The Order of the Manifestations in 1 Corinthians 12

1 Corinthians 12:7-10  But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;  To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 

This listing of the manifestations always seemed random to me. But when you put these manifestations in order in a list, it gets interesting.  God listed these manifestations in a specific order:

  1. Word of Wisdom
  2. Word of Knowledge
  3. Faith
  4. Gifts of Healing
  5. Working of Miracles
  6. Prophecy
  7. Discerning of Spirits
  8. Kinds of Tongues
  9. Interpretation of Tongues

 Word of Wisdom

Word of Knowledge

Notice that Word of Wisdom is first.  That is the first thing that struck me when I saw the manifestations listed this way.  One of the great things the spirit of God brings into your life is wisdom, as it has done for many others throughout the Bible.

Throughout history, one of man’s greatest needs has been for wisdom.  Wisdom is spoken about and given to people all through God’s Word.  When God asked Soloman what he wanted, Soloman asked for wisdom and understanding, and God granted him his desire.

What is wisdom? Well, once you see the problem, wisdom is what to do about it:  it is how to solve the problem.  We need to know many times:

How to handle the problems – at work, in family life, in your church – we need solutions.

How to carry out what God shows us by Word of Knowledge.

How to be kind.

How to walk in love.

How to teach.

How to forgive.

How to manage our finances.

How to raise our children.

How to deal with the widows of Acts 6.

How to deal with the famine of Joseph’s time.

How to make things for the tabernacle in Moses’s time.

The book of Proverbs says wisdom is more to be desired than great wealth.  James says if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally.

When the world was faced with famine, God raised up Joseph with the spirit of God in him and gave him great wisdom to keep the world, Isreal (Jacob), and the Christ line alive.

When the first-century church was having trouble taking care of the widows, God raised up men with a long suit of wisdom and faith (believing) to keep the church from splitting.

Wisdom from God is such a need that the spirit of God many times is called a spirit of wisdom, or wisdom is one of the first things that comes up when the spirit from God is mentioned.

( As a side note: notice that the Spirit of Wisdom is first used in conjunction with a man working with his hands. If you read the context, God also gave him the Spirit of Wisdom to know how to teach. Moses explained what he needed for the Tabernacle, and God showed the man how to make the items and how to teach others to do the work, which is wisdom.)

Exodus 28:3  And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments …

Exodus 31:3  And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,

Deuteronomy 34:9  And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: …

Isaiah 11:2  And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

Daniel 5:11  There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; …

Ephesians 1:17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

So, we see in 1 Corinthians 12 that God set the Word of Wisdom first, followed by its companion, Word of Knowledge. Wisdom and knowledge are like traveling companions throughout God’s Word. Where we find one, we usually find the other. They provide us with information from God.

Sometimes, we need to be made aware of what is going on -Word of Knowledge – and then what to do about it, if anything, Word of Wisdom.  Many times, God wants us as His children to just be aware of things that we could not see or know by our five senses. So, He gives us Word of Knowledge, and the wisdom might be, “This is for you; keep your mouth shut.”

Proverbs 2:6  For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Proverbs 9:10  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Isaiah 33:6  And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times,

Daniel 1:17  As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

Colossians 2:3  In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Notice in most of these verses that wisdom comes first and then knowledge.

God does not want His children to be ignorant. So, these two manifestations are number 1 and 2.  Then comes number 3, which is faith.

Faith

Faith is more accurately translated as believing.  It is our privilege and responsibility to believe what God has said in His written Word. When we believe what He tells us by Word of Wisdom and Word of Knowledge, that is the manifestation of Faith.  This manifestation of Faith is also required to carry out Gifts of Healing and The Working of Miracles, which are the next two God listed.

Gifts of Healing

The Working of Miracles

The next two manifestations listed are Gifts of Healing and Miracles.  Both of these take the manifestation of Faith as well.  God sandwiched Faith between the revelation manifestations of Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge, and Gifts of Healing, the Working of Miracles.

Although it takes believing (faith) to operate all the manifestations, and all the manifestations are available to all immediately upon the new birth, generally, these four manifestations are operated by more mature believers.

