The Stewardship Test When Blessings Arrive

Faith isn’t only tested in hardship — it’s tested in abundance. In this episode of Faithfully Invested with Allen & Stacy Jo, we talk about how to stay humble, surrendered, and spiritually disciplined when life is going well.

When doors are opening and prayers are being answered, it’s easy to drift into autopilot. Comfort can become an idol. Self-reliance can replace dependence. And without realizing it, we start taking credit for what God has done.

This episode helps you recognize the spiritual risks of success and how to steward blessing with gratitude and obedience.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Why blessing increases responsibility
• The shift from dependence to “I got this”
• Gratitude as protection against pride
• Abiding in Christ when life is good
• Guarding prayer, worship, and spiritual rhythms
• Stewardship as kingdom impact (Luke 16:10)

📖 Scriptures Referenced:
Philippians 4 | John 10:10 | Luke 16:10 | John 15

📌 Weekly Invitation:
Spend 10 minutes a day naming what God has blessed, thanking Him specifically, and surrendering it back to Him. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to steward it with faith, not fear.

✅ Order your 60-Day Prayer & Gratitude Journal:  https://a.co/d/4BmuY1y

Stay Faithfully Invested — because when you invest in His Kingdom, He brings the increase.

Podcast Hashtags

#ChristianPodcast #FaithfullyInvested #ChristianStewardship #Gratitude
 #WalkingWithGod #BiblicalWisdom #KingdomLiving

Reviving Recovery: Unbound starts online Monday, February 2nd at 7:00 PM We worship, we learn, we break out into gender specific groups and we journal with. Each other and with the Holy Spirit. If your heart is stirring listening to this, pay attention Healing begins here. Click the link below to join us at Reviving Recovery Unbound starting February 2nd.

www.revivingrecovery.com

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Transcript

0:01

Are you ready to build a life, business and legacy that truly lasts? Welcome to Faithfully Invested with Allen and Stacy Jo Thorne, where Faith meets real talk. Biblical wisdom meets everyday life and leadership meets laughter. Together we will uncover God's blueprint for leadership, marriage, and mission, helping faith-driven leaders invest in what matters most. Each episode, we explore biblical wisdom, have real conversations, and of course, have some fun along the way because let's be real. Walking in faith is an adventure. It sure is. So pull up a seat, grab your coffee or your sweet tea, and join us as we steward our callings with intention, because when we invest in his kingdom, he brings the increase. Hello friends and welcome back to Faithfully Invested If only saw what goes on behind the scenes. Before we start, anyhow, hello friends, I'm, I'm Stacy Jo, and this wonderful woman is, I'm Stacy Jo. And he's Allen. Anyhow, we. We got a case of the giggles, but keep it rolling. Keep it rolling. We're grateful that you all decided to join us. Here today for a fresh perspective on faith and stewardship. Uh, today we're stepping into a conversation that doesn't get a lot of attention on Sunday mornings. How do we stand in faith when life is going well? When you're, you're leaking over your water. You're leaking, babe. Anyway, welcome. So we're, uh, we talk a lot about, uh, trusting God. Uh, when we're in crisis, when we're going through hardships, uh, we trust in God. We, we talk mainly about trusting God in, uh, in our spiritual battles. But yeah. Uh, what about remaining focused? When he's, when he's blessed our socks off and he sent us comfy shoes, comfy shoes. You were complaining about your shoes today. I was just how they weren't comfy, but, well, you know, he has sent me comfy shoes. I, I really like the, the Brooks Cascadia nineteens really good trail running shoes. Yeah. You know, but anyway, those are, did you like those? But he did, he did send me comfy shoes. Yeah. Uh, but what about the seasons? Uh, so when, aside from the comfy shoes. Yeah. So what about the seasons when all of our Prayers are answered, doors are opening. Finances are great and, and our family's thriving and opportunities are increasing. Right. What happens during those, those great seasons? Well, you know, sometimes the mo most challenging faith to maintain is. Is the faith we need when life is good because comfort, you know, can quickly become an idol, right? Yeah. Comfort is an idol. Um, yeah. And it attempts to outshine our dependence