The promises of God come to us as we believe what God has said (promised). For instance, the promise of eternal life comes to us as we believe what God has said.

Romans 10:9,10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

We see that believing is integral from the very beginning of a Christian’s life with God. Knowing this can help to open our understanding of prosperity and health. These two subjects are joined together in:

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

As people get older, both topics, health and money, come more and more to the top of the mind.

First, let’s look at prosperity:

Proverbs 3:9,10 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: So, shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

Many of us have believed the first part of this verse that we are to honor the Lord with the first fruits of all our increase. We may call that tithing, giving or sharing of our abundance. We have learned the Word, have believed what God has said and have given.

But the passage here has another part where believing is required. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty…. I realized one day that although I had believed the first part and had given, I did not believe the second part and provide a place to put the surplus.

A barn, or storehouse as it is translated in another place, is a place to store the surplus of your harvest if you are a farmer. A dairy farmer’s barn or storehouse might be a haymow for hay, a granary for oats, corn cribs for corn, or a silo for silage. These crops are harvested in the summer and fall to be used as feed for cattle later in the year and through the winter. The farmer harvests the crops and stores them. He does not sell them and spend the money. Cows don’t do well if you try to feed them cash. They like hay and ground feed.

Since most of us are not farmers, how do we understand the rest of the passage? We could use a bank for our surplus instead of a barn. As we work each week, we should give some (honor the lord…) and then save some of the income. This is what some of your earnings are for – to save. God promises to fill our barns or storehouses with plenty.

If we believe this part of the passage like we believed the first part by giving, then we would have a place set up to put part of what we receive for our work – in our case, a bank account. By doing this, setting up a bank account, and putting part of our earnings in it each week, we are believing the second part of the passage as well as the first. Remember, prosperity is more of a process than it is an event.

For the better part of my life I believed the first part and gave but had no clue that I was responsible to save some of the surplus and put it in the bank. It was quite the day when we saw that. We have been doing that ever since, and it has changed our lives.

Now some may say they give but they have no surplus to put in the bank. That is because your finances are so structured that you spend everything you receive. God’s giving back to you is there; you need to eliminate some of the debt. Get a better job and/or get a second job so you can pay down some of that debt and put that same money in the bank. There are many books written about paying off debt.

You can also get a more in-depth understanding of this topic in the book Poverty vs Wealth available on Amazon.

Secondly, believing is also a principle of healing.

When Jesus healed the two blind men this is the record:

Matthew 9:29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith (believing) be it unto you.

Mary believed what the angel told her and thus became the mother of Jesus:

Luke 1:45 And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.

There was a woman who had an issue of blood. She touched the hem of the garment of Jesus and was healed. He said to her:

Matthew 9:22 But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith (believing) hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.

The promises of healing and health come to us also as we believe the promises of God:

1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

The promise of your healing is in the past tense. By whose stripes (Jesus) you were healed. Jesus has already paid the price for your healing and mine. No matter what the problem is, the healing is ours for the taking as we believe what God has said.

Just as we believed that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and we received eternal life, it is with that same believing we receive the promise of healing for ourselves.

Learning that this principle of believing is how we obtain the promises of God is all part of learning about The Prosperous Life.

One of the biggest keys to developing prosperity in your life is in understanding the aspects of prosperity. Prosperity is more of a process than it is an act or event. An act or event would be like winning the lottery or getting a raise at work.

Prosperity or finances or money is a subject that is dealt with throughout God’s Word, and rightly so since it is a huge part of our daily lives. Most of us work to make money every day, and we have bills to pay with that money every day and week.

Thankfully, God has laid out the principles of how to deal with money in His word so that it is a blessing to our lives. They are not all written in one place, but we can find them if we diligently search for them.

If you really want to understand the topic of prosperity, or any topic for that matter, there are a couple of verses that will help.

2 Timothy 2:7 Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.

Consider means to think about – to ponder – to dwell upon.

Any time you consider a verse or topic from God’s Word, first ask God to open your eyes so you can see. Then as you consider, here are some questions to ask yourself:

Do I actually believe that in my heart?
What would it take for me to believe that verse?
How would my life change if that verse was part of my everyday life?
Do I believe God would do this for me?
Are there any other places that subject is written about?
Are there any records in God’s Word that would illustrate that principle?
What is the context this verse or topic is in?
Could this principle be applied in other areas?
Do I know anyone that lives this way that I could use for an example or talk to or read about?

You must actually think about each question for a while. Search your mind and heart. If you do this diligently, then answers will eventually begin to come.

Another verse that is helpful to understanding is a set of verses from the book of Psalms.

