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Playing the lottery lacks wisdom. The way to make money is to work with excellence, give generously to the works of God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, save regularly and spend carefully. The financially independent did not become so by accident but by careful design, according to books like "The Millionaire Next Door" in which the authors did research studying the life choices of U.S. households with a net worth exceeding one million dollars. Some of the key life style choices of these millionaires are that they live below their means, invest in private businesses and do not gamble. They understand that a get-rich-quick plan is a bad plan.
Proverbs 13:11 (Amplified Bible) says, "Wealth [not earned but] won in haste or unjustly or from the production of things for vain or detrimental use [such riches] will dwindle away, but he who gathers little by little will increase [his riches]." Be patient and wise. It takes time to become financially independent. Most who are financially independent did not become so in a day; it took time and wise behaviors. It also took work. In Genesis God worked to create the earth and other things. God created a system where human beings must also work. This is not a punishment. The first human beings, Adam and Eve, were working in paradise before the fall of the human race and subsequent curse on work. God enjoys work and meant for it to be enjoyable for us too. People often play the lottery to avoid work. But trying to circumvent God's system usually ends up hurting the person trying to circumvent God's ways and hurting other people. Some people become addicted to the lottery and spend money that is properly spent on bills on lottery purchases.
Accept that everyone is not going to be rich. God has given us various talents in various degrees. Develop what He have given you, and be content with it. It is alright to have lots of money, but do not worship money or a life of ease.
If you want to be financially independent, a good place to start is to pray a prayer like the one found in the book "The Storehouse Principle A Revolutionary God Idea for Creating Extraordinary Financial Stability," Talk to God, and say something similar to "Dear Father God, Thank You for Your goodness in providing for my financial needs. I dedicate every penny that comes into my home to You and to the futherance of Your kingdom. Please help me to be a wise steward of the money that You have given me, so that I can give, meet my obligations, and put money into a storehouse savings program. I believe, according to Your Word in Deuteronomy 28:8, that You will command a blessing on the money that I save, the money that I give, and all the work that I put forth my hand to do. I declare that Jesus is Lord over my finances, and I give the worry of financial pressure over to You, Father. Help me to be financially stable so that I can be a blessing to others. Thank You for giving me favor with You and with man, favor that surrounds me like a shield. Thank You for Your Holy Spirit who lives in me. I believe that He will teach me how to manage my money and lead and guide me to the opportunities that would be a blessing, and warn me to stay away from people and situations that are not healthy financially. Thank You for helping me to live within my means, and to put away selfish desires to spend money needlessly on things that I could do without, or should delay buying later ..."
God wants us to take responsibility for the money He has given us. He did not create a system that does not require wise work. Many play the lottery; most lose. Take the money you were planning to use for a lottery purchase and save it, give it away to a godly and worthy cause and/or spend it on a necessity. You may be surprised at how much money you now have to meet the needs of life.
Are you living on welfare right now? Are your bills past due? Are you not living the life you want? Turn your life over to Jesus Christ. He will change the inner you. One of the things He will do is begin to change how you think through revelation knowledge of the Bible. It does not matter how bad or how good your finances are; God can make them better. Trust Him; forsake the lottery. If you have made lottery purchases in the past, stop making them as of today. Your money is too valuable to waste.
Even those who win the lottery find that money easily obtained is difficult to maintain. Jeremiah 17:11 (Amplified Bible) says, “Like the partridge that gathers a brood which she did not hatch and sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches by unjust means and not by right. He will leave them, or they will leave him, in the midst of his days, and at his end he will be a fool.”
Trying to become rich quick is a sign of covetousness. Because many in Israel had a problem with covetousness in the book of Jeremiah, God brought judgment on them. Jeremiah 6:13, 16, 21 says, “For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness (to greed for unjust gain); and from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. . . Thus says the Lord: Stand by the roads and look; and ask for the eternal paths, where the good, old way is; then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it! . . . Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. And the fathers and the sons together will stumble against them; the neighbor and his friend will perish.” Covetousness also violates the ten commandments. Exodus 20:17 (Amplified Bible) says, “You shall not covet your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”
Possessing covetousness is also a sign of fear. It is the fear that God will not give you what you want. Remember God is a good god willing and able to give good gifts to His children. Matthew 7:11 (Amplified Bible) says, “If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give good and advantageous things to those who keep on asking Him!”
Money is not good or evil. It is a gift from God that His children can ask Him for with right motives. If you ask God for money so that you can live lavishly and selfishly, you may expect Him not to answer your prayer in the way you want (James 4:1-10).
But if His children ask God for things with right motives and make the appropriate sacrifices, God is willing to bless them now and in eternity. Luke 18:28-30 (Amplified Bible) says, “And Peter said, See, we have left our own [things--home, family, and business] and have followed You. And He said to them, I say to you truly, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God Who will not receive in return many times more in this world and, in the coming age, eternal life.”
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