Biblical Prosperity

If abundant blessing is really the heart and nature of God, we should find it repeated throughout the Bible. This is precisely what I want us to look at in these next few blogs.

Let’s go to Exodus 36:3-7. Please notice the term “more than enough” as it appears in the following scriptures.

They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning. So all the skilled craftsmen who were doing all the work on the sanctuary left their work and said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done.” Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.

Did you get that? Moses ordered the people to stop giving! Moses started a building project, and the Israelites were asked to participate by giving offerings. The people gave so much that Moses had to actually issue a decree instructing them to stop. When is the last time you heard your pastor or any church leader say, “Stop giving…you are giving way too much?” I think most of us would agree the church today has not yet reached this stage of generosity.

Live long and prosper. That sounds too good to be true. Bingo! Though it sounds idealistic, I do believe the Lord wants us to live long and prosper. He has created us to bear fruit and he put us on this earth for that reason. Prosperity means meeting the right people at the right time, climbing the right mountain in the right season, fighting the right battle with the right weapons, having the right people around us with the right skills, being at the right place to see opportunity and having the right provisions there when we need them to fulfill our destiny. Then we can help other people fulfill their destiny. This is how to be a prosperous Christian.

In my first book on Biblical finance, Prosperity with a Purpose, I focused on giving a picture of God as El Shaddai, the God of more than enough. In the second book,  A Practical Path to a Prosperous Life, I focus on the practical tools to go beyond just knowing about El Shaddai.  The goal is to develop a prosperous soul as the Holy Spirit teaches you to prosper. Please find this resource at A Practical Path to a Prosperous Life on the DOVE Store website.

Most people would say they would like more of both time and money. At the core of this statement is a desire to be more fruitful and productive. This is a good and godly thing. We were created this way. The truth is there are many parallels between time and money. For example, we know it is better to invest money than to spend it. This would also be true of our time. It is better to invest time in people and projects that provide ongoing return than to spend it on things that are once and done.

What is your time worth? Many of us don’t put a monetary value on our own time. However we need to see that others do put a monetary value on our time. As an example, let’s say you are in the United States and plan to travel from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. If you buy a bus ticket it will cost you $150 but it will take you 36 hours of time to get there. If you buy a plane ticket it will cost you $500, but the trip will take 5 hours to get there. If other people assign monetary value to our time, maybe it would benefit us to do the same.

A family was building a home. It cost $10,000 more to construct a cathedral ceiling instead of a traditional ceiling in the house. This added $20,000 to the resale value of the house. It added beauty to the house. Now when people enter the house their eyes are drawn to look up as with any cathedral. Is looking up such a bad thing? Maybe one day as the homeowner is sitting and looking up he is inspired with an idea for a business. Now since they have more value in their home they can leverage that value for a loan to start a business that creates jobs.  The people who will work on those jobs will get paid and go home and feed their kids and pay their mortgage with the money.

Some would say it is a waste of money to build the cathedral ceiling. The wealthy think the poor waste money, and the poor think the wealthy waste money. Who is right? A businessman sees it as wasteful to take the time to change the oil in his car. I have to agree. He could be out starting businesses and creating new jobs for people. A prosperous person realizes trying to save money on little things is often a waste. Many times poverty minded people will try to do everything themselves and save money. But they never have enough time to finish so there are often broken-down cars and car parts in their yard or unfinished parts of their house as well. Have you ever driven by one of these?

A few years ago I spent an evening with a business man in the north of Poland. He was in an immediate need of 500,000 Euros to maintain cash flow for his business. The Lord had given me some insight that would help his business. He thought nothing of taking us to one of the nicest restaurants in town to talk. He was thinking about half a million Euros, so spending a 100 Euros on a meal for our small party was not significant to him. It was money well spent if it helped his kingdom business succeed.

As some of you know, I was an elected official on our local public school board for nine years. The people who serve on these kinds of boards have generally experienced a lot of success in their lives. When went to dinner after a board meeting we did not go to a cheap, fast food restaurant. It was an expensive meal. Was it a waste of money for me to spend that kind of money on a meal? I don’t think so. I needed to have those relationships to be an effective leader in our community. Also, in those settings I have often gained insights that have helped me be fruitful in other areas of my life and the kingdom. People gather around food, relationships are built and the Kingdom expands.

I have heard Christians try to have a theological discussion about what kind of car Jesus would have driven. Some try to prove he would have driven an expensive car and others try to prove he would have driven a cheap car. Implied in this question is a justification for whatever car the individual wants to drive. I believe this is a fruitless discussion. If you are asking this question, you are thinking wrongly. Stop thinking about what you can get away with and start asking God what he is telling you to do and what you need to do it. How can you be fruitful and multiply? What difference can you make in the world? How will your destiny unfold?

