Have you ever wondered why God made Heaven's streets from gold and built the foundations of the heavenly city from diamonds, rubies and other precious gems? The answer is so obvious it is easily missed. In Heaven there is no place to cash in the gold or gems or to spend money, so why not use them for building materials!

However, on earth we can spend gold and it's God's will we have it to spend. He wants us to be financially prosperous so we can use our wealth to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Third John 2 teaches it is God's ultimate will for our soul to prosper. When our soul prospers, God can trust us with His riches and our outward man will prosper and be in divine health.

Romans 12:2 reveals that God's plan is not a get-rich-quick scheme, but is a growing process. In this process we move from the good to the acceptable, and finally, to the perfect will of God by the renewing our minds. This growth is similar to seeds sown into the ground that produce some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred-fold return.

In Psalm 1 David tells us if we take delight in the law of the Lord and meditate on it day and night, whatsoever we do shall prosper. Psalm 112:1 echoes this: "...blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments." In verses 2-10, we find a commentary which elaborates on the blessings that will come to the person who renews his or her mind with the Word.

The first blessing is found in verse two: "His seed shall be mighty upon the earth ..." The Hebrew actually says, "His descendants shall be mighty in the earth." Financial prosperity is meaningless if your children are an ungodly generation who will squander your wealth. Satan preys upon young people so godly parents will have no one godly to inherit their wealth and blessings. By patiently waiting to destroy the next generation, Satan can steal all God has given us. This is why it is imperative for us to instruct our children in the Word of God!

The second blessing is found in verse three: "Wealth and riches shall be in his house; and his righteousness endureth forever." Notice, righteousness endures forever. It is passed from generation to generation so those who have the riches will also have the strength and abilities necessary to handle and keep them.

Verse four tells us of another part of prosperity: "Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous." This "light in the darkness" is the guidance God gives us in Satan's dark world. This includes what to do with our families, what to do in the affairs of life, as well as what to do with our finances.

The reason the man in verse four is prosperous is because he is a giver at heart. This reiterates
what we have said before; the ultimate goal of prosperity is not self gain, but to be able to be a giver to those in need.

This idea is carried into verse five: "A good man sheweth favor, and lendeth: he will guide his affairs with discretion." "Favor" is better translated as "grace." In other words, as God has graced you, you should grace others. As God's nature of love and mercy, comes to maturity inside you, your nature to reach out as He does and bless others no matter what they look like, live like, or act like should be the same as God's. You love them simply because it is your nature to love.

The word discretion (verse 5) means "judgment." Good judgment is another facet of prosperity. This enables you to assess, evaluate, and judge the affairs of life so you can maintain all the blessings God has given you.

Furthermore, when a believer remains in the Word and reaps God's blessings, he becomes stable, and as verse six tells us, "Surely he shall not be moved forever." In the time of testing he will not be moved away from God's Word. Thus, he will be victorious.

This verse also states "...the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance." Prosperity encompasses the righteous man's being remembered after he dies. Because of his righteousness people will desire to understand what he had in life. Because of this, he will leave an everlasting remembrance on this earth.

Whereas verse six speaks of standing fast in times of testing, verse seven explaines how to deal with evil tidings, "He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord." When calamity strikes, outward prosperity is of little consequence and is often impotent. However, the key to overcoming calamity is to keep your heart fixed and steady on the Word of God.

Verse eight tells us about another benefit of prosperity – patience - when it says, "His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he sees his desire upon his enemies." When you see your enemies prospering even though they are evil, you don't follow their way because your heart is established and fixed. Then, when they fall, as they eventually will, you will still
be moving on one step at a time because of the patience in your heart.

Verse nine reveals another secret of this man's (and our) success, "He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor." It is stated twice that he is a giver! This reiteration is used to emphasize the fact that we prosper when we are givers,

This verse continues, "...his righteousness endureth forever; his horn shall be exalted with honour." When a horn is exalted, it is turned so it can catch the blessings poured from heaven.

The reaction of the unbeliever to this believer's receiving all these blessings is graphically described in verse ten:

The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.

God's will is for this prosperity to grieve the wicked because, as we have said previously, the ultimate purpose of a believer's prosperity is to provoke the sinner to jealousy so when his man-made schemes have failed, he sees God's prosperity and wants it enough to turn from his own ways to God's way!

We all know sinners who are financially prosperous, but remember, prosperity involves more than money. These same rich people may have poor health, marriages that have fallen apart, children on drugs, or any number of problems. No amount of money can buy freedom from these problems. Freedom can come only from God's Word.

Psalm 112 is about prosperity and yet, there are many supposedly "scriptural" arguments against prosperity. I say, "supposedly" because the Word does not contradict itself and we need to rightly discern the Word of God.

