Many Christians make faces toward people like me who believes in godly prosperity. They often strive to warn me to not go after the prosperity. I truly appreciate their warnings because I know they love me. However what they don't know is I don't go after it. I don't need to because I already am in Christ Jesus.
Many people will call me arrogant for talking that way. The Indonesian-Indonesian dictionary defines "arrogant" as "exaggerating, proud, and pompous."
By using those definitions, I don't exaggerate since I already am prosper in Christ Jesus (read Ephesians 1:3). I don't exaggerate since I only speak what God says about me, that I am rich through His poverty (read 2 Corinthians 8:9).
The word "arrogant" also implies that you feel and act as if you are. Within this definition, people really can't say I'm arrogant because I indeed AM prosperous in Christ Jesus.
I don't care whether other people believe it or not. I don't even care whether I already have a lot of possession in the natural or not. What I'm doing is say those things that are not as though they are. This is what Abraham did when he was already barren and Sarah's womb has been closed. God changed their name so that they can think and act like God, calling that be not as though they were (Romans 4:17).
At the moment I cannot be seen rich with a lot of natural wealth in possession, however I call myself prosperous as I'm on my way to the godly prosperity that God has prepared for me before the foundation of the world.
By calling myself prosperous all the time—in good times when I have money or in bad times when I don't or in debt—I'm releasing my faith that will move the angels to bring wealth my way. It's the same with Abraham and Sarah. By calling themselves "Father and Mother of many nations", they made themselves able to conceive a child after years of barrenness. That's how powerful our words are! With our words we are justified and we can also be condemned (Matthew 12:37).
For a lot of people, the word prosperity relates to possession of a lot of money or things. However if we study the Bible about prosperity, possession of a lot of money and things is only a part of prosperity but that's not it.
Psalm 35:27 says, Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually , Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
The Lord has pleasure in our prosperity. If "prosperity" only means having a lot of money or things, how about rich people with asthma. Will the Lord have pleasure in him? Of course not! We know for sure that sickness doesn't come from God but the devil. Then how about rich people with broken marriage and broken family? Indeed the Lord won't have pleasure in that situation. How about those who get rich through evil schemes: selling drugs, extorting other people, or running a brothel? There is no way God will have pleasure on their prosperity gained from sinning because He knows that the wage of sin is death (even though those people are Christians).
Consequently the word prosperity must mean more than having a lot of money and things. The Hebrew word for prosperity is “shâlôm” which means happiness, peace, health, whole, no lack.
God will have pleasure if we have “shâlôm.” God will have pleasure if we are healthy, live in abundance not in lack, have no debt, have a good job, have a harmonious family, etc. In other words it pleases God when we have life in abundance (John 10:10).
Before man was created, God first created a beautiful home for him, i.e. the garden of Eden. All that is good and perfect were there in that garden.
In that garden man was given full authority as owner and keeper. Everything in the garden was the man's and could be used for his purpose and pleasure. God only sanctified one tree, that is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God warned Adam that if he ate from that tree he would die—live in curse. After committing the high treason, Adam and Even didn't die physically, but they went into curse (read Genesis 3).
This is the same way God sanctify tithe (Leviticus 27:30). What's the consequence of "eating" your tithe? Curse! (Malachi 3:8-10). Will our finances die instantly? No! But we enter into curse where with much difficult we earn money and get things we need to live a good life.
The Lord sanctifies tithe. It means the tithe has to be given back to Him. Does that mean He needs the tithe? Will He lack if we don't? That's not the reason.
If we bring our tithe to His storehouse, it means we honor Him and make Him Lord over our life. That's why He asks us to bring tithe to His house and test Him to pour His blessing to us. Even the devourer is rebuked out of our life (Malachi 3:11). Remember, God wants us to live in abundance (John 10:10, Malachi 3:12). So our obedience in tithing will bring us profit, not loss!
Obedience in tithing and offering will place us and God in a covenant of prosperity. If we obey Him all the time, the Lord is obligated to ensure that we don't live in lack for the rest of our life. Awesome!
For I know the thoughts
that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to
give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray
unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye
shall search for me with all your heart. And I will found of you, saith the
Lord:... (Jeremiah 29:11-14).
The life plan that God has prepared for anybody who believes in His Son, Jesus Christ, is the life plan filled with peace or shâlôm. James 1:17 says, Every good gift and every perfect gift in from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
From the above scriptures we clearly see that anything evil and give hopeless future doesn't come from God.
It means sickness, accident, birth defect, bankruptcy, poverty, failure, unemployment, lack, debt, and other life experiences that don't bring peace and hopeful future must come from the devil—not God.
Thus religious sayings such as, "It may be God's will that I'm out of job so that I have a lot of time to fellowship with Him." Or "God doesn't allow me to have children so I can concentrate to preach the Gospel." Or "My child is involved in drug abuse. That's the cross I have to bear as a minister of God." Or "God allows this car accident to make my husband turn to Him and cease from his adultery." And many other sayings alike, are totally wrong.
If it's true God makes someone kicked out of job so that he can have more time to fellowship with Him, God may have to make a lot of Christians out of job so that they can spend more time fellowshipping with Him.
