Wealth for the Believer
By Pastor Robert E. Bolden
"And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is in this day." - Deuteronomy 8:18
We must keep the faith when it comes to on the Word of God that speaks on prosperity, wealth, finances and abundance. The Word of God is clear on all these subjects and it takes strong faith on the part of the teacher to keep this information before God’s people.
The devil has cleverly and systematically tried to convince the body of Christ that we should not have abundance, wealth or excess. We see in the Word that God is pleased when His servants prosper (Psalms 35:27). The Hebrew word translated here as prosperity is loaded with meaning: safety, wellness, happiness, healthiness, peacefulness. In fact this word is translated “peace” and when your needs are met you know that you are at peace.
Prosperity comes in many different forms. There is social prosperity, mental prosperity and professional prosperity when God blesses the work you are doing on your job or business.
No Christian has a problem with any of these ways through which God can prosper us.
No minister, theologian, or church denomination will tell you that any of these areas of prosperity are bad or evil.
When it comes to financial and material prosperity it seems to be a different story. It is amazing to me that when a pastor or minister begins to talk about these two areas of prosperity they become a target a criticism.
We know that these attacks are from the devil and he wants to keep Christians poor and ignorant of God’s promises. God wants you to prosper. Until you are convinced of this, you will never prosper. Did you know that Jesus and His disciples were not poor, they had wealth? We as believers can determine our prosperity and wealth (Deuteronomy 1:8 and Psalms 1:1-3).
The Word says that whatever he/or she does shall prosper, this includes everything: Your family, your children, your marriage, your ministry, your job, your business, your health. In 3rd John it is clear that God wants His children to prosper - how can anyone deny that?
Prosperity should not be the end in itself. It ought to be the result of a quality of life, commitment, dedication to the things of God. The Greek word for prosper here is yoo-o-do literally means to help on the road or succeed in reaching.
Prosperity is not a momentary, passing phenomenon, but rather it is an on-going, progressing state of success and well-being. It is intended for every area of our lives; spiritual, physical and emotional as well as the material.
Look at a very familiar scripture - John 10:10. "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." The word abundantly used here translated from the Greek is the word perissos which is a very loaded word, meaning superabundance, excessive, overflowing, surplus, over and above, more than enough, profuse, extraordinary, above the ordinary, more than sufficient.
In 2nd Cor. 8:9 "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." The words became poor, carries the meaning to be destitute, poor as a beggar, reduced to extreme poverty. The word suggests the bottom rung of poverty, a situation in which one is totally lacking in these worlds goods.
This is one of the greatest examples of generosity and grace of Jesus. He was rich: Not only in reference to His material wealth on earth, but in recognition of His eternal status as Lord of heaven and earth. He became poor through the total giving of Himself.
Let’s look at the rich here in 2nd Cor 8:9, as you can see the word rich appears twice, the first time it appears it is translated from the Greek as the ploo-see-oce which means copiously; abundantly, richly.
The other place the word rich appears is the Greek word ploo-the-o which means to be (or become) wealthy be increased with goods! There is no shortage of money in the world’s financial structure but if Satan can keep control of the wealth then he and his demons can keep the gospel from being spread.
This is why it so important for the Christians to learn how to tap into God’s financial plan and be a tool in promoting the Good News concerning the wealth and prosperity of God’s people. We believers should rejoice in the fact that through our wealth and prosperity, Satan loses, and the gospel will fill the earth.