“What’s in my heart?” That’s what I was asking the Lord recently. I often ask Him to shine His light into my heart and expose anything in me – any wrong motives, negative traits or wrong beliefs that might spoil our relationship or get in the way of His purposes being accomplished in and through my life. And of course, He answers, but it can be painful and challenging!

What He showed me was to do with business and money. I know I’ve dealt with things in the past in relation to this. In my early twenties I was ambitious and loved to make money. My aim was to run a successful business that made millions so that I could give the money to extend God’s Kingdom purposes. But over the years the Lord revealed to me some selfish ambition in my heart; thankfully, through various trials and tests along the way, my motives and attitudes have changed considerably.

The tests we’ve faced over the years range from being asked by the Lord to give up our dream home and moving to a deprived area, laying down our business and careers and instead starting an outreach program reaching the poor. He asked us not to take a wage but to work full time and live by faith which we did for over 15 years and just recently He indicated we should begin taking a small wage again. We’ve never gone without, but we always have just what we need, when we need it – it’s actually quite liberating not having to worry about money.

Prophecies not yet fulfilled

But we’ve still got prophetic words from high level prophets that say we’re going to have a profitable business and that we’re pioneering new ways of church/ministry through business. So I know we’re supposed to be in business and ministry, and I know one day we’ll make a profit! And we’re trying to be led every step of the way by the Holy Spirit in all that we do. Money is not an issue anymore, and yet I knew He was highlighting something to do with money, so I dug deeper.

What’s your motivation?

The Lord asked me why we’d set up our Spirit Lifestyle business. Was it because we wanted a profitable business? Of course, any business needs to be profitable to keep going, but I knew the answer was definitely because we want to reach as many people globally with the full gospel message, we want to help people, no matter who they are or where they live, to encounter the real Jesus, for their lives to be transformed, to be made whole and for them to fulfil all that they are born to do and be, in spirit, soul and body. To train and activate them so they can help transform the lives of others and multiply the Kingdom in that way.

I realised during this conversation with the Lord, that how we set up our Spirit Lifestyle portal, with a monthly subscription fee of £14.99 ($19.99) could be a barrier to some people. For those who live in countries with a lower average wage than ours or for those who are poor, or struggling financially at the moment, it would be an obstacle. And we really don’t want anything to prevent people all over the world benefitting from the powerful life-transforming message of the good news of Jesus and discovering who they were created to be.

Kingdom Economy

So, we’ve decided to trial something new. In business, you normally set a price and people choose whether to buy or not depending on that price and if they think it’s worth it to them. But we’ve decided to give everyone the opportunity to choose a price; what they feel our SpiritLifestyle.com portal – our training videos, weekly Classes, online community and mentoring – is worth to them. For some subscribers who know how much benefit they’ll gain from the portal, or who want to sow into our work, we hope they would opt to pay more than the original amount.

This is a big step of faith for us. We could lose money. We have no idea what will happen, and to be fair, we’re going to trial it for a short time before making it permanent. But we don’t want any barriers, whether that be money, or wrong heart motives to get in the way of God moving freely and powerfully in this season of global harvest and awakening across the world and we want to see His Kingdom economy implemented.

What do you think?

I’ll keep you posted on how things go, but perhaps you could let me know what you think of the idea. And if you want to check it out for yourself, go to SpiritLifestyle.com where you can still sign up for a free trial, but do ask the Holy Spirit to guide you as you choose your monthly amount. And if you’re already a Subscriber, you can change the amount you’re paying – either up or down – without having to unsubscribe to do that.

What about your heart?

So, I’ve shared something the Lord highlighted to me, but how about you? Ask the Lord to reveal what’s in your heart – good or bad and be open to what He shows you. Don’t pull back, but let the Holy Spirit guide you as you push deeper into Him. After all, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies it produces a large harvest (see John 12:24).