Act 6:1-8  And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.  Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.   But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.  And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:  Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.  And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. 

They sought out mature men full of the spirit of God, and the first thing they looked for in them was wisdom. The Apostles knew what the problem was, so they needed men with wisdom and the faith to carry it out. Stephen was such a man AND he had the believing to do great wonders and miracles. 

All of the first four manifestations are in these verses. There are many examples of these four manifestations in the Old Testament and the Gospels. Here in 1 Corinthians, there is no need for instruction on how to operate them other than the instruction to walk in love.

Prophecy

Discerning of Spirits

Now, the next two manifestations that are together are Prophecy and Discerning of Spirits.  Why are these two together?  In the record of 1 John 4:1-6, the first usages of the word “spirit” are put in a figure of speech for that which the spirit produces – Prophecy (words). How do you “try the spirits /prophecies/the words? With Discerning of Spirits.

1 John 4:1-6  Beloved, believe not every spirit (prophecy), but try the spirits (prophecies) whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit (prophecy) of God: Every spirit (prophecy) that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit (prophecy) that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit (God) of truth, and the spirit (devil spirit) of error. 

So inside the church, in a believer’s meeting, a person could be called upon to operate the manifestation of Prophecy and yet actually be a false prophet.  There were a good many wanna-be prophets in Corinth. Their prophecies may come from the imagination of their own heart.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 

As devil spirits are very subtle, it may take Discerning of Spirits to try the Prophecy.  God does not want His people deceived. To discern means to judge. In that light, part of 1 Corinthians 14 is interesting. Prophecy is the speaking forth the words of God whether it is the manifestation of Prophecy or the prophecy of a prophet.

1 Corinthians 14:29-32  Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.

Part of the lesson here is that when you hear Interpretation of Tongues or the manifestation of Prophecy, or the prophecy of a prophet, pay attention.

Kinds of Tongues

Interpretation of Tongues

In God’s Word, there are a great many examples of men of God operating Word of Wisdom, Word of Knowledge, Gifts of Healing, and the Working of Miracles.  In those examples, we learn how to best operate them. But the Manifestation of Prophecy, Speaking in Tongues, and the Interpretation of Tongues were new in this administration, and they were a mess at Corinth. These are usually the first manifestations a new believer utilizes. There are no examples in the Old Testament or the Gospels on how to properly operate them in the church. So God laid out, by the Apostle Paul, how to operate them in the church decently and in order. This, then, is what God addresses in I Corinthians 14.

This is the order in which God grouped the manifestations together in 1 Corinthians 12. I have presented this explanation here for your consideration.

Slow and Steady

Many years ago, I worked on a remodeling crew in SW Oklahoma. We stripped an old house down to the studs to start over with a new interior and exterior. The house was built differently than the ones today. This house had 1 X 12 ship lathe boards set at an angle on the outside of the house. It was like whole walls of wind braces. Then, the inside of the house, nailed to the exterior studs, was a 1 x 12 ship lathe nailed horizontal. Over that was a layer of oil cloth to keep the wind out and then it had been upgraded to two layers of sheetrock. The house was built like a tank.

Interestingly, the studs were made of first-growth, virgin rough-cut pine. Those studs were hard as a rock. Very dense.

The Weyerhaeuser Company owns much timber in SE Oklahoma. They used to clear-cut the trees in large areas, and then I believe they went back and planted new pine saplings in the clear-cut areas.

In the book, Same as Ever, the author explains that these virgin trees sprouted up underneath the canopy that dropped the seeds. These new trees grew very slowly as they had little access to sunlight. So, they grew slowly and very dense since the growth was slow. Whereas trees that have full access to sunlight grow quickly, but they also have very soft wood.  Slow and dense makes much better wood for building than fast and soft.

So, it is in many areas of life. God cautions us against being hasty or in a hurry to be rich. His Word says that the diligent will have plenty.

There are a great many get-rich-quick programs out there. Flipping real estate, setting appointments, buying apartments, tax liens, playing the lottery, and day trading to name a few. Have you ever met anyone that got rich quickly with any of these programs? Mostly it is the one selling the programs that are getting rich. They are appealing to our greed or fear. Most want the money but don’t want to work hard for it, and they want it quickly.

