What's up, my friend, and welcome back to another episode of the God Empowered Entrepreneur Podcast. Today's episode. It's going to be one that I think is going to hit deep for you. The reason why I'm saying that is because it hit really deep for me as God continues to work on me, shape me, and really just transform me more into the daughter of Christ, more into the God empowered entrepreneur that I know He is calling me to be. So we're going to talk about money today. But specifically, I want to talk about what nobody tells you about doing money God's way. Now, This can apply to any and every one when it comes to money and when it comes to finances, but I specifically want to apply this episode To people that are currently in entrepreneurship or they desire to be in entrepreneurship. There's something creative that you want to put out there into the world. There's a business you want to start. There's a project you want to produce. Whatever it is, money is going to be a part of that process. When it comes to money within entrepreneurship, you are figuring out how to produce income on your own, how to generate revenue from your efforts, from your creative works, from your faith, from the idea that you are taking out of your beautiful mind and putting it out there into the world. And because that just naturally comes with entrepreneurship. It's easy to be so money driven to the point where it can take the throne of our hearts in a split second, in a split moment without us even realizing it. Now let me be clear. It is okay to have financial goals. It is okay to desire to be financially free. What's not okay is if those ambitions of yours that have to do with money start to supersede your relationship to God. You start to become so obsessed with money that you unintentionally become selfish about it. You unintentionally make it the foundation of your life. It's easy to do that when you're in business. Because as I said, when you're an entrepreneur, You are responsible for putting in the effort and the hard work and the consistency and the productivity in order for revenue to be generated in the idea that you're putting out there into the world. So it's easy to make money in idle. But when you are wanting to trust God in your business, when you are wanting to lead, With Christ in your business, when you are trying to do life God's way, while also trying to do business in this world that you live in today, you are going to be challenged because you need to find that balance between your money goals, but allowing God to lead and direct and position your heart when it comes to that. So I want to talk about that challenge because there are things within that balance of living life God's way while also trying to reach your money goals in your business. These are things that nobody really told me about. I was not prepared for it and I had to learn it through my own experience, through God teaching me and understanding, wow, so this is what it looks like. To handle, to do, to manage, to make money God's way in business without me getting distracted, selfish or making money and idle. And I found that when I was able to go through this challenge and overcome it and really find that healthy balance of doing life God's way while also pursuing money goals and what that looks like, I found. That there wasn't just external success of revenue growth in my business. Yes, there was. And I'm going to talk about how and why I truly believe God made that to happen. But there was also this internal growth that happened within me that caused me. To become closer to God, to trust God that much more, to understand money his way through what he was teaching me in that season. So through that challenge, success was found both internally and externally because I chose to do money God's way. So we're going to talk about it. We're going to talk about what people don't tell you when it comes to doing money God's way in your business. Before we dive in, let me share a recent, story with you. I reached a point in my business where I was up against a lot. I had a lot of debts that I was trying to pay off. I was trying to come up with my part of, uh, my fiancé and I's wedding that is happening in six months. I had business taxes from two years ago that I was still trying to figure out how to pay because my taxes and the accounting was all over the place back then. It's put together now, praise Jesus for that. But back then it wasn't, so, I'm still paying that off. I had saving goals, and real estate investing goals, and then there's bills, and then there's wanting to take care of this and that over there. All in all, I got to a point financially where I felt like there was. Tons of responsibilities on my shoulders that were weighing me down. It felt like me against all of these financial responsibilities. And I just was up against the wall. So, I had reached a point in my business where I was like, you know what, I need more money coming in the door. I had money coming in my business, which is great, but I needed more in order to handle these responsibilities, take care of these debts, all the things. So I was like, all right, if I need to make more money, then I need to put in the effort to bring money into the business. That meant let me find clients and students and projects that I can help with that I genuinely feel passionate about, that I want to pour into and make impact to. Through the services that I can offer them as a solution to what these