The promises to prosper us can be exciting and depressing at the same time. The big question is, if these are promises, then why are there so many poor people and starving people around the world? The only answer to that question is sin. We live in a sinful world with sinful people who prevent or pervert God’s promises. Prosperity also looks different to those in less affluent countries than in the U.S. Even the poorest person in America is more affluent than many who live in economically depressed countries. Yet God promises to bless and prosper everyone, which will look different to each person. I may not have material wealth, but I feel blessed by what I have, and I am not in want of anything. Because my husband and I have chosen to live a simple lifestyle, we are prospering and have no worries, even when we lose our jobs.
Most of God’s promises come with conditions. You may not be perfect, but God knows how you strive to please Him.
Do you do what God says you are to do?
1Kings 2:3 “Keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.” Are you reading your Bible to know what God says you are to do? All that God asks us to do is embodied in what Jesus says in Luke 10:27, “And he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’” Jesus tells us in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
Do you shun counsel from sinners but delight in God’s instructions and meditate on them day and night?
Psalm 1:1-3 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” Do you listen to or read your Bible morning and night and meditate on what it says? Do you avoid hanging out with sinners?
Do you meditate on God’s instructions day and night and obey His commands?
Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” I am tempted to look at the sinner who appears to be prospering in material wealth, so why are they prospering, and I am not? Prospering also includes being spiritually rich, being content and happy with the blessing God has given, having good health, etc. Read my application of this verse in Three Ways to Have Good Success in The New Year
We will succeed when we display love and kindness to those around us.
Proverbs 3:3-4 “Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; [NAS-Do not let kindness and truth leave you] bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. 4So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.” Are you faithful and speak the truth to others? You may not be perfect, but do you strive to be loving and kind?
Do you delight in the Lord?
Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” To delight is to feel joy and pleasure. When someone is a delight to you, you find pleasure in spending time with them and talking with them. Or do you go to church on Sunday, then forget about your savior and friend the rest of the week?
Do you do or say hurtful things?
1Peter 3:10-11 “Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; 11let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.” To not speak evil is not to say hurtful things. How are you doing? With the help of the Holy Spirit in you, you can control your speech when you set your mind on the things of the Spirit and not on your sinful desires. The person who seeks peace is a child of God (Matt. 5:9).
Are you giving 10% of your income to the church?
Malachi 3:10 “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, …. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” Even when I was a single mother with two toddlers, I tithed, and God provided for all my needs in amazing ways.
Are you generously giving to those in need?
Proverbs 11:25 (KJV) “The liberal [generous] soul shall be made fat [prosper]: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.” Proverbs 28:27 “Whoever gives to the poor will not want, but he who hides his eyes will get many a curse.” (Condition: are you giving to those in need?) Proverbs 19:17 “Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.”
Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
2Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”
Conclusion:
Many people seemingly do not prosper, but how do you measure prosperity? I am not wealthy by USA standards, but I feel that God has prospered me in many other ways, and I am thankful. So why are wicked people wealthy? The Bible says in Proverbs 13:22, “A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.” Keep in mind that God is sovereign, and our minds are to be set on what He tells us to do and not on what others have that we don’t have. Envy is a sin. 1Timothy 6:6-7 states, “But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.”
I hope and pray that you are encouraged and blessed by this post.
RELATED POSTS:
All verses are from the English Standard Bible. If you find my posts and website helpful, please share the links with your friends and family, hopeforcompletehealing.com. The information is copyright protected, and no part of the posts or my book may be reproduced without proper citation to Joyce Hanscom and this website.
Check out my first book called Fighting Unseen Battles on Amazon. I would love to hear what you think. To learn more about my book read: How to Fight Unseen Battles
Hope for Complete Healing 