Psalm 119:98-100 Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

Notice here the psalmist said God’s Commandments were ever with him. In our day and time, we might write them on a card and put it on our bathroom mirror or keep them in our car where we can see them constantly – so they are ever with us. Then the psalmist said he had more understanding than his teachers because God’s Word was his meditation – he thought about them, pondered or dwelled upon them. Finally, he said he had more understanding than the ancients because he kept God’s Word. He did what God said; he carried it out. As he was faithful to keep God’s word, God gave him the true riches of this life — more understanding about God and His Wonderful Word.

Here is a great quote along this line of holding God’s Word in your mind and thinking about it.

“As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time unless he eats, so it is with the inner man. What is the food for the inner man? Not prayer, but the Word of God-not the simple reading of the Word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe. No, we must consider what we read, ponder over it, and apply it to our hearts.”
― George Muller, The Autobiography of George Muller

With all that in mind, let’s look at a great principle on the proper use of money.

Proverbs 21:17 He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.

Proverbs 21:20 There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up

Interestingly, it is apparent God wants us to NOT spend all we make. We are to save some of each amount we receive. We are not to spend it all. If you have had the habit spending all you make, then some adjustments may be necessary.

To start, how much do we save? The example in the Old Testament on giving was 10%, so it would seem only right that we could save 10% also. It is only logical that if we are to pay God what we owe, 10%, then we should pay ourselves 10% because we did the work. Now that may be more than some can start doing right out of the chute. So, start with what you can. Give 1% and save 1%, but just get started. Then ask God to show you how to increase the amounts.

You may have to get a better job or take on a second job temporarily to pay down some of your debt to get your finances to the point where you can do 10 and 10. Part of getting our foot off the hose so to speak is to bring our finances into alignment with what God has said.

Our goal then is to bring our finances and believing into alignment with the Word of God.

Remember, read the verses, meditate on the verses and do the verses!

No matter how hard it seems in the beginning, it will get easier. Changes in life are not usually cataclysmic, but they more often start small and then grow. If you move your life towards God, doing what His Word says, He will be right there to help you no matter what your circumstances are.
Decide today to become one of the wise that stores up some of their prosperity and stop spending all we make.

Pondering on the scriptures, applying the list of questions written previously, then making what you learn a habit in any area of interest is all part of The Prosperous Life.

The question I am asking today is, how do you see yourself, who are you really? Are you limiting your walk with God because of self-limiting thoughts or beliefs about yourself? Are you how YOU see yourself or are you how GOD sees you?

Craig Ballantyne wrote an article a few years ago where he talked about a physician, Dr. Maltz (author of Psycho-Cybernetics). He had patients that told him if he could correct some deformity that they had, it would change their life. However, he found that even though the surgery was successful, the patient did not benefit from it because of the self-limiting beliefs they had about themselves. Dr. Maltz then set out to help them change how they saw themselves.

I saw an interview with a Hollywood star that struggled with a poor self-image. Outside of that interview, you would have never known how they thought about themselves. They said it took a lot of work years later for them to change how they perceived themselves. They made the money, but they saw themselves poorly. Some people in entertainment make the money but, in the end, kill themselves.

We call ourselves Christians and quote the verse that says, “It’s Christ in you the hope of glory.” We say we are born from above of the spirit of God, we call ourselves His children – His offspring, we call God our Father. Yet many times, we act or see ourselves as much less than what the new birth would indicate. We have the head knowledge of the scriptures, but it does not live in our hearts to the end that the Word of God affects our decisions in our everyday lives.

One of the major keys to The Prosperous Life is to see ourselves as God made us to be in Christ and walk that way. We should hold our heads up and expect that our Father’s hand is with us in every situation and in everything that we do.

We say or confess that we are the children of God, and yet we make decisions based on fear. We do not ask for the salary we deserve or bid that job at what it is worth out of fear we won’t get the job. Or we may not ask the young lady out for fear of rejection. Teaching or writing may be inhibited out of fear of rejection or people laughing at us, and thus we live far below what God desires for us.

How we see ourselves can manifest itself in how we dress for our jobs or when we go out for the evening, how we carry ourselves or what we talk about.

We may see ourselves as always struggling with finances or struggling with sickness when our Father has clearly said He wishes above all things that we prosper and be in health even as our soul prospers.

There are probably other areas in our walk with God that we do not struggle at all. Perhaps we are never late for an appointment, or perhaps to not give (tithe) is unimaginable to us. We can simply take the attitude we have in these areas and use it in the areas we need to change.

You can make part of your inner thinking of your mind and what you confess out loud to be, “I always dress the best I can for the job at hand.” Or, “I always price myself at the market or higher because of the confidence I have of God being with me and causing me to prosper. God is always at work with me in my finances to help me prosper. By his stripes I was healed, and I know God helps me to stay healthy – He keeps the bugs away from me – He keeps me from stumbling and getting hurt.