students or clients were looking for. So I put in a lot of work. A ton of work. Oh my goodness. It was a lot of work. But it was necessary work that led me to launching a specific offer. Now, here's the thing. I was terrified. I was so scared that it wasn't going to do well. And the reason why was because I'm also going through a season of my business where I feel like God is shifting it for the better. But through that shift, while I'm trying to launch something and put stuff out there, it just was really difficult. And I had so many moments where I cried, where I broke down, where I was like, man, I am putting in so much work. And I am terrified that I am not going to see any results from this. I know you've been there before. Think about a time in your life where you have put in so much work, so much effort, so much thinking, so many ideas, and you're terrified that your efforts are not going to produce results. I got to that point and it was so terrifying to me that I was crying, that I was questioning things. The enemy was playing mind games within my head. It was so bad that I just crashed. Now the next day. I took a Sabbath, I went to the beach, I read, I prayed, I journaled, and I just allowed God to speak to me, to connect the dots that felt like they were disconnected, to pour back into me. Because I was just feeling a little lost, to be honest with you. And God spoke so much life to me, opening up the Bible to me. Gave me reminders. Me just coming back to the center of myself, my spirit, helped to wake me up to reality. Now, I'm bringing this up because when we are so focused on making something happen, we're putting our creativity out there, We're trying to produce these results, we're doing A, B, C, D, E, F, G, we're doing the whole alphabet, okay? We're just trying to make it happen, we're trying, and we're thinking, and then we're trying again. When we are doing that, we kind of are in this box, where we're just focused. And that box starts to feel really tight to where anxiety is there and stress is there and overwhelm is there and we can't break free of the box that our anxiety and overwhelm and stress is in. We can't break free of that because we're just so focused and zeroed in and we're trying to figure it out. But that box is holding you captive. It's not allowing you to exist in reality. When it comes to God, when it comes to who he calls you to be as an entrepreneur, when it comes to what trusting him with your business looks like. When it comes to not idolizing money and idolizing results, but instead putting God back on the throne of your heart again. That is the reality that I'm talking about. So coming back to that helped me recenter myself. It helped me to find peace again. It helped me to find understanding and it just helped me to feel steady again. And a lot of that had to do with my perception of money and how God in that moment of a crazy launch of trying to put in all this work, all this effort, trying to produce financial results so that I could take care of these financial responsibilities that I had. God helped me to remember how to go about money His way. The current money that I had, and the future money that I desired. So let's talk about that. Because this is a challenge. If you are listening to this podcast episode right now, you're in business, you're an entrepreneur, you're a creative, you're an investor. You have things that you want to put out there into the world, and you want to be financially free. If that is you and you are chasing after your money goals, let these pointers that I'm about to share be a beautiful reminder to you of how God just might be challenging you. To do money his way in a way that will humble you in a way that will steady you in a way that will catapult you to what I believe can be financial freedom. If you do it his way, not only financial freedom, but also internal freedom, long lasting peace and joy if you do money God's way. So let's dive in. Let's talk about what nobody tells you when it comes to that. As you're pursuing your money goals. The first thing that I'll say, you need to be willing to steward what you have now. When you are financially ambitious, you are naturally going to be so focused on future goals that have to do with income, that have to do with revenue, that just have to do with financial freedom in general. Focusing on those future ambitions, that's not a bad thing. But if you're neglecting what you already were trusted to steward, what you already were blessed to have, if you are unintentionally neglecting that because you're so focused on the future goals, or even the current things that will help you get to those future goals, then you, my friend, are starting to idolize money. And that's where you need to be careful. God does not call you to just chase after the future stuff. He calls you to steward your now. Whatever he's trusted you with, the money that's in your bank account now, the job you have now, the clients you're working with now, even your online audience, if you show up in any online spaces, whatever that follower growth is, to me, God is trusting you with that number of people to steward well now. So what does that look like? That means you taking care of it, you managing it well, you being responsible in those things, you showing up in those things. Even if you don't like your job right now, even if you don't like working with that one client right now, even if you can't stand doing this right now, or this bothers you, you're worried about the money you have in your bank account, whatever it is. God entrusted you with those things now for you to manage well and to steward well. So I want you to think about how can I steward my now better? How can I show up better in the things? That I have in this season of my life right now, even if I don't like it, even if it worries me, even if I just want to not deal with it and push it in the back of my mind because it just overwhelms me or stresses me out. How can you steward it better?