Category Archives: The Prosperous Life

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Can God Trust You?

Jesus taught many things about living life during his ministry.  When he taught about being faithful, he used stories of servants handling their master’s funds. From this, we can learn how to better handle the money God gives or trusts us with.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches the story of the unjust steward. (For a more detailed study on this story, follow this link) This steward used his master’s funds, which was a financial loss to his master, to make a good position for himself when he was let go. Jesus used this man as an example of what faithful was not.  The Pharisees, who loved money more than God, knew he was speaking about them, and it made them angry.

At the end of the story, Jesus makes four statements about faithfulness:

1.    Luke 16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much:
2.    And he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. (This is what the steward was called in this record – unjust.)
3.    Luke 16:11 If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? (True riches – the truly spiritual understanding of God’s Word!)
4.    Luke 16:12 And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?
(And if you have not been faithful in the use of that [earthly wealth] which belongs to another [whether God or man and of which you are a trustee], who will give you that which is your own? Amplified Bible)

This servant/steward had made his master poorer so that the servant could be taken care of when he was removed. The master said he was wise, but Jesus said:

Luke 16: 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.

Jesus used money to teach faithfulness because, at the end of the day, it is easy to count.  If the master had $1000.00 at the start of the week and only $500.00 at the end of the week, the steward did not prosper the master.  He prospered himself.  That is not faithful.

Now, in another story, the man gave some of his servants certain amounts of money and told them to trade with it, and he would take account when he returned.

Matthew 25:19-26 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. (This is the secret that the wealthy understand but the poor do not.)

So, the steward in the first story was found to be unfaithful and unjust. Two of the servants in Matthew were found to be good and faithful.

Jesus taught about faithfulness here by using money. (Interestingly the Greek word translated “faithful” in the gospels only occurs in one other scripture where it is translated believing. Thus, using money is the way Jesus taught about what faithfulness was). Consider this.  When David dedicated his things to the temple, he declared that everything we have comes from God, and it all still belongs to Him.  We are simply managers/stewards of the things God has trusted us with. As stewards/managers of God’s blessings/funds, He asks us to give some, to save some, and to stay out of debt.  As I have noted in other writings, if you start giving and saving when you are young, the results can be astounding.

Jesus taught what it was to be faithful using money. What would happen if the church taught financial responsibility?  Mostly you hear the church teach tithing.  Some churches go a step further and teach “give and it shall be given unto you”, but that is where the teaching stops.  This is just the beginning of the principles of prosperity. But this way the church receives its funds, and if they teach that God will give back to the giver, that is usually all you hear.  As to the rest of the principles of prosperity God included in His Word that I have covered in other blogs, well, they leave the believer dangling in the wind to figure it out for themselves.

Why do churches not teach about the proper handling of finances?  They are involved in teaching many other topics. The church is involved in everything from marriage counseling and parenting to running schools and homeless shelters. But running seminars on personal finance is not something that has ever been commonly done. Instead, the church has taught many negative things about money for thousands of years.  As soon as you bring up the topic of money in church circles, you are likely to hear, with a wagging finger, “the love of money is the root of all evil” or “you are storing up treasure on earth”. It is no wonder so many Christians have a hard time prospering. We cannot do or believe beyond what we are taught.

As I drive about the countryside in my state, I see many poor-looking churches.  I can’t help but think if these churches taught their people the great principles of prosperity that, their members would be much better off financially, and the church itself would not have to stand on the street and beg for money as I have seen some do.

Why not teach our young people the biblical principles? Teach them faithfulness in the things of God using money as the tool, as Jesus did! Show them how to give, how to save, and how then to stay out of debt.

When we are faithful in the physical things of this world, unrighteous mammon, we show God and others we can be trusted. Jesus then said we will be given more in the way of finances. And then we can be trusted with the truly spiritual things of God.

Proverbs 28:20 – “A faithful man will abound with blessings.”
1 Corinthians 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

Matthew 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Note: He is made ruler over many things, not just a steward of money.  Why?  He was a faithful man and would carry out the additional duties with that same faithfulness.)

Faithful to carry out God’s Word with our money is just the beginning.  God has promised we will abound with blessings as we pursue this discipline in pursuit of The Prosperous Life.

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Attitude

A Short on Prosperity #10

With money, attitudes make a large difference. In many areas of life, it is a known factor that success depends 80% on attitude and 20% on your technique.  What is our attitude towards God’s willingness and ability to prosper us as we carry out His word?  Consider the following:  You are out of town and become stuck there and need a hotel room.  Your mind may say, “I can’t spend the money on a hotel room. I can’t. I need that money for something else.” It causes a lot of angst in your life. However, if you took the Attitude, “I am glad I have the money, so I will get the room, and things will work out. God will supply.”, you relieve yourself of so much mental pressure, and then things just work better. Attitude.

