Is it God’s will for you to prosper? Let’s examine this controversial topic based on the Bible. First of all let’s define prosper. In the Greek the word is euodoō and it means to be successful and in particular in business affairs.
3 John 1:2 John says that he prays for the brethren to prosper and be healthy in body according to the prosperity of their spirit man.
In other words if the spirit man is prospering then that prosperity will be evident in the natural realm as well.
Jesus never said money or wealth was evil. In fact what he did say was to make use of mammon or worldly money for good purposes, make wise investments with money and be faithful with it. This your faithfulness with money will return to you a benefit. Matthew 6
Luke 16
God said the love of money was the root of all evil. To serve money and put it before God is the sin. Not having money. I Tim 6
If we use money for fleshy indulgences and greed this is sin but to use money for God’s kingdom this is not sin.
James 4
Matthew the tax collector restored what he stole and when he repented he said to the Lord that he would give of his riches to help the poor. This pleased Jesus. Mark 2
According to the Bible poverty is a curse. Many times Christians are dirt poor because of un dealt with sin in their lives, mismanagement of what they did have (story of the talents) or simply because of ignorance of the Bible.
Deuteronomy 28
Galatians 3
Prosperity is also relative. A person living in a western nation may have to make more money than a person from a third world nation in order to live. For example the price of a days wages in one country may be the cost of a loaf of bread in another. The cost of a rental house for one month in one country may be a years wages in another.
The point is that prosperity and health while relative is a sign of God’s blessing. Many sickness and diseases are caused by sin and demonic power such as unhealthy life choices, occult practices, generational sins, and word curses.
Exodus 15
Deuteronomy 7
1 Peter 3
Colossians 4
God says that his people perish for lack of knowledge and so many Christians suffer at Satan’s hands due to their ignorance of God’s word. Hoses 4:6
Does God allow suffering sometimes? Yes he does and scriptures tell us some reasons that he does this; such as for his glory to be revealed, to further the work of God, and chastisement for disobedience.
John 9
Job 42
Dan 4
God promises to supply our needs. Not our greeds. If he wants to give someone a lot of money in order to further the kingdom of God then that’s his buisness but if some of us have to pray for our needs to be met every day because the Lord wants to increase our faith then again that is his buisness. We each have been given different gifts and we should just accept that.
Phil. 4
Romans 12
1 Corinthians 12 Ephesians 4
It is not wrong to pray for your needs to be met but you don’t have to live up to the Jones. A guy with a ministry to the poor may not need a Cadillac but an ambassador to the rich and famous maybe he does.
2 Cor. 10 :12
1 Timothy 6
Paul said that he became all things for all people that he might win them to Jesus Christ. We need to take that into consideration.
1 Corinthians 9
Paul also said in the Bible to be content in your situation whether you have a lot or not.
Phil. 4
The important thing is to live for Jesus and be in the center of his will.
Matthew 6
Heaven’s streets are paved with gold and all God’s children have shoes so in eternity we have an inheritance incorruptible to look forward to and since that’s the final outcome we all prosper in the end anyway .
(1 Peter 1:4 )
