Blessing For Success

Chapter 2

Prosperity According to the Bible

Taking the Blinders Off

In the last chapter, it was mentioned that the majority of Christians tend to have their Bible teaching filtered through their church leaders. This is the normally accepted practice and it is usually necessary in order for many people to get any Biblical teaching whatsoever. The concern is that there are those who have never read the Bible on their own. Such people tend to depend on those who preach to them for every bit of their spiritual development. How can they know if the teaching is true to the scripture if they have never read it?

I count myself blessed to attend a church where we have several preachers. Each of these godly men is well established in different areas. They each have a different oratory method and style. You tend to absorb more because more is being put out there.

It can be compared to school. You may have had several teachers. One could be a math teacher and another might be a history teacher. It is likely that you would learn more about math from your math teacher and more about history from your history teacher.

Now here's something for you to ponder. You decide that you want to study chemistry but you are not enrolled in a chemistry class. Your math and history teachers are good teachers but they don't have enough knowledge or time to help you in your efforts. How would you go about learning this subject?

I would head right down to the nearest library to grab a chemistry textbook and learn on my own. It works just as well with studying the Bible. You can get knowledge by going to the source.

There are several advantages to studying the scriptures on your own. Perhaps the most important advantage is that you can unlearn any incorrect or biased ideas that you have been taught over time if you are willing to accept what the Bible says.

How Does God View Success

The scriptures have quite a lot to say about the idea of God's people being successful. A quick search revealed that the various forms of the words referring to blessings, riches, wealth, prosperity, money, abundance, and plenty appear about two thousand times in my King James Bible in both the old and new testaments. After a review of all these scriptures, I chose several verses that best describe how God views success in regard to his people. For the sake of convenience, they have been added to the end of this book so they will be readily available to you.

Let's take a closer look at one of the most prominent men in the Bible. References to him are found throughout the scriptures in both the old and new testaments. You may have heard him referred to as "the father of the faith." His name is Abraham and the Bible says that God considered him a righteous man and that he would be father to many nations.

Genesis 15:6 "And he (Abraham) believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness."

Romans 4:3 "For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness."

Galatians 3:6 "Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."

Here we have Abraham. He was singled out to be the forerunner of God's people. If having wealth and being prosperous goes against what God wants for us then Abraham would have been living in opposition to God's will. It does not make any sense that God would establish this covenant with someone who was being so blatantly disobedient.

Genesis 12:2 "And I will make of thee (Abraham) a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great and thou shalt be a blessing:"

Genesis 13:2 "And Abram (Abraham) was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold."

Genesis 24:1 "And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things."

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

The last two verses above clearly give the credit to God for the vast possessions that Abraham enjoyed over the course of his lifetime. This directly contradicts the teaching that poverty is mandatory for the believer. Don't feel bad if you were brought up believing this. Over the centuries, some people were taught that the continents were floating around on the back of an enormous turtle. Other people were taught that the earth was flat. Its amazing what people will believe if they are fed incorrect information for an extended period of time.

I know that this one eloquent story of Abraham's prosperity isn't enough evidence for some people to change their thinking. With that in mind, we will look at the next case subject. Now we'll see what the Bible says about a man named Isaac. This just happens to be the son of Abraham.

Genesis 26:12-14 "Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year a hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him."

Do you find that interesting. God doesn't seem to be the slightest bit upset that the second generation of His people are also very wealthy. In fact, it says God was the one who blessed Isaac. If any of you still think that having wealth is a form of disobedience or sin, why would God cause Abraham and Isaac to prosper? Do you really think that the Lord would purposely cause someone to sin?;;

Notice the last phrase of that passage. Isaac was envied. I don't think the Philistines were envying the relationship that he had with God. If that was the case, they could have sought after God and developed their own relationship with Him. Do you think that, just maybe, they were envious of his wealth?

Too many people make it a point to complain that someone else is doing well. It is none of their business to be concerned about someone else's financial situation unless they have the desire to give their own money to someone in need. It's time for people like this to be mature and to stop twisting the Bible to hide their envy inside false piety.

A Rich Heritage for God's People

Does prosperity only apply to a certain group people? Was it just for Abraham and Isaac? If we continue looking at the Word of God, we can see many others who also became recipients of material prosperity from the Lord.

Genesis: 47:27 "And Israel (Jacob) dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly."

We can see from this verse that Abraham's grandson was also doing well. The trend of prosperity for those who follow God continues. From what has been seen, the case for suffering in poverty is beginning to lose ground. If God was displeased with the idea of these particular men being prosperous, why didn't He put a stop to it?

We have only looked at the situations of three individual men up to this point. Two of them were close decedents of Abraham. Some people might still argue that they came into their wealth through direct inheritance and not because of God's blessing. We can see that this is not true since Jacob acquired most of his possessions by working for his uncle Laban for many years. You might enjoy reading the story of Jacob. It's full of romance, conspiracy and intrigue. It could easily hold its own next to any daytime television "soap opera."

Now it should be clear from scripture that God has been known to bless people on an individual basis. We should now be beginning to understand that God is willing to prosper any of His people. On that note, we should look at what the Bible says about blessing His people in general.

Deuteronomy 7:13 "And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he swore unto thy fathers to give thee."

Keep in mind that the amount of chattel one had was the barometer for gauging someone's prosperity back in those days. In our society, we use money to facilitate the transfer of wealth. Money is made from materials like metal and paper. It doesn't do you any good to eat such things and I can't imagine wearing them to keep you warm on a cold winter day. Monetary vehicles like this are only as valuable as the commodities that they can purchase.

