The spirit of Mammon

The spirit of mammon is the spirit of this world that is anti-Christ to what God intends for His people.  God intends to reach, equip and build His people and His Kingdom to reflect His Son Jesus Christ.  Those whom He has already reached, He requires stewardship of the resources, money and possessions that He places at their disposal.

Luke 16:9-13 (ESV) [9] And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.  [10] “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. [11] If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches? [12] And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? [13] No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Mammon: an Aramaic word, which means “riches” but came from the Syrian god of riches!  The Syrian god of riches came from Babylon that means, “sown in confusion” and Babylon came from the tower of Babel and was founded on pride and the arrogance that man doesn’t need God!  The bottom line:  Mammon is a prideful, arrogant spirit that says You don’t need God!

Mammon was the word that Jesus used to describe the only thing that you could not serve, while at the same time serving God.  Mammon is not money, as many have come to believe,  it is a spirit that tries to rest on money and possessions.

Have you ever said,  "If I just had more money..." if so, you have been influenced by the spirit of mammon.  Or perhaps you've even said, The Big One: “If I had more money, I could help people!  Once again,  the spirit of mammon is influencing you.

The common misconception is, money is the answer to all of our problems or we either need God to come through or we need someone, anyone, to give us some money! That’s a spirit lying to you!

Now, Jesus is not saying to hate money! He is saying to hate mammon, the anti-Christ, greedy, selfish, lying,  deceiving spirit that operates through your money and possessions!

When our heart is truly bent to serve God and to help others, the issue is never about money.  The issue is not how much you have; but whose it is!  It’s not yours; it belongs to God!  You and I are simply the stewards and we are proving to God what kind of a steward we are through the money and possessions He blesses us with!  If we will be faithful with what God has already given us to steward, He will give us more to steward, however, if we  are unfaithful in our stewardship, we can rest assured that even what we have will be lost.

We need to break the spirit of mammon from operating in our life and the lives of our family.  How?  By asking God how we are to steward our money and possessions, by giving where He says to give!  We need to let God change us from being takers to being givers!  Let's change The Big One from, "If  I had more money..." to "With the resources I do have, I will invest into God's Kingdom".  Let’s give just to give!