As you change the internal script you have in your mind about yourself, it is not enough to just say the words. You must believe these things are true for you. Change may take a while, but be patient. As you come to believe who you really are as a child of God, you will see more of the promises of God come to pass in your life. As you change, your life will change.

It is a great thing to have the confidence and wisdom that comes from God and His Word. One of the benefits that comes as you believe more of who you really are as a child of God is to not be offended by the words of others. To realize that when you are attacked verbally, it is really the other person that has the problem. They are trying to make you feel bad, so you won’t look at them and see their shortcomings or faults or their messed-up life.

Sometimes, they are jealous of some area of your life or envious of what you have. So, they try to cut you down. But if we know whose we are and who we serve, then we can pray for them instead of being offended. That kind of wisdom and confidence comes from believing what God says in His Word about who you really are.

As you become more confident in your position as a son or daughter of God, you must protect your sense of self-worth, your new self-image, and the self-confidence that brings.

This is very important. It does not matter what people say to you or situations do to you, you are always God’s great possession — His child. He loves you more than you love yourself. You know how you might sacrifice your life to save your child or children? God did something similar; he sacrificed his ONLY begotten son so that He could have you in His family.

So, carry and conduct yourself that way. Take an inventory and see what needs to change to be according to what God has said in His Word.

Remember, there is a great difference between arrogance and confidence. We are quietly confident but not arrogant.

Others will see you the way you see yourself. Others will treat you the way you treat yourself.

A famous verse in part says: “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.” It is easier to see yourself as reigning in life as a king if you are constantly thinking about your rights, privileges and abilities as a child of God.

One of the great keys to changing your life is to take time to sit and think. Find a quiet place at the end of the day, week or month to sit and think about God and your life. What do you want to change? Ask His help to be able to see. He loves you and is more than willing to help than we are to ask. Write your thoughts in a journal.

As you go through this process of change, it may become a way of life, a part of The Prosperous Life.

Goal setting is Biblical and a key to a prosperous life. This one quote changed part of my life. I included it here because it is thought-provoking.

What one great thing would you dare to dream if you knew you would not fail?

God says in His Word:

Proverbs 21:5: The plans of the diligent lead to profit.

Planning is a part of goal setting. It gives you direction in your business, your walk with God and for your family.

Without goals we would be like a ship with no rudder. Just adrift on the ocean of life. Tossed to and fro by circumstances.

To live with no motivation or planning is not God’s desire. Here are some suggestions once you start setting goals for your life:

1. Don’t tell anyone your goals except those that will encourage you.
2. A system or process of setting goals will increase your level of attainment by 1000%.
(But many people have a fear of failure. With no goals, there is no failure.)
3. Make goals that are achievable and believable.
4. A 40 – 50% increase of income is about the limit of most people for believability.
5. Write your goals down. It helps them become a reality.
6. Study goal setting and find a system that works for you.

Examples of things to consider for your goal setting for this year:

What kind of character traits would you like to develop in yourself?
         Examples from the Bible might be: He walked with God — Friend of God – Trusted God

The ability to set goals is the master skill of success.

What would you like to learn? Job – hobby – fishing – raising children – family life

What books would you like to listen to or read? How many books a month?

Where would you like to go?

What spiritual goals would you like to set:  Learn how to Speak in Tongues, how to operate the manifestation of gifts of healings, learn how to study the Bible.

Only 3% of Americans have written goals, and everybody else works for the 3%!

What financial goals would you like to see? Bank account — job – businesses – an emergency fund
(You may have to increase your worth in the marketplace – more skills or knowledge.)

For instance, you might consider setting a goal of $100,000.00 in a year. Divided out that would be about $385.00 per day. Tape that number, $385, to your rear view mirror and ask God every day how to do that and to help you bring that to pass.

Would you like to learn how to start a side gig? What learning would be required?

How many people would you like to help with God’s Word this next year?

You might consider keeping a journal as a goal. People keep many types of journals:
Work, daily life, health, financial ….

What do I want to accomplish this year?

What home improvements do I want to complete this year?

“All successful people are big dreamers.” – Brian Tracy
Brian Tracy has a great set of audio CD’s on goal setting.

Goal setting gives directions to your thinking and to your life.

God said whatsoever you do he will Prosper. What do you want to do?

“In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily
trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.” — Robert Heinlein

To have the goal of The Prosperous Life can extend into many different areas of your life.

Jesus spoke about faithfulness as being part of prosperity in parables in the gospels.

The Parable of the Dishonest Manager

Luke 16:1-7 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.

