God wants you to be rich!
Have I got your attention?
I’ve heard people say this sort of teaching is of the devil. But I want to tell you that the statement “it’s of the devil” is what’s of the devil! God’s will is for you to prosper and have whatever you say.
I hope I’ve got your attention, and I hope you will listen carefully. I’m going to prove to you that prosperity is God’s will for you. I’m going to prove that God wants you to name it and claim it.
And I’m going to tell you how to be rich…the bible-way.
The Gospel Takes Money
Let’s begin by doing some reasoning together. A simple fact of life is that money is power. The people who control the money control the destiny of this world. It is not governments that control destiny. It is the world’s bankers who control destiny. A war cannot be fought unless the world’s bankers finance it. Behind all the evils of this world are the people who control the money. A simple fact is that evil puts more money into the bankers’ pockets.
Now, imagine, if you will, that you are sitting in Satan’s war room. Satan can put up with a few people becoming Christians as long as they remain ignorant of who they are and of the power they possess. Christians have been given an assignment, a commission. Jesus said, Mark 16:15 (AMPC) “Go ye into all the world, and preach [proclaim, publish] the gospel [the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, the glad tidings of salvation through Christ] to every creature [every created being who becomes a new creation].”
It takes money to go into all the world — a lot of money. Satan knows that if the Christians ever get enough money, they will saturate the world with the Gospel, the Good News. If the Christians ever get enough money, they will put an end to poverty, sickness, and war. If Christians ever get enough money, they will control all the newspapers and television and Hollywood itself.
Times are desperate for Satan. It calls for a bold strategy. The first part of his strategy is to keep money out of the hands of the Christians. For this, he needs to spread a lie. That lie is that God wants Christians to be poor. While the scripture teaches that it is the love of money that is the root of all evil (l Timothy 6: 10), Satan tries to make Christians believe that it is money itself that is the root of all evil.
Avoiding Selfishness
The second part of Satan’s strategy is to get Christians to lust after money and possessions. That makes Christians selfish and unwilling to give their money away. Tithing is almost unheard of today. Nothing makes Christians angrier than telling them they should tithe.
The truth is, God wants you to prosper. Prosperity is His plan. In fact, prosperity is one of the hooks He uses to attract non-Christians. It’s part of our witness. John had this in mind when he wrote “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers.” (3 John 2 AMPC).
The Example of The Church In Acts
An example of how this works is given in Acts chapter 2 verses 42 to 47 (AMPC). “And they steadfastly persevered, devoting themselves constantly to the instruction and fellowship of the apostles, to the breaking of bread [including the Lord’s supper] and prayers. And a sense of awe (reverential fear) came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were performed through the apostles — the special messengers.
“And all who believed — that is, who adhered to and trusted in and relied on Jesus Christ — were united, and together they had everything in common; and they sold their possessions [both their landed property and their movable goods] and distributed the price among all, according as any had need.
“And day after day they regularly assembled in the temple with united purpose, and in their homes, they broke bread [including the Lord’s Supper]. They partook of their food with gladness and simplicity and generous hearts. Constantly praising God and being in favor and goodwill with all the people, and the Lord kept adding [to their number] daily those who were being saved (from spiritual death).” What made these Christians so attractive? Look at it rationally from a non-Christian point of view. There will be certain things that attract your attention.
First, you are attracted by the inclusiveness of their laughter and joy. Joy that overflowed. They reach out and draw in any stranger who gets close and share the reason for their joy.
Next, you notice their generosity of spirit. These people don’t care who you are. If you have a need, they are there to help you. You are struck by the fact that no matter how much they give, they always have more than enough to meet all their needs.
This generosity goes beyond just giving a helping hand or giving money. They will instantly pray for you and anoint you, and lay hands on you for healing. And people are getting healed all over the place.
There is a winsome attractiveness about them. Is it any wonder that they had favor with all the people? Is it any wonder more and more people wanted this quality of life and became believers?
Is there that same kind of winsomeness about you?
The Example of The Church in Thyatira
Another example is a fascinating story from the Book of Revelation. It has to do with one of the letters to one of the seven churches. The letter goes like this:
Revelation 2: 18-19 (NIV) “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write I know your record and what you are doing, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your recent works are more numerous and greater than your first ones.”
