How much money do you have to have to keep you safe

At the age of 13, I lost the inheritance of the family business that belonged to me. At the age of 25, I became a senior executive in a multinational investment bank. What drives my chase for success is worry and anger about money. I found out that I had panic disorder, and the source of the panic was money. God’s way of healing is to continually train me to give money and forgive people’s debts. There is no single amount that can reduce anyone’s need for God.

When I was promoted to director of a Swiss bank at the age of 25, I enjoyed the success I had been pursuing. After graduating from Cornell University and only four years in financial trading, attractive salaries and promotion opportunities are the most important to me. Having money doesn’t mean you can fix all the problems of life, and at that time I didn’t understand this truth that was obvious to me later.

I used to think that I didn’t have to worry about money in my life. In the 1930s, my grandfather started a paint company that was once a household name in Hong Kong. As the eldest son in the family, I think I will definitely take over the company when I grow up. However, in 1985, when I was 13 years old, relatives and outsiders bought the company in a hostile manner, and my father had to sell the shares at a low price, and he received very little. The inheritance that was originally destined for me was thus taken away, and at the same time, I was deprived of life without worrying about money. The whole family immigrated to Canada in a sad panic and left sadly.

I felt very angry and insecure about life. In order to take revenge and get ahead, I became competitive. I worked hard to study and work hard along the way, and behind the successive successes, I was actually driven by worry, fear, and anger about money.

Worrying about not having money was a trauma in my childhood

In 2003, two major blows hit me on the same day, and I was very depressed. First, the promotion to managing director failed, and then my girlfriend, who was about to get engaged, broke up with me, and I had already chosen the engagement ring at that time. On Sundays that week, when a former colleague invited me to church to study the Bible, I said yes.

In fact, I am the fourth generation Christian in my family, and when I was a child, I often went to Sunday school with my parents, but I only had some biblical knowledge in my head and never had a real relationship with God. A year ago, when I went to church with my parents, I ran into a former colleague who invited me to participate in a Bible study group every time we met, and I smiled down and declined. Until under the double whammy, I felt that everything had failed, what else could I lose? Just go!

After attending the Bible study group, I realized that the church was originally a hospital for sinners. For the first time, I was willing to listen to other people’s problems, and for the first time, I discovered that visiting and helping people in need and making them happy brought me great joy in my heart. I no longer felt like going to a group was a waste of time, and the old view of success defined by money and position began to change, and I gradually began to dedicate my time to service.

However, the trauma of losing inheritance rights in childhood has always been there, and the insecurity of money is still the biggest wound in my heart. God spent ten years and three healings healing my greatest weakness. These three courses fit well with Micah 6:8: “Just walk righteously, with mercy, and with humility, in your God.” ”

The first session is about tithing. To “do righteousness” is not to rob God of God’s possessions in “tithing.” In 2005, I first heard the teaching of tithing in my sermon and decided to start obeying God in terms of money. From one percent of the salary in the first month, two percent in the second month, five percent in the third month, one-tenth in the fourth month, and at the end of the year, one-tenth of the year-end bonus, and one-tenth of the stock income that has not yet arrived. To be honest, I had a bit of a confused “prosperity gospel” in the hope that God would bless me on the stock price, because I was faithfully offering him the first fruits that had not yet arrived!

By 2006, I no longer had this idea, and in addition to giving one-tenth of all my income, I was involved in the ministry of church stewardship and even calculated my ranking on the “ranking table” of anonymous church giving through some complex analysis. As I was immersed in spiritual pride and smugness, God reminded me that I still had a lot to learn.

Forgive the debts of the brethren

The second session took seven years, and God led me to “good mercy” beyond tithing. In 2007, a church brother was physically threatened for borrowing usury. I saw his helplessness and thought of 1 John, which says, “The Lord laid down his life for us, and we know what love is, and we should lay down our lives for our brothers.” “I lent him money in the presence of the pastor and agreed to repay it in monthly interest-free installments over a period of five years.