If God closes a minister's wife's womb and makes her barren so that he can concentrate preaching the Gospel, how come He opened Sarah's womb to conceive Isaac? Our God must be a strange God.
If God asks a Gospel minister to "bear his cross" or suffer in his life because God "allows" his child to be involved in drugs, then I will quit serving that kind of God. He's too heartless! But thank God it's not true. The Lord never asks us to bear cross, because right before He surrendered His spirit He said that it's finished. It means we don't need to bear what He's born on the cross.
Imagine that God actually allows one's spouse who commits adultery gets into an accident. Churches may be half empty because many family members are in hospitals' waiting room. But that's not true, right?! The God that we serve cannot do anything else but love because He is love (John 3:16; 1 John 4:16,19).
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love: and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him (1 John 4:16).
God is love. God doesn't only have love, but He Himself is love. It's also written that the Word is God Himself (John 1:1). Let's apply this truth in the following verses: In the beginning was Love, and the Love was with God, and the Love was God...And the Love was made flesh... (John 1:1,14).
God Who is Love says that He will never leave nor forsake us (Hebrew 13:5). He will be with us till end of time (Matthew 28:20).
God Who is Love has sent us His Word to heal us (Proverbs 4:22; Psalm 107:20).
God Who is Love promises total protection to those who make Him their refuge (Psalm 91).
The promises of God Who is Love don't only apply to us personally but also to our children and grandchildren, for instance Isaiah 54:13; Isaiah 61:9; Psalm 112:2; Psalm 37:25.
God Who is Love promises that there's no barrenness for those who believe (Exodus 23:26; Deuteronomy 7:14). Many women who were barren then gave birth to a child. See Sarah, Hannah—Samuel's mother, the Shunammite who prepared a room for Elisha, and Elizabeth—mother of John the Baptist.
This is only a small part of God's promises that are available for those who believe in Jesus Christ. If we study the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to teach us then we will receive understanding of the Word that we will not perish (Hosea 4:6).
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge... (Hosea 4:6). God doesn't say that His people are destroyed because they don't pray enough. A lot of people pray in church but their marriage is ruined, their finances are doomed, or their ministry failed.
God also doesn't say that His people are destroyed because they don't belong to a certain church, or baptized in a certain manner, or actively involved in church activities.
God plainly says that we will be destroyed if we don't know His Word—not because we haven't been taken to heaven, saw visions, dreams, received prophecy, or laid hands on by an anointed gospel minister.
The above verse simply emphasizes the importance of knowing God—God Who is the Word, Who is Love.
No wonder apostle Paul prayed that we may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God (Ephesians 3:18-19).
Understanding of Love means understanding of the Word, that also means understanding of God personally. For God Who is Love is so deep and passes natural knowledge, it takes the Holy Spirit to get such spiritual understanding.
In order for us to live in God's covenant of prosperity, we need to get knowledge and understanding of the Word of God concerning the covenant.
The first step to take is hear the Word of God attentively. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). We should go where full gospel is preached. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you where you should go to fellowship and learn the Word so that you can receive all that God has prepared for you before the foundation of the world.
Refuse to compromise with half of gospel. Don't be complacent with your knowledge of the Word. Whatever you know of the Word—it doesn't matter how long you've studied the Word—is not even half of what it is.
If you are prone to sickness, then you don't know God enough. If every month you still live in survival mode, then you don't know Him enough. If you're married without children (given you're willing to have them), then you don't know Him that well. If you still can't forgive someone who did you wrong, then it means you don't know God enough. If you fear the devil, then you don't have enough knowledge of Him.
I don't say that you don't know Him at all. I trust you know the Lord Jesus and have confessed that He is Lord and Savior. However you may not know Who He is (and who you are in Him) in some areas of life, such as the areas mentioned earlier.
If you attend a service, expect God to answer your prayers through His Word. Don't attend a service because you don't want your neighbor to think bad of you. Don't go to church because it's a Sunday routine. Come to church with a teachable heart and God will surely teach you. Expect to be strengthened, conformed, and healed through the preaching of His Word in that service.
After hearing His Word, the next step is to meditate on it. Don't let anything that you hear in a church service that you attend only be kept in notebook.
It doesn't do you good to highlight your Bible or note down the date next to the scripture that you read as a reminder that you've read it once. All of that is not wrong, but it will not be beneficial to you if you don't meditate on it day and night.
If you don't meditate on it, then you won't get the understanding. You may be able to quote the scripture eloquently, but it won't bring you any good.
Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1:7-8).
Subsequent to meditation of Word, you must do it. Too many Christians don't become doers of the Word. They only count on their "faith confession." They forgot that there are things in the natural that they have to do, say pray for those who persecute you, or bless those who curse you.
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone...Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? (James 2:17,22).
The Lord always does His part
and He never fails. Find out what our part to do is in God's covenant of
prosperity and do it! Afterward you get ready to receive His promises manifest
in your life—food,
children's education, mate, children, job, ministry, healing, house, etc.
Hallelujah!!!