Category Archives: The Prosperous Life

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Life to Those that Find Them


When I received a cancer diagnosis a certain stunned feeling came over me as I tried to absorb the information. I can sum up how I felt in one word: concussed. Any sense of vulnerability I ever had was magnified. All those buried insecurities seemed to explode. This diagnosis shattered the sense I had of myself as a strong and vibrant person.

When first diagnosed with cancer or threatened with a fatal disease, a whole host of emotional issues come crashing down on your brain. When the test says: “You have all these tumors…or life-threatening virus,” all those buried insecurities seem to explode. Any sense of vulnerability is magnified.

How do we to summon the mental strength and toughness to handle our condition, whether cancer or a pandemic or any other of life’s major setbacks? This book seeks to assist you to regain your mental strength and physical health.

Applying these verses in Proverbs helped me immensely.

Proverbs 4:20-22: (NKJV)
My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart;
For they are life to those who find them, And health [medicine] to all their flesh.

You could call these verses a promise of God or just a plain statement of fact. Proverbs 4 states that focusing relentlessly on God’s words will bring you life and health. First, find God’s promises that speak to you and pertain to your situation. Then pay attention to them; keep them in the forefront of your thinking.

When it says: “give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart,” it suggests a process; there may be some time and effort involved.

Of course, when we find ourselves in a traumatic situation at one of the extremities of life, we would like to be delivered as soon as possible. Complete healing or deliverance right now would be nice! What if that doesn’t happen immediately?  Well, that’s where my book comes in handy. As much as we would like for things to happen instantaneously, there may be some patience, persistence, and waiting involved in receiving healing. My health issues involved months of treatments and years of follow up visits to the doctor.  So I developed a step-by-step system to facilitate and sustain my positive believing attitude and my healing.

When the timing of God’s help is not to your satisfaction or your expectations you may feel disappointed and even angst. If God’s deliverance hasn’t come to pass in your life yet, consider Psalm 31:15: “My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies.” My times are in God’s hands—don’t fret, let go and let God.

Psalm 70:4 and 5:
Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation [deliverance] say continually, Let God be magnified.
But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.

The psalmist calls on God to “make haste” and “make no tarrying” suggesting he wants God to hurry up and take care of his problem. But in the meantime what was he going to do?  Verse 4 is rather clear: rejoice and be glad.

Here are two reasons to keep rejoicing and giving thanks regardless of your situation: First, you won’t be as miserable regardless of what happens. Secondly, you don’t know when God will rescue you out of your situation. In the book, I look at a few accounts of deliverance in the Bible. Whether it was Jehoshaphat (II Chronicles 20) or David or Paul, while going through their trials, they had certainty of God moving in their favor. But God’s methods and timing were often beyond their purview. We don’t dictate to God the means and timetable unless we have specific guidance. But here in Psalm 70:4, we do have very specific guidance from His Word on what our frame of mind should be in the meantime.

While I can’t speak for others, “rejoicing in tribulation” is a concept I have been slow to grasp and to employ. Yet as I took time to ponder these verses in this book and how they related to me, I felt so connected to my Heavenly Father and His goodness.

(Written by David Bergey  His book is available on Amazon at the link below.)

100 Scriptures to Help you Recover your Health

by David D. Bergey

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Review on Giving and Saving


Our economy today is drastically different from the economy of the lands and times of the Bible.  In our economy, we don’t have to save of our labors out of necessity or fear of not having enough.  We have food stamps if we run out of food or money.  We have section eight housing.  There is welfare for the poor.  And social security for the elderly.  We have grocery stores that are open 24 hours a day.  We have government programs to supply every need.

In the lands and times of the Bible, if you did not save some of your labors, you could literally starve to death.  This has been true throughout most of history.  Saving was integral to surviving.

In our day and time, we are taught to spend it all and then spend even more by credit.  This way of dealing with life keeps us in debt.  The debt keeps us showing up on the job to get the money to pay the debt.  We have been trained to be good workers for American industry.

We are no longer self-reliant or God-sufficient.

Proverbs 3:9,10 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: (This part of the verses addresses tithing/giving)  So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. (This part of the verse addresses our duty to save.)

Many of us have believed and obeyed the first part of this instruction but not the second part.  We tithe/give, but we have not been taught to believe and do the second part — to save part of what God gives us back. We just spend it all and more!