\ I'll give you an example. Your money. How can you be better with budgeting your current money now before you even think about the future money goals that you are chasing after? Your job. If you have one, how can you be a better steward over that job, even if you don't like it? How can you show up better? How can you be more of a leader in the role that you have within that job, even if you don't like it? Your current client or clients that you're working with, maybe they're frustrating you. How can you show up better? How can you manage that well? Even if you have certain debts, are you really prioritizing paying those off? Are you stewarding that well? These are really hard questions to ask yourself. And I had to go through that same thing because I was finding myself in a season of chasing after my money goals, but I was not stewarding my current season as well as I know I could. You see, when God can see. That you can steward and manage and handle well, the things that he gave you, the things that he has blessed for you to have right now. If he can see that, Then he knows that your heart is in the right position to be trusted with more. To be trusted with that next open door, to be trusted with more money, to be trusted with a successful launch of this project or this offer. To simply be trusted with the more. But if you desire that more, then my friend, you have got to steward the now. This is a daily reminder, and it's a good one. Second thing. You need to be willing to be selfless with your money. I know you have money goals in the future that will make you financially free, that will make you financially successful, but if you're not generous with the money you currently have right now, Then how can God expect for you to be generous in the future when you have more money? A lot of us think that, Oh, let me just, once I make more money or once I can get to this level, then I'll be more generous with my money. Then I can give here and do this and do that. No, if you're not doing it now. Then God can't trust you to be able to be generous with your money in the future. Why am I talking so much about generosity with your money and selflessness with your money? Well, because money does not belong to you. Money belongs to God. And as entrepreneurs, as dreamers, it feels like that money belongs to us because we are putting in so much hard work and effort to produce income within our businesses. But whatever income is being produced is not yours. It belongs to God. When you decide to give your life to Christ, you are believing that everything belongs to Him. He is the owner. You are simply a steward of what God owns. So, if that money belongs to God, then that means that God, being, The amazing savior, comforter, counselor, and helper that he so naturally is, that means that he does not expect you to use the money that he has blessed you with now to just keep to yourself, to just keep even within your family. He expects you to also be generous, to be selfless. No matter how little or how much you're able to be generous and selfless with your money right now, my whole point is your heart's position and being willing to be generous with your money, being willing to be selfless with your money. Now you might be asking, Oh, okay, well how, how would I be generous and selfless with my money? It could be little acts of kindness, blessing someone with Money, buying someone some food that you see, paying it forward at a restaurant by paying for someone else's table. Yes, it could be little acts of kindness like that. In addition to that, it's also giving God your 10%. Whatever money you made that month, right now, in this current season of your life, giving God your tithe. Tithing means 10%. Now, before you get all, you know, judgmental and you start feeling some type of way, because I know the minute I say the word tithe, people start to be like, Oh, oh, she's getting a little churchy. What is this? Hear me out. Tithing is not about Giving. Some of your money to a church. That's not what it's about. Tithing is the heart's position in giving God 10 percent back of what he had blessed you with. And that 10 percent should go into God's store house. The storehouse. In biblical terms is the church, a place that has ministries, a place that provides, a place that teaches God's word, a place that gives money out to countries and programs and people and schools and ministries that need it. That is what I mean when I say storehouse. And that storehouse is ideally your church home. And ideally your church home is a place that you trust. This should be a local church that you're able to go to in person. A church that you trust, a church that you find community in, a church that you know spends money. Wisely, when it comes to pouring it back out to the world and even pouring it into the people within that church, within the programs or the schools or the counseling or whatever it is that they have. That is what I'm