The Challenge of Prosperity

A Short on Prosperity # 14

Many years ago, I heard part of the 73rd Psalm:

Psalm 73:3-7 For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.

I thought, if this is what being wealthy is like, I want nothing to do with money. But I soon came to realize that you must work – your family must eat! But still, I wanted nothing to do with money. I was tithing but still very broke. I did not know what to think or believe. As I began to learn the truth about prosperity, my wife and I had the challenge of changing our minds on several levels.

Part of the challenge of prosperity is the changing of our minds to see the possibility of wealth in a whole new light.

Years ago, our culture adopted the religious “Christian” idea that to have much money is wrong. Our culture believes that the wealthy are greedy, are not honest and obtained their wealth in the gray areas of the law if not illegally. Thus, we have wealthy people depicted in the movies as Dr. Evil and the TV show, American Greed. Sometimes they are referred to as the filthy rich.

Additionally, Christianity has taught and believed that to be truly humble and walk with God you must give up all worldly goods and live from hand to mouth.

God tells a completely different story in His Word.

When God put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, God wanted a family. Children that He could walk and talk with. Children that would love Him. Thus, when He put man on the earth, He also put within the earth everything His man and His family would need to live a healthy and prosperous life.

God put iron, coal, and oil in the earth in such abundance, that without these we would have never had an industrial age. God created and put within the earth all the precious minerals, like gold, silver, and platinum. God created all the inert gases that light your fluorescent lights and make your party balloons float away. God put in and on the earth, everything man would need to be able to enjoy his life here.

Then God put His spirit in man. God gave the man a body and soul so that His man could live here and enjoy the earth He had created for him, and then God put His spirit in man so He could communicate with His family. Then God made Adam His under ruler … in essence, Adam became the god of this world.

When Adam sinned by eating from the forbidden tree, he committed high treason against God. Adam handed over the dominion of the creation to the devil.

Once the devil had dominion, he began to funnel much of the wealth of the world to his people. These people are the ones spoken about in the 73rd Psalm that we read earlier.

AND the devil began to cloud the minds of God’s people about the truth of what they had a right to. As we have seen in other blogs, the devil may be the temporary god of this world, but our Father still is the one that owns the silver and gold and the cattle on a thousand hills.

Once we understand this is true, it is easy to just mentally agree with that truth but not really act on it. Some call this mental assent. The challenge is to not only agree but to believe that what God lays out in His Word is the truth about money and then line our lives, our thinking, and our believing up accordingly.

If these truths become part of your life, then you would tithe/give, save, get out of debt, and learn how to invest and see the prosperity your Father gives you grow. That would involve changing the mind from not only agreeing with these truths but acting on them as well day after day for the rest of your life – living as the sons and daughters God designed us to be.

God’s truths about wealth and prosperity must be retaught in each generation because our mutual enemy puts the church to sleep concerning them over and over. Therefore, much of Christianity is poor when our father’s great wish above all things is for us to prosper and be in health even as our soul prospers.

I will conclude with this quote which seems appropriate:

“One often encounters the viewpoint that anybody who loves God and who believes what God’s Word says is either destined or duty-bound to be poor. What a shame it is that Abraham was excluded from that particular destiny or duty! Abraham had believed what God had said. He had gone where God had told him to go. But he was NOT POOR, rather he was VERY RICH – in cattle, in silver, and in gold. Something must have been wrong! Perhaps what is wrong is not something which was wrong with Abraham, or it is not something which is wrong with God, but perhaps it is rather something which is wrong with our understanding. Abraham was VERY RICH, and he was called by God in Scripture “the Friend of God”.

So, the challenge presented here is to read the records and verses in God’s Word for yourself and then act upon the principles God has laid out in His Word. The reality will become clearer and clearer that God has called us to His family, and His great wish for us is to enjoy The Prosperous Life.