Many people teach that economics is a zero-sum game.  A zero-sum game is one where, in order for me to receive more, you have to have less. If the economy was a large pie, then for me to get a bigger piece of that pie, yours would have to be smaller.  If that was true, who was the loser when God filled the woman’s pots with oil?  God did not take from anyone to give that to her.  That is why we call it a miracle. No, economics is not a zero-sum game. As we labor, we add value to the economy, and we are paid for our labor. Sometimes our labor produces products out of raw materials.  Those products, with our labor added in, are worth far more than the raw materials. If in order for some to have more, others have to do with less, and there is only a finite amount available, what was available when the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock?  Not much.  But with their labor and the labor of the following generations, we became the richest nation on earth.  We used the raw materials and added great wealth into the world and our nation. Attitude.

When looking at the topic of attitude, if you’re married, you need to work on the principles of prosperity together. It works the best if the husband and wife are on the same page. If one is pulling one way and the other is pulling in the opposite direction, you may make very little progress. Work together until you are both pulling in the direction of the Word. Read this book and other books together and discuss what you are learning. You can help and encourage each other with your understanding and with what God’s Word says on the topics. Attitude.

Remember, some people, rather than doing the work of learning about prosperity and rising up in their believing and understanding, find it easier to drag you down to their level of unbelief. Then they don’t look so bad. They will say, “See, he could not do it either;” “Giving was under the law;” “It did not work for him.”  You come to realize that no matter what you teach them, they just do not want to do this stuff.  Don’t argue with them; just let them be.

This is why sometimes it is best to keep your believing to yourself. Many times, you might take a lesson from the book, The Millionaire Next Door.  If you have believing, have it to yourself before God.  

Monitor your accounts every week to see growth or holes in your bag. (Read The Richest Man in Babylon.)

Sit down once a year and examine all that you are paying for.

Can you get rid of it?
Can you reduce the price?
Can you get it cheaper somewhere else?
(We have called our insurance agent several years in a row because of increases and in some cases saved some money.)

Although there may be many more topics I could include here on attitude, the last one I wanted to address is fear. One reason people are tight with their money is fear or pinched thinking. You overcome fear by putting the Word in your mind. Some of the ways this fear manifests itself are the following:

  1. A fear of going broke which is a failure to believe that God will prosper them.
  2. A fear of being wasteful or greedy.
  3. A fear that they won’t have enough to pay their next large bill, so they do without, or they don’t tip, or they buy cheap, or they don’t pay current small bills out of fear that they won’t be able to pay the next large one, or they don’t give much.

Ask yourself, where these fears and thoughts come from, and then correct them. Attitude.

If our Father is a God of abundance, and His Word clearly states that He is, then why should we ever suffer any lack? It’s only because of our own pinched, limited thinking and our own believing. We simply don’t trust that He will do what He has said. Attitude.

Once you recognize this, if you have that problem, then go to work. Put God’s Word in your mind: “My Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills.” Psalm 50:12. “Beloved, I wish above all things…” 3 John 1:2. You say to your mind, “This is our new standard.” “It may be uncomfortable at first, but this is how I am going to conduct my life.” When the thought or the feeling comes, “You won’t have enough,” just say, “The Lord will provide.” Attitude.

Then as you begin to give and save the money God blesses you with, the change in your attitude will enable you to see further down the road, and The Prosperous Life God intended for His children to have will become more real.

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Borrowed Money

A Short on Prosperity #9

I have heard it said that the government is simply a reflection of the people who put it into office.  Our government spends all it confiscates in taxes and then borrows/prints more.  Most of us as people do the same.  As a society, we spend all we make and then borrow more by loans and credit cards.  We would print more ourselves, but for us, that is illegal.

As we left the chiropractor’s office this morning early, we noticed in a popular strip mall that several once-popular businesses were no longer there.  Sad.  But apparently, this is true all across the country.  According to Fortune, more than 110.000 eating and drinking establishments closed in 2020. According to CBS NEWS, 9 million US small businesses fear they won’t survive the pandemic.  Sad again.  What could these people have done to prevent this?

I have heard over the past few years in the farming industry, farms that have been in families for generations are in danger or have already been foreclosed on by the banks.  Why is this?

The causes of these tragedies may be numerous.  But here is a thought.

Our tendency as humans is to think that tomorrow will be just like today.  So, in years of plenty, we take out loans and expand our businesses or build new barns.  Nothing inherently wrong with this except when it is done on borrowed money.  If you use the money for expansion from a savings fund your business had set up, then when hard times come, as they always do, the lender won’t be coming to take your farm or business.