on God as our provider. Our abundance can make us think that we're the ones holding everything together. Yeah. And that's just not the case. You know, I, I was commenting to somebody today, they commented on one of our episodes. And they said about control is just a facade. And that's so true because we're not in control of anything. Right. So even in the good times, even went every day. Everybody. Everybody just, just turned it off. What's that? You said No, you're not in control. Everybody just turned it off. Yeah. Right. But I'm not listening to this. Yeah. But we're never the ones who are holding it all together. Right. And the good or the bad or I, you know, we're not holding it together in the bad, but you know what I mean. Right. We're not in control at any time, so, but today we want to talk about. The faith that remains grounded. Wait, so clarify that, babe. If we're not in control, who's in control? Oh, well, God's in control. God's in control. And that sounds, yeah. And that sounds cliche, but you know, I've been the white knuckling guy mm-hmm. Saying I got this. Yeah. And, and I've heard a well renowned pastor, uh, saying the, the three most dangerous words a, a man can say is, I got this. Right. You know,'cause'cause we're not in control. Uh, we're, uh. God is and we're really not. We know we're not, again, we're not talking about the the tough times right now. We're talking about having faith during the times when everything is going well, but it's tough sometimes because we do, as humans, we sometimes feel like, oh, you know what, God, we got this. Thanks you go work on whatever else you need to work on. But cruise control is dangerous, right? So today we're talking about remaining grounded, humbled, and surrendered when God and entrusts us with more. Because blessing isn't the absence of spiritual responsibility, it's the increase of it. Right. And there's always a challenge. You know, we Right. Uh, some people would call it a problem, but we speak life over here. Yeah. And, uh, so the challenge is, uh, to stand firm and recognize that our. Our faith isn't just for survival. Our faith calls for discernment and stewardship. And that's really the, the basis of, of our, it, it was last season that, uh mm-hmm. A few seasons ago, uh, I've lost track was on track because this the season five now. Yeah. Which I can't believe, but anyway. Right. And they're small seasons, so they are, but go back and check out the rest'cause Yeah. And, and let us know what you think. Uh, but we. On stewardship. We know how to, we know how to clinging to God when things are desperate. Mm-hmm. When, when it's tough. But do we clinging to him with the same intensity and the same fervor, uh, in seasons of abundance? Philippians 4, has Paul saying that. He learned, the secret of being content in both lack and in plenty. That means that both seasons tested him, uh, lack tested his trust, and plenty tested his humility. But, uh, check this out. I, uh, this came to me as we were putting this together and. We're all aware. You are aware that the enemy of our souls, you know, some call him Satan, uh, he wants nothing more. Then to distract us from all that God has placed before us. He wants to distract us from, God's plan, for our lives to advance his kingdom. And don't you think that that fool's gonna gonna try to shift our focus from the provider, uh, the, the, our Lord, uh, Yahweh, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the one who gave us the blessings to, to ourselves. He wants to shift us from. Thank God to I got this right. Bad place to be. Yeah. So it, it's important to remember, uh, the warning in, in John 10:10, when, when Jesus reminds us that the thief, the father lies, it's Jesus calls the father, lies the thief. Uh, but in John 10:10, he says, the thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. Mm. But Jesus came so that we might have life. Have it abundantly. And remember friends, it's not about the stuff. Jesus himself is that abundant life. The abundance is Jesus. The greatest gift that he's ever given us is himself. Yes. So when the enemy wants, but you know, and I've seen this to be true more times than I carried to count when the enemy and because. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life and, and he is the abundance. And, and his greatest gift is himself. The enemy wants to us to get us as far away from Jesus as possible. And we are so darn simple. Sometimes we, we allow him to distract us from our Holy King Jesus with the shiny lies of this world. And today, Stace and I would. We'd, uh, we'd just encourage you to, to stay focused and, and we are talking to ourselves, right? Uh, especially in this season. We're, we're, we're recording this just before Christmas, right? And which is why I am wearing my Merry Christmas shirt. Yeah. That you're gonna hear this after Christmas. That'll look great in January. It'll remind people of the reason for the season. That's it. Yes. And, and it's not just one day a year, and you have not commented on my, on my. Christmas pants. Yeah. The, are those the La la Rus? Uh, no, I, I don't know what brand they are. Anyway. They're nice to talk about. Enemy wants to distract us, and he'll use shiny lies of the world and, and the shiny lies. I, I write about that in, in Unbound and we teach on that. And yeah. And our reviving recovery, unbound shiny lies are anything to distract us, uh, from God's purpose in our lives. Uh, mainly, uh, I, I think the, um, it's, I don't know where I heard it first, but the, the nu the number one shiny light would be money. And finance. Mm-hmm. That, that's an easy distraction. Yeah. But the easiest way to, and I, this is what I heard long time ago, not sure from who, but the easiest way to distract a, a married Christian man is sexual immorality. Mm. And sadly, that's an epidemic going around. Yeah. But, um, but it, it always, the enemy's always gonna take us further than we want to go, and we're gonna pay more than we wanted to pay. And the shining light shift, it is never. Worth the cost that we'll pay in the end. Right, right. That's, that's really like right on point babe. And, uh, you know, thank you for that. You know, Luke 16:10 provides another dimension that says whoever is faithful with little will be faithful with much. And that tells us something really important that God sees. He sees how we steward blessings just as closely as we steward the struggle. Success can be really dangerous when we're not intentional. Very dangerous. Yeah. Because when everything's going well, we can start to loosen our spiritual discipline. You know, we start skipping prayer because everything seems all right. Yeah. You know, you don't have anything. We think of prayer, you know, as our, as a lifeline. Yeah. A lifeline. A lifeline in distress. Right. Right. SOS Lord need help. But he wants our prayers during the good times too. Yeah. But, but we can tend to shift away from that and maybe, you know, we stop listening closely because we've got momentum. Right. You know, the blessing. Sorry babe, but the, the lord. Uh, and in these times, um, you know, Paul says en enter his courts with thanksgiving and praise. Right? Absolutely. So we, we gotta remember that everything that in these good times came from him in the first place. For certain. And so, so wouldn't a good it, it would be a great opportunity to enter his, uh, his courts enter into prayer and petition with Thanksgiving and praise. Right? Yeah. And be dependent on him.'cause you know, blessing requires just as much dependence as burden and sometimes even more. Because if you are, you know, and I'll just point this back to business. If you're successful in business, it's easy to take the credit. Yeah, it can be very easy to take the credit, right, and very easy to be like self-sufficient and that's a dangerous place and a slippery slope. Yeah. So when you're self, when you feel you're self-sufficient, because again, you know, without him being in control, we would be completely out of control. Absolutely. And sometimes we can be, and it's, and as a leader, uh. It's important for us to recognize our team. Mm-hmm. Because we're, we're nowhere without the team. But first and foremost, when as Christ, Christ as our CEO, he's gotta get the first recognition. That's right. Yeah. But, so yeah. He needs recognition first and then, then we, it's so important to recognize our team. Certainly that, that we rely on. Right? Um, but the truth is that there's, there's seasons when God answers our prayers and, uh, very clearly. And, and in those seasons we feel like we're unstoppable. The, the job promotion comes, the business is growing, the ministry's expanded, and you know, our home is peaceful. Uh, all things are well on the home front. Yeah. We're thriving and boy, howdy. We have arrived. Oh boy. Howdy boy. Boy. Howdy. So we may think, I don't know, I would love for you all to weigh in on, boy, howdy. Is that something you'd like? Boy, howdy. They love it, baby. Good grief. I feel like