Poverty is a Curse

Lack of funds to meet current debt, bills and long-range obligations has been a problem for a couple of thousand years for God’s people. That is how we would classify poverty.

As I have looked at the subject of prosperity, the verse in 3 John 2 has interested me.

3 John 1:2-4 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.

I wondered why did God pick health and prosperity? He could have said, “Beloved, I wish above all things that you walk in love, renew your minds, forgive one another, manifest the spirit I gave you at the time of the new birth or many other perhaps more spiritual things. But He chose health and prosperity. Why?

In these two areas, our enemy, the devil, has great leverage to afflict God’s people/children. As we will see, God set forth the pattern to overcome these problems years ago.

The first thing to note here in 3 John, verse 2, is that the two verses that follow this speak of God having no greater joy than to hear that His children walk in truth. So that health and prosperity here are tied in verse 2 and verse 4 with walking with God.

This is a large subject, and I am only going to attempt to scratch the surface here. To start, I want to go back to the Pentateuch, but we need a verse from Galatians first.

Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

What was the curse of the law that Christ redeemed us from? Well, those curses are listed in Deuteronomy 28. They are divided into two categories.

Curses Financially

Deuteronomy 28:15-20  But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the ffield.  Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The LORD shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.

Deuteronomy 28:38-40 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it. Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.

Curses for Health

Deuteronomy 28:22  The LORD shall smite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation, and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.

Deuteronomy 28:27-29 The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:  And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.

Deuteronomy 28:35 The LORD shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.

Conclusion of the Curses.

Deuteronomy 28:45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:

Our subject is prosperity, and, in these verses, we see that poverty is a curse.

God’s great desire for His people, His children and His family is health and prosperity. God’s archenemy, the devil, desires for all God’s children to be sickly and poverty-stricken. In this same chapter, God lists out the blessings that will be ours if we walk with Him and obey Him.

Blessings for Finances and Health

(Notice that these blessings are contingent upon listening to and doing His commandments)

Deuteronomy 28:1-14  And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. 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, 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. And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

One of the things we learn here is that God is extremely interested in seeing His children healthy and prosperous. So much so that part of what Jesus Christ paid for was to redeem us from the curse of the law, the curse of poverty and ill health. What a blessing!

But remember, nothing comes automatically. The promises of God are available to us by our believing them. Even the first of the promises, salvation, comes by confessing the Lord Jesus with the mouth and BELIEVING in your heart that God raised him from the dead.

We bring these promises into our lives the same way. We see them come to pass in our lives as we trust/believe that God will do as He has said.

Now, some may say, “Well, that is all Old Testament under the law. We are not under the law anymore nor are we of the tribes of Israel.”  True, but just as God’s desire for health and prosperity for us is laid out in 3 John 2, He laid out His instruction for the same to His people in Deuteronomy. A couple of verses in Romans and 1 John may help.

Romans 13:8-10  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 

 1 John 5:2-3  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Israel under the law, was to hear, to do and to keep, all God’s commandments to see the blessings come to pass in their lives. Our commandment is that we walk in the love of God. By walking in love, we have fulfilled the law.

We saw in 3 John 2 that the great desire of God is that His children prosper and be in health even as our souls prosper.

Prosperity and health have been issues for people ever since the fall of Adam because our adversary, the devil, hates the children of God. In a fallen world, where the devil is the god of this world, God sets out in His Word how to live a prosperous and healthy life. This is the great desire of our Father for us.

This study answered the question for me as to why God chose prosperity and health in 3 John 2 to be the two great things God desired for His children as their souls prosper.  What a loving Father we have. What a wonderful piece of understanding to add to our believing about The Prosperous Life.

 

 

 

Doctrines of Devils

1Timothy 4:1-5  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

A certain Christian group would have many fewer lawsuits if they allowed certain of their leaders to marry. Where did this forbidding of church leaders to marry come from? Doctrines or teachings of devils.