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

We are to serve God, not take the abundance He gives us and give it away to the banker so he can make a living. And work to serve the lender.

Deuteronomy 28:12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, 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.

How do you set up yourself to not be a servant to the lender? How do you set up your life to be a lender and not a borrower?

1.    Stop using credit cards and borrowing money for cars, business expansion, etc.
2.    Pay off the debt you now have as fast as possible.
3.    At the same time, set up an emergency fund for unexpected expenses.
4.    Set up separate funding/saving accounts for large expenses.

a.    School for your offspring
b.    Business expansion
c.    Machine replacement
d.    Retirement
e.    Vacations

Think about this. God asks us to give at least 10% or a tithe to him.  That is troubling to some people, and they don’t give.  Yet we have no problem paying 7-20% on a credit card.  We sometimes pay the lender twice what God asks for as an everyday occurrence!!

Think:

1.    What if businesses and farms put aside money this same way and never borrowed?
2.    What if your town put aside money this same way and never borrowed?
3.    What if your state put aside money this same way and never borrowed?

This all starts at the grassroots level. Since we are part of the grassroots level, we as God’s children, should set our own fiscal house in order, then go to the next level and run for city council. Help our cities set their fiscal house in order and work our way up to the federal government.

It starts with us. Save your money!!  Live on less than you earn!!  And remember, the following idea is found five places in the gospels. Apparently, God wants us to pay attention.

Matthew 25:29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

There are many buried treasures in God’s Word that, as we think, teach us about The Prosperous Life.

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Have Some Respect for Yourself

Work hard at your job, and you can make a living.
Work hard on yourself, and you can make a fortune. Jim Rohn

 

It would seem that there are many things to learn when you are learning about The Prosperous Life.

First, you would want to get born from above. No matter how much money you make or how high you climb in the corporate world or politics, if all you have to look forward to is 70 years and a hole in the ground; that is not much of a prosperous life.

If you have confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord and if you believe that God raised him from the dead, then you truly already have a prosperous eternal life to look forward to.

While we are awaiting the return of our lord, there are many aspects to The Prosperous Life to learn about. This one aspect starts with a story.

I walked into a warehouse the other day that I am in occasionally and observed the people walking around and through. There were people from the office, dressed very nicely, passing through checking on orders, men who apparently had decided that the warehouse was their life’s work, and another man that was the warehouse manager.

The warehouse manager was dressed nicely as well, clean-shaven, nice work pants, shirt tucked in and smiling as he hurried about. The other people who probably were going to be ware-housemen for the rest of their lives dressed less thoughtfully. Their pants needed washing. Their shirts were not tucked in. Some needed to shave.

It was easy to tell which ones were heading up. The next stop would be counter sales and then outside sales which would all pay better than working in the warehouse.

A few years ago, I was with a man that was doing bathtub repairs for a living. He got a speck of paint on his jeans and it irritated him. He said, “Today was the last day for these jeans as they are threadbare, and I got paint on them. Darn!” He took pride in keeping his clothes clean from paint until they were worn out. It was like a self-imposed challenge to keep his clothes spotless.

On the other hand, I have seen many painters that are covered in paint wearing clothes that look like they have not been washed in a month. They wear those paint-covered clothes like a badge of honor. “I am a painter!!” constantly wiping their paint-covered hands on their pants.

How much work would it be to keep a towel on your belt to wipe your hands on and keep your clothes clean?

I have a paint store that I have bought supplies from for years. I have seen the owner many times in the back mixing paint with never a spot on his clothes. His wife buys his shirts from garage sales cheap, and when he gets paint on one, it goes in the trash. He is always neat. He cares about his appearance, and he will probably take care to get your order right.

In the work I do, I am constantly knocking on people’s doors during the daytime. Many times the husband is at work and when that young woman with two young ones in tow looks out the peephole, what do you think she would be more comfortable seeing? Someone dressed neatly, and clean-shaven or someone with grease and paint on their pants, holes in their shirt, and a three-day-old beard on their face?

A three-day beard on Friday night may be cool, but it is not cool when knocking on a young woman’s door, whose husband is gone, on Monday morning. It looks scraggily!

This is not just my thinking.  Some of the companies that I work for call the people after we have fixed the issue in their customer’s homes. They ask the client:

•    Were they on time?
•    Were they dressed nicely?
•    Were they clean-shaven?
•    Were you comfortable with them in your home?”

The reason is that I may be the only person associated with that company that the client has ever seen, and the company wants to be represented well.

How you dress says a lot about you. If you don’t pay much attention to how you dress, maybe you are not going to:

•    Pay much attention to your job,
•    Or to your speech,
•    Or to the important details of your companies clients,
•    Or their orders.

