MAY I AS CHRISTIAN BE PROSPEROUS AND PRAY FOR IT?
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from the Afrikaans Version: Mag ek as Christen welvarend wees en daarvoor bid?
Translator: Lynda Botha
Someone wrote to me and I summarized the crux of the letter below:
He heard a pastor speaking and he understood from this pastor’s preaching that a Christian should not pray for materialistic prosperity.
In my opinion there is ample evidence in the Scripture where our Lord has greatly blessed many of His children with wealth.
Think of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, just to name a few.
Therefore, I think that a person is allowed to dream and also share your dreams, about well-being and wealth with our Lord.
Although one must be very, very careful, if you as a child of God have that kind of aspirations.
There are two people I would like to use as an example, the first example being David.
He was a man close to our Lord's heart and despite his great sin which he truly regretted; our Lord still made him a wealthy king of his time. The Lord inspired this wealthy king of his time to write so many things in His Word for us, such as:
1 CHRONICLES 29:11-12
11 “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is Yours, O Lord, and this is Your kingdom. We adore You as the One who is over all things.”
12 “Wealth and honour come from You alone, for You rule over everything. Power and might are in Your hand, and at Your discretion people are made great and given strength.”
So, for me it is inconceivable that our Lord would not want us to pray for materialistic prosperity, if it is not wrong in His eyes to give it to us.
That said, I should also mention that this well-being-horse with its wealth-saddle is not a horse that can be saddled or ridden by just anyone, and I will show you a little later in this writing what our Lord says regarding this matter.
Now why did I use David as my first example after giving you all those other big names? Well, let's just say I wanted to keep it in the family with my second example Solomon, because they are both such perfect examples of how wealth can impact one’s life.
First there was David who progressed from a shepherd to become one of the most powerful kings of that part of the world including all the power and wealth that came with such a distinguished position.
With regards to David there is written for us:
1 SAMUEL 13:13-14
13 "How foolish!” Samuel exclaimed (to Saul). “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. Had you kept it, the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.”
14 “But now your kingdom must end, for the Lord has sought out a man after His own heart (this is David). The Lord has already appointed him (David) to be the leader of His people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
David progressed from a shepherd to become the king of Israel, he gathered a lot of wealth, but he didn’t let it go to his head.
Now my second example. After him, his son Solomon became the richest king in the world of his time. Although he was in his time a wise and powerful king whom God has physically appeared to as a visible person, he did let his wealth go to his head. Can you believe it! He actually died as someone who worshiped idols:
1 KINGS 11:7-11
7 “On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites.”
8 “Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.”
God judges Solomon
9 “The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.”
10 “He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command.”
11 “So now the Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed My decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants.”
So with everything I wrote up until now, what is it that I want to tell you?
Just this:
Because humans are what they are, it is just simply not everyone who is capable as a child of God to be rich and prosperous. And because this life is very, very short compared to eternity, you must carefully think before aspiring to be rich and wealthy. During your effort to be prosperous, your first red light is the moment when your aspirations to be prosperous makes you do things that Jesus would not have done.
The safest way for a child of God to live with regards to materialistic prosperity is:
HEBREW 13: 5-6
5 “Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
6 “So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”
Many people, and with the evidence from the Bible at my disposal I can say this; that most people who saddled the wealth-horse, have ended up in hell, just as most those who aspires so today will also end up there. If you think that I am now exaggerating, let's see what the Word of God says about this.
I have said that your first red light is when your aspirations to be prosperous makes you do things that Jesus would not have done and when you do that, you start saddling your wealth-horse in a sinful manner and every time you do something like this it gets easier for you to do it more often. Then in the end most people on that wealth-horse and beautiful wealth-saddle end up in hell.
That brings me to Jesus’ words about wealth which consists of materialistic prosperity – and remember as you read this – this is God in a human form that said it and inspired the writers of the Bible to write it down in His Word:
MATTHEW 19:23-24
23 “Then Jesus said to His disciples: "I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
24 (Then God who became human said) “I’ll say it again – it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”Let's have a look what the Word of God further says in this regard.
Jesus said in His explanation of the parable of the sower the following:
MAT 13:22 “The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s Word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.” (Because the wealth saddle sits comfortably on this wealth horse.)
Further, at another Scripture, Jesus speaks again:
LUKE 16:13 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”
Then we read in the Bible about people who became rich, but not according to our Lord's principles of course:
JAMES 5:1-3
1 “Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.”
2 “Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.”
3 “Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment.”
You see the average person, if we look at ourselves in honesty, expresses the following behaviour:
The more I have, the more I want to have and the less I tolerate poor people, because they are beneath me. Yes, I also call those who are poor and living in poverty not really part of my circle of friends because they are according to my living standards too poor. I may still call myself a Christian, but actually I am a Christian without Christianity.
Now should someone ask me what recipe a Christian is supposed to follow in order to be materialistically prosperous, without getting into the dangerous position of a camel that cannot go through the eye of a needle – I think to keep this as simple as possible for me and you, I only have to quote the following Scriptures from the Bible:
MAT 6:33 "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.”
Firstly, I have to strive to make the riches that the Lord wants me to have in abundance my own:
EPHESIANS 3:16-19
16 “I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources (No earthly wealth can be compared to this) He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit.”
17 “Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.”
18 “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is.”
19 “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
With this wealth in my life, MAT 6:33 I can then handle… all these other things … that I desire.
So, if you really want to be wealthy and materialistic prosperous – if you really think, yes, you can ride that horse well enough through the eye of the needle without him throwing you in hell – then always aspire to work towards this by being honest and sincere before our Lord – and let it be your measurement of how good a wealth rider you are:
HEB 13:5 “Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
Greetings,
Sakkie