The first six months went as agreed, and later, the money was repaid later and later. By 2010, repayments stopped completely. Because I made a covenant at the church, I didn’t expect this to happen. Can I be angry with him? What should I think about this? What should I do next? The parable of the “wicked servant” in Matthew’s Gospel reminds me that I am the servant who owes the king ten million taels of silver, and I do not want to follow the example of the man who chokes his companion by the throat and demands a debt because his companion owes me ten taels of silver.

I did not question my brother and ask him for money. I think if he can return it, he will definitely return it, and he will not deliberately not pay it back, otherwise, he will leave our church. If you ask him, it may make him uncomfortable. I saw the money as lending it to God. I see this brother every Sunday, but he always avoids eye contact with me.

After a long time, I heard the voice of the Holy Spirit for the first time in the church: “When did you lend money to that brother?” I said, “In 2007.” “Seven years have passed, and I suddenly understand that the Holy Spirit is asking me this question on this day because the year of exemption has arrived. The Father gently asked me if I would like to obey and forgive this brother’s debt. So I said to my brother, The debt between us is canceled, and you no longer owe me money.

Later, when I met this brother, I was no longer awkward, and we would greet each other warmly. A year later he suddenly handed me a red envelope and I said to him, “Brother, our debt has been canceled and you no longer owe me.” He said: “This is a gift, and I very much want to give you this gift.” “Later, during the Spring Festival or Christmas, he also gave us some red envelopes.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, my heart was renewed. God made me value reconciliation with my brothers more than taking back that money.

A “heart change” that beats the panic disorder

The third session began in December 2014 and God taught me how to walk with Him “with humility.” Shortly after forgiving the brother’s debt, I painfully realized that something was wrong with my relationship with money. During the Christmas holidays, I found myself suffering from panic disorder, easy to get nervous, panic, and suddenly have difficulty breathing at night, which led to panic, or money.

Back in 2007, my income began to decline all the time, and I still needed to support my parents every month; married in 2009 and gave birth to daughters and sons in 2011 and 2014; We took out a mortgage to buy our own house. Spending is increasing every month. In January 2014, there was a negative cash flow in the household income and expenditure, and by December there was a cash flow hole.

I prayed, “Father, I’m not greedy, can you please give me an annual bonus to help me balance my expenses for 2014.” “At the beginning of 2015, my year-end bonus was just enough to balance the expenses of the year after tax deduction. But I suddenly realized, even if I broke even, did my Heavenly Father want me to live like this? Although I already had a decent net worth by then and had been training myself not to pursue luxury, I was worried that I would not be enough to protect the lives of my loved ones.

Then the verse, “The earth and what it fills, and the world and those who dwell in it, belong to the Lord” entered my heart. I suddenly found that for so many years, even since the beginning of the tithe, I have been making a mistake, that is, I have been settling accounts with God, 100 yuan of income comes in, the first 10 yuan is given to God, and the remaining 90 yuan is my trust, how to invest, how to consume, how to arrange the life of my family are all my business.

This is very unintelligent. I settle accounts with Him, always paying attention to my cash flow as if to say, “Thank you for your concern, I don’t need your help.” But in fact, without God, I would never have the wealth I have now. Everything I have belongs to Jehovah. If I only look at cash flow, it’s easy to get discouraged.

God’s greatest promise is that He is our provision. God has promised to take care of all my needs, and nothing in the world is more comforting, and it has set me free. He didn’t promise that I wouldn’t have negative cash flow every month, but He promised to supply, and negative cash flow doesn’t mean He doesn’t love me. It’s just that I look too short, too detailed, my eyes are too low, and I should look to the sky.

Looking back on the ten years of treatment all about identity correction, I turned out to be God’s steward. The core job of a steward is to decide how to use your money according to biblical principles.

Tailor-made generous training

After my identity correction, God began to train me in generosity: helping others financially. Just as Jesus has no reservations about our love, He wants us to be generous. The generous training God has given me is divided into three sizes: small, medium, and large.

