We should do things to put ourselves in a place for God to prosper us. We like to talk about the promised land as place flowing with milk and honey, but really…do we think it came from a faucet in the side of a rock? One faucet for milk and another one for honey?  Dr. Thomas Anderson describes how it worked for the children of Israel as they entered the Promised Land:

But with abundance comes a need to learn how to produce wealth. God blessed their work, but they had to work, and not just hard but also smart. They had to know some things. The Promised Land flowed with milk and honey, but to get milk from a cow, they had to know how to milk a cow and they had to have the self discipline to actually go out and milk it everyday. To get honey they had to learn something about bees. God’s people too often think that all they have to do is confess prosperity and wait for it to come. God said he would teach us how to produce wealth, and that he would bless our efforts, but we still have to do something to produce it (Deuteronomy 29:9; 30:9; James 2:17). ¹

As we have previously examined the children of Israel had manna come from heaven while they were wondering in the wilderness, but later they were expected to work, sow and reap in the Promised Land. Is God going to drop money out of heaven like he did manna in the wilderness? Not usually, this would only cultivate a lazy spirit. God helps and rewards those who take initiative. There are times God tells us to wait, but most of the time he expects us to act.

1   Dr. C. Thomas Anderson, Becoming a Millionaire God’s Way, (New York: New York, Faith Words, Hachette Book Group USA, 2006), p.xvi