As mentioned above, in our economy, saving is not as much of an immediate necessity as in the old days.  However, economies don’t last forever.  Governments come and go. Living by the principles of God’s Word will always work, and for long-term prosperity, saving is necessary. (Some Christians have been taught to save a year’s supply of food against disasters such as economic collapse and war when the grocery stores may be closed or out of food.)

Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

God promises here that if you will give, He, by way of people, will give it back to you in abundance!

Proverbs 19:17 He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

In the record in Proverbs 3, we see that God expects us to save at least some of what comes back to us.  They learned to live on less than what they produced.  The rest was stored in barns or storehouses as they were an agricultural economy.  But the principles of God never change no matter what type of economy we live in.  Today, we may put the rest in a bank, a bank bag, or store it as gold coins in our dresser drawer.  No matter how we save, God pays enough back to us for giving, and we can save some if we are diligent.

If this biblical instruction of barns and storehouses is new to you, you could do a search of the Bible for the words: storehouse(s), treasuries or barns.  You could pray for wisdom and understanding.  Pray for your spouse because success in finances is much easier if you are both on the same page.

King David was a man after God’s own heart and he asked God to teach him. You too could ask God as David did, to “lead me, teach me and guide me.” We could take a lesson from him as to how to live this life in many areas.  Here, this great man of God, the forefather of Jesus Christ, wrote by revelation the following:

Psalm 31:3 For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.
Psalm 25:5 Lead me in thy truth and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.

This man of God, who was such a great prophet and king, was humble enough to ask God to lead him and teach him and guide him.

It used to be that a bank would let you start a savings account with a dollar.  Not so anymore. Start with a bank bag and a dollar.  Many people have found that the longer they endeavor to save, the easier it becomes. It can become part of your life. But remember giving is like the rain, it is what makes the garden grow.  Here, the garden would be our storehouses/barns. So as we give and it comes back to us – save.

To start saving with a dollar may seem pointless. It may feel like you will never see the savings amount to much.  It takes time to grow.   For example:  an apple seed, when planted, may seem pointless as it is such a small seed.  Yet, if tended diligently in the years to come, it will produce much fruit. Saving is the same way.

If saving is difficult for you because of too much debt, use the snowball principle to pay off the debt. God’s will has never been for His children to be in debt. Ask Him to lead you, teach you and guide you into better ways of handling your finances.  Get out of your comfort zone.  Gain some Godly wisdom, and then do what you learn.  Here is a great section of God’s Word. It tells us of God’s will for our lives and tells us of the great benefits of living according to this wisdom of God. Here, wisdom is depicted as a woman who is speaking.

Proverbs 8:14-21 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength. By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth. I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures (storehouses).

If you are going to teach giving and receiving, saving should be taught also as it is part of the same context.  Learning to save some of what God pays back to you is all part of learning to live and manifest The Prosperous Life.

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Don’t Reinvent the Wheel in Finances

From many scriptures in the Bible, it is evident that God’s desire for His children is to prosper them.

Deuteronomy 28:8-12 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 (house – storehouse), 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.

God, speaking to those in our administration, says in 3 John:

3 John 2  Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

Money is such a taboo subject among Christians that I still feel awkward in writing about it. I was raised in the church where the verse, “The love of money is the root of all evil,” and others like it were the best known.  Yet money is what most of us work for every day.  We work 8-10 hours a day to make money to pay our bills using that money.  It is only logical that our Father, being very interested in His children, would write an instruction book that would include many instructions, many principles, and many fundamentals about the proper use, the accumulation, and the spending of that money.

The proper biblical handling of money so that we accumulate wealth should be as natural to us as praying, reading the bible, speaking in tongues, or renewing our minds.  It is definitely not the end-all of subjects in the Bible, but it is a biblical subject.

As the proper handling of finances begins to take root in our lives, we will find we have to think about money less because we have made God’s instructions our habits.

Since we have never really been taught by the church how to biblically handle our money other than to tithe (which benefits the church first and fewer still taught we were to receive back from God), we need to learn the fundamental principles that God set out in His Word concerning money. The Bible is an Eastern book and their culture and economy were drastically different than ours are today. Although the fundamentals of money will never change, how to apply them in our age and in our economy may take a lot of thought.

Some people, few perhaps, were raised with good money handling principles.  Others stumbled across them, perhaps out of necessity. But Godly principles work whether they are learned intentionally or learned by some other method. They work just as well in an Eastern culture in biblical times as they do in our culture in modern times. Since they are principles God set up in the beginning, they work for believers as well as unbelievers.

