Prosperity

One of the most amazing promises of scripture is that of prosperity, but what is prosperity? And is God's view of prosperity very different from ours? Our sufficiency in Christ is different than just acquiring wealth, for it embodies the whole man, not just what we can acquire.

Webster’s 1828 dictionary says:

PROSPER'ITY, noun [Latin prosperitas.] Advance or gain in anything good or desirable; successful progress in any business or enterprise; success; attainment of the object desired; as the prosperity of arts; agricultural or commercial prosperity; national prosperity. Our disposition to abuse the blessings of providence renders prosperity dangerous.

The prosperity gospel in our time has become so twisted and distorted from God’s view of prosperity, it has been built upon greed and amassing wealth instead of us just living in His abundance and giving to others and extending the Kingdom of God.

God does want all of us to live prosperous lives where our needs are met, but even more than that He desires for us to have His type of abundance where we have all of His resources and influence to invest into the world around us so that our lives are changed, and so that others are changed as well.  

The enemy has also fed us the lie that there is something spiritual about being poor, and that evil men hoard all the resources.  There is nothing spiritual about being poor, unless we have been called to a life of poverty and give everything we have to the poor and live destitute by choice out of obedience to the Lord.  Even then we are still dependent upon God's provision to meet our daily needs. 

Proverbs 29:2 (NKJV)

² When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;

But when a wicked man rules, the people groan.

 

God’s word has a different approach to prosperity than what we would normally expect, prosperity is not about amassing wealth or becoming greedy, it is about increasing in all aspects of our personal lives and growth in Christ.

Paul uses the supreme example of Jesus:

2 Corinthians 8:9 (NKJV)

⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

Although Jesus enjoyed equality with God, he willingly gave it up to save us (Phil. 2:5-8). 
He became a curse for us so that we might escape the curse and be blessed instead (Gal. 3:13).

Through Christ’s willingness to give, we share in His riches. Grace is not an abstract theory — it is practical. It had physical results in the life of Jesus, and it should have physical results in our lives too.

So what grows inside us when we allow grace to do it’s work?  It is generosity that flows through us, and it is the main thing, as well as the other fruits of the spirit becoming manifested in our lives in due time.

2 Corinthians 9:7-8 (NKJV)

⁷ So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

Sowing and reaping is not about us giving to God and somehow thinking that He now owes us something back, that is not how it works.  That type of belief system is part of the corrupt prosperity gospel which has been sold to so many Christians as the truth and has brought many into bondage.  We cannot force God to respond to our efforts.  Sowing into the Kingdom is a transaction that happens first in our hearts so that as we respond out of generosity to the love from God’s heart, we begin to take on (or adopt) God’s heart for others and the world around us.  It also changes us and our capacity to perceive and receive opportunities to prosper as they are presented to us.

 

Psalm 35:27 (NKJV)

²⁷ Let them shout for joy and be glad,

Who favor my righteous cause;

And let them say continually,

“Let the Lord be magnified,

Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”

In Genesis 1:28, the very first command God gave to mankind was to be fruitful and multiply, not to become miserable and poor.  We were designed in the very image of God to rule and reign on the earth as Kings, not to live destitute as paupers. 

So a starting point would be to ask the proper question “is it God’s will for me to prosper?” And “what does it mean for me to prosper?" and then "What does that look like for me?"

The enemy has brought out many lies which counter the truth of scripture through deception which has been revealed in two major ways:

     1.      Through greed, and the “get rich quick” schemes and scams by getting something for nothing.

     2.      Through the belief that there is a “spiritual blessing” in being poor.

Proverbs 10:15 (NKJV)

¹⁵ The rich man’s wealth is his strong city;

The destruction of the poor is their poverty.

Those who are poor, hardly have time for God or family, they are struggling just to make ends meet under the stress and pressures of life.  It can actually become a form of temptation. 

Strong’s concordance defines the Greek word for temptation as pā-rä-smo's which means “an enticement to sin, temptation, whether arising from the desires or from the outward circumstances of the condition of things, or a mental state, by which we are enticed to sin.”  Anything that causes one to be in the position of placing their focus on striving is temptation which can seduce them into compromising their life away from the freedoms afforded them by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

Proverbs 4:23 (NKJV)

²³ Keep your heart with all diligence,

For out of it spring the issues of life.

In the above verse the word "issues" could also be interpreted as boundaries.  The limitations we face in life we may think are caused by external things like the economy, circumstances or by people who oppose us, but the truth is our boundaries are internal and determined by what we think about ourselves.  In Christ as we grow in our knowledge of  Him ― and who He says we are,  we rest in the knowledge that we are His children.  As we begin to understand that all of His promises are for us, our boundaries will continue expand and grow, and our limitations will become less and less.  He becomes our sufficiency.

2 Corinthians 8:7 (NIV)

⁷ But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

Our prosperity should be something that increases our lives on every level, not just financially.  It isn’t about getting more, it is excelling “…in this grace of giving.”  You only get the capacity to receive grace, as opposed by your capacity to give it away. 

My prayer is that God would give us a capacity to invest and give away the many blessings He has given us so freely, that we may extend His Kingdom and ministry to our immediate world.  As grace works in our heart it’s outcome will always expand our boundaries and our sphere of influence.  

Stephen Barnett
God is good all the time—all the time God is good!

Dove’s Eyes

Words and Music by Misty Edwards

I don't want to talk about You

Like You're not in the room

I want to look right at You

I want to sing right to You

I believe You are listening

I believe that You move

At the sound of my voice

Give me dove's eyes

Give me undistracted devotion

For only You

I don't want to talk about You

Like You're not in the room

I want to look right at You

I want to sing right to You

Forerunner Music © 2007
The lyrics above are copyrighted by the respective artists and are demonstrated here for educational purposes only and not for profit.