In 2016, a saxophone musician who had temporarily lost his job visited our church. God clearly moved me to “give him money” and I immediately took out all the 1,000 Hong Kong dollars in my wallet. In the early summer, when a young firefighter died in a fire, God moved me to donate to his widow and children, and then to other families who had lost their fathers or breadwinners. These are small-size training.

God then took me into medium-sized training. In October 2016, I borrowed for the second time without interest from a family who could not pay the rent and this time I did not repay at all. But God led me to continue visiting the family, not to collect money, but to show concern and pray for them to have enough income until the year of exemption. In May 2017, God moved me to give 18 percent of my annual salary at a ministry inauguration dinner. I was reluctant at first, but after five months I finally gave it all by faith over fear of lack and security.

2 Corinthians 9 says, “He who gives sowing and grain to eat will give you more seeds for the sowing of the earth, and the fruit of your righteousness, that you may be rich in all things and may give alms abundantly, and through us, you may give thanks to God.” After that, God began training on a larger scale.

In early 2017, when the church was planning to buy a church, I promised God half of the returns from the stock with the largest investment and the greatest growth potential. In October 2017, my corporate department was abruptly removed and I was ruthlessly fired, but God’s generous training did not stop. In February 2018, God “sold everything in exchange for wisdom” through Proverbs 4:5, an informative version of the Bible. Seeking Smartness” moved me to sell all my shares and make a purchase as promised. God didn’t tell me when to sell high and buy low, and then I kept praying how to invest further, but God told me to wait and do nothing, and the money still hasn’t made it into the stock market.

Jesus said to the rich young man, “You still lack one thing: sell what you have and give it to the poor, and there will be treasure in heaven; You still have to come and follow me. “Selling everything” is both challenging and wise, because if you don’t give away your money, what happens when you die? But if it is given, Jesus promises us treasure in heaven.

Do I just want to be a rich man for 120 years?

The experience of being abruptly fired in 2017 brought me a brief shock and frustration. If it had been a few years ago, I would have been miserable, anxious, and searching for a new job. But then I quickly realized that it might be a blessing with makeup. More than a year ago, I first felt God calling me to write a book about my testimony as a steward, and I always delayed on the grounds that I didn’t have time, but now I finally have time. I had to finish my testimony, Lost and Found: Money vs. Riches）。

By the end of March 2018, I had no source of income and had to cancel the automatic transfer of monthly contributions that had been set up since 2005. I was miserable at that moment because I seemed to have lost this special financial intimacy with God and the church. Just as I was logging into my online banking to adjust my transfer settings, I noticed the special date when this journey of deep healing began—thirteen years ago. The past thirteen years have been a life-changing journey, God has transformed me from a slave to a master of money, and the greatest weakness in my life into my strongest ability.

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and these things will be given to you.” At first, I thought God would provide for me through royalties, but then I found out that selling books didn’t make ends meet. Investment can earn some living expenses, but investment has profits and losses, not my dependence. Even if I took some financial risks, I was willing to choose not to get a stable job, and most importantly, the vision God gave me.

God gave me the ability to fight Mammon. The fact that God gave me the “ultimate secret” of money when sharing my testimony in front of billionaires was powerful in breaking the confusion that money is only useful in this lifetime. The longest life expectancy is 120 years, if the life is only 120 years, then you will definitely make money to spend money and enjoy life; But if you have the slightest concept of eternal life, you must figure out how to distribute the money in your hands, because this money will be useless in 100 years at most, even if you can bring trillions to heaven, it is not enough, but how you distribute this money now has eternal effects. If you are willing to take money to help those in need and are willing to do God’s work, you can have eternal wealth. Do you want to be rich forever, or do you want 120 years of abundance? This is the choice God has given us.

Believers are in the same danger, even if tithing is already difficult, let alone anything else. According to Pastor John Piper, “being rich before God” means seeing God as wealth, above all things on earth; It means using earthly riches to show how much you value God; Life is not about material abundance, but about knowing God in abundance and moving toward God, our wealth.

