“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). When one gets born again, they are automatically entitled to a “four course meal” which includes healing, deliverance, forgiveness of sins and prosperity. This is what the word salvation, translated from the Greek word sozo means.
As believers we have to be Christ conscious and know the benefits associated with the birth, death, burial and resurrection of Christ. He died so we could live, He became sin so we could be the righteousness of God, He took our sickness so we could be well and He became poor so we could be rich. This is what we call the divine exchange and this is the good news, the true gospel.
If God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4), then there is no reason why as believers we should live in poverty if we are to meditate on (2 Corinthians 8:9). Unfortunately, most of us have been feeding on the starter alone which is forgiveness of sins. Some of us who are ministers of the gospel, have only preached about sin and forgiveness of sins and we have made it as if it is demonic to preach about prosperity hence some of us as believers are just waiting to go to heaven where they will be streets of gold.
We have also had another extreme where people are now just focusing on prosperity alone and not the full gospel. There is nothing like the gospel of prosperity. There is the gospel of Jesus Christ which includes prosperity, healing, deliverance and forgiveness of sins. We should preach the full gospel covering all the above four major aspects.
If we just preach about healing, then it means that those who are well have no reason to listen to our preaching. If we just preach about forgiveness of sins, it means that those who are already born again have no reason to listen to our preaching. If we just preach on deliverance, then our gospel is irrelevant to a born again Christian. If we just preach about prosperity, then the rich person has no time for our gospel. Some very rich person once told a “prosperity gospel” minister that I don’t have to come to your church because the god you preach is in my pocket.
There is an “anti-prosperity teaching” attitude in the church today, and yet most of the people with that attitude want to prosper. There are reasons this attitude is so prevalent. Some of us who preach about prosperity live lifestyles that accommodate criticism. We manipulate the children of God through different gimmicks and hence some believers don’t want to hear about prosperity because they can see through some of our gimmicks. However, there is nothing wrong in teaching about prosperity.
Faith comes by hearing God’s Word (Rom. 10:17), and faith for prosperity comes by hearing teaching on prosperity. 1Chronicles 29:12 says,Both riches and honor come from you, and you reign over all. In your hand is power and might, and in your hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all.The Lord said those who trust in Him would not lack any good thing (Ps. 34:10). Trusting in yourself or this world’s system is a recipe for disaster. It’s not in man to direct his own steps (Jer. 10:23). There’s a better way, and that’s God’s way.“And you shall remember the Lord your God for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, so that He may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”(Deut 8:18)
God is the One who gives us power to get wealth. Why would God give us power to create wealth if prosperity was a sin? Poverty is a curse not a blessing. Some people think that being prosperous is sinful. This is error that comes from lack of fully understanding our identity in Christ. God has given us “all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him…” (2 Peter 1:3).He doesn’t give us wealth directly. He gives us the power, or ability, to get wealth. Whether you realize it or not, God is the source of our prosperity.
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There is nothing that we have that we haven’t received. All good things come from God. We can develop our talents, but each one of us has gifts that were given to us by God. We didn’t give ourselves talents and abilities. We couldn’t develop what God didn’t give us.
Financial prosperity isn’t God giving you money; He gives you an anointing that enables you to prosper. The real asset is not the money—not the house, not the car, not the physical tangible things—it is the anointing from God to produce wealth. The real asset is the favor of God. Money isn’t prosperity; money is the byproduct of prosperity.
Many Christians fall into the trap of measuring prosperity by the amount of things they have. Being prosperous is relying on God as your source.There are people who prosper without trusting God, but it usually destroys their lives (1 Tim. 6:9). They have hardship, stress, marital problems, and on and on (1 Tim. 6:10). They might be rich, but it cost them in other areas. If you prosper God’s way, the blessing of the Lord will make you rich, and no sorrow will be added to it (Prov. 10:22).I believe that the first step to prosperity is recognizing that you are a steward of God’s finances and you are not the owner. This requires a huge mindset shift from the way the world views money. The world encourages you to be an owner and not a steward. But it’s not up to you to pick and choose what you do with your finances. God has given you finances so that you’ll trust Him with them. Then He will cause you to prosper. I know that sounds too good to be true, but it is
.God has a plan for your life. Start from a position of stewardship, and let Him be the owner. You will be blessed, blessed, blessed.When God is your source, He will supply all of your needs. And it won’t be according to this world’s economy, with all its depressions and recessions. But your needs will be supplied according to God’s economy. That’s powerful!Philippians 4:19 says,But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
God says He’ll supply all your need. And it’s not going to be according to this world’s system. When God is your source, you will have not only a supernatural prosperity but also a peace that people of the world don’t have. Wealth is quiet, rich is loud and poor is flashy. When God begins to make you prosperous you will realise the difference. You won’t be showy because you know exactly that it is not about you but by the grace of God. The bible is against the proud. God actually “hates” the proud. This is very strong and serious.When people tithe, many of them feel that they’re giving from what they’ve earned. After all, they’re the ones who put in the work to get a paycheck. But everything would change for them if they saw themselves as handling God’s resources. Stewards are ones who see themselves as accountable for what God has entrusted to them.If you understand financial stewardship properly, it will enable you to be a blessing to others. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says:God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.The reason God makes grace abound toward us is so we will abound—give—to every good work. The real motive behind finances shouldn’t be to get—it should be to give. You are blessed so you can be a blessing.
