Is there a part of your life where God isn’t welcome?
A Sunday School class from my childhood sticks in my memory as if it was yesterday. We were asked to draw a house and then label each room as if it was a part of our life – school, family, hobbies, church.
Then came the question that has stayed with me: is there any room in the house where God isn’t welcome?
Welcoming God can be straightforward and simple
It’s a basic idea but a searching one. If you grew up around church, you may recognise how easy it is to ‘do Christianity’ on a Sunday yet move through the rest of the week largely unchanged.
Recently, during a time of prayer at Stewardship, a phrase struck me. Our CEO, Janie Oliver, while leading us in prayer, simply added, “God, you are welcome here.”
Of course, a theologian would tell us that God is always sovereign over all things. There is no place beyond His presence or rule. From that perspective, to give God ‘permission’ to join in a meeting, decision or situation almost sounds offensive.
But welcoming God into every situation is a prayer with impact because it forms us into a deeply transformational posture of humility and trust. It’s sometimes reassuring and comforting, but welcoming God into the conversation becomes much harder when it turns to the personal, the counter-cultural and the sacrificial.
- “God, I don’t know what’s best – please give me wisdom.”
- “God, this is your work – show me how to do it your way.”
- “God, I don’t trust my own motives – help me see clearly.”
- “God, society expects this choice of me – what do you think?”
- “God, these are your resources – help me use them for your priorities.”
God can be welcomed into your budgeting
It’s a powerful prayer to bring into every area of life and that includes our finances.
Money is one of the most private parts of our lives. It can feel uncomfortable to talk about, sometimes even with family and our closest friends. Yet money is also one of the clearest places our priorities are revealed. Without care, money can anchor our identity as much as our faith.
From the rich young ruler and rich farmer to Zaccheus or the sermon on the mount, Jesus often challenged people when he saw that their financial affairs overshadowed Kingdom priorities. I can personally acknowledge how easy it is to slip into living as a ‘functional atheist’, where my belief in a God who provides and His eternal priorities have little impact on my decisions and attitudes.
So the question remains: is God welcome in your finances?
Inviting God into our financial decisions is deeply transformative. It reshapes how we see what we have from something to control, hoard or display, to something that needs stewarding. It changes how we give, from being an afterthought to an act of worship.
But it can also feel risky. When we truly open this area to God, we may find our habits, assumptions and comforts challenged.
Three ways to start welcoming God into your finances:
- Pray before you plan. Before making even the most mundane financial decisions, welcome God into the process. Ask for wisdom and bravery.
- Check your heart. What is shaping your priorities? Where does your money naturally flow or slow? What need or injustice in the world grabs your emotions?
- Intentionality makes the difference. Giving rarely happens by accident. Setting aside money in advance helps ensure generosity is a priority, not a leftover.
The last point is where practical tools can make a real difference. Our Giving Account is designed to help you set money aside for giving so that you can give thoughtfully and prayerfully, not reactively. Using the Giving App, you can support causes you care about and build rhythms of generosity into everyday life.
James Bishop
James is our Digital Marketing Manager and works within our Purpose team to connect Christians to the causes they care about and to inspire them to live out the freedom that active generosity offers. He works on website content and email newsletters, advertising on social media and making sure people using search engines can find us. James also contributes to campaigns such as 40acts and the Generosity Report.
Before joining Stewardship in 2025, James worked in marketing departments of all sizes, from a biotech startup to a large civil engineering consultancy and most recently a learning disability charity.
James lives in Surrey and serves in a local church as a director of their non-profit community café and on their AV team. James is reluctantly making a middle-age transition from football to golf and loves making homemade pizza and good coffee.
