The prosperity of God is a somewhat controversial subject and has become the main theme in many churches that focus mainly on the subject of abundance and material prosperity since they point out that God is our supplier and owns the gold and wealth. Silver. But God’s prosperity goes beyond that, the simple fact of acquiring material goods because we know that the Lord has the power to give us everything, but he can also take everything away from us, such as in the case of Job who lost everything.
God’s Prosperity – What does it mean in light of the Bible
In the word of God, the term “prosperity” appears to allude to the fact that if we trust in the Lord, we will lack nothing, and we will prosper in everything: “But he who trusts in the Lord will prosper” (Proverbs 28:25)
If we look in the dictionary for the meaning of prosperity, we can find that it appears as the prosperous course of things, success in what is undertaken. In the same way, it is mentioned that the fact of prospering has to do with imposing oneself to succeed.
As for wealth, it refers to the abundance of material goods and precious objects. It is the obtaining of money in large amounts.
However, when we talk about the prosperity of God, it goes beyond everything obtained on this earthly plane, since this type of prosperity has to do with the fact of maturing spiritually in the relationship one has with God.
In this sense, prosperity can be divided into three areas, we find the prosperity of the soul , which contains the mind, desires and emotions. On the other hand, there is the prosperity of the body that refers to having good physical health.
In the same way, there is the prosperity of the spirit that refers to the fact of having an intimate relationship with God and for this one must be born again.
Currently, many of the sermons focus on prosperity and for some this has a negative intention, since they relate it to the promotion of materialism or the excessive desire to obtain money. Unfortunately, the approach that has been given to prosperity is that referring to wealth and the acquisition of wealth and material goods.
But it should be noted that monetary wealth is only part of what prosperity is because God certainly has the power to give his children everything in an overabundant way, but this he does according to his perfect will and the particular purpose he has. With each of their children.
There have been preachers that precisely that is the emphasis they have given, but monetary wealth is only part of prosperity. In this regard, the word tells us the following: “Beloved, I want you to prosper in all things and to be in health, just as your soul prospers” (3 John 1:2).
In this order of ideas, the Lord wants us to be prosperous in all aspects of our lives. That is why we have to be clear that the fact of having money and being prosperous is not a sin or bad because his word establishes that the children of God will be prosperous in everything.
The problem lies in the love of money, in striving to get material goods forgetting that the owner of everything is God and we must recognize that we can obtain nothing by our own strength. The word alerts us to the following: “For the root of all evil is the love of money” (1 Timothy 6:10).
Certainly, money does not bring us happiness because true joy comes from Christ . Money can only cover our needs and we require it to be able to survive in this world. However, to expand the kingdom of heaven and be able to advance in the ministries, it is necessary to have economic possibilities to have the resources and thus do the work of God and serve him as his word demands.
We must also be alert to the tricks of the devil who wants to confuse us and make us believe that poverty comes from God and that he wants us to be poor in order to be spiritual. This is totally false, one thing is to be humble and another thing is to be poor. Everything centers on what is in your heart, your spiritual disposition to serve the Lord. It has nothing to do with the economic condition of the person because both poor and rich can reach salvation, mercy and divine justice from God.
It is not about having or not having money, it is about having Christ in the heart and thanking him both in scarcity and prosperity, in sadness and in joy. Because for the children of God all things help us for good, they serve us for the process that we must go through.
For this reason, we must know the word and stay in communion with our Father so that the enemy cannot confuse us or make us believe things that are not established in his word. Let the Holy Spirit guide you and according to his will, he will work in your life. Remember that God acts in a mysterious way and his prosperity is different from the concept that we have regarding this controversial term.
In this sense, prosperity according to the Bible refers to the blessings obtained from God for our lives and that are propagated in our own existence. That is why prosperity does not mean only money, material goods, or worldly riches.
As mentioned above, God’s prosperity encompasses more than we imagine because a person with limited resources can be very prosperous because he receives God’s mercy every day.
In this way, the prosperity that comes from God is intimately linked to the grace of the Lord, to being blessed by his love and mercy and that is why you can feel the protection of Christ in your life.
For example, if God prospers you financially and instead of helping you, it makes you selfish, proud, stingy, or greedy, then this type of growth does not belong to God’s will, which is perfect.
