & you will gain the knowledge of God. Prov. 2:1-5

He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. Prov. 2:7

Knowledge will fill you with joy. Prov. 2:10

Wise choices will watch over you Understanding will keep you safe. Prov 2:11

There are many many more verses like these. I made a list of all the things just in chapters 1 and 2 that we receive through Godly wisdom.

1.guidance & safety
2. Understanding
3. Knowledge & joy
4. Discernment
5. Insight
6. Wisdom, discipline, wise choices, protection


What is awesome is that as we have learned the past few Saturdays is that God is supernatural so everything we receive from him is supernatural. Right? So everything I just listed , you can put “super-natural” in front of. Cool, huh?

I think it is important to point out that we will never have these things by striving for them. Only by resting in Him (His presence) and focusing on Him. They are a by-product of pressing in to Him through rest and being connected to His heart! (my fav!!!)

He uses wisdom (knowledge, insight, understanding, and discernment) to reveal the will of heaven in our lives. Stewardship makes decisions and choices based on that wisdom in order to come into agreement with what Papa is doing in our lives.

Decisions and choices in Godly Stewardship will not always be easy decisions or decisions that “man” would have approved, but when we steward our lives (time, talent, and treasure), our hearts, and relationships we position ourselves for increase and multiplication in the spiritual and well as the natural. We can have even deeper levels of revelation and understanding of the kingdom, and the Father’s heart.

Jesus says in Luke 16:9 after telling the story of the shrewd manager

Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home. If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own? No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”

You cannot serve both God and self
You cannot serve both God and the world


We have worldly and spiritual resources and all of them are entrusted to us to bring heaven to earth and glorify God.

Time of kingdom business

I want us to spend a few minutes talking to Papa. Ask him if there are any areas of you life where stewardship is a struggle. Ask Him what He wants to do in that area.

I want to stress that you should not be hearing any condemning, shameful, or guilty thoughts. That is not from Papa.

His words will lovingly shine the light of his love on an area and will tell you how you can get it right!

Write it down…

I have learned the hard way that when God speaks, write it down.
There is a big chance that if I don’t, I'll forget, the moment will be gone and I’m left thinking, “What was it…I know it was good.”


I truly feel in my heart that if we can really get a hold of this issue of stewardship and taking responsibility for our part/place in the kingdom, then heaven will rejoice and hell will tremble. The church can build a culture that is focused on the kingdom. We can foster love, honor, grace, peace, hope, joy, self-control, trust, and many more ;)