I'm, I don't know, on an old Western or something. So, so in the, in the comments, where did boy howdy come from? What's the original? I don't know. Uh, yeah. Anyway, you and your boy. Howdy boy. Howdy. Oh my anyw. Who So it, so if you think we, if we get to a point where we think that we've arrived, then hoo, man, you, you might want to take a step back and get a bigger picture because we're in a dangerous spot. Um, I, yeah, so we gotta be careful there. This is the, um, where this is where the quiet and the subtle temptation creep in and we take credit for what God has done. Yeah. And that's not good. That's, that's called pride. Right. And, uh, and it. Pride's always up to no good. We've, we've talked about this before, we talk about it extensively through reviving recovery, Unbound. Nowhere in God's word does pride bear, uh, bear a positive connotation. Pride comes before the fall, right? Uh, so yeah, pride's, uh, always up to no good. Um, you can start relying on strategy instead of surrender. Ooh. How you start trusting, uh, your abilities, uh, over God's grace. I I love that. Mm, grace. Grace, your schedule gets full, but your, your time with God gets thin. I just don't have time. Yeah. And this, my friends is a dangerous place to be. Yeah. Or maybe, maybe your struggle show up as subtle complacency and you think I finally made it out of the hard season. I mean, I know I've been there where I'm like, oh, things are going really well. You know, I finally made it outta the hard season. So you loosen your guard. Mm-hmm. You know, you pray less, you worship less, you stop seeking wise counsel. Right. Maybe you stop even cultivating gratitude and then without realizing that you've even done that, your heart drifts from dependence into autopilot. Yeah. And then blessing exposes places in us that hardship never touched. Pride, entitlement, self-reliance, and even spiritual laziness. And abundance can blind you if you don't stay humble and anchored in his word. Yeah. His word is so important in every season of our life, whether we're struggling or whether we are, you know, everything is going great. Yeah. His word's important. Yeah. I remember this show we used to watch. We don't watch it anymore, or I won't mention the show. Uh, but the name of the show, but the, uh, there was this guy was going into a fight and he had, he had his friends with him and, but his, he's like, his friends weren't allowed to go into this. It was, uh, uh, it was a retribution thing. And, uh, and he, he's like, don't, he looks back at his, his bros and he is like, I got this. Long story short, he was killed. Uh, and so that's, that's how I got this land. It doesn't land well when we, we, one, we need our, we need our brothers and sisters. We need our husbands, uh, our wives. We you need your husbands. Husbands. As a husband, I need my wife. Um, we need each other to bond together. We need our, our like-mindedness to bond together. Right. Uh, under and in, uh, Jesus Christ's authority. Yeah. Uh, he, and we gotta recognize that he's where it all comes from. Mm-hmm. Uh, because there's, there's a pressure that comes from the blessing, you know, and, and sometimes we might just wanna just hold on. It, it, it can. It can get pretty skewed pretty quick if we lose our vision on Christ. Sure. And, uh, and, and stop listening to that voice who we, we recognize as the Holy Spirit. Mm-hmm. Uh, but when things are going good, like, like business is going good, you know, people, you, you're seeing that people rely on you and then, uh, opportunities are multiplying. And the pace picks up and it, it can get a little dizzy sometimes expectations increase. Uh, and in the busyness you find that you're, you're managing success instead of stewarding success. That's good. Uh, and you, you feel the tension between wanting to protect what God gave you and the fear of losing it. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Wanna hold onto it, uh, can relate to that. Yeah. Yeah. And these, these moments, uh, these, uh, this tension, uh, reveal what that, that's gonna reveal who we are in Christ that's gonna reveal our confidence. Uh, is it in God or is it in the blessing? Is it in the stuff or it is, is it in. The, the God that gave us the stuff. Right. Um, and the struggle is real, you know, but, and I love the, I love this next thing on struggle. Uh, one of my favorite podcasters said this, and it just makes sense. Uh, the struggle is real, you know? And so are we, are we struggling or are we just sitting in it? Are we just allowing the enemy? Because a struggle says that we're fighting to. We're fighting back, we're, we're struggling to, to get away. We're relying on God, uh, to see us through a struggle or, you know, or are we just, just sitting in it? And because if we're just sitting in it, there's no struggle there, right? We're just, we're just letting sin beat the tarnation out of us. Right? But again, we're talking about the struggle of. Of things going well and not relying on him. Right. Well, that would be the, the, the sin of losing vision. Mm-hmm. Of, of the Lord and, and what he's done. Yeah. It's not what we've done. It's what he's done. Yeah. So it's, it's in, it's important to, to keep that vision and keep our eyes focused. Um, yeah. Because it can either elevate your worship or elevate your worry. Yeah, that's good. I like that. Very what I mean, depending on where your faith is rooted. Yeah. And it's vital to recall, uh, that Jesus clearly told his followers that, and this is. Cannot be overstated. He clearly told his believing followers if they were going to follow him, that, that they must die to themselves. They must pick up their cross daily, then follow him. Yeah, and the good and the bad right and the challenges. Through the challenges, we must continue to to die to ourselves and listen to him. And, and how, and listen to how he wants us to steward his goodness. He wants us. He, I, I love, I love, um, what I hear on these podcasts, God's a good dad and he get, and he gives good stuff to his kids. You know, he loves us. And he, he gives good stuff to his kids, so we Right. So, but it, since he gave it to us, wouldn't it make sense to ask him how we should steward it for his kingdom, right? Yeah. So how we manage his blessings matters, friends. So, and, and how we manage his blessings in our lives is a sign of our character. Right. And you know, scripture gives us incredibly practical solutions and it, the, in the first one, you know, is to stay anchored in gratitude because gratitude keeps success from becoming pride. Yeah. When we're grateful to him and we give him the credit, we're not taking credit for it ourselves. So that keeps it from becoming pride. And when you pause every day and you say, Lord, this came from you. Your heart remains humble. Gratitude pro actually protects blessing, and it reminds you that you are a steward. Like you said, you're not the source, he is the source. So gratitude turns advancement into worship instead of ego. Yeah, and we don't wanna be egotistical, we don't wanna have pride. We want to give him the credit. For everything because he's worthy of all of our praise and all of our worship, and all of our gratitude, all of it.'cause of all, all, all of it. Not just a portion of it. Not just keeping some, you know, not keeping some for yourself. But giving him all of it, you know, I looked that up in the, the Greek word. I, I don't recall the Greek word that, um, that they use in the, in the New Testament. But, um, you know what it means? All all of it. Yeah. All of it. So, uh, and that, that said, it's, um, we're gonna move on to the, the second point is, uh, we gotta stay connected to the vine, right? Capital V Jesus is the Vine. And in John 15 he says, apart from me, you can do nothing. That in Greek also means nothing. Nothing apart from me. You can do nothing. He says, yeah, and that includes success, influence, uh, that includes the blessing when life is good. That's when we need him the most. Mm-hmm. That's when, that's when we can lose vision. Yeah. When, when life is tough, it's easy to say, Lord, I need you. But when life is good, it's easy to lose vision and that's when we need him the most to help us stay focused, to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. The pioneer and perfecter of our faith blessing expands our reach. Yeah. And we must, uh. We must honor the reach that, that he's expanding for us and taking it back to the vine, and that, that reach as, as the branches are growing, that, that requires that the roots go deeper. Mm-hmm. I, I heard, um, I was talking with a guy the other day and he said, uh, well, John 15 says, you know, stay connected to the vine. Uh. Yeah. Apart from me, you can do nothing. And you know, my father, a, as you stay connected, my fa Jesus says, my father will prune the, prune the vine. And I, and, and, and when you prune and adds more fruit, right? But something, and I was talking about this with a fellow the other day, and he said that, did you know. That