Sometimes people will try you out on a job or two to see what you are like —  how do you dress, do you show up on time, are you easy to work with, etc.  If they like what they see, you could step into a mega account.  You just never know where the next job will lead.  This is why establishing good work ethics, principles and habits will pay off in the long run.  

One painting company I was on a forum with on the internet said this: “When our guys come to work, they are expected to wear clean clothes and if they have not shaved, I tell them that there are razors and shaving cream in the restroom. They either shave or they go home.”

I have read about painters that run large shops, and sometimes they include paperhanging as part of their services.  One paint company owner said he had two good paperhangers.  One was a young guy that did absolutely superb work and an old man whose work was good but certainly not the quality of the younger man.  Now the young man was a sloppy dresser, kind of slovenly in appearance.  The older man dressed in traditional painter/paperhanger clothes — slacks, dress shoes, white shirt and tie.  When the painter came to work dressed like this, they would put on some overalls AFTER they had met the people of the home for the day and the owners had gone to work.  When the clients would call back to the shop to request more paper to be hung guess which paperhanger had the most requests?  The old man!! I have heard of this happening in several cases.  Sloppy personal habits make people uneasy.  The workers seem less trustworthy.  Sloppy appearance and work habits are irritating to some people and others are not quite sure they want to leave the person home alone or with their children.

How you dress, personal hygiene, etc. says a lot about how you think about your job and yourself and your ability. This may not be true for every person, but it is what goes through the minds of the people that have the ability to promote you or hire you.

You could learn to observe how the people above you in the company dress and copy their style. (Unless they are slobs!) You will move up faster. (It should go without saying, but sometimes needs to be said anyway, take a bath and use some deodorant!)

Some people seem to think that once they are hired for a job, it is theirs for life, and how they conduct themselves and how they dress is irrelevant. Your boss may never tell you what he thinks about how you take care of yourself, but, if you don’t pay attention to your outward appearance, don’t be surprised if you are passed up for promotions. Have some respect for yourself.

Everywhere we go we represent our Father and the company that sent us. This is simply another piece of The Prosperous Life.

Proverbs 22:1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches….   (The Living Bible)

(Excerpted from Braker’s Rules for Contractors. Available on Amazon)

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Who wants to be a Millionaire?

A Short on Prosperity #8


I have tried several times to become a prosperous person apparently on my own.  Nothing seemed to work. I used to work from 5 AM to midnight, 7 days a week, for months on end, but I could not seem to get ahead. I tried rental property but lost it all. Eventually, I had to take bankruptcy. 

All this time I gave or tithed to my church/fellowship. Eventually, I began to learn the other principles God laid out in His Word, the Bible, that make prosperity work. These are covered in other blogs.

The attraction of being a millionaire is partly an illusion. We have been fed the lie that millionaires drive luxury cars, live in expensive homes, wear fur, drink expensive wines, and frequent nightclubs.  But a great many of them are extremely hard workers and are self-employed, wise investors, and very watchful of their spending. Most operate the principles of prosperity God designed into the world.

Just to keep some perspective about the term “millionaire”. If you had a million dollars today and took it back to 1900, it would be worth about $30,000. That does not seem like a lot of money.  Inflation is a consumer of wealth.  The term may evoke feelings of wealth, but it is all relative.  Some farmers, for instance, maybe worth a million, but the worth is all tied up in their farm and land.  They would have to sell their land or farm or business to have cash in hand.

1 Timothy 6:9 However, those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful cravings, which cause people to sink into ruin and destruction.  WTJ

If your great desire is for wealth or riches, you are likely to put the wrong things first in your life and sink into ruin and destruction. For instance, a list of important functions in a good order might be:

1.    God
2.    Health
3.    Family
4.    Integrity
5.    Career

Many people put their careers first because of the income and their desire for earthly things.  Thus, they sacrifice their relationship with God, their health, their family, and many times their integrity.  This list is only a suggestion, but it is worth thinking about.  

Proverbs 8:11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.

God says that our great desire should be for wisdom because that is far more valuable than rubies, (money, gold, or silver). So, our great desire would start with a desire for the wisdom of God’s Word and then wisdom and understanding in your field of work.  

The wisdom of God would start with how to walk for Him and serve Him, and, in the subject area we are talking about, move into learning how to handle money He entrusts us with. When you read about Solomon, he sought after the wisdom of God, and he learned that the great wisdom of God brought him great wealth.  But he sought God first. That is the key.

So instead of asking the question, “Who wants to be a Millionaire?”, maybe the question should be “Who is willing to seek after the wisdom of God?” Because God promises that if you will seek Him and His wisdom first, he will add all these other things into your life.

Learning to keep our desires in proper order is all part of learning to live The Prosperous Life.