Financial Stress

¹Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His loving devotion endures forever.

¹¹I am not saying this out of need, for I have learned to be content regardless of my circumstances. ¹²I know how to live humbly, and I know how to abound. In any and every situation I have learned the secret of being filled and being hungry, of having plenty and having need. ¹³I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

¹¹For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.

²⁵Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air: They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? ²⁸And why do you worry about clothes? Consider how the lilies of the field grow: They do not labor or spin. ²⁹Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. ³⁰If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³²For the Gentiles strive after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.

¹⁹And my God will supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

⁹Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your crops; ¹⁰then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

⁶Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written: “He has scattered abroad His gifts to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.” ¹⁰Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your store of seed and will increase the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹You will be enriched in every way to be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will produce thanksgiving to God.

¹A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

⁷Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. ⁹Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹So if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

⁵Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

¹⁷May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish for us the work of our hands—yes, establish the work of our hands!

⁷Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. ⁸Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.