when you prune the branches, that the roots of the tree go deeper. Hmm. And that, because it's, that, that's how it, that's how it works. And that, and that would go, go, go. Uh, well with this. Here, here, um, this verse, you know, when the father prunes, the branches are and we're connected to the vine, that vine is in good soil. So when, when he, when the father prunes the branches, the roots go deeper into good soil. For more nutrients. For more nutrients. Interesting. The, the good stuff. And then the fruit comes back even more vibrantly. Hmm. Right. Yeah. So John 15. And, and as that happens, got the. The, the, the, the more vibrant the fruit is, the, uh, that's an elevation in where God takes us to. Yeah. You know, it's, it's the next level and the higher he takes us, uh, the more grounded we need to be. So, so we're as we're, as he's elevating us, as we're humbling ourselves before him and he's elevating us. We're, we're more stable. As we're staying connected to the vine, we're becoming more stable because the roots are going deeper. I hope that makes sense. Uh, staying connected to Jesus just keeps, keeps the fruit healthy, even when the bru, uh, the branches get heavy with the favor. When the branches are heavy with the favor, when the branches are super fruitful, it's so important to stay connected to the vine and keep our eyes focused on, uh, the capital T truth. Who is Jesus Christ? That's really good. I'm just picturing that and I'm just seeing a, a vine that has a lot of fruit on it, and if it's not connected to the vine. All of that's gonna die. All of it's gonna die. And no matter how much fruit's on it, right? Well, the word says if you, if you're not connected to the vine, then it dries up and mm-hmm. And burns and gets burned away. Right. And, uh, we're that's a, that's a conversation for another time. Yeah. We don't want to be dried up branches going to the burn pile, do we? That's right. That's right. And then, you know, third is we have to guard our spiritual rhythm. So in seasons of blessing. We have to protect our prayer and our worship and our scripture and our quiet time even more. Yeah. Uh,'cause like we said, it's easy to say, oh, it's going good. I, you know, I, I've got it. Or get, you know, so busy that, and preoccupied and distracted that we're not taking that time. So, you know, we can't let opportunity replace intimacy. We just can't, we can't allow busyness to steal our, our time with the Lord, steal our abiding with him. You know, we can run thriving businesses and still say, I can't talk still. Stay surrendered. You can talk. You're doing pretty good. Well, I can talk. I'm getting a little tongue tied, but we can still stay surrendered to him even if things. Are going well in business or in ministry or wherever, you know, maybe in family, in our homes, and we can grow and influence and still stay dependent. Blessing doesn't excuse us from discipleship. It actually deepens our need for it, and it widens our footprint to share it as success. As we become more successful, as the Lord elevates us, we get a broader view. Yeah, the higher you get, the further you can see. Right. But we have, so that gives us a wider footprint, but we have to stay connected to him. We gotta stay connected to him. Gotta be grounded. And, and that brings us to one of, one of my favorite parts, um, of stewarding, uh, stewarding the blessing with open hands. I do, I do love that part. Um. Luke 1610 teaches us that stewardship is, uh, the proving ground for more. Uh, when we treat a blessing with humility and, and generosity and obedience, God entrusts us with greater assignments. If it, it says, if, if you can be trusted with a little, then you can be trusted with a lot. Right? And, and that's, I'm paraphrasing there, but uh, and I remember I was listening to a pastor a long time ago. Uh, talking about tithing. Mm-hmm. And, and he used this and, and people was like, well, well, I'll tithe and, and I'll, and I'll, and I'll give offerings to the church and to the poor when, when I have more. And he's like, no, you won't. No, you won't. If you won't, if you won't do it with a little, you won't do it with a lot. Right. So, and as, as we do the, the one of the greatest. Life lessons I learned very early in my faith. I actually learned it from you. And, and I say, uh, I don't remember the conversation, but I remember the result'cause we're living it. Uh, I was like, I can't afford to tithe the, she's like, you can't afford not to. You can't afford not to. So if you're, uh, and this is on a side note, kind of, kind of in the weeds here, but, uh, if, if you're having financial challenges. Give some of your money away to someone who needs it. Um, so give it to your local storehouse. Yeah. You know, give there first. Yeah. That's where we're called to give first. Absolutely. Uh, clearly stated in in the, in the word. Yeah. But again, uh, a conversation for another time. Yeah. Uh, so we, we have a tendency to, uh, to clinging to our success out of, uh, fear and pride. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know, you know the word says 365 times in one way or another. Just fear not right. But the enemy wants us living in fear, you know, the uh, anyway, yeah, fear and pride. Not a good combination. No. Uh, and when we, and when we're, if we, if we get wrapped up in that, it becomes a barrier, uh, instead of a blessing. And we, and we lose vision on how to even steward it, where to come from, and, and we get reckless with it. Stewardship means asking God, what do you want me to do with what you've placed in my hands? Your success? And then when we do that, success becomes. Kingdom success, right? And as Christ followers, that's what matters. Uh, when our success becomes kingdom success, uh, you know, that's a result that it's been surrendered, all that he's given us. We we're, we're practicing gratitude, like you mentioned, and we've surrendered in humility to the one who provided it in the first place. We're giving it back first and best, and that says, thank you. Yeah, right. Without expecting anything in return. That is, thank you. And, and I'm listening, and this is, and this is where this is going and this is going, and this is going, and there is, and, and the experience says between these two people that you can't out give God. Right. You cannot out give God. And you know, and we don't give to get, just so it comes back to us because I'm, I'm. Um, again, just love you're getting in the weeds here with Todd. I'm just, I just, I get why get taught? I get wound up, man. I know because I've seen the, the proof of it and I love to give sacrificially. Mm-hmm. And, and just that, that, uh, just seeing people, uh, a sigh of relief. I seen it. We've seen it earlier today. And, uh. Because we surrendered and listened to the voice of the Holy Spirit, right? But did what he said to advance his kingdom, right? So here's your invitation. Aside from tithing, it has nothing to do with that, but it does have to do with challenging you to take at least 10 minutes a day. And speak gratitude over the areas where God has blessed you. Maybe it is your finances. Yeah. Maybe it is your marriage, maybe it's your business. Maybe it's your children. Wherever God has blessed you, uh, thank him intentionally for that. Yeah. And surrender those areas back to him. Yeah. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to steward them. Well, not like you said, like not out of fear. Yeah. But out of faith. And blessing isn't something to clinging to, it's something to cultivate. So just say, Lord, thank you for my marriage. I give you all the praise for that. I give you all the thanks for that because it's all due to you. And show me how to steward it well, show me how to continue to steward it well and just watch what he will do. Yeah, because he will, he will blow it up. He will blow it up. He will. In a good way. In a good way. In a good way. That sounded like blow it up. No, I mean, he'll, he'll expand it. Expand it. Right. You know, if it's your business there, it's, I mean, I've seen it firsthand. Yeah. When you, when you go back and you thank him, Lord, thank you for this business that you have given me. Thank you for this ministry that you have given me. And we don't thank him to get, you know it. It's, it's not about his. It's not about his provision, it's about his presence. Yeah, that's a good word. So we don't thank him to get, we thank him because he genuinely deserves it. Right. And when you do that and you give it back to him and you, you know, you don't take pride. I mean, you know, you don't pride yourself in what has been accomplished. Right. He will blow it up and he will expand the territory. Right. And he will continue to pour out blessing that, I'm not saying it's not prosperity. I'm not saying you're not ever gonna have, you know, an issue or a problem. Oh, sorry. A challenge. Challenge. That is correction. He will bless it. Yes. Every time. Yes. It's the humility, the the key thing. Yeah. That you're saying there