referring to. Now if you already have your home church and if you're not tithing, I'm going to encourage you to start tithing to that church. I'm going to encourage you to not just give 5, but to give 10 percent of that entire month's income every month. And hey, if your 10 percent is 5 because that's all you got right now, that's okay. 10 percent is 10 percent of whatever you got. And if you don't have that church home yet, I encourage you to find one. We're not meant to do life alone. We are meant to be in community. We are meant to continue to learn. We are meant to be surrounded by brothers and sisters who can help uplift us when we are down. And a church that you trust is one of the best, safest place for you to get that. It's also an amazing place for you to serve, an amazing place for you to get more positioned and prepared as the woman or the man of God that He is calling you to be in this world. That is the beauty of a church. And I know that some of us have church hurt. I understand that. It's my hope that you would prioritize your healing in that, and that you would find a church home that you trust, that you pour into, but that pours back into you. is such a beautiful way of ensuring that your heart is positioned in trusting that your money belongs to God and you are a steward of it. And you can show that through action by giving God 10 percent back to him of what he has blessed you to steward. And I can guarantee that if you do that, and if your heart remains in the right position of just giving, God will bless you tenfold. He will bless you because of that. It is written in the Bible, and I am a living, walking testimony of this. First off, let me go through that Bible verse where it clearly states this. God literally says in Malachi 3. 10, Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. Ugh, I get chills thinking about this verse every single time. The beautiful thing about this verse is that this is the only place in the Bible, the only place out of the entire Bible where God literally tells you to test Him. The Bible also says, do not put the Lord your God to the test. We're not supposed to do that except in one area, put them to the test when it comes to you giving him your tithe, giving him your 10 percent consistently and trusting that God will see your heart's position in giving a portion of your money back to him, that he will start blessing you more and more. He will pour back into you more and more because of your action. There has never been a time where I have tithed 10 percent of my money and God has not blessed me back with that or more, beyond more than that. It might not be within that same month, but it comes eventually every single time. He blows my mind with that. Even in previous months in my business where I was scared that I was about to be broke. I was like, I don't know. I don't, I don't know God. I barely have anything, but I'm about to give you this 10 percent anyway. He blessed it. Every single time. A client would come, a successful launch would happen, this project would happen, and I would be more than okay. So I want to challenge you in that. Give him that 10%. Give it back to him and watch what he will do because of your obedience and because of your heart's position. Now I'll also say you want to be careful with this because you don't just want to give your 10 percent to God and expect to get. Now our heart's position. is wanting to be a consumer and setting expectations of what God should do for us. And if we're doing that, then our heart is not in the right position. But if you simply give, because you want your money to go out to people to be impacted, you want to trust God with that 10%, and you trust Him with when or how He will give it back to you, that is what matters. That is the heart's position. So, as you go about your money goals, my friend, do not neglect the very real, very truthful, very beautiful concept of tithing your 10%. Tithe now in the season that you're in and tithe in the future season that you're trying to get to when it comes to being financially free. I've got to challenge myself with that too, but I promise you, you doing that. God will work wonders. Have the right heart position as you do. He will work wonders in your life. The last thing that I want to say. As a recap, we had talked about be willing to steward what you have now. Be willing to be selfless. And number three, the last one, be willing to trust God with your money. People don't tell you in business. That if you want to be financially free, the number one thing that you have to do is trust God with your money. People don't tell you that. Why? Because instead they tell you the number one thing to become financially free is you need to invest. You need to be consistent in this. You need to find a coach. You need to find mentorship. All of that is great, but it's not your number one thing to do. Your number one thing to do is to trust God with your money. Is to trust Him with your future financial freedom goals. Why? Because God is your provider. Your investments are not your provider. Your students, your clients are not your provider. Your mentor, your coach, not your provider. God is. God is the reason why those students or clients choose to work with you and therefore money comes pouring in. God is the reason why those investments work and money is pouring in through those investments. God is the reason why you were able to find and hire that coach and that coach or mentor is