PROSPERITY IS IN THE BOOK

“THIS BOOK of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way PROSPEROUS, and then you will have GOOD SUCCESS” – Joshua 1:8

KINGDOM PROSPERITY is in the BOOK: “THIS BOOK of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way PROSPEROUS…” (Jos.1:8). Prosperity is by FAITH, not by fighting, sweating or struggling: “the just shall live by faith” (Rom.1:17). By implication, the just shall PROSPER by FAITH! God, by His Word, set the standards by which creation operates: “upholding all things by the WORD of His Power” (Heb.1:3). Everything in His Kingdom – including prosperity – has to be by faith or not be at all: “for we walk by faith, not by sight” (2Cor.5:7). God’s Word works! There is peace and rest when we know how to operate by God’s Word – His laws and principles – instead of human ideologies and philosophies.

The essence of faith is that we cannot receive or enjoy what we do not believe. Prosperity is a state of being prosperous; advance or gain in anything good or desirable; “good success” in any endeavour or enterprise. Thus, prosperity is godly and desirable. However, certain conservative ideas coupled with the excesses of some materialistic ministers have led some to believe that prosperity is ungodly. This is far from the truth: the Lord “has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant” (Psa.35:27). God is pleased when His servant prospers. If prosperity is evil, David wouldn’t have prayed that the Lord “send now prosperity” (Psa.118:25). He wouldn’t have assured that those who love Jerusalem shall prosper (Psa.122:6).

If prosperity is ungodly, John wouldn’t have desired that believers prosper and be in health (3Jh.2). There is nothing wrong with prosperity in itself. Prosperity can be put to positive or negative use. Remember: the injury of riches is in the motives for which we desire them. When it comes to material prosperity, it is “the love of money” – not money in itself – that is “the root of all evil” (1Tim.6:10). In fact, there are people committing the sin of “the love of money” who don’t have a dime! Prosperity is biblical. God is the Author of abundant life: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (Jh.10:10). That is real prosperity!

Prosperity, like faith, is God’s way: “The just shall live by faith” (Rom.1:17b). The problem of many people is the lack of knowledge and understanding of God’s ways of doing things: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD” (Isa.55:8). Many try to live in God’s blessings using the world’s ways; hence, things are not working. We need to consistently pray: “Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths” (Psa.25:4). The divine design is that we receive from God by applying His Word. God’s Word is not fable or theory, but TRUTH (Jh.17:17). And “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the WORD of God” (Rom.10:17). God’s Word will always empower us to prosper!

God always has abundance and more than enough. The world’s shortages have no effect on heaven’s citizens, which believers are, by faith: “for our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil.3:20). Though we are in the world, we “are not of the world” (Jh.17:16). We are not meant to be controlled by the systems of the world. That’s why Paul affirmed that our needs are to be met according to Christ’s riches in glory, not according to the shortages on earth (Phil.4:19). Beloved, it is time to renew your mind to what God has to say about your prosperity. As you confess, meditate on, and practise His Word, you’ll make your way prosperous and have good success.