Proverbs 20:21  An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed.

An inheritance gotten quickly is not much different than winning a lottery or scoring it big on a get-rich-quick scheme. In the end, you will not be blessed. Some have said they wish they had never won the lottery because it destroyed their family. They had not had the slow growth of learning how to handle money properly.

Most people who are truly wealthy have learned the fundamentals of wealth. They don’t allow it to go to their head and cause them great grief like the next verse says.

Proverbs 28:22  He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.

In the area of money, it takes time to lay a good set of fundamentals for your finances.

  1. First — learn to be a giver.
  2. Second — learn to save.
  3. Third — learn to invest.

Once you have these fundamentals going on a regular basis, then you need to rise up to the next level. Learn how to manage the small amount of savings that you have. Each level may take some time to get firmly established in your life. Find something to invest your savings in and study that area until you know it well. Find a good mentor in that field that has good Christian principles and learn from them. Or get some good books on the subject.

We have found that as we get accustomed to each new level of growth in our understanding of finances, we eventually see there is another level we need to put under our belts. It is like peeling back an onion. Each layer peeled reveals another one underneath. Remember to be diligent and study and not hasty to learn.

For example, once we started to save money, we learned that we needed to assign some of that money to certain jobs. Some is saved for retirement, and some is saved in funding accounts for future purchases like vehicle replacement, gifts, appliance replacement, emergency funding, or vacations.  We call these accounts funding accounts and not savings because we are only saving to spend down the road. We are funding future purchases rather than putting them on credit cards or borrowing.

As we saved more, we divided the saved money up further. Recently we started keeping a journal on cash we have saved — where it came from and where it is spent. This gives us a current total without recounting it, and it reminds us of what we spent it on and where it came from.

Also, we had a small investment that was growing, and we saved cash in that same account. Eventually, we could not tell if the investment was growing or was the account growing because of the cash we saved. We divided it into two accounts. Now, we can see exactly what we have saved and how our investment is growing.

If you want to build lifelong success, you need to start thinking in terms of months and years. The growth of wealth is solid if you are diligent. Improve your skills every day. Grow in skills with your investments and your business.

As you do this you will compound your dollars. Slow and steady — learning as your wealth grows and compounds, you will be like the hard dense virgin cut pine, not the soft wood that grew quickly. Your growth will be solid as a rock and not easily washed away.

Proverbs 21:5  The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.

Slow and Steady is The Prosperous Life.

 

 

 

Emotions and our Prosperity

Emotions or feelings play a large part in our lives. Negative emotions or feelings can have a devastating effect on our response to God and His Word. Nowhere in God’s Word does God say to follow your feelings or emotions. Yet emotions are powerful and can be stronger than our logic or stronger than what we know to be true from God’s Word.

Let’s look at how Israel responded to the promise of God as given to them by Moses.

Exodus 6:6-9  Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:  And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD. And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

This last verse tells us why they did not believe what God said. “For anguish of spirit and for cruel bondage.”

Other translations give us even more understanding of that verse.

…because their spirit had been broken by their cruel slavery. GNB

but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and hard labor. NET

Other translations put it this way:

…discouraged by the brutality of their slavery.

…broken spirt and harsh slavery.

…they were too discouraged and mistreated to believe him.

There are many feelings or emotions that can get in our way of believing the promises of God’s Word. Sometimes it is because of wrong teaching or understanding of what was written.

Negative emotions can be described as any feeling which causes you to be miserable and sad. These emotions can make you dislike yourself and reduce your confidence and self-esteem.

Here is just a short list:  discouragement, anguish, gloom, despair, agony, sadness, depression and or hopelessness.

1 John 3:21-22  Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

I have heard it said and been told the reason we don’t see the prosperity one would expect is because we are seeking the blessing and not the Blessor – condemnation and discouragement.

  • I have heard it said that if you save money, you are not trusting that God will meet your needs in the future. If you are older and staring at retirement in the face, this teaching could cause confusion and despair.
  • I have heard it said that if you do not see prosperity, one might expect it is because of your believing – frustration.
  • Some have taught that we are to be content with our station in life now and God will reward us in heaven – hopeless.

