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.

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!

When Solomon became king, God came to him in a dream and asked Solomon what he wanted.  Solomon asked for wisdom and understanding.  God said He would give Solomon a wise and understanding heart.  So, God taught Solomon a great many things to the end that the proverbs of Solomon numbered in the thousands.

One of the lessons that God taught Solomon was about diligence as opposed to being lazy.  In teaching Solomon, God many times contrasted the two sides of a subject.  In this case, diligence with being lazy or slothful.

Once Solomon learned the lessons, God had him write them down.  In teaching Solomon about diligence, one of the examples God used was the illustration of the ant.

Proverbs 30:24,25 There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise: The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;

Proverbs 6:6-8 Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

Instruction coupled with understanding and wisdom comes from considering what God has said.

Israel was an agrarian society and spent much of its time outdoors, thus, many of the illustrations Jesus used to teach spiritual principles were things commonly found in nature:  wolf and sheep, vines and branches, birds, lilies, etc.  In the two verses above, God teaches Solomon about diligence by way of the ant. The ant illustrates practical diligence.

Solomon wrote:  Having no captain or ruler, provides her supplies for the summer and gathers her food for the harvest.  In other words, the ant prepares for the coming winter very diligently.

Another example is found in 1 Peter 5:8. Our “adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.” Our adversary would like nothing better than to steal or devour the prosperity God desires for you. Part of our defense is to learn, believe, and do what God has said in His Word.

If we think about the ant, the main event the ant must be concerned about is the approaching winter when there will be no food for the gathering, and she will freeze if she goes outside. She provides for her children by storing up food.  Storehouses.  She stores food for the approaching winter and spring.  She stores food for her babies.  She stores extra food in case of a long winter.  She stores up even more food in case part of her supplies are destroyed.

How does that relate to us?  In preparing for the future, we may need to store money for our retirement, our children’s education or to put them in business.  We may need to store money for a downturn in the economy like Joseph stored up for the seven years of famine. We may need to store money for broken appliances, car repairs or new cars, accidents or health issues.

One of the great things about believing and doing what God teaches us here is that we are not alone in the preparation.  As we believe His Word, God will provide us with even more.  As the verse says, “to those that have, more shall be given.”

Now in the summer, to all appearances did it look like the ant needed to have a large supply of food? NO! There was food everywhere, a paycheck every week. Our tendency as people is to think that tomorrow will be just like today. Sunny with plenty to eat. Why save?!

But the wisdom of God is to save for the future.

We have no idea what will come up tomorrow or next week or next year.  We tend to think, that what it is like today will last forever, but that is not the way of life.  Winters always come and in many different forms.

Many years ago, I worked in construction, and one day, we had no work to do and none on the horizon.  I asked around what the problem was.  The Fed had raised the interest rates by 2% to curb inflation.  The people that wanted to buy certain houses no longer qualified.  Builders could not sell their houses and construction came to a halt.  We had no money in a storehouse.  We did not even know the lessons God had for us in considering the ant.  If my wife had not been working, we would have been in terrible shape. You may ask about tithing. I have faithfully tithed all my life from the time I was about 10 or 12.  However, I did not learn about the storehouse principle or saving money until much later in life.  When I did learn about it, this changed our lives.

Many things in life go in cycles just like the seasons. Wintertime always comes, but there is always a spring just around the corner where you can plant again.  If the winter of your life has been rough, this time be more diligent.

Learn to save as much as possible, get out of debt, pay cash, or don’t buy it.

So, the ant knowing there is not an obvious need at the moment gathers and stores up for the time when she will need it. God said, “Be wise and study the ant.”  He knew what we would learn if we were interested.

‘To work today is to eat tomorrow.’ ‘Beware of winter before it comes.’

In looking at this topic of being diligent and saving money we need to briefly consider the warnings of Jesus in the gospels.  They have been used to teach that it is wrong to save money. They say that by saving money you no longer trust that God will meet your needs. By saving money, they say you are acknowledging in your mind that God may not always take care of you, so you need to store up treasure on earth for yourself which indicates that you are being selfish and unbelieving.

Matthew 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

So, what are the treasures in heaven we are to lay up?

Luke 12:13-21 is another of those records.  The last verse reads as follows.

Luke 12:21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

To lay up treasure in heaven and to be rich towards God is to trust Him and to believe His Word.  Trust in God is the great treasure that we are to store up.  If we trust God, we will believe His Word, and part of His Word is to go to the ant, consider her ways and be wise.  Be diligent, store up for the future so that the seasons of life are not so tumultuous to our lives.

Learning these rules for life from Proverbs are all part of our instruction in the art of The Prosperous Life.