Christian life Archives

Money isn’t something Christians talk about much. Generally. Unless there is a sermon on tithing when the church is running short of funds. Or an appeal for giving when there are people in need, or a building in need. We tend to skirt around the subject of finances – they are personal after all, aren’t they? What we do with our money is our business, surely?

Well yes, and no. Because as Joy Vee argues, in her challenging new book My Joint Bank Account with Jesus, there is Someone besides us who should be having a say in how we use our money. After all He gave it all to us in the first place!

A Living Relationship

I have read books and heard sermons before on good stewardship, and on generosity. You know the ones that you come away from feeling guilt ridden and ready to give it all away to the first person in need you come across. Joy’s book isn’t that. Instead, it is a gentle invitation to invite Jesus into everything, every decision, whether it be money, business, or the thousand other choices we have to make as we go through life. It is about having a living relationship with Him that flows into every part of our lives. One where we can prove His wisdom, His provision, His faithfulness to us, and find joy in it all. Even the giving!

What impacted me most as I read this book, was that every point Joy makes is based on her and her family’s lived experience. She gives really practical ideas of how to practice inviting Jesus into our everyday decisions and then backs those up with stories of God’s often miraculous provision. You can trust that she knows what she is writing about. And everything is backed up with scripture.

Easy to read?

In one sense it is a very easy to read book. It is divided up into short, themed sections, and beautifully illustrated by Anna Hewett-Rakthanee. There are questions to ponder and helpful suggestions. There is also a section at the back with questions that could be used in a small group setting.

In another sense it is not an easy book to read. It is thought provoking and challenging. It invites you to look at your life and how you manage money, to best glorify God and help build His kingdom, but not in a condemning way. As it promises – it describes a fresh way of looking at our finances with an invitation to practise the presence of Jesus in every area of our lives. That there is an adventure to be had with Jesus in everything.

I highly recommend this book to you, and not just because I know the author, and have seen the authenticity of what the book describes displayed in her life. I think it is a little book that could change lives – perhaps even mine!

MY JOINT BANK ACCOUNT WITH JESUS by JOY VEE is published by Broad Place Publishing.

RRP £6.99 – £7.99 ISBN B0HBWD55K2 85PP

Available to purchase from the Publisher here

Amazon Link here

You can find out more about the author, Joy Vee at www.joyvee.org

Joy Margetts is a published author and blogger. Her heart is to share God’s heart for the broken; His love that pursues us, truth that frees us and hope that heals us. Her novels are set in medieval Wales against the backdrop of Cistercian abbey life, and tell stories of faith, hope and God’s redemptive power. She has also published two devotionals based on the person and work of Jesus.

More information on Joy, and her books can be found here

EXHAUSTED BUT STILL GOING…

That phrase could sum up my life, quite easily. Living with the chronic effects of M.E., I am always tired, often exhausted, in fact. But life goes on, and so must I. And there is much to get out of life and enjoy, even with the limitations my health condition enforces. I love my family, my church, my home life, and, of course, my writing. I also love the vision God has put on my heart to build a community of encouragement for writers who want to write for His Kingdom. *

STILL IN PURSUIT

I was reading in the book of Judges today, about Gideon and his 300 strong warrior band of God selected men. They had won a great victory but God hadn’t finished His dealings with Israel’s enemies and told them to pursue the stragglers.

Judges 8 verse 4 says this:

When Gideon came to the Jordan, he and the three hundred men who were with him crossed over, exhausted but still in pursuit. NKJV

Here is the same verse from The Passion Translation,

Totally exhausted, Gideon and his three hundred crossed the river Jordan and continued to pursue the enemy

The Hebrew word translated exhausted means just that, ‘faint, weary, parched, famished‘. At the end of your physical endurance. Yet still those warriors kept going, because God still had work for them to do.

KEEP GOING UNTIL YOU DROP?

I wanted to pause and think on that.

Is God actually asking us to push ourselves to the place of exhaustion in His work? We hear too many stories of church ministers and missionaries working themselves to the point of burnout and collapse. I really don’t believe that is God’s heart for any of us. Those called to full time Christian work, those called to pursue Christ’s victory in every day life, those who have been given a vision to spearhead a work for Him, a calling to follow. He doesn’t want any of us to fail! To fall exhausted in a heap. But He does want us to keep going, even when it is hard.

WE ARE NOT ALONE

So what does that look like? I had to ask God that question, feeling particularly disappointed about another battle I was finding myself fighting from the place of exhaustion.

The key is Him. If we believe we are at the centre of His will for us, even when it feels tough, when it feels like a fight, then we are not alone in the battle. We have those He has placed around us – our own 300 – those who walk with us, pray for us, encourage us, and help share the burden. But most importantly we have Him. He is in command, He is our strength, He is our victory.

Gideon and his 300 won extra-ordinary victories, over enemies that vastly outnumbered them. It was nothing to do with how good at fighting they were. God found Gideon hiding in a winepress, lacking courage and confidence, and yet He still used him to set a nation free from oppression. It was all God’s power. It was all Him.

So when I feel exhausted and weary, that is good. Because in my weakness is His strength.

Photo of a lake surrounded by trees and rocks with a blue sky above/

WEAK PROUDLY

As I am writing this a song has come on from my playlist that sums this up perfectly – Jillian Edwards’ ‘Weak, Proudly’. Do go have a listen. It is at the end of myself that I realise my need of Him. His strength is made perfect in my weakness. In our insecurities about ourselves and our ability to keep going, is the reassurance that we don’t have to – without Him covering us and making up for our insufficiencies. We can be proud that we know our weaknesses!

JUST KEEP GOING

Twice, in his New Testament letters, Paul writes these words to the early church, a people struggling under persecution and hardship,

…let us not grow weary while doing good Galatians 6:9

… do not grow weary in doing good 2 Thessalonians 3:13

Don’t give up. When it feels exhausting make sure you aren’t on your own. Make sure you have people around you to help and encourage you. But most important make sure that you are walking close to God, leaning into Him, giving Him your weaknesses in exchange for His strength. He will not walk with you on a path He has not given you to walk. That will become unbearable and unsustainable. But if you know He has asked you to pursue something, if you feel His hand on it, and know it is a victory that He wants to give you. Then keep going! And find your rest in Him.

*for more information on Kingdom Story Writers follow the link www.kingdomstorywriters.co m

Joy Margetts is a published author and blogger. Her books are works of Christian Historical fiction. Set in medieval Wales against the backdrop of Cistercian abbey life, they tell stories of faith, hope and God’s redemptive power. Her debut novel ‘The Healing‘ was published by Instant Apostle on 19 March 2021.

‘The Pilgrim‘, her second full length novel, was published by Instant Apostle on 22 July 2022, and her third novel, ‘The Bride‘, published on 20th October 2023. Her first non-fiction book, an Advent Devotional, ‘Christ Illuminated‘ was published in September 2023.

More information on Joy, and her books can be found here