Maybe you were raised in a not-so-prosperous family and were never taught the fundamentals of money management.

All these statements carry a certain amount of condemnation with them. They can make you feel you are not good enough to prosper or no matter what you read in the Bible, it is not God’s will for you to be well off here on the earth. These comments can make it appear like your lack of prosperity is all your fault, even though the statements are made by people that lack understanding of the principles of prosperity.

Thus, you have some confusion in your understanding as to what to do and believe. But there is always hope, no matter how long you have not prospered. Do you still believe God will help and prosper you?

John 5:1-6  After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? 

In other words, do you still believe God will heal you? After all these years? Do you still believe it is God’s will for you to prosper? Many just learn to live with their circumstances. The slavery of Egypt was uncomfortable but familiar. Rather than rising up and believing, Israel wanted to go back into slavery. This man could have just wanted to stay at the pool.

So many times, we may know the right verses, but our emotions destroy our believing. The verses of prosperity can seem to be idle words. A great quote is “Poverty is a disease that is handed down from one generation to the next.”  If we choose to rise up and believe, we can break that curse of the generations in our families.

Part of the problem is that we cannot see down the road where obeying God will take us.

I saw a video the other day of a therapist working with a small boy of about 2 ½ who could not walk. He held the boy’s body while he forced the boy to move and exercise. The boy cried the whole time. But you could see his slow progress. The therapist ignored the crying. If the therapist did not do his job the boy would face life in a wheelchair. With the therapist forcing the boy’s body to get stronger and learn how to walk through all those tears, the boy was going to have a life where he could walk and have the freedom to move and do what he wanted. But the boy could not see that, so he just cried because it was so hard. The therapist knew where the exercise would take him, just like God knows where our obeying His Word will take us.

We all have choices to make. We cannot see down the road where following God’s instruction on prosperity will take us, but we can step out of our comfort zone like the man at the pool and rise up and believe even though we may have given or tithed for years, and not seen what we expected. We can push the emotions aside and put into practice the principles of giving, saving, debt reduction and investing, and over time we will step into a life of more freedom than we could have ever imagined.

Here is what God said happened to Israel in the wilderness, and He wrote this down for us to learn from.

Hebrews 4:1-3  Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

God wants us to have rest in this world. He wishes, above all things, that we prosper and have great health. We have rest in the new birth, and we can have rest in the life we live now. Find the promises of prosperity and believe. Our challenge is to not be guided by our feelings and wrong teachings but to rise up and believe what God has said and see what He has in store for us now as we wait for His son and enjoy The Prosperous Life.

Pro 8:21  That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.

A Radical Idea

A Short on Prosperity #21

Here is a radical idea:  start a prosperity plan. You could start a health plan, a college plan, a renewed mind plan, etc. But here we are talking about prosperity. You can see how well your plan is progressing because money is easy to count. The first part of that plan might be to start a journal where you write down what you learn about prosperity. God’s Word would be a great place to start. Write in your new journal verses about prosperity that inspire you or ones you recently learned.

Then to develop your prosperity plan, read some books or listen to audio CDs of the books. Learn from others what their journey was like and how they rose up. You could put lines in your journal that come from songs, poems, conversations with your banker, or conversations you overhear.

The problem with our minds is that we don’t remember well what we learn. In the wilderness, did Israel remember all the times God delivered them in the past? NO! We want to do better than that. A journal is a great place to record what you don’t want to forget and to be able to review periodically what you have learned. Bring those things back up to the top of your thinking.

In the 70’s and 80’s, positive affirmations were very popular. But God says in His Word that His instructions need more than confessing His promises. For instance, James says that faith without works is dead. It is not enough to hear the words of prosperity, we actually have to do as instructed.

Even God talks about those who hear and then walk away. In some places, God talks about some who heard, and He said they mocked and laughed at the messengers. It says some were perplexed, and some did not know what was going on. And then it says some believed. The Bible was written for those who want to believe. When this subject of money comes up, some want to argue about everything. They argue because they don’t believe, and since they don’t believe, they don’t do. Just let them be.