Some groups forbid the eating of certain types of meat, and some secular groups forbid the eating of meat altogether. Where did this teaching come from? Doctrines of devils. Teachings from misguided souls that listened to the wrong source.

I read a short book the other day written by a preacher much older than I that said he grew up in a denomination that said, “God, you keep him (talking about the preacher) humble, and we will keep him poor.”

Where did this teaching that having money was wrong come from? Same as the others. Doctrines or teachings of devils. Since the first and second century, the church has taught that to have money at all was evil. That the pious have renounced all worldly goods. That if you desire more than the needs for the week, you are greedy. God must have changed because God did not present poverty as a virtue in the Old Testament. For instance:

Genesis 24:35 And the LORD hath blessed my master (Abraham) greatly; and he is become great: and he (God) hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses.

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.

2Chronicles 32:29 Moreover he (Hezekiah) provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance: for God had given him substance very much.

If you think that God only prospered certain people that He especially loved and you are not good enough or lovable enough, consider this:

 Romans 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

In the book of Proverbs, God would be addressing all His family, and there He states:

Proverbs 8:21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures (storehouses).

In the last book of the Old Testament, God reminds us:

 Malachi 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not; ….

Toward the end of the New Testament, God again reminds us of another great truth:

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

Health and prosperity are the two great areas where the devil attacks God’s children. But no matter how much you have been attacked by the devil in these two areas, you have the right to reach out and claim your God-given heritage.

The idea of having a lot of money being sinful started as early as 100 AD and came into its own around 300 AD. Here are several quotes from the early church fathers:

You are not making a gift of your possession to the poor person. You are handing over to him what is his.  Ambrose of Milan, 340-397 AD

Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours but theirs.      John Chrysostom, 347-407 AD

Instead of the tithes which the law commanded, the Lord said to divide everything we have with the poor. And he said to love not only our neighbors but also our enemies, and to be givers and sharers not only with the good but also to be liberal givers toward those who take away our possessions.  Irenaeus, 130-200 AD

The rich are in possession of the goods of the poor, even if they have acquired them honestly or inherited them legally. John Chrysostom, 347-407 AD

Now you can see better where this poverty teaching in the church comes from. It came from twisting the scriptures to a devilish end. Our Father is the same today as He was in the days of Abraham, Job and Hezekiah. He is the Lord God, and He does not change. He desires above all things that we prosper and be in health as we keep Him first and love Him in our lives.

2 Peter 3:16-18 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them concerning these things. (In them some things are hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable twist around, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures unto their own destruction.) You, therefore, beloved, since you have foreknown these things, watch so that you are not led astray by the delusion of the lawless ones and fall from your own steadfastness. Instead, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and unto the day of the age. Amen. (WTJ)

The more you look at what God actually said in His Word, you can see His desire for you is to prosper and He wants to fill your storehouses with good things.

So, if you have begun to tithe/give and save as God teaches in His Word, you might find some good books on how to save, invest and become a good steward of the wealth your Father has in store for you.

Learning to look at God’s Word for yourself for your doctrine is all part of The Prosperous Life.

 

 

 

Three Things to Consider Maybe Four

A Short on Prosperity #13

 

Many years ago, I taught someone about tithing/giving on a Friday night. They went home and shared what they learned with another young man. He tithed for the first time in his life on Sunday. On Tuesday, his pager went off and found they had a liver for him. He was jaundiced and needed a liver very badly or he would die. Now he had one. Coincidence? NOT! He was already born again and had manifested the spirit within, but he needed to learn about tithing/giving to receive what His Father wanted to give him back. A huge repayment for a small gift/tithe.

Apparently, each of us has different pieces of the puzzle we need to put together to see the promises of God come to pass in our lives.

