Why I think God hates our money system (and what to do about it)

If God is going to do what He wants anyway, why pray? My guest today, Matt Smallbone, is a pastor in downtown Nashville, and for most of his thirty years as a Christian that question kept him from praying much at all. He'd read every book on prayer. He'd handed the whole thing back to God and called it theology. Then he ran an experiment. The Lord's Prayer, all six parts, every day, for a year. In this conversation we get into what that year taught him about God's sovereignty and unanswered prayer, why he believes most unanswered prayers go unanswered for one reason (and why he also believes God says yes to every prayer we would pray if we knew what He knows), what "give us this day our daily bread" meant when his family lived on $150 a week, why he says forgiveness has actually become easy, and how he and Linda kept praying through the loss of a baby. If prayer has ever felt boring, awkward, or like it just isn't working, this conversation is for you. If you enjoyed this conversation, definitely check out Matt's new book, The Prayer Experiment. The whole year-long experiment is in there: https://www.amazon.com/Prayer-Experiment-Realigns-Everything-Thoughts/dp/0310372739

Most of us measure our money by how the month feels, and that's a lot like trying to lose 20 pounds by checking how tight your sweatpants are. In this live workshop, Linda and I walk you through the one number that actually tells you whether you're getting ahead, why we stopped calling it net worth, and what Proverbs 27:23 has to do with it. We get into why so many of us avoid looking at our finances, the two scoreboards that keep people anxious no matter how they're doing, our own first number (-$13,843) and where it was one year later, a 10-minute exercise to find your number, the four financial stages and what to do in each one, and your questions about money leaks, setting an enough number, giving when money is tight, and paying for kids in college. Not sure which of the four stages you're in? Take our short stage quiz (10 questions, about two minutes) and you'll get next steps for right where you are: https://seedtime.com/stage

"I'll give more when I make more." Most of us have prayed some version of that. My guest today is a business owner who realized he had been living it. Colby Jenkins can easily afford to give. And one day he noticed he hadn't heard God prompt him to give in a very long time. What God told him about why almost made him cry. In this conversation we get into the two money tests almost every Christian faces (the vision test when you have less, and the obedience test when you finally have more), why "one more layer of security first" is the prayer that keeps us stuck, what your bank statement already says about your real vision for money, why God can go silent about your finances and what that silence might mean, and the one question Colby asks himself to tell whether a plan is from God or just from him. Nothing here is a formula. It's a conversation about obedience, and about what it looks like to become a conduit instead of a vault. We wrote down the 14 things we did to be able to give away $1 million by our 40th birthdays. It's free at: https://seedtime.com/GIVE1M

You can be totally at peace with God, doing everything right, and still not get the thing you've been praying for. That one hit me hard. Annie F. Downs sat down with me and Linda to talk about her new book, Don't Let That Hold You Back. She's the host of the That Sounds Fun podcast, and she just got engaged after decades of being single. We talked about the idea that if you just get content enough, God will finally hand you what you want. She says that's not how it works, not even close. We got into what the Bible actually means by abundant life, and why the enemy's real target isn't your bank account, it's your dreams. We talked about her "board of directors," the people she lets speak into her biggest decisions instead of just asking ChatGPT. And we talked about why our company shuts down for three whole months every summer, fully paid, and what that has to do with a verse about letting a field rest. This one covers faith, waiting, money, and what it looks like to stop letting fear make your decisions for you. If you enjoyed this, we'd love to send you a free copy of our book. You just cover shipping. It has over 1,000 5-star reviews on Amazon. Grab it at: seedtime.com/free.

Most of us pray about money. Very few of us ask God what to do with it and then sit still long enough to hear an answer. This is Part 2 of our conversation with our friend Bryan, a business owner and honestly a spiritual mentor in a lot of ways. In Part 1 he showed us how a money idol hides in a phrase you say every day. This time he shows us the other side: what it actually looks like to hear God about a money decision, and what God tends to deal with before He builds anything. In this conversation we get into the exact ten-minute practice Bryan's whole team uses to ask God what to do (a timer, a notebook, and four things to write down), what came out of it the first time twelve people tried it, why he believes everyone in the room hears something, why "you need $250,000 to do this" is usually money holding you hostage, the stuff in the basement God insists on dealing with first, why you should not rush to be a teacher, the million-dollar cabin God told them to buy with money they did not have, and the question Bryan can't shake: how many spots have I not been in because I didn't listen? Nothing here is a formula. It's a practice, it happens in community, and Bryan argues against his own decisions the whole way through. If you want a place to start, Linda and I wrote 30 Days of Prayer for Your Finances for exactly this: one short prayer a day to start asking God about your money instead of just worrying about it. Grab it at: https://seedtime.com/30DOP