James 1:5-6  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

As God’s children, we have some great avenues available to us for learning and protection. Here, God says that if you lack wisdom, which we all do, all we have to do is ask, expecting that He will hear us and grant us the wisdom we seek.

We have a great book of financial wisdom available to us in God’s Word. We have seen much of that wisdom already in what we have been looking at so far. This wisdom on how money works rightly is priceless.  Once you understand how true prosperity works in life, you can do it over and over again. For instance, if you lose it all, you can, with the wisdom you have learned, do it over again. This is why God’s Word says that wisdom is more valuable than money.

Someone once asked me, “If I put my money in the stock market and lose it all, what happens then?”  I told them, “Well, it depends on your motivation in becoming prosperous.”  If you were just after the money and you lost it all, those are the people that jump out the 10th-story windows, as in the stock market crash of 1929.  But, if your motivation in becoming prosperous was to see God’s Word come to pass, you are in much better shape. If you become a giver and a saver because you could see those principles in His Word, then the next morning, you go back to work, and when you get paid, you give and save as in the past because you have seen that is what God expects us to do. That is how He set life up. With this attitude, there is no devastation if we lose it all.”

There is a man in the Bible who lost it all—IN ONE DAY—including his children! –Job.

Job 1:22  In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

Job’s main concern was his relationship with God. When God told Job—a man who had lost all children, all his wealth, and was covered in boils—to pray for his friends, he did exactly that.  Here is a man who had God first in his heart.

When Job’s troubles were over, God doubled back to him all his wealth. Interesting.  I doubt that he opened the front door the next morning, and it was all sitting on his front step.  Friends gave him some, but he must have known the principles of prosperity and simply put them back to work.

If you lose it all—if  God is first in your life and your trust is in Him, you take it to Him in prayer.

When you pray, you can ask God to give you wisdom, as we read in James. He never berates you for asking.  You could ask Him for wisdom every day, for things in general, and for specific things, such as how to deal with finances and how to keep Him first.  Ask Him to show you if you get off track.

You could read and study His Word.  Part of what we read earlier in 3 John 1:2 was prospering as your soul prospers. Read and apply His Word in all the areas of your life that you can.

You can also ask God to teach you, lead you, and guide you. Maybe you are an adult and it might seem a little late in life to ask God to teach, lead, and guide you. In the Old Testament, David asked for those things, and he was a king. You would think a king would not ask to be taught, to be lead, or to be guided, but he did. And David’s son, Solomon, asked God for wisdom!

Psalm 144:1  (A Psalm of David.) Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:

Psalm 143:8-10  Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.  Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.

Psalm 31:3  For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.

2 Chronicles 1:10-12  Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great? And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honour, nor the life of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king:  Wisdom and knowledge is granted unto thee; and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and honour, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall there any after thee have the like.

David, the king of Israel, asked God to teach him, to lead him, and to guide him. Solomon, the wisest man to live up until the day of Jesus Christ, asked God for wisdom. We could do the same daily as we pray and then expect that our Father would do that for us also.

You might think of God as your older and wiser business partner. God’s Word says that He is at work within you. Learn to pray for your family’s finances. Ask Him to protect what you have stored and saved in your savings and funding accounts.  Remember what we read in Malachi:

Malachi 3:11  And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.

God used agricultural illustrations because the people were so connected to the earth. We may not be farmers, but the promise of protection of what He has blessed us with is the same.  Expect to see His hand at work in your finances to cause them to increase as you grow and learn. Even Satan recognized God’s hand of blessing upon Job’s financial life.

Job 1:10   Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

Below is a great prayer from a man asking God to bless him. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings.  This prayer concerns the physical realm here on the earth.

1 Chronicles 4:10  And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.

Why is this prayer in the Bible? Those things were written for our learning. We could also pray prayers like this. Ask and expect God’s hand to be with us in all our endeavors. We are not alone in this work.

When you look at your accounts and see that some are depleting because they are being used, like the emergency fund, ask God for help in replenishing it. Don’t wait till the fund is empty. Pray before you reach the bottom of the barrel. Guard your increase!

Pray for your savings and funding accounts. Pray for your investments. God is like a partner. Ultimately, it is His stuff anyway.

Psalm 24:1  A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

1 Chronicles 29:14-16  But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.  For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.  O LORD our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand, and is all thine own.

These last verses are on the occasion of David’s dedication of the things he was giving to store up for the building of the temple by Solomon. David recognized that we are just stewards of the things we have. It all comes from God, and it all belongs to Him.

While we are here, we simply get to steward those things God gives us, and part of stewardship is to see the things under our care prosper and grow in value, the same as Joseph did in Potiphar’s house.

Genesis 39:3  And his master saw that the LORD was with him, and that the LORD made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

If God made all that Joseph did to prosper, He will do the same for you and me. We, as stewards, are not just caretakers, but we are to see it grow also.

People used to work from daylight or earlier, until dark. So when you get home from work, work a couple of hours on learning how to cause your savings to grow. Learn to trade or buy and sell something.

Matthew 25:16-18  Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.  And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.  But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.

People used to trade for a profit.  Obviously, it was known how to do that in the lands and times of the Bible. It is a lost art. So get some books and read up.

Here are a couple of suggestions:
One Red Paperclip: How to Trade a Red Paperclip for a House    Kyle MacDonald
Horse Tradin     Ben K. Green

Some people take their savings and buy and sell houses, boats, campers, antique glass or anything you can think of. Some sell it to dealers, on eBay, or on Craigslist.

Use the money in savings to buy and then put it all back along with the profit, minus your giving. The verses above do not say they made one trade to double their money. But when the householder came back, they had doubled it.  That is much better than the bank!

In every venture you start, pray and ask God to give you understanding and wisdom, and to teach you, and to lead you, and to guide you.  This, done over a period of years, will have some great success because you are not alone in this venture. God is at work within you. You know He wants you to prosper. Learn to expect to see His wisdom and His guidance in your life. This is all part of learning to live The Prosperous Life.