COMPLETE PROSPERITY – GOD’S WILL

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you COMPLETELY; and may your WHOLE spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” – 1 Thessalonians 5:23

Biblical Prosperity is all-round, full, total, whole, and COMPLETE PROSPERITY: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you COMPLETELY; and may your WHOLE spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1The. 5:23). Man is a spirit; he has a soul consisting of the mind, the will, and the emotions; and he lives in a body. We may therefore refer to three dimensions of prosperity, namely: spiritual, mental, and physical prosperity.

To prosper spiritually, you must be born again. When you accept Jesus as your Saviour and make Him the Lord of your life, your spirit is reborn or recreated and brought into fellowship with your Father, the Almighty God, and into alignment with His Spirit. You then come into the position to receive from Him all that He has promised in His Word.

To prosper in your soul, you – as a recreated human spirit – must be able to control your mind, will, and emotions. That a person has accumulated a large amount of knowledge does not automatically produce a prosperous mind. Prosperity of the mind comes when you put the knowledge you have acquired to use; when you are controlling your mind instead of your mind controlling you. 2 Corinthians 10:5 describes such a person: “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” This is mental prosperity! It takes the Word of God being alive and operating in you, for you to completely and effectively control your mind.

God’s Word is also the avenue to controlling your will. At creation, God put a powerful will in Man. He will not cancel your will or cause it to crumble. He doesn’t want a broken will that He can dominate. He doesn’t intend for you to be a zombie. He wants your will whole and in submission to His will, so that the two of you can work together in harmony. Your will is actually a godlike will because you’ve been given the right to choose your own eternal destiny. Man was made in God’s image and given the will to make up his own mind. Though he doesn’t have to, a person can go to hell if he wants to and God will protect his right! On the other hand, you can choose Jesus Christ and the Word of God, and enjoy eternal life.

The choice is yours: “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deut.30:19). When a soul is prosperous, the will aligns with God’s Will. It is God’s Word that makes this possible. No one can get in line with God’s Will until he knows what His Word says. His Word is His Will. If you’re in line with God’s Word, you’re in line with His Will!

The person who is emotionally prosperous can control his emotions. This doesn’t mean to never show one’s emotions; but to not be driven by them. Jesus had complete control over His emotions, yet He wept at the tomb of Lazarus! His weeping didn’t cause Him to join the grief-stricken throng of people. He continued to move in the spirit. He put His priorities where they belonged – raising Lazarus from the dead. Jesus showed emotions but He was not moved by them (Jh.11:35-44).

Physical prosperity is prosperity of the senses: all that pertains to the body, and the material and temporal aspects of life. These include the blessings of health, well-being, provisions, and wealth. We can however not be healthier or more prosperous than our soul. One can even be born again and filled with the Spirit, and still not be prosperous in the soul! It takes a mind that is being transformed and renewed in God’s Word to walk in Complete Prosperity (Rom.12:1-2).