What is prosperity gospel?
Prosperity gospel is the idea that everyone who believes in God is supposed to become very rich and wealthy. It is the idea that God has chosen all of us to become rich individuals and if we are not materially rich then we are not of the kingdom of heaven. The prosperity preachers teach us every sermon that we will be earthly rich, just as much as they are. But is it biblical? Is every christian supposed to be rich?
Is tithing enough?
What I see are bakers who tell you of the best cake they have ever tasted, the cake they are eating but they don’t tell you the recipe. Let me explain; the pastor tells you the goodness of material wealthy and sometimes shows you but they don’t tell you how to become rich. Most pastors will tell you about tithing and giving alms in church but that’s it. Is it all that it takes to be rich; to give tithes and alms?
Most pastors are operating on a system that is denying the good honest truth of our Lord Jehovah. There is more to our faith, deliverance and restoration than tithing. Who are we in Christ Jesus? If we are indeed to pursue the riches of this world; how does the bible teach us to do so? The bible is the best ‘recipe book’ for our lives. Below are the 7 principles I believe that you need as an individual to become materially wealthy;
Obedience to God
Deuteronomy 28:15 However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you
The book of Deuteronomy from verse 28:15 to verse 68 tells of the curses that God said will be upon those who disobey him. God tell his people in verse 15 above that all the curses to follow will be stemming from disobedience. But how many of us are disobeying God right now? What has he put on your heart, on your mind, in your vision that you are ignoring and hell-bent on ignoring? The commands and decrees of the Lord are not always minor. There are some times that God asks what we believe is too big for us, things like move to another city, country, apply for that job and marry that man/woman who you think is not the one. We all carry the burden of choice and we use it as we see fit. But it does not take away the anguish of regret, pain and frustrations down the road when we walk the road that God did not chose for us. Your material wealth is bound to obedience. The blessing will not come from our force of will.
What is your calling?
What are you called to do? Who are you? We are all gifted and have talents that are unique to us. But most people are caught up in envy, jealousy and uncertainty. God’s calling of us is His invitation to our salvation, purpose and holy living.
Ephesians 4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
The above verse is Paul telling the church of Ephesia to follow their calling. In their calling is where they will find a life worth living. In Proverbs 18:16, the verse says;
Proverbs 18:16 A man's gift makes room for him, and bring him before great men
Most of us grow up not knowing our gifts and talents. The most likely reason is because your parents never cultivated what you were good at. In some parts of this world, parents are authoritative, and a bit narcissistic to an extent that they deny the individualisation of their child. They keep tabs on the child to an extent that the child is never sure of who they are. If you are a parent I am giving you a shout out below;
Be a loving parent
Your child is depending on you to cultivate their gifts. Adam was called to tend the garden, as a parent you are called to nurture and help your child to figure out what their gifts are. It’s not about you.
Repentance and faith
How many of us repent and then stay away from the sins of our repentance? The bible is filled with stories of repentance. A person notices that they have messed up and wants to do what is right in the sight of God. Can God bless us if we stay in our confined spaces of sin? You repent of cheating, gambling or whatever it is but you keep going to the same place of sin. Are you really repenting or now you are just about lip-service? Real repentance is hard. God knew of such and gave us the verse below;
2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face an turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Are you calling on the name of the Lord? When you sin, do you repent and turn back to the Lord? The issue of repentance is that it is not just about sinning against God: it’s about all sins even against each other. When you wrong someone and know that you have, do you apologise? Do you treat others well? Because there the salvation of our faith comes from honouring God and treating each other well. Does your faith hold on even when there is a storm ahead? Faith is unwavering belief and we need it if we are to become wealthy.
Friends we keep/our fellowship
Proverbs 13:20 He who walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed
Who are your friends? Who do you fellowship with? Friends and family have power to build us up to our highest level or bring us to our lowest. We are the company we keep. Where do you want to go in life and maybe you should pursue friends that understand where you want to go. It’s not just about being friends with the rich people because let’s face it; most of us are not in the rich friends circle. What the above verse means is that have friends that are supportive, loving and caring. There are certain friends that when you tell them of your goals, they roll their eyes and some will be negative and beat down your aspirations. Get to know your friends and sometimes if you think your dream is too big for them, don’t tell them. Be friends with people that want the best for you not by feeling obliged to certain friends because of a trauma bond or because you have known them for a long time.
Work very hard
You need to work hard at whatever your gift is. It takes hundreds of hours of practise to get good at something. How much time are you dedicating to your goal, your dream? The bible is against laziness and there are so many verses that encourage us to work hard. My favourite is Colossians 3:23
Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters
How many of us slack off at work? There is a trend going on these days called ‘quiet quitting’ or the one that goes with the saying, ‘acting your wage’. You do the bare minimum because you don’t want to work hard or believe in working hard. Fine, let’s say that you hate your job or that your boss is not a nice person, where else are you working hard? Do you have a side hustle, business or hobby where you are very hard-working? God encourages us to work hard over and over again including in the book of Proverbs 10:4
Proverbs 10:4 Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealthy.
You cannot wish your way into wealth. You have to work very hard.
Be grounded in the right place
This is one of those things that most of us overlook; are you in the right place? If I want to be a fisherman, I have to live near a body of water. I cannot be living in the middle of the Sahara desert, nowhere near an oasis and want to be a fisherman. I cannot want to be a nurse, if I can’t stand blood. Does your physical, moral and spiritual location match your dream, your calling?
Acts 8:26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Go south to the road- the desert road- that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza'. So he started out, and on his way, he met an Ethiopian eunuch...'
When God tells you to move, to take a different direction; do you listen and obey? It takes being ion the right place to be blessed sometimes. The above verse tells of the story of how the gospel of Christ spread through the apostle Philip listening and obeying the Lord to go and be in the right place. It is the same story as Jonah being needed in Nineveh but he chose to be on a boat to Tarshish. Where is God telling you is the right place and you are staying or going to the wrong place? Can he bless you in a place that He didn’t plant you? I think not. Be discerning of the voice of God and go where your gifts are needed.
It’s a recipe
The way to build your wealthy and material riches is to follow God’s recipe. There are no shortcuts, no easy way to it. You are to follow each step and have all the ingredients of a true christian such as;forgiveness, loving, kind, honesty and obedient. You cannot do whatever you please on the daily but go to God for blessings only. In all things that you do, be of God.