The rest of the letter is spent talking about a woman called Jezebel: “I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess (claiming to be inspired), and who is teaching and leading astray my servants and beguiling them into practicing sexual vice and eating food sacrificed to idols.”
This is the story behind the story. Thyatira was located on an important trade road. It enjoyed many kinds of business. That is where the problem lay. Thyatira had an extraordinary number of trade unions, guilds, and associations. People joined both for profit and pleasure. To refuse to join a trade guild was almost certain business and professional suicide. Everything was a closed shop in Thyatira.
This wasn’t so bad in itself, except for two things about trade unions. First, they held common meals. These meals would often be held in a temple. Christians do not eat in pagan temples. The meals always began and ended with a formal sacrifice to the gods. Christians do not worship other gods or sacrifice to them. The meat eaten at these meals was meat that had been offered to idols. To eat the meat meant to worship the idols. Christians worship only God and God alone.
To make matters worse, these meals were occasions for drunken revelry, for doing every kind of immoral thing you could think of— all in the name of fun! Christians do not do such things because they know that their bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Apparently, the woman Jezebel was trying to get the Christians to compromise and join in the (so-called) fun!
The Christians were caught between a rock and a hard place. They were cut off from just about all social contact with non-Christians. They couldn’t belong to trade unions or guilds or associations, which meant they couldn’t earn a living or practice a craft. From the world’s point of view, they were committing financial, social, and economic suicide.
From a human point of view, these Christians should have been starving, homeless beggars. Is that how you attract non-Christians and get them converted? “Become a Christian like me, and you too can be homeless, dressed in rags, starving, and begging!”
No! They had the same winsomeness about them that the Christians had in Jerusalem. There was joy and generosity of spirit. There were miracles and signs and wonders. Instead of being in the receiving line, they were in the giving line. Instead of being on the public dole, they were doling out to the public. Instead of acting like the child of a beggar, they were acting like children of the King.
Today, I am going to share the secret of these Christians with you. I am going to tell you how to enter into God’s prosperity.
The First Step To God’s Prosperity
The first step is to believe that God will do what He said He would do.
Malachi 3:8-11 (AMPC) reads “Will a man rob or defraud God? Yet you rob and defraud Me. But you say, in what way do we rob or defraud You? You have withheld your tithes and offerings. “You are cursed with the curse; for you are robbing Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes — the whole tenth of your income into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of Heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine drop its fruit before the time in the field, says the Lord of hosts.”
We Get What We Expect
Our problem is that we don’t expect God to do what He said He would do. We tend to think of the tithe as a debt we owe. It gets drilled into our heads that the first 10th belongs to God. Remember that I said the Bible is the manufacturer’s handbook? It gives us instructions on how to live in the joy and success and prosperity for which God designed us. It tells how to get into the flow of His blessings.
That means that the tithe is not a debt we owe, but it is a seed we sow. It is the key that unlocks the windows of heaven. It is time we begin to see things as they really are and begin to expect God to do what He said He would do. God needs people He can trust through whom He can flow the money to reach the world.
When Jesus told the parable of the talents, that was what He was talking about! It is to those who prove themselves faithful with a little that He gives more. That is why all His promises begin with an IF. If you will do this then I will do that.
In Luke 6:38 (KJV), Jesus says, “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.” You must do the giving first, and then the receiving will follow if you expect it and if you know what to look for.
In Mark 11:23 (KJV), Jesus is recorded as saying “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”
More Than Just “Naming and Claiming”
The idea of name it and claim it is based on this verse. If you take the verse out of context, it sounds like all you have to do is make a list of things you want, like a luxury car, and a fabulous house, and then claim them as yours, in Jesus’ name, of course, and you will have them. After all, doesn’t Jesus say: “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24 KJV). And David wrote in Psalm 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.’
Keeping Our Hearts Pure
It is because of those bad ideas and the constant influences of the Jezebels in our lives that we need to get our facts straight if we want to enter into God’s prosperity. James puts it very bluntly when he writes: “From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (James 4:1-3 KJV).