able to help you. God cultivated that relationship. He is the instructor of everything that happens. He is the one that produces results. And that is a challenge in business. Because of our effort and how much work we are doing to just make things work, to bring money in the door. Because of that, it feels like we are our own providers. But we're not. And we need to be careful with that, because when we start viewing ourselves as the provider, we start idolizing ourselves. When we start viewing the clients, the students, the investments as our provider because it's bringing money in the door, guess what? Now those things are being idolized unintentionally. Idolize God. He is your provider. He will open the doors. He will close the doors. He is the reason. But you need to trust him as that. You need to see him as that. Now, you might be wondering, Angel. What does that look like to trust God? Well, I think everyone's journey in learning to trust God is going to be different. Because your inability to trust God is likely rooted in childhood trauma, it's likely rooted from bad past experiences that you have personally gone through that you need to face. That you need to work through in order to understand the work that you need to do to start trusting God again Especially when it comes to your money if God called you to that business if he called you to start that thing if he Called you to put that creative gift out there into the world then my friend. He will see it through If you do it his way, he will take care of you, financially, internally, he will pave the way. Even if along the way things are confusing, you bump into roadblocks, you bump into money problems, guess what? Those are all challenges to further grow your trust in God that much more. Those are all challenges to shape you to be stronger, to elevate your faith. God has brought me through so many challenges in my entrepreneurial journey. So many times I've been knocked down. I have cried my eyes out. I thought something wasn't going to work. I was scared that I was going to be financially broke and that I needed to work a 9 to 5 again. Terrified. My confidence was broke. Insecurities were at an all time high. No matter what I went through, God made a way. I was always okay. There was always something around the corner to the point where financially, I was good. Internally, I was good. Business wise, things started to make sense and they started to work together step by step, day by day. If he called you to it, he will make it work. It's a matter of you trusting that he will do that. Heavy episode today. I felt the heaviness as I was talking, but I wanted to bring this up because These are things that people don't tell you when it comes to being an entrepreneur and trying to do it his way. When it comes to trying to do money God's way. It's not just, oh, doing money God's way means thanking God for my money blessings and trusting him with this. It's not just that. It's deeper. It's being willing to steward the money you have now. It's being willing to be selfless consistently with the money that you have now. It's being willing to trust God so much with your money now and in the future that you see him as your ultimate provider. You know for a fact that he will always take care of you no matter what you go through. And I'm going to tell you, in entrepreneurship, you're going to be challenged with that. You're going to question that you're going to wonder if he's really here taking care of you. What's going to happen? What about this? But I'm here to encourage you to stick it out. If he called you to it, he will see it through. Stay in step with him. Continue being obedient. Continue building your trust in him. Continue putting in that good hard effort. Continue tithing that 10 percent back to God. Continue stewarding the season of your life well. Doing that, my friend, God will come right alongside you. He will care for you. He will open up doors for you like nothing you've ever seen. He will grow you. He will position you. He will walk you along that path of financial freedom. I truly believe that. I hope this episode helped you today. I hope it uplifted your beautiful heart and hey, if this inspired you, share it with a friend, share it with a family member that you know has been going through some money problems. Maybe they want to start a business, but they don't know how and they're scared when it comes to finances. Maybe this episode could uplift their spirit today too. So feel free to share it their way. Now, you having that entrepreneurial heart, if you're wanting strategized steps when it comes to a successful mindset, marketing and money strategy within your business journey, then I got a freebie for you, my friend, right down below in the podcast show notes or in the YouTube description where you're watching this podcast episode, I have a three day course walking you through the mindset. Marketing and money strategies, God's way to help you build a profitable online business. This course will be dripping out one video per day for a period of three days where you're going to learn a new and exciting concept. You're going to have a journal prompt to think through just to get your beautiful ideas flowing. And just have support from me in your email inbox as you start and complete that free course. If you want it, it's right there for you down below. Absolutely for free. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next week for another episode.