Lack of funds to meet current debt, bills and long-range obligations has been a problem for a couple of thousand years for God’s people. That is how we would classify poverty.

As I have looked at the subject of prosperity, the verse in 3 John 2 has interested me.

3 John 1:2-4 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

I wondered why did God pick health and prosperity? He could have said, “Beloved, I wish above all things that you walk in love, renew your minds, forgive one another, manifest the spirit I gave you at the time of the new birth or many other perhaps more spiritual things. But He chose health and prosperity. Why?

In these two areas, our enemy, the devil, has great leverage to afflict God’s people/children. As we will see, God set forth the pattern to overcome these problems years ago.

The first thing to note here in 3 John, verse 2, is that the two verses that follow this speak of God having no greater joy than to hear that His children walk in truth. So that health and prosperity here are tied in verse 2 and verse 4 with walking with God.

This is a large subject, and I am only going to attempt to scratch the surface here. To start, I want to go back to the Pentateuch, but we need a verse from Galatians first.

Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

What was the curse of the law that Christ redeemed us from? Well, those curses are listed in Deuteronomy 28. They are divided into two categories.

Curses Financially

Deuteronomy 28:15-20  But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the ffield.  Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.

Deuteronomy 28:38-40 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.

Curses for Health

Deuteronomy 28:22  The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

Deuteronomy 28:27-29 The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:  And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.

Deuteronomy 28:35 The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.

Conclusion of the Curses.

Deuteronomy 28:45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:

Our subject is prosperity, and, in these verses, we see that poverty is a curse.

God’s great desire for His people, His children and His family is health and prosperity. God’s archenemy, the devil, desires for all God’s children to be sickly and poverty-stricken. In this same chapter, God lists out the blessings that will be ours if we walk with Him and obey Him.

Blessings for Finances and Health

(Notice that these blessings are contingent upon listening to and doing His commandments)

Deuteronomy 28:1-14  And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

One of the things we learn here is that God is extremely interested in seeing His children healthy and prosperous. So much so that part of what Jesus Christ paid for was to redeem us from the curse of the law, the curse of poverty and ill health. What a blessing!

But remember, nothing comes automatically. The promises of God are available to us by our believing them. Even the first of the promises, salvation, comes by confessing the Lord Jesus with the mouth and BELIEVING in your heart that God raised him from the dead.

We bring these promises into our lives the same way. We see them come to pass in our lives as we trust/believe that God will do as He has said.

Now, some may say, “Well, that is all Old Testament under the law. We are not under the law anymore nor are we of the tribes of Israel.”  True, but just as God’s desire for health and prosperity for us is laid out in 3 John 2, He laid out His instruction for the same to His people in Deuteronomy. A couple of verses in Romans and 1 John may help.

Romans 13:8-10  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 

 1 John 5:2-3  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Israel under the law, was to hear, to do and to keep, all God’s commandments to see the blessings come to pass in their lives. Our commandment is that we walk in the love of God. By walking in love, we have fulfilled the law.

We saw in 3 John 2 that the great desire of God is that His children prosper and be in health even as our souls prosper.

Prosperity and health have been issues for people ever since the fall of Adam because our adversary, the devil, hates the children of God. In a fallen world, where the devil is the god of this world, God sets out in His Word how to live a prosperous and healthy life. This is the great desire of our Father for us.

This study answered the question for me as to why God chose prosperity and health in 3 John 2 to be the two great things God desired for His children as their souls prosper.  What a loving Father we have. What a wonderful piece of understanding to add to our believing about The Prosperous Life.