Personally, we had to learn to save our money. Save part of what God gave us back as He promises to do in His Word. In Proverbs, God teaches us that we are to honor Him with the first fruits of all our increase, and then He promises to fill our barns (storehouses) for honoring Him — keeping Him first in our lives. I finally saw that a barn or storehouse in our day and time was more like a savings account. Once we diligently started to save, as we were paying off debt, our lives became dramatically different — more prosperous.

I recently read a book by a well-known preacher that God had to teach him personally about prosperity. This is because, overall, the church does not teach what God really says in His Word about how to prosper financially.

That man had laid out his bills before God and said, “You promised if I was obedient and willing, I would eat of the fat of the land.”  He told God his car had been hauled off for junk, and he was afoot. His children were not well fed or clothed, and his family was not well housed. God told him you have “faith” (we might say believing) for healing and I can see that, but you have none for finances. You have “faith” to see people born again and to teach them how to manifest the spirit born within, but you do not apply that “faith” (believing) in your finances.

When God put Adam in the Garden of Eden, God gave Adam dominion over everything. Adam, through a treasonous act, gave his dominion over to the devil. Now the devil is the god of this world. As the god of this world, the two main places he can mess with the lives of God’s children is their finances and their health. Partly, how the devil has messed with the prosperity of God’s children is through wrong teaching/wrong doctrine in the church. You cannot believe beyond what you are taught. If you are taught wrong doctrine, that really impedes your growth financially, as that is our topic here.

The preacher said God told him the devil is the god of this world, but that God still owns the cattle on a thousand hills. God says all the gold and the silver are His. God did not put all this abundance on the earth for the devil and his cohorts. God put these blessings here for His children, His family. We just need to claim what is rightfully ours.

In the 23rd Psalm, it says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not WANT.” That is more than just having food and clothing. God has also promised that He will supply all our needs in Christ. Malachi says God will rebuke the devourer for our sake. Perhaps if you have tithed, saved and endeavored to believe all God has said concerning prosperity, you may need to ask Him to rebuke the devourer and trust that He will. Then expect to see the promises of God come to pass in your life.

Perhaps, we could take a lesson from George Muller and start with small requests. As our trust and believing grow, we can ask for bigger needs to be met and trust God there also.

Each of us may have different areas we need to rise up in. There is much to learn in our walk with God as we grow in our understanding of The Prosperous Life, and as we wait for the return of our lord from heaven.

What does the Bible say about saving money?

A Short on Prosperity #12

(Copied from: https://www.gotquestions.org/saving-money.html)

The Bible teaches that saving money is a wise practice for many different reasons. God is our source and provider for everything we need. “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). One of the main ways God provides for us is through money, and it is our job to steward that money well (Matthew 25:14–27).

We are accountable to God for how we use everything He gives us in this life, including money. Saving money demonstrates good stewardship of the resources God gives us. Saving money allows us to be prepared for the future, and being prepared for the future is good. Proverbs 6:6–8 shows us that this principle is lived out even in nature: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and its food at harvest.” Planning ahead and saving money makes it easier to accomplish goals and allows us to be more effective in ministry (see 1 Corinthians 16:2). When we don’t plan ahead and save money, we are more prone to go into debt, which the Bible tells us is unwise (Proverbs 22:7).

Of course, there are plenty of wrong motives for saving money. If we’re saving money out of fear of the future, it shows we’re not really trusting God to provide (see Luke 12:7; 2 Timothy 1:7). Miserliness is sin, and it’s foolish and arrogant to make money our security. “The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it a wall too high to scale” (Proverbs 18:11), yet riches “will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle” (Proverbs 23:5). First Timothy 6:10 warns against greed, saying, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

To fully understand the value of saving money, we must remember what the Bible says about giving. God desires His people to be cheerful givers (2 Corinthians 9:7). It’s impossible to out-give God! “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38).

Sometimes when God gives us things, be it money or something else, it’s intended for us to give away. Other times, He gives us things that are meant for us to keep for ourselves and use in His service and for His glory. It’s wise to hold everything God gives us loosely so that we can give it away if He asks us to.