In this culture, the steward had a perfect right to do this. But was he prospering his master? Was he taking care of his master’s business OR providing a place for himself at his master’s expense? At the end of the year was his master ahead in his accounts OR at a loss?

We will see in a minute that the Pharisees that loved money were listening to this parable, too, and they got upset most likely because they knew Jesus was really talking about them. They had the charge of the temple money and were making themselves rich rather than taking care of God’s business. They did have the right to do so, but we will see in a bit what God had to say about that.

Luke 16:8 And the lord commended the unjust steward, (Note: God here calls the steward unjust) because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.

The lord here is the steward’s master not the Lord Jesus Christ. In their culture, this was considered just and wise.

Luke 16:9 And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

EW Bullinger in his Companion Bible says this should read as a question. Jesus: “Is this what I taught you to do, make friends with the things of this world?”

Luke 16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

This steward here had not been faithful or just to his master in managing his master’s accounts for a profit. He had actually cost him money to the sole benefit of the steward himself.

Luke 16:11-15 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

God’s assessment of the situation with the unjust steward and the Pharisees was that they were not faithful nor just. That even though men thought this was great, God said what they had done was an abomination.

This is a great example of not being faithful. The steward had cost his master a loss. It was easy to see; they just sat down and looked at the numbers.

Faithful is in part the Greek word “pistis” translated into English many times as “believe.” So, in part faithful means to believe the instructions that are given BUT also to “do” what you have been told. If you believe and do as instructed, that is the essence of the word trustworthy, another definition of faithful.

An example would be Moses.

Numbers 12:7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.

Now in order to see how Moses was faithful and learn from that, we would have to read a lot about Moses. For a short blog that is not practical. So, let’s go the book of Luke.
In this next record, you can see how the nobleman came to “trust’ two faithful men.

Luke 19:11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

Note: In looking at these parables, we are not trying to ascertain the meaning of the parable. We are just looking at the use of the word “faithful” within them.

Luke 19:12-17 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy (carry on business) till I come. But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.

In this parable, Jesus uses money to teach about being faithful. Money is a very quick way of teaching what faithful is compared to using prayer or forgiveness, etc. With money you can just count and see the answer/results with little explanation.

With this faithful man, he increased his master’s money by 1000 %. Quite the opposite of the first parable where he cost him money.

Luke 19:18-19 And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.

Remember what we read in the previous parable: “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.”

It is easy to see the faithfulness of these two men because we can count — 1000% and 500%. It takes quite a few attributes to be a faithful person in this situation.

Things like:

Integrity — they gave the money back;
Diligence — they got the job done;
Trading — they had to know their business;
Saving — they did not spend all they made;
Appearance — they had to know how to dress and present themselves in their field of business;
Knowledge — what they did not know about their business, they had to go learn;
Accounts — they had to have kept strict accounts;
Confidence — they had to have confidence in their ability;
Focus — they had to focus on the task at hand and not get distracted.
There may be other attributes, but this is enough for the point.

The master knew that as they had applied the principles necessary to gain the profit they did, that these men would also apply the same principles if given a much larger responsibility. Faithful in little, faithful in much.

It reminds one of what the Apostle Paul wrote — God counted him faithful putting him into the ministry. Paul was out capturing Christians, throwing them into prison and having some killed. God knew that Paul would apply the same diligence, commitment and other attributes in service to God as he had in the past when he was on the wrong side of the fence. God counted him a faithful man.

Next, we have a small example of not faithful:

Luke 19:20-26 And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, (table, money changers) that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury (interest)? And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.

This last verse is fascinating. To those that have, more shall be given. And from him that hath not, even that which we hath shall be taken away. This is written here in the context of money. It is a principle of life. In our vernacular, we might say, “Use it or lose it.”

We could also see that as Christians begin to apply these principles, they acquire more and more. But those that do not apply them continue to have lack.

This expression also occurs in:

Mar 4:25  For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.

Here the principle is used of knowledge and understanding. If you have gained some knowledge and understanding — think about it, incorporate it into your life, God will give you even more. If the knowledge and understanding go in one ear and out the other, you will lose what you do have.
As you apply those things in the area of money, you are much more likely to apply them in other fields as well.  So remember:

Luke 16:0 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

So, as a Principle of Prosperity, Faithful may include:

Giving,
Saving,
Staying out of debt,
Diligence in business and personal finances,
Trusting God,

And other things.

Everything really belongs to God anyway and as in the parables we are stewards of that which God has entrusted to us. As we learn to incorporate these principles into our lives, we will show ourselves to be faithful stewards… Then He will be able to trust us with even more and he will be able to give us the true riches. This is all part of learning about The Prosperous Life.