One scripture often quoted as "proof" that God is against believers becoming prosperous is 1 Samuel 2:7, "The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, and lifteth up." Opponents of the prosperity message interpret this as meaning prosperity lies totally in the realm of God's sovereignty. In other words, He makes rich only those He chooses.

The Bible does say this and taken as is, it sounds very convincing. However, before jumping to conclusions, let's look at this verse in context. Hannah, the mother of Samuel, began to prophesy and sing to the Lord when she found learned she was pregnant. In fact, in verse one she says, "My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord." Remember what we said, an exalted horn catches the blessings of God. Hannah may not have had much money, but she was prosperous because she found the key to receiving blessings from the Lord-rejoicing before the Lord. Hannah's prosperity, like ours, began in her inner man. Then her outer man could turn up her horn to receive God's blessings.

Hannah continues, "... my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation." Hannah's barrenness had been ridiculed by other women, but Hannah was undaunted by the ridicule and was patient, keeping her heart right before the Lord. Because of this, God saw to it her praises were enlarged over all her enemies and that she became pregnant.

Verse two says by establishing her heart on the Word, Hannah found a place of security in her life.

There is none holy as the Lord for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.

Many of the women who were laughing at Hannah were sinners. They looked down their noses at her because she had no children. In the fullness of her joy at being pregnant, she says, "Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed." (1 Samuel 2:3)

She warned against talking proudly because "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." (James 4:6)

Hannah continues in verse four, "The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength." The phrase "mighty men" refers to those who think they are self-sufficient and do not need God. We still have men who boast that they are self-made, but that boast is erroneous. We all need others to teach us and train us. We don't automatically know everything. These "self-made" people merely took advantage of the opportunities given to them. What they don't realize is God made these opportunities come to pass for sinners as well as for Christians. Furthermore, these sinners will eventually fail if they are leaning on their own strength. If they come against the righteous, God will see to it they fail.

When these "mighty men" load their bows against the righteous, God will snap their bows like toothpicks. Literally, the bows are weapons of warfare. Metaphorically, they are people's mouths. A mouth can be just as deadly a weapon when it is loaded with words against you. In order to preserve the righteous, God will destroy a mouth as readily as He will break a bow.

In verse five Hannah explains God can turn things around:

They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble.

The basic idea behind this verse is overnight success brings over "might" failure.

Verses six and seven seem to be full of paradoxes, but in light of the entire text the meaning is clear.

The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.

Whom does the Lord kill? The wicked, the proud, the arrogant. Whom does He make alive? The humble, the righteous, those whose horns are exalted and whose hearts are right before Him. Whom does He bring down to the grave? The wicked. Whom does He lift up? The righteous.

This idea is continued in verse seven:

The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.

We can surmise who is made poor and brought low - the wicked, the arrogant, the proud, the self-righteous. On the other hand, the believer is made rich and exalted before God.

While Hannah did say, "The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich," she did not mean God arbitrarily exalts one person above another. She was saying God deals with sinners one way (maketh poor) and believers another (maketh rich).

Can you see the danger of taking a verse out of context? A scripture out of context may sound entirely different than God intended.

Verses eight and nine tell us how the Lord treats believers:

He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he hath set the world upon them.

He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; For by strength shall no man prevail.

Verse ten reiterates the fact that God deals with His adversaries and His anointed in different ways:

The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces: out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and shall exalt the horn of his anointed.

It clear that 1 Samuel 2 is not preaching against prosperity.

Another scripture quoted by opponents of the prosperity message is Proverbs 30:7-8:

Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:

Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:

The reason the speaker of these verses wants to be neither rich nor poor is found in verse nine:

Lest I be full and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

Before we jump to conclusions about these scriptures and say, "God must know if we are rich we'll deny Him and if we are poor we'll steal,” let's find out who was saying this.

Verse one tells us these are the words of Agur, the son of Jakeh. All the other chapters in the Book of Proverbs were written by Solomon (in Chapter 30, Solomon was referred to as Lemuel). Historians don't know who Agur was except that he was not Solomon.

In verses two and three we find out some information about Agur:

Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.

I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.

Basically, Agur is telling us he doesn't have the mentality God gave a goose! The word "brutish" means animalistic, stupid. Agur also says he doesn't have the natural, normal intelligence of any man. This is easy to believe because even really slow people want to have money.

Agur continues by saying that besides being of low intelligence, he hasn't learned any wisdom nor does he have knowledge of the Holy One. No wonder he asks God to keep him in the middle of the road. Don't quote that scripture out of context unless you want to be identified with Agur.

It's far better to remember that God's Word repeatedly declares if you increase in the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, it is His desire for you also to prosper and be in health.

Bob Yandian

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Copyright 2009 by Bob Yandian Ministries.
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