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PART II: THE WILL OF GOD AND PRAYER
CHAPTER 11
THE WILL OF GOD
CONCERNING PROSPERITY
Or what man is there of you, whom if his son
ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if
he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil [being a member of the
fallen human race], know how to give good
gifts unto your children, how much more shall
your Father which is in heaven give good
things to them that ask him? (Spoken by
Jesus)(Matthew 7:9-11).
For bodily exercise profiteth little: but
godliness is profitable unto all things,
having promise of the life that now is, and
of that which is to come. (Paul)(1 Timothy
4:8).
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou
mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy
soul prospereth. (John)(3 John 1:2).
Please notice that the Lord Jesus states that God delights
in giving his children more of his Spirit and material gifts.
The Apostle Paul says that serving God profits us both in
this life and in the life to come. Christianity entails not just
"pie in the sky, bye and bye," but also a slice of that pie in
our hands NOW!
The Apostle John tells us that IT IS GOD'S WILL THAT WE
PROSPER AND EXPERIENCE DIVINE HEALTH AS OUR SOULS PROSPER.
Some have equated piety with poverty. However, the Bible
does not condemn having material wealth. Covetousness and greed
are immoral. Material things are amoral. Inanimate things have
no moral nature, and can be used to help or hurt by people who
are moral beings.
"Money is the root of evil," is a misquotation of scripture.
This is way it is written in the Bible:
For the love of money is the root of all
evil: which while some coveted after, they
have erred from the faith, and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows. (1
Timothy 6:10)
Paul states that the LOVE of money is "a root of all kinds of
evil." (NIV). If a person loves money, he might yield to the
temptation to steal, cheat, lie, become a prostitute, sell drugs,
or even murder for money.
On the other hand, if a person loves God and mankind, he
would use his wealth to help people and bring glory to God.
PROSPERITY AND THE OLD COVENANT. Let us examine the Old
Covenant. God considered his people servants, generally.
Continual animal sacrifices were offered which only temporarily
covered sin. The Holy Spirit did not indwell believers as he
does now. There was restoration upon repentance (Psalm 107:17-
21). There were conditional blessings:
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. (Deuteronomy 28:1-14).
Moses writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and gives
ancient Israel conditional promises in Deuteronomy 28:1-14.
Some of these promises were: (1) Financial Prosperity; (2)
Children; (3) Leadership as a Nation; (4) Divine Health; and (5)
Long Life.
Who is the source of financial prosperity? Moses answers,
But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for
it is he that giveth thee power to get
wealth, that he may establish his covenant
which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is
this day. (Deuteronomy 8:18).
Just as there were conditional blessings under the Mosaic
Law, there was the curse of the Law for lawbreakers:
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: (Deuteronomy 28:15)
Moses then continues to enumerate the different kinds of curses
that Israel will bring on itself if it turns to wickedness. It
is probably not a direct affliction by God, but both a natural
consequence of sin and the work of Satan. The Book of Job and
the teaching of the New Testament back up this interpretation.
The curse of the Law can be summarized as (1) Poverty; (2)
Sickness and (3) Death.
PROSPERITY AND THE NEW COVENANT. The New Covenant is better
than the Old Covenant:
But now hath he [Jesus] obtained a more
excellent ministry, by how much also he is
the mediator of a better covenant, which was
established upon better promises. (Hebrews
8:6).
We have been redeemed from the curse of the Law:
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: That the blessing of Abraham might
come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ;
that we might receive the promise of the
Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13-14).
We have also been given the blessings of Abraham, which include
(1) Spiritual; (2) Physical and (3) Financial blessings.
Is a covenant with no healing and no prosperity a better
covenant? The answer is obvious. Some New Testament scriptures
that promise financial prosperity are:
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for
your sakes he became poor, that ye through
his poverty might be rich. (2 Corinthians
8:9).
And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have
holes, and the birds of the air have nests;
but the Son of man hath not where to lay his
head. (Matthew 8:20).
No man can serve two masters: for either he
will hate the one, and love the other; or
else he will hold to the one, and despise the
other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for
your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye
shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye
shall put on. Is not the life more than meat,
and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls
of the air: for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; yet your
heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much
better than they? Which of you by taking
thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider
the lilies of the field, how they grow; they
toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say
unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the
field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast
into the oven, shall he not much more clothe
you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no
thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What
shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be
clothed? (For after all these things do the
Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father
knoweth that ye have need of all these
things. But seek ye first the kingdom of
God, and his righteousness; and all these
things shall be added unto you. (Matthew
6:24-33). [NOTE: Place God first in your
life and all these material things will be
ADDED to you, not taken away!]
But my God shall supply all your need
according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. (Philippians 4:19).
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good
measure, pressed down, and shaken together,
and running over, shall men give into your
bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete
withal it shall be measured to you again.
(Luke 6:38).
WE ARE TO RULE IN THIS LIFE, RIGHT NOW. God created Adam and gave
him dominion over all the earth. Adam sinned and sold out to
Satan. Satan then became the god of this world. Jesus
reinstated believers and gave them dominion again:
For if, because of one man's trespass (lapse,
offense) death reigned through that one, much
more surely will those who receive [God's]
overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the
free gift of righteousness (putting them into
right standing with Himself) reign as kings
in life through the One, Jesus Christ, the
Messiah, the Anointed One. (Romans 5:17, The
Amplified Bible).
SOME REASONS WHY BELIEVERS MAY NOT BE PROSPERING. It is a sin to
be poor when poverty results from unbelief, laziness or
selfishness:
He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack
hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh
rich. (Proverb 10:4).
He also that is slothful in his work is
brother to him that is a great waster.
(Proverb 18:9).
Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask
amiss, that ye may consume it upon your
lusts. (James 4:3).
It is a sin to be rich when we acquire the wealth wrongfully:
Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for
your miseries that shall come upon you. Your
riches are corrupted, and your garments are
motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered;
and the rust of them shall be a witness
against you, and shall eat your flesh as it
were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together
for the last days. Behold, the hire of the
labourers who have reaped down your fields,
which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth:
and the cries of them which have reaped are
entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and
been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts,
as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned
and killed the just; and he doth not resist
you. (James 5:1-6).
Covetousness is the culprit. One can be rich and be covetous.
One can be poor and be covetousness. In other words, a greedy
and selfish attitude is the sin:
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house,
thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife,
nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor
his ox, nor his donkey, nor any thing that is
thy neighbour's. (The Tenth Commandment)
(Exodus 20:17).
For the love of money is the root of all
evil: which while some coveted after, they
have erred from the faith, and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows. (1
Timothy 6:10).
SUMMARY. Obey God--confess and forsake sin. Work. Receive God's
Word:
Poverty and shame shall be to him that
refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth
reproof shall be honoured. (Proverb 13:18).
Give--have a giving heart like our Heavenly Father. Use the
wealth God gives you to spread the Gospel and help people.
END