Tithing is THE fundamental principle of handing money, but to see the greatest benefit of it in our lives, we need to go to God’s Word and see what He says about what to do after we give.

I am not sharing this from a top-down position like “I have made my millions, and I will show you how.”  No.  I have been broke and bankrupt as have some of the others that learned this subject.  

I started by looking at exactly what DID God actually say? And how does that all fit together in His Word?  Then as I read other authors, I found that some who had been in the same financial situation as I learned the same things from the Bible.  Same God, same Word of God!

By reading other Christian authors, we can learn how some of them have applied the biblical principles in their lives. Why not look at what some others have learned about handling money in our modern economy and not spend the rest of our lives reinventing the wheel?

Many of them were frustrated with the same situations as we were.  They tithed and gave but were continually broke and did not know why. One of the first things we saw was that God expected us to save our money. The thing we didn’t realize was when God promised to open the windows of heaven, He expected us to save or put in a storehouse part of what He gave us back. This misunderstanding about the saving of money is one of the great detriments to a believer’s financial prosperity. This lack of understanding of saving money is one of the causes of believers having so much debt. This topic of saving money is covered in more detail in other blogs and in the book, Poverty vs. Wealth.

God also taught us we were not to be in debt.  Some of the books taught us how to do that in our economy. How?

Paying down current debt,   
Getting a second job to pay off what is owed,
Getting a job that pays better,
Cutting up credit cards,
Giving back or selling what is really out of your price range.    

God teaches us to be frugal. In some of the books we learned:

To limit our desire to spend,
To live on less than what is coming in,
To be content with what you have — your spouse, your home, your car, etc.,
To stop being great consumers,
To save 10-30% of your income.

To do these things, you may need to restructure your financial life which may take a paper and pencil, some prayers and possibly some tears. In Deuteronomy, God says He wants us to be lenders and not borrowers. We lend to the bank, and they pay us interest. We lend to a corporation, and they pay us dividends. This way we become the lenders as opposed to being servants to the lenders. Whenever we believe and do what God says, He’s right there with us to bless us and see His Word come to pass.

One of the books I read or listened to was The Storehouse Principle which was written by a pastor.  When he learned the storehouse principle (saving money), it changed his life and changed the finances of his church.  The church no longer had to beg for money from its members!

Another book I recently listened to was The Millionaire Next Door.  If the title offends you, and it might, think about Job and Abraham in the Bible.  Would they be considered millionaires today? How about Solomon, David and Hezekiah?

The Legacy Journey is another great book. The author talks about the war on success happening in America.

Proverbs 13:20 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

We live in a wonderful age.  We can walk with those wiser than we are by reading what they have written (many of these books are in audio format so you can listen to them).  A great man once said there is no difference between those that can’t read and those that won’t. The result is ignorance in both cases.

As a closing thought: the world is always trying to sell us something.  You deserve a new home, the latest and fastest car or a bigger truck, a cooler computer, a better credit card, refinance your home and pay off your credit cards so you can charge them up again.  Everyone has something to sell us. We must learn to become good at saying, “NO!!”

No! I will not follow the patterns set out by the world.
No! I do not need the latest and greatest, most up-to-date……
No! I will not continue to spend all that God gives me.

But!

I will become a good steward of His money.
I will learn to put my money in storehouses.
I will be a great giver to great causes.

Learning these things, restructuring your finances (and perhaps your thinking), and learning to live by the biblical principles of money is all part of The Prosperous Life.

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Believers Building Wealth (Edited)

Rebuilding our Financial Foundations

As our world comes out of the shutdown of businesses and jobs, many people will be needing to rebuild their financial houses. Some of us are just now beginning to build because we have just recently learned some of these lessons.  As you build or rebuild, it would be good to build on a Godly, Biblical foundation to better withstand the storms of the future.

As Christians, the church has been diligent in teaching us to tithe or give 10% of our income to the church.  Some in the pulpit have taught that as you give God will give it back to you.  But there the teaching of financial matters usually ends unless they also teach the warnings of “the love of money is the root of all evil,” “lay not up for yourselves treasure upon earth…” as we have covered in other blogs and in the book, Poverty vs Wealth.  But the church, once it has its income needs met, generally stops discussing or teaching a Biblical understanding of the handling of money.  What all is involved in prosperity? – What other principles are in the Bible that deal with money? – Does God want you to prosper and have enough stored up for rainy days and retirement? What is God’s part in helping you prosper? What other responsibilities do you have after giving? Etc.

