And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth… Deuteronomy 8:18

In life, you attract what you respect...and this is true of money, too! If you don’t respect money, it won’t respect you. I believe you have to value money…because money is attracted to people who respect it.

Notice I said “respect” and “value”…not “worship”. There’s a big difference – because only God deserves worship! As the scripture above states, He is the one who establishes our ability to accumulate wealth…and we must learn to understand and value wealth God’s way, in order to truly reap its blessings and benefits.

However, many of us have never learned to understand or value money God’s way. Most of what we’ve learned to respect and value, or not to respect and value, was learned in our past, as children. If you have looked into your past and found you have a negative perception or understanding of money, then the enemy took advantage of your innocence as a child and lied to you. Consequently, you probably don’t have a proper respect and value of it.

Whether it happened through words spoken into or around your life as a child…or through experiencing lack, or humiliation through lack – the enemy took advantage of the situation, and twisted your innocent, child-mind’s perception, and lied to you. Because The Devil is a liar -- he’s supposed to lie; he’s the father of lies.

But God is the Father of Promise…and in order to see what He has promised you, you must change your perception and understanding of money!

Once again: what you don’t respect, you won’t attract. This applies to everything in life: money, anointing, your gifts, your relationships…or anything else that has value.

Where there is respect and value, there is order and arrangement. Our God is a God of Order; order is the respectful arrangement of things. If you don’t have order in your life – or, in your finances -- then you’ll have no authority to move forward in your life -- or move forward in your finances!

Look back into your past, and think about what was consciously and/or unconsciously taught to you about money. Did you learn to respect money, and take care of it? Or were you taught to take it for granted, and be careless with it? Were you encouraged to view it as a blessing from an abundant God who expected you to use it responsibly…or were you taught to see it as a way to simply “get more stuff”?

However you’ve perceived money in your past, in order to attract it into your life now, you need to identify how you ‘treat’ it now. So here’s an exercise for you to try: Take out your wallet or your purse and open it up to where you hold your money, checkbook and credit cards.

Now open your checkbook and observe the ledger. Does it contain the proper dates? The check numbers? To whom you wrote the check? An amount and balance adjusted? Or is it completely empty – because you’re one of those people who “does it all in your head”?

Now look at your cash. Is it all wadded up among the jumble of old receipts? Or are the bills just stuffed in, all out of order, and your change jumbling around in your pocket?

What about your credit cards? Are they shoved into your wallet in no particular order? Do you have two or three expired cards you can’t use anymore?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you probably don’t respect your money. A man who respects his money will often have a money clip, even if he only has three $1 bills! If a man can respect $3, then God can trust him with $3,000. And if he can respect $3,000, then God can trust him with $3 million.

Do yourself a favor: Buy a good wallet! Get rid of the old, outdated credit cards and clean out those old receipts. Arrange your cash neatly, and make sure your checkbook is always up to date. Also, make sure your checks have stubs or duplicate copies – this will help you keep better track of your expenses.

Putting these habits into play will help keep you organized -- as well as help change your perspective about money. If you act respectfully toward your money, you’ll become respectful toward money.

And as you become more respectful toward money, you’ll develop the kind of ‘money-consciousness’ that increases financial prosperity. And as you’re developing a healthier attitude toward money, remember to thank God – because He is truly the provider of all your increase!