Recently, I listened to a few videos that some claimed were prosperity ministries. It was interesting that most of them promised great miracles and prosperity and success if you would plant “seed money” in their ministry. Right or wrong I don’t know, as I am not their judge. I would rather stick with pondering on what God has said in His Word.

I have been involved in construction for almost 40 years or more. I used to think it would be great fun to be a builder. But as time went on, I began to realize the position the builder stood in. First, he borrowed money from the bank that needed to be repaid. He owes the bank the day after he borrows the money. It may be months before the house is completed and sold. (I have seen houses that were finished and took so long to sell that the builder went broke paying the interest on the debt.)

Once he borrows the money, all kinds of people and entities line up with their hands out wanting a part of his borrowed money. First is the developer of the land. The builder must buy land to build on. Then he must buy a permit (the first of many) from the city or county to be able to build. Here is a partial list of the permits that may be required:

Grading Permit

Building Permit

Electrical Permit

Mechanical Permit

Plumbing Permit

Septic Permit

Plans Inspection

Sediment Control Inspection and many more

I picture this in my mind like a circle of people standing around that builder (he is the one with the money) and sticking their hands out for a portion of his borrowed money.

Now, he must pay the grading company, the foundation and stem wall people, then the first part of the plumbing, electrical, and then the concrete people for pouring the slab, driveway, and the sidewalks. Then come the framers, the plumbers again, and electrical, HVAC, sheet rockers, and on and on until the house is finished. It is a lengthy list of people – trades that have their hands in the builder’s pockets. AND he must produce a finished house that will sell in a short order of time. All the pressure is on him. He must pay the bank back for the money he borrowed. He is like a target for those who want his borrowed money.

Proverbs 22:7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

The builder must work hard to pay back the banker. We are to serve God and not man.

Proverbs 22:26-27  Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?

The wisdom of God says to not be a guarantor for the debts of others because if the other does not pay and you cannot pay, they will take your home (bed). It would not be wise to borrow money yourself. I have known many seemingly wise people that mortgaged their homes to drill oil wells or develop land and when the economy turned, they lost everything. It takes longer to wait until you have the cash to invest, but if you wait, they will never take your bed if you invest your own money and the house, for instance, does not sell right away.

If you do have a mortgage work day and night to get it paid off. Then do not borrow against it for any reason. This is finely stated in Proverbs also:

Proverbs 6:1-5  My son, if thou be surety (guarantee the loan) for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, (the banker) Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.  Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. (get him to pay the loan back) Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Nehemiah 5:4-5  There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. (mortgaged) Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards.

What a sad position to be in. Mortgaged their land and vineyards and were not able to buy back their sons and daughters from slavery. SAVE SOME MONEY!! These examples are here to teach us to save against unexpected expenses.

It is interesting that in the world a great proponent of buying real estate to become wealthy teaches that the way to wealth is through borrowed money. Borrowing money can be a great trap. At the least when we do, we serve the lender. At the worst, if the economy changes as it is sure to do because it has done it many times in the past, you could lose everything. We cannot see what the future holds. So, God warns us not to go into debt. If you are in debt, get out quickly.

I realize others have gone into debt and sometimes have made a lot of money, but there is no guarantee for that. God’s wisdom is DO NOT BORROW!

I had someone argue with me about borrowed money by saying in the world of finance structured debt is a good thing. Bankers and finance people have many high-sounding phrases and words. Many of the wise of this world will be brought down. God does not consider structured debt in His Word to be His wisdom. If everything stays the same, you may be successful. You are trusting the wisdom of the world and believing the economy will stay the same. But the economy can turn on a dime and then you lose.

Our Father warns us about the many pitfalls of borrowing money in His Word. I came to realize that we as believers (and as consumers) are in some ways in the same position as a builder. We are the ones with the money. We actually produce something.

We, too, are like targets because of our earned income. Many entities stand around us with their hands out wanting a piece of our money – a piece of what we have produced. First in line is the tax man. Next are services that we need in our culture. We also need food, electrical, water, sewer, gas for our cars and to heat our homes.

Many of them want to palm themselves off as our friends. They want us to consolidate our bills and credit cards and put them on a second mortgage. I see a billboard occasionally with a picture of a local banker with his hand stretched out toward the passerby as if to say let’s be friends. But he is a salesman. He wants to sell you some of his money to buy a home, to expand your business or buy more land for your farm. You in return will pay the banker part of your income for years. One man I read about lately lost the family farm that his family had owned for five generations. He borrowed against the farm, and something turned sour. Now the banker, “his friend,” owns it. This is true for credit cards, car loans, mortgages, school loans, and other consumer goods we finance. Credit cards can run 20% which is twice what we tithe. Mortgage rates are climbing again. That is in part, where our prosperity goes.

God is telling us by way of these verses that we are servants to those who lend us money. No matter how friendly they are, they are not your friends. It reminds one of the expression, “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.” We need to change our thinking and remember that we are His sons and daughters, and we are to serve Him. He promises to meet all our needs.

So, if you have a need, pray first and then be patient. See what God will do. If you do not have the cash, do not buy it. This is where saving money in an emergency fund comes in so handy for unexpected expenses. What would it have been like for those thousands of businesses that went broke during the Covid crisis if they had been saving part of their income over the past years?  It is likely they could have survived.

Here is something to ponder. If we take the example of the tithe being 10% of our income, would it be appropriate to expect God to give back to us at least the same amount as what we gave? But what we do with the minimum of 10% back is we pay it to the credit card companies, the banker, and the local car dealer. Then we wonder, “Where is the prosperity you promised, God?”  He says, “You gave it to the banker!”

Dave Ramsey says to buy a car you can pay cash for, then put that $500 – $650 a month (the national average payment) in a good growth mutual fund. Think. If you buy a nice car and make payments for six years, what is that car worth after six years? What would that same amount of money you would put into car payments be worth in six years if it were invested in a good growth mutual fund? The difference is drastic. Prosperity at times is not an increase in funds but a reorganizing of how we deal with the money God trusts us with.

Rather than trusting in “seed money” to produce a miracle, try reorganizing your finances. Get out of debt, be a giver and a saver and utilize some of the other things we have talked about in these blogs. Watch the wisdom of God produce in your life — The Prosperous Life.

Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.