Heading: The Great Money Question
Does God Hate Prosperity?
Part 2
Does God hate stinginess, covetousness, idolatry, hoarding, looking down on or holding down the poor, and looking to only one’s own self interest? The Scriptures in “part 1” of this topic proves, “yes”.
But does God hate Prosperity in the lives of His children? The below Scriptures proves, “no”.
********
Do not forget my teaching; keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years, and bring you prosperity (Proverbs 3:1-2)
Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine (Proverbs 3:9)
Those who love (wisdom) and those who seek (understanding), With (wisdom) are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity….I bestow wealth on those who love me and make their treasuries full (Proverbs 8:17-18)
Diligent hands bring wealth (Proverbs 10:4 )
The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and He adds no trouble to it ( Proverbs 10:22)
The wicked man earns deceptive wages, but he who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward. (Proverbs 11:18)
One man gives freely, yet gains even MORE; another withholds unduly but comes to poverty (Proverbs 11:24 )
A generous man will prosper; (Proverbs 11:25)
From the fruit of his lips a man enjoys good things (Proverbs 13:2)
He who gathers money little by little makes it grow (Proverbs 13:11)
A good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children!! But the sinners wealth is stored up for the righteous (Proverbs 13:22 )
The righteous eat to their hearts’ content, but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry (Proverbs 13:25)
The home of the upright will flourish (Proverbs 14:11)
A good man will be rewarded for his ways (Proverbs 14:14 )
The wealth of the wise is their crown (Proverbs 14:24)
The house of the righteous contains GREAT treasure, but the income of the wicked brings them trouble (Proverbs 15:6)
From the fruit of his mouth a man’s stomach is filled; with the harvest of his lips he is satisfied (Proverbs 18:20)
In the house of the wise are storages of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has (Proverbs 21:20)
He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious, will have the king for his friend (Proverbs 22:11)
He who pursues righteousness and love, finds life, prosperity and honor (Proverbs 21:21)
A generous man WILL be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor (Proverbs 22:9)
The blameless WILL receive a good inheritance (Proverbs 28:10)
He who conceals his sins does not prosper (Proverbs 28:13)
A faithful man will be RICHLY blessed; but one eager to get rich, will not go unpunished … and a stingy man, eager to get rich is unaware that poverty awaits him (Proverbs 28:20, 22)
He who trusts in the Lord will prosper (Proverbs 28:25)
He who gives to the poor will lack NOTHING (Proverbs 28:27)
Worship the Lord your God, and His blessing will be on your food and on your water (Exodus 23: 25)
If you follow My decrees and are careful to obey My commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and trees of the their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat al the food you want live in safety in your land. I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid…..I will keep My covenant with you. You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. (Leviticus 26:3-10)
Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess (Deuteronomy 5:33)
But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives wealth, and so confirms His Covenant, which He swore to your forefathers, as it is today (Deuteronomy 8:18)
There should be no poor among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, He will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. For the Lord your God will bless you as He has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none…If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs….Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. (Deuteronomy 15:4-13)
If you fully obey the Lord your God…you will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land will be blessed…your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. The Lord will cause the enemies, who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The Lord will command a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land He is giving you…Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord and they will fear you. The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity. The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of His bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God …and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. (Deuteronomy 28:1-14)
Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may PROSPER in everything you do (Deuteronomy 29:9)
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction…Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. (Deuteronomy 30:15)
Be careful to obey all the law…do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be PROSPEROUS and successful. (Joshua 1:7-9)
Blessed is the man…who delights in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night….whatever he does prospers (Psalm 1)
Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? (God) will instruct him in the way chosen for him. He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land (Psalm 25 12-13)
The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing (Psalm 34:10)
I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed. (Psalm 37:25-26)
For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor; no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless. (Psalm 84:11)
Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in His commands. His children WILL be mighty in the land; WEALTH and RICHES are in his house…Even in darkness light dawns for the upright…He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is secure, he will not fear…He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor, his righteousness endures forever. (Psalm 112)
Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again. Give portions to seven, yes to eight, (give in abundance … not just in portions of seven, but even in eight) for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land…Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. (So do not watch the world, or its economy)…Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will de equally well. (this also teaches that we WILL reap, as we continue to sow faithfully to God, not fearing the economy or the times. Ecclesiastes 11:1-2)
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. “Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it…Then all the nations will call you blessed,” says the Lord Almighty. ( Malachi 3:10-12 — even if one doesn’t believe that New Testament saints should be tithing, I have suggested to people, that giving at least 10% of one’s income keeps one from becoming stingy and forgetting to give. Afterall, the Scriptures are quite clear that when one is stingy and does not give, then one cannot easily receive financial blessings or financial protection during hard times, from God.)
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened…If you, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him (Matthew 7:7-12)
And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for My sake WILL RECEIVE a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life (Matthew 19:29)
“I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the gospel will fail to RECEIVE a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields — and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come eternal life.” (Mark 10:29 – Ahhh, but you know some missionary couple who are living in less than 100 fold return right now, or who may be just barely scrapping by, you may say? Please remember Heb 4:2, as just one teaching as to why some don’t see the Covenant Promises of God in one’s life. If a Promise is not believed for by a Christian, then the Promise will lay by the wayside. Promises don’t just ‘drop’ on people. Salvation never ‘dropped’ on anyone … one has to believe to be saved. And likewise, one has to believe to receive the other Promises of God, as well.)
The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, for He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor…to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18)
Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. GIVE, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will (men) pour into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:37-38)
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)
The Lord richly blesses all who call on Him (Romans 10:12 )
The Lord generously give His RICHES to ALL who ask for them (Romans 10:12 NLT)
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9 — the context of this entire chapter and chapter 9 is MONEY and growing in the grace of giving)
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that need, you will abound in every good work…Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 9:6-11)
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, Who RICHLY provides us with everything for our enjoyment (1 Timothy 6:17)
Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel. Yours, O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is Yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; You are exalted as head over all. WEALTH AND HONOR come from You; You are Ruler of all things. In Your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give You thanks and praise Your glorious name! (1 Chronicles 29:10-13)
Ending Encouragements:
For the eyes of the Lord run throughout the earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully committed to Him (2 Chronicles 16: 9)
I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the LIVING (while I am alive). Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:13)
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words will never pass away (Luke 21:33)
For no matter how many Promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him we speak the “Amen” to the glory of God (2 Corinthians 1:19-20 )
We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised (Hebrews 6:12)
And without faith it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him (Hebrews 11:6 )
In Conclusion:
Let’s not be so dogmatic in our own opinions and feelings and experiences, that we forget to BELIEVE SCRIPTURE.
I believe this is a tendency of the human-heart….
our experiences, others experiences, and current surrounding circumstances start to dictate HOW we interpret scripture and starts to have more authority in our thinking, than the Living and Powerful Word of God does. Meaning, just because we see godly, wonderful Christian believers living in financial distress or poverty, doesn’t mean that God desires it to be that way …. any more than God desires any of His people to be sick or die from a disease.
.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not ALL His benefits!
{Psalm 103}
.
Amen.
.
© 2007-2009 — No permission given to reproduce, copy, commercialize or distribute FaithSpeaksInc Blog statements and/or teachings without
prior written permission. Linking to this Site is permitted.
Very Small “COMMENTS” button is located directly below