But not you. You are a giver, a saver, and an investor. Some promoters of prosperity advocate giving 10%, saving 10% and investing 10%. In other words, learning to live on 70% of your take-home income and taking that 30% off the top to accomplish your goals. This is a change of mindset. This is a new philosophy. This is a turning point in your prosperous life.

I have heard people say that it is amazing how quickly the funds stack up once they are saving.

The same things happen to everybody. We all have 24 hours a day, we live in the same economy and maybe live in the same country. Yet some prosper and become wealthy, and others struggle all their lives.

God tells us in His Word to consider, to ponder, to think. Think:  why are some so prosperous, and I struggle? Why do I tithe/give, and yet I am always behind on my bills and broke?

Many times, changing our outcomes takes just small adjustments in our course. If you have never been one that saves money, perhaps 10% seems unattainable, or to give 10% seems a lot more than you could do. Start with what you can believe to do. I started by putting change in a quart jar. Now, we have money deducted from our account and put into a money market fund every week. As you carry out what God has said, your believing should grow along with the saved funds.

Every person has a philosophy on how they run their life, what they believe and how they act upon it. Some people don’t give, save, or invest. It is just not part of their inner philosophy. Perhaps no one ever showed them a better way.

I remember talking to a young man, about 35, who was a roofer a few years ago. We were talking about money and how business expenses had a great effect on how jobs were priced. This young man told me he had an older gentleman that worked for him that said one day “I make more money working for you than I did when I ran my own roofing business.” The young man asked the old man how much he used to charge to fix leaks in a roof. The older man said, “About $25.00.” “ How long did they usually take?” “About 2 hours.”  He was making about $12.50 per hour. The younger man told him, “I don’t even start my trucks for anything less than $150.00.”

The younger man went on to explain all the expenses involved in running a business. For example, trucks, insurance on the truck, fuel, maintenance, computer for billing, software, office supplies, and all the insurance required, like contractor’s liability and workmen’s comp. That was just for starters. After you have paid for all that, then you hand your wife what’s left and ask her to pay the household bills.

The older man said, “I never THOUGHT about all that.”

When it comes to prosperity, thinking is extremely important. Ask God why, how does this work, and what do I need to know? Then expect Him to teach you. You must start looking for the answers. Seek and ye shall find! Many times, you will learn through books or talking to people. God can teach you by being in the right place to overhear a conversation. Write what you learn in a journal because you won’t remember most of it. A journal is a great way to capture the important stuff.

This radical idea can help you begin to write out your prosperity plan for The Prosperous Life.

 

When My Ship Comes in

A Short on Prosperity # 20

One of the readers of The Prosperous Life wrote to me several years ago and said they learned in the first blog they read what they had been missing in their understanding all their life. That we are not only to be givers/tithers, but we are also to SAVE our money. Others have said knowing this one truth would have changed their life.

Tithing benefits the church, and it is of the greatest benefit to the believer as they save part of their income.

Another person wrote, “I wish I had known this years ago when my husband was alive.”

Another wrote, “We had put giving into our believing years ago even when we had no money, and God always provided. When we read the blogs about saving money, we put that into our believing also, and even though it seemed like we did not have enough to be able to save we were able to save every month.  God always provides.”

It is like the promise that says to those that have more shall be given.

When it comes to finances, it works the best to read what God has written in His Word and use the path for wealth that He has laid out rather than listen to the world’s suggestions. God’s ways are usually quite simple.

  1. Be a giver. And remember he that soweth (gives) sparingly will also reap sparingly.
  2. Be a saver. And remember there is oil and wine in the house of the wise, but the fools spend it all.
  3. Be an investor, a lender. Remember the virtuous woman that considered a field and bought it? It does not say she went to the bank and signed a mortgage. She had to have saved the money to have some to invest.

Sometimes we would like prosperity to be almost instantaneous — like winning the lottery, or we may say we will be all right when our ship comes in or when our rich relative dies and we inherit. These things may never happen. But like most things in life, wealth and prosperity are a slow growth process.

Practicing the principles of God always works.

So, there is more to The Prosperous Life than giving. There is saving and investing also along with many other principles.