Category Archives: The Prosperous Life

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Content and Prosperous!

 

Someone asked me the other day how I would reconcile Matthew 6:33, which says to seek the kingdom of God first and that all these things will be added unto you with the promises of prosperity. This is very similar to:

Hebrews 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Sometimes, I find that contrasting is the easiest way to understand a subject. For instance, the Pharisees loved money more than God. They were not content with what they had, nor did they seek the kingdom of God first. Their priorities were messed up.

Luke 16:14  And the Pharisees also, who were covetous (lovers of silver or money), heard all these things: and they derided him.

It is entirely possible to be content while believing the promises of prosperity and being a good manager of what God has given to you. Believing God will fill your storehouses and prosper you is as much walking with Him as being content and seeking the kingdom of God first. Once you begin to prosper, you don’t let money go to your head or serve money only.

Job was content and kept God first in his heart, even after he lost his family, his wealth, and his health. Then in the end, GOD gave him twice what he had before. Apparently, God is not opposed to great prosperity. He has said He has great pleasure in the prosperity of His children just like He wants us to seek Him first.

Psalm 35:27  …Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.

Other men were like that, too. Abraham, David, and Solomon come to mind. All these kept their priorities straight. God was first in their lives, and God blessed their lives with great abundance.

So, these two ideas, or verses, are not opposed to each other, but simply different aspects on the subject of The Prosperous Life.

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I Shall Not Want Part 2 Restored

A Short on Prosperity

Have you ever lost everything? Your income? Your home? Your business? This could put you into serious want mode. But God has promises in His Word to deal with the losses we experience. In most of these records, people did not lose what they had because of stupidity or laziness. The god of this world orchestrates situations around us, as we will read, that tend toward loss, yet your Father is bigger than the circumstances we face in this life.

2 Kings 8:1 Then spake Elisha unto the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thine household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn: for the LORD hath called for a famine; and it shall also come upon the land seven years.

This woman had her husband build an apartment on the roof of their home for the man of God when he traveled by their home. Elisha also raised her son from the dead. Now, God knew there was going to be a famine on the land and told her, by way of Elisha, how to prepare.

We know God does not cause famines. Though, the devil, the god of this world, does. Our Father has said He makes it rain and makes the sun shine on the just and the unjust. If you work in an office or have a factory job, it makes no difference to you if it is cloudy or if you are in a drought. In Bible times, the people were mainly agricultural. They depended on the rain and the sun for their crops to grow, or they would starve to death. They were very subject to the ups and downs of the weather cycles. We, on the other hand, are subject to the ups and downs of our economies.

2 Kings 8:2-6  And the woman arose, and did after the saying of the man of God: and she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years.  And it came to pass at the seven years’ end, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines: and she went forth to cry unto the king for her house and for her land. And the king talked with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha hath done. And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored a dead body to life, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life. And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed unto her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now.

Remember these verses from Psalms?

Psalm 23:1  A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 34:10  The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.

We shall not want even in times of drought or economic downturns.  Here is another promise God made to His people in the Old Testament. At times, we, as they, could lose it all, but He promises to restore what was lost. The situation in Joel was a time of war.

Joel 2:20-26  But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things. Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.  And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.

What a wonderful promise. God said He would restore what was taken from them, just like He restored the land and the harvests to the woman in 2 Kings.

The record in Job shows that the loss he experienced was caused by the god of this world afflicting Job.

Job 1:9-12  Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? 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. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

 So Job lost everything he had in this life — all his prosperity, and Satan killed all his children.  All he had left was his life and his wife. But in the end, God restored all he had to Job and doubled his earthly prosperity. And at the resurrection, he will have double the children.

 Job 42:12-13  So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters.

Our adversary can steal away our prosperity through the wrong doctrines taught in the church, our being influenced by our culture, and perhaps a multitude of other ways. But our Father’s will is that we prosper and be in health even as our soul prospers because we are His children. Just as He promised to restore prosperity to His people in the Old Testament, He will do the same for His sons and daughters today in the church.

It starts by learning the fundamental principles of prosperity our Father has laid out in His Word and practicing them.  It may not happen overnight. Nothing much happens that way.  But looking to Him and His Word and putting the principles into action, along with your trust in what He has promised, will lead your life in a totally different direction. Just as you would wish prosperity and health for your children, our Father wishes that we might live The Prosperous Life and not be in want as we wait for that glorious day.

 

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I Shall Not Want — Part 1

A Short on Prosperity

Romans 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

In my mind, a “want” is more than what is really needed.  And anything more than a “need” would come close to being “greed.”  (see Need vs Greed Revisited) Yet God’s will is that we shall not “want” any good thing.

Psalm 34:10  The young lions do lack and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.

There are a couple of words that God uses in this manner of “want.”  The word “want” can mean – need – poverty – lack – to be without.  In the verses we are looking at here, there is a negative in front of them.  NOT want! Or not be in poverty or not lack any good things.  This is similar to Romans that he will freely give us all things.

Judges 18:10  When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth.

When Israel was to go into the Promised Land, God told them that there would be no want of anything that is in the earth.  God’s wish for His children is that they are prosperous and healthy.

Psalm 34:9  O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.

So, you could ask yourself, “What do you want?” Your Father wants you to have your wants met.

Psalm 23:1  A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 84:11  For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

The world’s attitude, and many times the church’s attitude, is that the poor are the truly pious and the poor are the ones who walk with God.  We are not striving here to be greatly rich but to rise up to the standard of life God has set out for us to live.

There is another record that is interesting on the topic that a person should only have what is “needed.”  When Nathan, the prophet, confronted King David about Bathsheba and Uriah, God said this:

2 Samuel 12:7-8  And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. (NLT)…I would have given you much, much more.

One of the biggest problems we have when it comes to prosperity is our attitude. We may feel that we don’t deserve certain things.  Or we may say to ourselves, “I don’t need that,” or we would feel guilty about owning certain things.  Sometimes, we have low self-esteem or a hangdog attitude about ourselves.  However, none of these attitudes come from what God says in His Word.

We can rise up and claim the promises God has laid out before us. Then we can manifest the truth that our Father has greatly provided for us not only in the life to come but in this life we have to live here on the earth while we wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.  I will leave you with this great record.

1Timothy 6:17  Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

 

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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.

 

 

 

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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.