As we continue our study of the kingdom economy, a basic principle is found in Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He rewarder of those who seek Him.” The three main elements of this are:

1) We must have faith to please God.

2) We must believe that He is, which means to believe in Him present tense, not just that He was or will be.

3) We must look to Him for our reward and believe that He will reward us if we seek Him.

       Faith and love are the basic currency of the kingdom economy. The kingdom economy is built on the resources of the kingdom that we are able to access and is limited only by our faith, which works by love. So to grow wealthy in the kingdom is to grow in love and faith.

       A successful entrepreneur will be one who invests wisely to bring a good return according to the times, conditions, and needs of the world’s economy. The most successful in the kingdom are those who likewise invest wisely into that which will bring the greatest return—loving God, loving one another, and growing in faith.

       Because faith works with love, true faith is not just for what we can get, but for what we can give. True faith seeks the resources of the kingdom to do the Lord’s will because we want to please Him, and help others because we love His people. Both faith and love are perverted when they turn inward and become selfish, which seeks what we can get for ourselves. This is why the key of the kingdom, or what unlocks the door to living in the kingdom, is to seek the kingdom first and trust the Lord to take care of us, just as He has promised to do.

      Faith and love are the most important resources we can seek. Just as the most successful investors in the world have a good investment strategy, we too should have an investment strategy in the kingdom—a strategy for growing in faith and love. In the world, for our accounts to grow, we have to invest in them. The same is true in the kingdom—to grow in faith and love, we must invest in them.

       Think about it this way: What can you do this week to invest in faith and love? Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ (see Romans10:17); therefore, to grow in faith, we should invest time in hearing His Word. This could be anything from reading our Bibles and Christian books, to attending church services, listening to sermons on TV, Christian radio, CDs, and DVDs. Those who are constantly seeking to hear the Word of God in these ways will inevitably grow in faith.

       Faith is not just so we can be used to do miracles, but it is also for the day-by-day abiding in the Lord, discerning His will, and being obedient to Him. As we grow in faith, we start to see through the eyes of faith. In place of the fears and panic that are gripping so many in our times, we will be growing in perfect peace, which rests in the fact that our God sits above all rule and authority and dominion. Therefore, those who see through the eyes of faith will, like Abraham, be willing to leave behind the greatest culture and riches of this world to seek the city that God is building, the only one with foundations that will truly last. 

       Therefore, those who see through the eyes of faith will also do the opposite of what those who cannot see may do. It is not just that the conditions are different, but the way we see them is different. One of our pastors once said, “All of Israel saw Goliath as this big threatening giant, but David saw him as a target so big, it would be hard to miss him.” Likewise, the twelve spies who were sent to spy out the Promised Land all returned having seen the same things, but they interpreted them differently. The ten evil spies said that the giants in the land would eat them up. The two faithful spies said that the giants would be bread for them! That is a very different perception of the same thing.

   Are we investing in faith and in love? The great investors always have a plan that they follow. Do we have a plan for growing in faith and love? Next week we will cover some basic plans for investing in the kingdom that can make us far more wealthy in true treasure than any investor ever has been in this world.