In this sense, the idea of prosperity sounds very tempting, but few people realize its true biblical meaning. That is why when we talk about prosperity, we tend to think in terms of wealth, material goods and money, but God’s perspective encompasses much more because his main purpose is that his children achieve eternal prosperity.
According to the Holy Scriptures, prosperity means accessing everything that makes you truly happy , that you live fully and are blessed in a great way. On the other hand, when we talk about prosperity, it also covers the fact of having financial resources that allow us to help others and do God’s work here on earth, helping those in need and bearing witness to the gospel of Christ, which teaches love towards our brother.
So, when we are economically prosperous, we cannot forget where all things come from because economic resources turn out to be an important tool to serve the Lord and bless others. You are a child of God and you can ask according to God’s will because the Bible offers us many promises regarding prosperity and asking for what we need in this life: “For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:8)
God listens to the prayers of his children, hears the cry and knows the needs and burdens of each person in this world. But we must know how to ask, remove the greed from our hearts and cry out for what we truly need to bless others.
giving is better than receiving
When Jesus Christ came to this world, he had the objective of serving those in need, and giving everything he had, that is why we have the greatest example of what God’s prosperity means in every way because Jesus was prosperous in a great way being a simple carpenter.
How much humility we can notice in his teachings, in his words, in his actions. Being the King of Glory, he stripped himself of his Power and was humiliated, beaten, sullied, and crucified being innocent. This act of love reveals the prosperity of his soul, mind, spirit and body, and is the clearest example of what it means to give and serve others.
In this way, the person who expects to receive without giving anything, will obtain as a response the Law of God in its fullness because it is only received after we have given. That is, to the extent that we give, to the same extent we will receive.
The law of the Lord is exact as mathematics, and denotes giving to receive. So the material possessions that we “have” truly belong to Our Father and He has only entrusted them to us.
The health and emotional peace that we enjoy are likewise a product of his goodness and mercy. His desire is always to grant us the best. All he asks of us is that we be obedient. Of course, none of this implies that challenges will not be faced, life is just like that.
The offering and the tithe as a means to be prospered
You can’t talk about God’s prosperity without mentioning the principles of giving and tithing. To address this highly controversial topic, we must start from the premise that Our Lord is the owner of everything we have, of everything that exists on the face of the earth, since he is our Creator and thanks to him we exist.
However, God only asks us to give a tenth of our earnings, and the tithe is established as a mandate for our well-being. We can appreciate this in the following passage: “And the tithe of the land, as well as of the fruit of the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is dedicated to the Lord” (Leviticus 27:30).
The offering, it refers to the act of giving beyond the tithe . In the book of Romans 15:26 the believers in Greece heaped up an offering for the believers in Jerusalem who were experiencing a difficult situation.
So the offering is given for different purposes, while the tithe should be left in the temple where one is congregating. At this point, the Bible is clear when it states that he who does not give is stealing:
“Will a man rob God? Well, you have robbed me. And you said: What have we robbed you of? In your tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, because you, the whole nation, have robbed me” (Malachi 3:8-9).
For this reason, what determines a life full of prosperity is to scrutinize the word and meditate on it and fulfill what it establishes. Thus the LORD said to Joshua: “This Book of the Law shall never depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and all will be well with you” (Joshua 1:8).
In this way, if we obey this advice full of wisdom and truth, then we must live in the expectation that we will obtain all the mental, physical and spiritual blessings because it is a promise established in the Bible according to the perfect will of God.
On the other hand, it is important to clarify that God’s prosperity also encompasses the willingness we have as children of God to serve and work, since although we are not of this world, we live there and we must be diligent, hardworking and glorify God with a successful life, where we collect blessings for the effort of our work.
God wants us to prosper in everything but he demands effort and dedication, since he does not agree that we are lazy and think that things are going to fall from heaven like manna in the times of Moses.
Our Heavenly Father wants us to be sons worthy of the blessings he gives us and that we earn our bread with honest work that can also be a blessing to our nation and to our neighbors in general.
In this sense, God’s prosperity is that which comes from heaven, and that turns in our favor when we make an effort and put our greatest dedication into the things we do, as established by his word: “And whatever you do, do it.” heartily, as to the Lord, and not to men” (Colossians 3:23).
In this order of ideas, we must do all things with love, willingness and effort if we want to prosper and receive blessings abundantly. God knows our heart, needs, burdens and will give us according to His divine justice.