is humility, right. Recognizing. Mm-hmm. Uh, but when the blessings come, blessings come with, uh, you know, additional influence and, and opportunities. Responsibility come with and responsibility. They come, it comes with pressure. Yeah. You know, and, uh, and you're not alone. And in handling that pressure, if God's increased your influence and your. Your finances and your opportunities and your leadership, you know, talk to someone that you trust about how to steward it. Well, talk, I, I, I got a guy call, uh, he's, he's ahead of me in, in life ahead of me in faith and, you know, if I, if I need, if I need some advice, I'm gonna give him, I'm gonna give him a call, you know, and I got a few of those guys. Um, talk to someone that you trust, uh, how to steward what, what the Lord's given you if you don't know. Uh, and I I say this a lot in the, in the safety field and in the construction industry, if you, if you got questions, ask questions and get answers, don't move forward. Uh, not knowing that's when bad things happen and when you don't know some about something that the Lord's given you, you know. Who's the first one we should ask about that? Yeah, we should always go to him first and then, and then someone that we trust here. So it's important to invite, uh, prayer, invite, accountability, invite discipline, and wisdom. Those are the top two things I, I'm praying for right now. Mm-hmm. Um, and it, and again, it sounds cliche, it depends on who's listening this and who's hearing this, but I need. He's provided discipline, uh, over the years, and he's provided wisdom, but where we're going, I, I need, we need, uh, discipline and wisdom on how to steward well, where he's sending us. Right. And, and I'm telling you what, I don't got this. Mm. Because where he's sending us and, and, yeah. Is is much greater than us. So we need, yeah. We need that discipline and wisdom. So when, mm-hmm. We gotta, we gotta invite that in because blessing is safer when it's shared with people who love God and love you. Yes. Well, we're gonna wrap this episode up. So thank you for joining us for season five, episode five, and we are praying that this week that you will walk in gratitude and humility and with a deep sense of purpose, knowing that God isn't just blessing you. He's actually trusting you. He's trusting you with what he's putting in your hands, right? And how are you going to steward that? Right, because your stewardship has kingdom impact. Let's, before we, before we get off here, gratitude, we, we've mentioned gratitude and, um, early in recovery that, you know, we've, I learned a gratitude list. Mm-hmm. Because that will, that'll raise our spirits quicker than most. Anything that'll shift our perspective. Gratitude shifts our perspective. It's easy to get. Self-reliant. Right. It's easy to, uh, it's easy to get down. It's easy to go the opposite direction as well. But to, if you want to get centered and you want to get centered quick mm-hmm. Pull, you can do it anyway. You can do it on your phone. Yeah. But, but write it down. Right. Or you know how else you could do it. They could actually buy my prayer and gratitude journal. There it is. It's a 60 day Holy Spirit filled. I just happened to think about that. That, yeah. You know that I do. We do have a. Where's that available at today? It's available on Amazon. And I will put the link in the show notes. There it is. In the show notes. In the show notes. But gratitude shifts perspective. Mm-hmm. And you put prayer and gratitude together. Blammo, Blammo, Blammo. We didn't say that this episode till just now. So I'm glad we continued this discussion. No. What do you think? Blama or boy? Howdy. You know, I'll stick with Blammo anyway. Um. So we thank y'all for joining us. Yeah. Uh, if stay tuned. Uh, there, there's so, there's, there's a lot. If you just tuned in, there is a lot of episodes behind us and there's many more to come and remember, when you stay faithfully invested in all areas of your life, the good Lord will bring the increase. Yes, he will. God bless you. We'll see you next time. Thanks for joining us on Faithfully Invested with Allen and Stacy Jo, if today's conversation encouraged you, challenged you, or helped you see your calling more clearly, don't keep it to yourself. That's right. Share it with a friend. Leave a five star review and keep leaning into God's blueprint for your life, your leadership, and your legacy. So until next time, remember, when you invest in his kingdom, he brings the increase.