There are a great many verses in the Bible that cover the topic of money.  For instance:

Deuteronomy 8:18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day KJV

The phrase “to get wealth” may be easier to understand from a couple of other translations.

New International Version: “But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”

New American Standard Bible “…. giving you power to make wealth, …”

The word for “wealth” in Deuteronomy 8:18 is a noun that is used of strength, armies, wealth, and as virtuous.  It is used of the strength of people, horses, or nations. God is often seen as the supplier of that strength, whether it is men or nations. When speaking of men, it is often used of those that are strong for war. This idea of strength is often used to imply financial influence (wealth) as well.

The basic meaning is strength and ability from which comes power or might (especially warlike), and wealth. It is also used to imply honesty and uprightness. For example:  righteous men that are able to judge.

Also, the strength carries with it the idea of influence, especially influence that comes from God.  

Zechariah 14:14 And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.

Deuteronomy 8:18 says God gives the ability to produce wealth.  It would seem to be a partnership process. God was the supplier of that strength or influence in each situation, and yet He expected them to put forth their best effort.  It reminds one of Proverbs 21:31, which says, “that the horse is prepared against the day of battle, but the safety is of the lord.”

God supplies the influence and strength that go with work because of our love for Him and His great desire to bless His children.

Job

Let’s look at Job, who was the greatest of the men in the East:

Job 1:3  His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

Then Job lost everything he owned.

He was finally delivered when he prayed for his friends, and it says that God gave him back double what he had lost.  How did that work? How did God give it all back to Job?!

Job 42:11  Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold.

These people gave him some money and gold and then Job went back into business. Did Job wake up with six thousand camels parked outside his front door?  Did it happen in one day? NO! He worked his butt off. He went back to work, and the end result was that God, working with Job, gave him twice what he had before.  God’s influence at work!

Job 42:10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

It is interesting to note that Job gave the glory for his wealth to God.

Job 31:25-28 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much; If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

As we noted in another blog, everything belongs to God. And Job here recognized that if he has said his own hand had gotten much he would have denied the God above that provided it.  Thus, Job recognized that God was the provider of his wealth.

Joseph

Another great example is Joseph who was a wealth builder, one able to produce wealth.  Because of the work of Joseph, Egypt and Pharaoh became extremely wealthy. This was a job given to him by God.  In this situation, Joseph, a slave and a prisoner, had the personal power and confidence in this case, to stand before Pharaoh, interpret his dream, and explain to Pharaoh what needed to be done.

However it is that God works, God influenced Pharaoh to have Joseph do the job of taking care of Egypt.  You see this many times in the Bible where it says God put something in a person’s heart.  In life, people you deal with “just like you” and want to give you their business.  

Joseph, with the strength and power and influence exerted by God, now produces great wealth in the Land of Egypt.  

In both cases, these men gave God the glory because they knew where the wealth and power to gain it came from.  God Almighty!

Ruth

The word “virtuous” as used of Ruth and in Proverbs 31 is the same as the word “wealth” used in Deuteronomy, and it implies strength and influence that comes from God also. Since the same Hebrew word is used for both men and women, it would be logical that the women would have at their core some of the same characteristics as the men:  strong, able to produce wealth, righteous, able to judge, honest and upright. (With this understanding of the word “virtuous,” rereading Proverbs 31 is enlightening.)

As any Godly woman endeavors to live her life in service to God and her family because of her love for Him, God works in her life with His power and strength and influence so that that woman (Ruth here) becomes known as a virtuous woman and carries out her work.

You might ask where was God’s influence in Ruth’s situation? She married into the Christ line and was the great-grandmother of King David of the lineage of Jesus Christ. As a virtuous woman, she had this God-given strength and influence such that even though she was a Moabite (gentile), that Boaz said, “I want her to be my wife”. God’s influence at work again! Mothers have a lot of influence over their children, too.

This promise of wealth was given to God’s servants, adopted children in the Old Testament.  Since God was so kind and so desiring of His children to be prosperous, it is logical to assume He would want and do no less for us in our administration, the Age of Grace, with those born from above of His seed.  As you endeavor to put God’s Word into practice in your life by tithing, giving, saving, and being diligent, God works on our behalf the same as He did for His servants.  The wealth still comes from Him. AND, we see His strength and influence are at work on our behalf so that we are not working alone in this work of building wealth.

Apparently, God has no problem with His children being prosperous or wealthy: saving for retirement, having an emergency fund, saving for our children’s or grandchildren’s college education, paying cash for cars, etc. This saving of money helps stave off the temptation of going into debt to meet our needs.