For poorer people, the most common mentality is that I just have so much money, and I don’t have enough money to pay rent, eat, and take the car, so how can I give tithe? Just kidding! In fact, God does not care about the amount we give, otherwise the rich will take advantage of it, which is unfair. Jesus looked at how much you keep for yourself, so the poor can also give. If you have no reservations, you will have the highest score in the heavenly exams. Even if you are suffering from poverty now, this period is short relative to eternity. Of course, this requires confidence.

The richer the person, the more greedy and spiritually poorer he may be. Rich people easily rely on money to solve all their problems and let money play their gods. Many wealthy people don’t see people of lower economic status, nor are they generous emotionally, temporally, and other non-monetary resources. How much money can give people enough security? No amount can reduce anyone’s need for God. Even if you are rich, the biggest risk in your life is the moment you die. If you don’t know Jesus, what about prosperity in this life?

Go forward with a vision

Whether in Hong Kong or the mainland, many people are confused by money. In the past 20 years, our brothers and sisters in the mainland have become very wealthy, and many people may regard money as omnipotent, putting it first in life, forgetting that we will go naked when we come naked. Breaking the confusion of money – the vision grew stronger and stronger, God asked me to fight Mammon by His strength, and the interior is a great battlefield, and my weapons are my testimony and my books.

“Generosity is a Blessing” was first released in English, and before the English version was published, mainland institutions offered to translate it into Chinese. The best I had in mind was to wait until the English version had a certain amount of sales before it could enter the mainland, but God’s work exceeded my expectations. In late November 2019, I was encouraged that this book was successfully published in the mainland. A second book, Lose to Find: Change of Control, is also in the works.

Using money to honor God is something that requires practice regardless of circumstances. If a child with ten dollars a month is not willing to give one piece to God when he earns ten or one hundred thousand a month, will he be willing to give a tithe? Small money is not well managed, and God will not entrust us with real treasure.

I continue to lead my family forward today, obeying God’s vision. It has been said that the most important thing in marriage is to help the wife (or husband) prepare for eternal life. If you really love each other, do you want them to live well for 120 years, or do you want them to be good forever? If I don’t help my wife upgrade her abilities as a housekeeper, I just don’t love her enough. In the future, God may lead our family to give more, maybe one day we will sell the house, or rent a smaller place, and if there is a day, I think we will continue to obey.

I will also consciously nurture children in terms of generosity. When my daughter was about three years old, I asked her, if you had ten apples, would you give God one? I was going to teach her the concept of tithes, but she said why not give all ten to God? In turn, she was teaching me. The daughter saw the old man begging on the side of the road and was willing to take a detour to give him pocket money.

My initial agreement with my son was to get a new toy and give an old toy to a child in need. Recently, I told him that every time I get a new toy, I have to give away two old toys, and he has no problem. Once he wanted to buy a new toy, I asked him to choose the old toy to give away. In the beginning, he chose a smaller toy, and I said, “Okay, you choose a smaller toy, and I’ll buy you a smaller one.” Then he chose an incomplete toy, and I said, “Okay, you pick an incomplete toy, and I’ll buy you an incomplete toy.” Like this, I would teach him some concepts, what is willing to give away, will have to come back.

I hope to help my children build wealth in heaven. Our Heavenly Father has unlimited wealth and generosity, and I want to lead my children in the Father’s will, as Proverbs says, “He who fears the Lord has great trust, and his children have refuge.”

May the Lord help us to break away from conventional thinking and stop allocating money based on the premise of maximizing our own interests, so that we can be bold in giving in all circumstances. For the richest king in the universe has promised to provide for all the needs of his children so that we can live out the mission He has given us.

I pray to God that my friends who read my testimony will make up their minds to follow God’s lead and take the first step, even if it is a small step, in terms of money. May they feel God’s presence so that they will understand that Jehovah Ele is the God who provides for all they need, and may they be freed from the delusion of money and no longer subject to control.