Time to Imagine. Daily devotional by Robert Morris
Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future.
—Proverbs 31:25 NASB
I want to invite you to daydream a bit. I’m not suggesting that you mentally check out and head to the golf course or the beach in your imagination.
I’m asking you to pause a moment and picture, as vividly as you can, how it would feel to live without financial pressure.
Imagine that you always have money left at the end of the month, rather than too much month left at the end of your money. I’m talking about a life in which you’ve forgotten what it feels like to have worry or stress about your finances.
When confronted with a purchasing decision, your first thought is, “Lord, should I buy this?” rather than, “How can I afford this?” Imagine a life of daily peace, laying your head on your pillow at night with a satisfied soul and sleeping like a baby.
If you’re married, you and your spouse routinely pray about spending priorities but never fight about money.
Picture a life in which you get to bless others whenever and wherever the Spirit moves you. You live with energy, purpose, and fulfillment because you get to consistently invest in the people and causes that mean the most to you.
In this imagined existence, you live with the assurance that you are, in the words of Jesus, laying up treasure in heaven (Matt. 6:19–21). But in the meantime, you’re having a ball here on earth.
The highlight of a typical day might be noticing the frazzled-looking young mother in the grocery store aisle comparing prices on the cheapest brands of peanut butter while using her phone as a calculator and fighting back tears.
You approach her, hand her a fifty-dollar bill, quietly say that God wants her to know that He sees her and cares about her, and simply walk away. Indeed, you spend your days looking for opportunities to be an answer to some desperate person’s whispered prayer—routinely having the privilege of serving as a living, breathing, tangible manifestation of God’s love for them.
Imagine not getting a sudden pit in your stomach when you think about your retirement years or old age. Like the wise, prudent woman of Proverbs 31, you smile at the future (v. 25).
Go ahead and imagine all of this and any other aspects that come to mind of a life free from money pressure. Picture being free to follow to the fullest the adventure God wants to live alongside you.
See yourself experiencing a life of maximum impact and minimum financial stress.
Well, what do you think? Does that kind of life seem appealing? Gratifying? Peaceful? Of course it does. However, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. What you just envisioned was not necessarily the life of a wealthy person.
In fact, many extremely wealthy people spend as much or more time worrying, fighting, obsessing, and stressing about money as anyone. The worry-free state you imagined is obtainable by anyone.
Prayer for Today
Heavenly Father, You have provided for me in marvelous ways. I thank You for providing me with Your Word and Your Spirit to help me understand Your destiny for me.
I ask for the wisdom to understand that there is a way for me to be a blessing to others as I lay up treasures in heaven. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?
Robert Morris
Robert Morris is the lead senior pastor of Gateway Church, a multicampus church in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Since it began in 2000, the church has grown to more than 39,000 active members