This wealth-building is a continual process. This getting of wealth is not us sitting there, and the heavens part and the wealth falls into our laps. No! God sets up the promises and the foundational principles. Tithing – giving – saving – being diligent, then as we believe and obey His Word, and keep Him first in our hearts, He will do the same for us as His servants or even more as we are His children. So that it is like a partnership, and He is involved in the work of wealth building along with us. He opens the doors with His influence and strength to accomplish the wealth building. He has a purpose for this, but that is another subject for another blog!

We may suffer setbacks, or we may get into the game late as some of us did, but it is never too late with God. If you have not started yet, start tithing, saving, and begin that wealth-building process. Wealth building is a lifelong undertaking, and it is part of what we achieve in the pursuit of  The Prosperous Life.

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Big Hat, No Cattle!

Part of the purpose of this blog is to help get a proper understanding of our relationship with God and money.

In Deuteronomy God says He gives you the power to get wealth.  So, this begs some questions – How do you feel about wealthy people that are Christians? How do you feel about wealth for yourself?  Is it wrong or sinful to be wealthy? If you were wealthy, would you feel guilty? Do you feel desiring money is evil? Do you think you would have to sell your soul to have money?

Deuteronomy 8:18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

If God gives you the power to get wealth, how then could being wealthy be evil or sinful? If God provided this prosperity to you, there would be no need for guilt, and if it comes from God, you obviously did not have to sell your soul to the devil to obtain it.  God gives you the power.

3John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

Think for a moment. Generally, we have no problem with ourselves or others desiring great health.  It is a promise here in God’s Word that it is His desire for us to be healthy.

How then can it be wrong for us to desire the other half of the promise – to prosper?  If you feel desiring prosperity is wrong, it is because of our culture and/or wrong teaching in the church.

God’s Word is divinely designed to be put together.  Not everything on a topic is all in one place.  No one verse covers all there is to know.  For instance:

Proverbs 13:4 The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

I have known people including myself that worked extremely hard.  I was taught to tithe when I was 12 years old and have done so ever since. I have worked as many as 18 hours a day for weeks on end, and yet I had a hard time seeing prosperity.  This is an example of ONE of the principles of prosperity.  Others are needed also!

Just like working hard is not all there is to prosperity, tithing is not a magic pill either.  There are many aspects we need to learn to see the wealth God desires for us in our lives.

God gives us the fundamentals in His Word on how to accumulate wealth.  It starts with the tithe and giving then moves to saving money and staying out of debt. But there are many things to learn in addition to these fundamental principles.  Here is another one:

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

As I have read about truly affluent people, ones that could live for years on their investments without working any more, three things stood out to me.

1.    Most had been married to the same spouse for 20 – 30 – 40 years.  Be content.
2.    Most have lived in the same nice home for 20 – 40 years.  Be Content.  They were not buying up constantly.
3.    Most buy 2-3-year-old, low mileage American sedans.  They let someone else take the early depreciation.  Be content.

We live in a consumer-driven culture.  Therefore, the news and the commentators are always concerned with consumer spending.  Are people shopping?  Have they gone back to buying? This is what drives business.

The truly affluent have become accumulators of wealth and not spenders – they are – Frugal.  They have learned how to control their money rather than being in bondage to it or in bondage to the lenders of it – credit.

We are subject to commercials, TV, and others writing that tell us we deserve to live like they depict the wealthy.  From what I have read, those that look the part of the wealthy — expensive cars, big houses and fancy clothes — are not the truly wealthy.  Big hat, no cattle as the Texans say!

The truly wealthy live boring lives. They may be your next-door neighbor, and you might never know.  They wear JC Penny’s clothes and drive older cars – Frugal.  They are still married and have lived in the same house for years.  They have no desire to keep up with the culture. Lots of cattle, no hat!

In one story I read, the child asked his father why they could not have a swimming pool.  His father said we can either have a pool or you can go to a great college.  The man had graduated from a great college.  In a word – Frugal!

This all reminds me of another verse:

Luke 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

Let others seek after the glitz of this world and wear the big hats.  We want to be of the group that has learned what God has promised, then believe those promises, put our part into action, and then watch God fill our storehouses.

There is a lot to learn in this life. As we learn to be faithful with the things of this world, God will give us the true riches He has in store for us — a deeper knowledge of His word to help us live The Prosperous Life!