God’s Plan For Prosperity
Now that we’ve got all of that out of the way, I’m going to give you a plan for entering into God’s prosperity and becoming a channel through whom He can flow His riches to evangelize the world. We’ll begin with Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 9, starting with verse 6: “Remember this: he who sows sparingly and grudgingly will also reap sparingly and grudgingly, and he who sows generously and with that blessings may come to someone, will also reap generously and with blessings.”
“Let each one give as he has made up his own mind and purposed in his heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully as under compulsion, for God loves and takes pleasure in and prizes above other things, and is unwilling to abandon or to do without a cheerful, joyous, prompt-to do-it giver — whose heart is in his giving.”
“And God is able to make all grace, every favor and earthly blessing, come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need, be self-sufficient possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation.”
“God Who provides seed for the sower and bread for eating will also provide and multiply your resources for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness, which manifests itself in active goodness, kindness and charity. Thus, you will be enriched in all things and in every way, so that you can be generous” (2 Corinthians 9:6-11 NIV).
The Importance of Tithing
The first step in entering into God’s prosperity is to unlock the windows of heaven. That means tithing. Your tithe must be given intentionally. That is, you give it fully expecting God to open the windows of heaven. Building up your expectations does not come easily.
We’ve spent too many years getting along on our own efforts and calculations. Learning to rely on God requires discipline.
We can train ourselves to rely on God to supply our needs by deliberately putting ourselves in a position where, if God doesn’t come through, we’re going under. If you are not a tither, starting to tithe could put you in that position. It is important to take your tithe out first and pay it first. Never allow yourself the option of using your tithe for other bills. Pay the tithe before paying anything else. When you pay it, pray, “Father, here is my tithe. Use it to your glory. Now I expect you to open the windows of heaven and pour out the blessings. My needs are met according to your riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:19)”
At the same time, pray fervently for your church in love. Pray for its leaders and for its ministries. Pray down love and joy on the people. Uphold them by your prayers. If some things are being done in a way you wouldn’t do them, thank God that He has others to do things His way and not your way. Listen to see if God wants you involved in some ministry.
The Importance of Offerings
Once you are tithing, then come the gifts. Your goal is to see the whole world evangelized. So, pick carefully where you give your gifts. It might be for church missions. It might be to other ministries that are evangelizing the world.
How much do you give? Listen first to the desires of your heart. Do you wish you could give $500 to this one? Or even $1,000 to another? Write it down and decide how much you would like to give each one each pay day. Pray over them until you have an awareness that God is blessing these gifts. Finally, give these gifts first, along with your tithe.
When your giving reaches the point where, in the natural, you do not have the resources to give that much, then, and only then, will you enter the realm of the supernatural. You will be living by faith. Someone has said that to live by faith is to live in the midst of a miracle on the brink of disaster.
A Testimony of God’s Provision
It is scary and it is not easy. I will never forget one Christmas when two weeks before Christmas we had no money, hardly any food, no Christmas presents, no money to pay the utilities, and no idea where to find the money. It was up to God. If He didn’t come through, we were going under. Helen prayed, God, if You come through for us, I’ll never doubt You again, One week later, we had all our bills paid, Christmas presents bought, and food overflowing.
There were other difficult times, but that was the most difficult. Which brings us to another aspect of looking to God as our source. When you are looking to God as your source, you must be open to all possibilities of how He may meet your need. You wanted to give $500 to a certain ministry? God may give you an opportunity to work for the $500. An unexpected check may come in the mail. God can’t make money. That would be illegal! So, He has to work through whatever means are available — even if it is a way to earn a little extra money.
When opportunities and extra money come, always look at them as ways to help you pay your tithe or give your extra gifts. Always put your tithing and gifting first. That is how you show God that He can trust you as a channel to flow His resources through to evangelize the world.
Will You Receive God’s Will For Your Prosperity?
Lastly comes the question, What about you and your desires? First, you will discover that your own resources are increasing. Second, you will find yourself wanting to give more and more. And as for those luxury things you didn’t really need, but kind of wanted? Such as that luxury car you wanted but chose to give to God instead. It seems God just loves to bless His children! If the luxury car was something you really and truly wanted, God will bless you with one in His time as you are able to receive it, and it won’t be a burden to you.
When it happens, that car will give you far more joy because it will be a gift God has given you, because He loves you. That knowledge will be priceless.
