It was almost a year ago that I posted over a several week time-period a series of blogs on prosperity. Those blogs were inspired by several events which motivated me to write down a few thoughts which I had learned on the subject. The first event was the beginning of the “Great Pandemic” as people were seized by their fears and the loss of income and jobs. The great debate surrounded government checks and resources and how we would navigate this “locked-down” world. People were scrambling for government’s monetary crumbs when God’s Word promised far more for His people.
The second event was the general irritation I was feeling through social media with regards to the attacks on prosperity. A number of well-known pastors and teachers decided it was the time to expound their view (incorrectly) of prosperity. The fallacious and erroneous attacks upon biblical prosperity was more than I could endure. The “gaslighting” that was happening to the Church concerning prosperity by high visibility Christian leaders had to be addressed. At a time when people, many of whom were Christians, were losing their jobs and income, it was incomprehensible to me to undermine their hope and faith that God might have a better plan. It was especially egregious when you consider that the same leaders who were writing books against the so-called “prosperity gospel” were making millions from those book sales. It became the height of irony and incredulity.
I encourage the reader of this specific blog to take the time to go back and read my previous thoughts as one blog cannot review and encapsulate the whole of my thinking and what the Bible teaches.
You can find that series at this blog site…
To get back to the original premise of these blogs…
I believe in Biblical prosperity.
There is no virtue in poverty.
In fact, I would challenge the pastors and critics who blast prosperity teaching, what alternative they might suggest? Would you rather God’s people languish in lack and need? Would it somehow be better for God’s people to rely on public safety nets or charitable benevolence? Perhaps the people begging at interstate exits and intersections are the truly spiritual ones. Please, do not try to spin my remarks as somehow being uncompassionate towards those who are in legitimate need and lacking basic resources. Do not suggest that I am oblivious to the needs of many. You might be surprised as to the depths of my compassion towards those living in difficult financial situations both here in America and across the globe. My point is, why would we undermine the hope and possibility that God might indeed have a better financial future and plan than simply living off the resources of others or pay-check to pay-check? Or why would we avoid the biblical context of why some prosper, and others may not? Again, I would encourage you to check out the previous 17 articles and absorb the whole context.
But my point at this moment is that we must break our attachment to poverty.
Poverty is not a teaching tool of God, it is not a vow we should take, it is not a blessing-in-disguise. It is a curse. It is a negative thing, it is evil, it causes grief and pain. Poverty is not and never will be a good thing. “…The destruction of the poor is their poverty”. (Proverbs 10:15)
One of the foundational truths we must apprehend if we desire to prosper is that poverty is not virtuous; rather, it is a curse.
Don’t believe me? Just read Deuteronomy 28:15-31, and you will see quickly that God considers poverty and lack to be a curse.
Now having said that, I am not de facto declaring that everyone gets to drive a Lexus or Bentley. I have not said that it is God’s Will that you have a primary residence, a beach house, and a mountain getaway. I made no intimation, much less a promise, that everyone gets to be a millionaire and you will never have a financial need. I have not said that you will never go through a season of need or financially challenging times. I am simply saying that poverty as a perpetual state is not virtuous. It may be a reality at this current moment of life, but it is not to be accepted as perpetual, unaddressable, and somehow God’s Will. Whether one lives in first-world or third-world environments, I maintain that poverty is something to be resisted and not accepted.
“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7a)
To break poverty patterns and position yourself for genuine biblical prosperity, you must renounce and release a poverty mentality. Poverty is not exclusively the lack of basic needs, but also encompasses the FEAR of not having enough.
“I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.” (Psalm 37:25)
God has your back IF you obey and practice His precepts.
So, let me suggest several things you can start doing to adjust your mentality so your hope and faith can be enlarged to experience true prosperity…
1. Meditate on God’s promises of provision and prosperity.
Quit reading and swallowing the books of those authors who constantly undermine the biblical reality of God prospering His people. Many of those authors are multimillionaires siphoning off your money in their book sales to keep you content in your poverty while they enjoy their incredible net worth. I’m not sure how they live in that duplicity but reject it and get your face back into the Bible.
Believe what God’s Word clearly says about the Lord desiring that His people increase.
2. Pray (speak aloud) the scriptural promises of God’s provision.
The best way I have found to establish faith in my heart is by praying (out loud) Scripture. I know I am praying God’s Will when I pray the Word. I know there are some ministries who have taught that a person should pray only once about something and then “stand in faith”. I get that teaching position at some levels, but I still believe we can pray God’s Word as frequently as we can read it. That means we can do it constantly. I also make sure I thank God consistently for His fidelity to His Word and He can be counted on because He cannot lie. As I say His Word out loud that will begin to replace my poverty mentality and position me to believe the Lord for greater things.
3. Quit criticizing the prosperous for their prosperity.
Quit being the judge of people’s resources. Rejoice with those who are promoted, elevated, blessed, and prosperous. Realize that what God can do for others, He certainly could do for you. We need to be cheerleaders when our brothers and sisters in the Lord are enlarged.
4. Practice the principles of prosperity (The 5-W’s in previous blogs)
Your obedient actions will position you for God’s enlargement.
I want you to hear me carefully…
I want YOU to prosper as a believer. I believe resources in the hands of the righteous is a far better thing than in the hands of the wicked. I want YOU to be a blessing and a giver, rather than a perpetual taker and receiver. I want YOU to leave an inheritance to your children and grandchildren of both spiritual legacy and financial blessing (that’s biblical folks!). I want YOU to know the “exceedingly, abundantly beyond that which you could ask or think”.
I want God’s BEST for YOUR life…
Do you want that for your life?
It starts by recognizing that your poverty mentality is not virtuous.
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