Deuteronomy 8:18 "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 swore unto thy fathers, as it is this day."

This verse was addressed to the entire nation of God's people at once. The promise of prosperity to those who remain faithful to Him is universally available. I don't see anything in this scripture where God is in opposition to success for those that follow Him. On the contrary, He is apparently the source of our ability to do well.

In the first chapter I said that poverty is a weapon used against believers in order to hinder us from doing the good works that Jesus Himself did as an example for us to follow. Who do you think uses this weapon? If you look carefully at this verse in the book of Job, you should be able to see the answer.

Job 1:10 "Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land."

Here we find Satan making an appearance before God and having a debate over Job's standing. Satan states that the only reason Job remains faithful is that God has blessed him and protects him from attack. This should shed some light on who is the author of poverty and who is the giver of prosperity. Satan is the one who is seen complaining about Job's success to the one who provided it. Does it get any clearer than that?

Job's situation took a turn for the worse for a while due, among other things, to the fact that he is obsessed over a fear as we read in Job 3:25. Keep in mind that fear is in direct opposition to faith. Fortunately, we have a merciful and just God. Eventually Job comes to his senses and God restores him to double the prosperity he had originally as we see in the following verse.

Job 42:12 "So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses."

Job had a very large and prosperous operation. If you were to compare the items of his possession in modern terms, he was quite the financial mogul. The sheep would be a source of food as well as textiles among other things. With so many camels and donkeys, he must have had an enormous transportation network that could handle any type of terrain. His oxen provided effective muscle power to work large acreages in his agricultural endeavours. Job's diversified business ventures apparently included production, manufacturing and distribution sectors.

So much for poverty being a requirement for a godly lifestyle. As we look further into the Word of God, we can see that not only does God want to prosper you, but He also enjoys doing it.

Psalms 35:27 "Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favor my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant."

How Much Is Enough?

A fellow believer once asked me how you would know when you had enough money. Personally, I think that we will have enough when everyone on earth has the opportunity to experience the love of God through the generosity of His people. It may seem strange in the light of popular teaching but in order for us to reach the world for God, the church as a whole is going to have to come up with an enormous amount of funding.

At this point, some people will insist that as long as we have enough to keep ourselves in food, clothing and shelter we should be happy. They will use scriptures like the following for their argument for personal contentment.

Philippians 4:11 "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."

1 Timothy 6:8 "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content."

I hope you noticed who was to be content in this argument and the subsequent verses. Did you see the "I", "we" and "us"?

I remember the academic dean at our Bible College, telling us about a conversation he'd had along these lines at one time. In the course of conversation, Reverend Powell asked if the other man could be content with $10,000 per year. The man thought about it and replied that he could. Then he asked him if he could be content with $100,000 per year. The man answered that it was even easier to be content with making ten times as much. It is stating the obvious to say you can be content with more when you have just admitted your ability to settle for less. At that point, Reverend Powell brought home his point by suggesting, "Why not keep the $10,000 per year and give away the other $90,000?"

You see, being content with what you have is no reason to refuse financial blessings. Why are we even looking at wealth from such a selfish point of view? What happened to helping those around you that are in need? How can you feel content with any amount of money when other people are suffering? What kind of contentment is that? If the idea of having more than you need bothers you, feel free to give the rest of it away! If for no other reason, you could enjoy the satisfaction that comes from giving. I can well imagine that some homeless person or elderly widow would appreciate it.

There are other reasons that we should not avoid prosperity. The Bible says that we should provide for more than just our sons and daughters. We should be preparing an inheritance to give to our grandchildren too! If you provide them with the means to help others, they can continue from the point where you left off.

Proverbs 13:22 "A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just."

1 Timothy 5:8 "But if any provide not for his own, and especially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."

Perhaps you know of someone who had a rich relative die. Let's look at a hypothetical situation. When the will of one such person was read, the family found out that the entire estate was to be liquefied and all of the proceeds were to be given to charity. None of the family received any inheritance. Some of the heirs were struggling with mortgages and other debts that were leaching huge amounts of interest from the surviving members of the family on a monthly basis. A portion of the estate could have gone to eliminate these debts. Once the principle was paid there would be no more compounding interest to pay. By eradicating the interest, the heirs could stop handing all that hard earned wealth over to some financial institution. The result is that the families would have even more resources for helping the needy instead of lining the pockets of the moneymen.

In this scenario, we see that more people could be helped as the result. The heirs could still choose to be content with only using the portion of their wealth that was required to meet their needs. The extra money would empower them to be even more of a blessing to their family and to those around them.

By now it should be evident that prosperity has God's stamp of approval. There is no shame in success as long as you use what you have been given in an appropriate manner. God does not give wealth to us so that we can have bragging rights. He has placed this tool in the hands of His stewards so that we can accomplish the tasks that he has given them. Contentment has nothing to do with being poor and just surviving. It is all about your attitude about the blessings that God is more than happy to provide for you. Are you chasing after money so you can be comfortable or are you more interested in using it to make the world a better place?

Whether you have a little or a lot, you need to realize that you are just a manager of what God gives you. The universe and everything in it belong to Him. He gives us access as heirs to all He has because of what Jesus did on the cross.

2 Corinthians 8:9 "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."

Philippians 4:19 "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

On the cross, Jesus paid with His life so that we could be adopted as God's children and to free us from sin, sickness and poverty. Because of this sacrifice, God is pleased to supply us with everything we will ever need to function in any good work that He gives us to do.

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