Is God’s blessing so you can buy a boat and go to the lake every weekend to relax? There is nothing wrong with a boat at the lake; in fact, God just might refresh you and give you some ideas to extend the Kingdom while you are there. But remember, Jesus spoke about a man who built bigger barns for his harvest and propped up his feet to watch the world go by. We can never forget the purpose of the “more than enough.” The truth is we do receive many blessings from the Lord for us and our families, and we should. But God will never let things keep you from fulfilling your purpose. It is not about what we receive, though we receive many things from our loving father. It is about what we produce and what we give. Our end game is to extend the kingdom of God.

It was my day off, and as usual I had more on my “to do” list than I could accomplish in a week. Stop here. Stop there. Drop this off. Talk to that person. Go to the bank. Rush in. Rush out. As I worked my way down the list one of my stops was at a local greenhouse to buy spring flowers to plant around our house. I stopped and rushed into the greenhouse.

 At first, I slowed down because there were so many different kinds of flowers from which to choose. Wow…so many different colors and sizes. Then someone behind me said, “Hi, Brian.” It was a friend I hadn’t seen for years. She asked me about our children. After giving her an update I asked her about hers. As we went on our ways and I focused back on the flowers I realized I was enjoying the beauty of the flowers and the quiet of the greenhouse. There was only the hum of the overhead fans. Then I thought about taking the flowers home and planting them with my six-year-old daughter when she got home from school. All of a sudden I didn’t want to rush the planting of the flowers. It seemed like I should just relax, slow down, enjoy the beauty of the flowers, and enjoy planting them with my daughter. I did.

Jesus was talking about how to “not worry” when he said, “Consider the lilies of the valley. They do not labor or spin” (Luke 12:27). There is something about flowers and beauty in general that seems to cause worry and anxiety to leave. I like to say it this way: Beauty feeds your soul.

We read in the Bible about an alabaster bottle of expensive perfume poured over Jesus feet. Who was it that called this act a waste? It was Judas. It was an act of worship, but he criticized it as wasteful excess. He even gave a spiritual reason not to do it…so the money could be given to the poor. In actuality it was Judas who was missing the point. True waste is not noticing and enjoying what God put here on earth for us. This is an act of worship.

We will experience more prosperity if we enjoy beauty and blessings. It will change our finances. Do not apologize for God’s blessing. Include beauty in your life; it will make you more prosperous. God made these things for us to enjoy. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a vehicle purchased for an African apostolic leader by the name of Ephraim Tumusiime. He should not have to apologize for the nice, new vehicle he received. He should enjoy the fact that he no longer gets stuck in the deep, muddy ditches in the Ugandan roadways.

So what about beauty? Our lives should both embrace and radiate the beauty of the Lord. God was the first artist, and we are his masterpiece. Beauty feeds your spirit. Why do I give my wife beautiful flowers?…after all they just die anyway. No, it brings beauty into her day. It feeds her spirit. It changes our home.

It is interesting to me that Genesis states there was gold in the Garden of Eden. Later, God moved on the Egyptians to give silver and gold to the children of Israel as they had requested before they left Egypt. God included gold rings in the blessing he gave to Job. In Haggai, gold and silver are mentioned in the same context as the glory of God.

I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty” (Haggai 2:7-9).

Have you read through the Song of Solomon? As you read the description of the bride you will find that she looks beautiful! Oh…and interestingly enough she is wearing gold and silver.

Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels. We will make you earrings of gold, studded with silver (Song of Solomon 1:10-12).

Relax. I am not suggesting we start the First Church of the Gold and Silver or a new theology of wealth. I just want to point out it doesn’t seem that God minds having gold and silver around. He is probably more comfortable with it than most Christians. In fact, he uses it for a paving material in the New Jerusalem. Clearly God’s economy is different than ours.

Ephraim Tumusiime is a leader of leaders in the nation of Uganda. He leads a local church in Kampala but also gives oversight to many pastors throughout Uganda. Ephraim is a humble man who is doing great things for God in his nation. They are planting churches, building schools, feeding orphan children and bringing healing and restoration to a country that was brutalized by the dictator Idi Amin as portrayed in the movie “The Last King of Scotland.”

Ephraim and his wife, Joyce, now oversee more than 80 churches in Uganda. A few years ago they doubled the number of DOVE churches in Uganda in just two years. It was a dramatic growth spurt. How could they double the number of churches in two years? Was it a sovereign move of God? Yes, God is moving there. Was it his great charismatic leadership? Yes, Ephraim is a good leader. Are they in the middle of a revival? Yes, the spiritual climate is good. However, part of the reason the number of churches has doubled is that someone spent $20,000 to buy Ephraim and Joyce a new four wheel drive vehicle so they could reach the remote rural areas of Uganda. The new vehicle is a real part of helping the kingdom of God expand in Uganda.

It is that simple—it takes money to extend the kingdom of God. Traveling ministers need transportation, cars need gas, buildings need electricity, people need to eat, the unreached need church planters, teen centers need gymnasiums, ministries need computers and the poor need jobs created for them. It takes money.