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PROSPERITY SCHOOL 101
Part Twenty Two - How We Limit God's Transfer of Prosperity          

  

Beloved I pray above all things that you might PROSPER - 3 John 2

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  By: Dr. Bill Miller                                                 Volume XVI Number 9                                                 March 3, 2013
                                                 

Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship:

 

Thanks for joining us again tonight as we continue our study on the subject of biblical PROSPERITY. Keep in mind that the basic idea we've wanted to communicate through this series is that God has a special kind of PROSPERITY for Believers and the desire of His heart is to get it into our lives so that we can use it for His purposes. The word PROSPERITY is a Bible word that's mentioned there more than 90 times in a positive context in contrast to certain manmade traditions that for centuries have attempted to discourage both the use of the word itself and the underlying concept that God actually wants His New Covenant family to receive His PROSPERITY including financial PROSPERITY.

 

Last week we discussed the fact that Believers have the ability to LIMIT what God does. That's the tradeoff He makes for allowing us to be people of FREE WILL who can make our own choices and decisions. Indeed, as we saw last week the Israelites LIMITED God's PLAN to take them into the Promised Land (Psalm 78:41 KJV) and the Truth is we are by nature just like them. We can LIMIT God too and the fact that He already knows what our choices and decisions are going to be before we make them doesn't compromise the TRUTH: we can choose to DISAGREE with God if we want to, we can decide to sin if we want to and we can choose death over life if we want to. Yes God is SOVEREIGN but don't forget from last week that the word SOVEREIGN according to the dictionary has to do with AUTHORITY, not CONTROL. Indeed, God is SOVEREIGN but in addition to that, He's chosen to not CONTROL everything even though He could if He wanted to.

 

Now this week we can build on the idea of LIMITING God by getting more specific about HOW we actually do that. His desire is to get PROSPERITY through to us. In fact, He's ALREADY provided it by GRACE so that all we have to do to RECEIVE/TAKE it is to learn HOW to connect to His GRACE by FAITH. But since most Believers are NOT prosperous financially, there must be some basic factors that are LIMITING the flow of what God has for us. If we can find out what those factors are then perhaps we'll be motivated to take corrective action so God can actually use us in His Kingdom.

 

Root Factors that Limit God's Prosperity

 

To start with, nobody's perfect in connecting to God's GRACE even though there's way more of it to go around than we'll ever be able to connect to in this lifetime. But the Body of Christ should be doing a lot better financially than we presently are and that's what this series is addressing. I can plainly see some root factors that are LIMITING the flow of PROSPERITY and the good news is that they can be corrected with a relatively minor amount of individual effort compared to what you might think and compared to the potential benefit. Following then are a few of the ROOT factors, things we're routinely doing that are clearly LIMITING the flow of God's PROSPERITY:

 

Passivity = In previous articles I've talked about the tendency of Christians on a spiritual level to just sit around waiting for PROSPERITY to fall on them. The mentality is, "if God wants me to be PROSPEROUS then He'll make it happen. I don't have to do anything." Certainly He can do it that way if He wants to but according to the Word most of us are going to have to take some kind of action because FAITH is required in order to connect to GRACE. In fact, we're supposed to live by FAITH (Romans 1:17) and effective FAITH requires being a DOER (action) of the Word (James 1:22). Here's how you DO it: go into the Word and find at least three scriptures that speak His promise directly to you about His PROSPERITY. Then accept the thinking that all around you are His GRACE opportunities to connect to. Then get before God with your PROSPERITY scriptures and ask Him which opportunity He wants you to get involved with by FAITH, not in the Flesh but by FAITH. And once you have a peace about His answer step out in FAITH and start working on the opportunity He's pointed out to you. You want His opportunity, not necessarily what you might have wanted to do, and if you enter into it with the right attitude He'll show you what's best for you. In sum the lack of aggressive pursuit in FAITH of God's PROSPERITY is one of that things that LIMITS the flow of it to His people.

 

Pursuing wealth in our own strength = The second ROOT problem is that while we're passive about pursuing God's PROSPERITY, a lot of us are NOT at all passive about pursuing wealth in our own strength and without Christ the way the World does. The obvious conclusion to be drawn is that for whatever reason we don't TRUST God to deliver on His promises which is EXACTLY THE SAME WAY THE ISRAELITES ACTED. Instead of using our time and effort to actively find out more about how to get into God-based PROSPERITY, we work overtime to connect to MATERIALISM which is man-initiated, self-based system of WEALTH ACCUMULATION. Most of us don't know any more about how to do the latter than we understand how to connect to God's PROSPERITY but we SEE what other folks are trying to do in the World and we go after that because the Flesh prefers to work on things it can assess with the five physical (carnal) senses. Sorry but it'll NEVER work. You may get rich for a season doing it the World's way but that way ALWAYS comes with sorrow (Proverbs 10:22) while God's way comes with total PEACE and VICTORY in every area of life. That's why all our ventures into the World financial system have such a high failure rate. Yes, we can do all things through Christ because He strengthens us (Philippians 4:13); but don't forget the opposite principle: "apart from Christ you can do nothing" (John 15:5) and God isn't going to accompany us on our Flesh-led trips into the World's ways of doing things, not ever.

 

Lack of attention to the Word = The third ROOT factor is that many Christians, maybe most are satisfied with salvation as the end result of their conversion and are unwilling to invest their time and energy into the only thing that will produce real victory, success, abundance and PROSPERITY in life, which is the Word of God. Indeed, most of us try to shortcut the Word as much as we can because we're lazy so we wind up having to wish for PROSPERITY to just fall on us because we don't know enough of the Word to get started connecting to the GRACE that God has ALREADY made available. Consider that the promises of God's PROSPERITY are found in the Word, so we have to understand enough of the Word to have some amount of FAITH (Romans 10:17) because without FAITH we CANNOT connect to the GRACE of God. If we don't know the Word, if we don't have our own personal REVELATION about how God's PROSPERITY works then we LIMIT the flow of that PROSPERITY into our lives. God wants us to have it but it's not going to just fall on us as we've already discussed and it's not going to happen at all unless we figure out how to connect to His GRACE by FAITH which requires spending time in the Word where we can receive understanding from the Holy Spirit. And if we don't have that understanding in us, we're way more likely to embrace some of those man made traditions we've discussed instead of going after our PROSPERITY.

 

Not making God our first priority = The fourth ROOT factor that LIMITS the flow of God's PROSPERITY is a problem of priorities. The Bible instructs us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33) so that we won't have to worry about provision for our physical needs. Seeking first means to put the things of God as our first priority in life ahead of our own interests and agenda. If we do that, if we get our priorities right, provision happens through GRACE by FAITH and God's PROSPERITY is part of His provision. But the opposite is also true: if we do NOT seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness then we'll NOT be able to connect to the GRACE that empowers His provision.

 

Notice that there are TWO things to seek first: one is the Kingdom of God and the other is His righteousness. If we relate these priorities to the subject of PROSPERITY we could say that we won't be able to connect to the related GRACE until we can be counted on to put the Kingdom of God ahead of our own priorities for the use of His PROSPERITY and this is the most difficult to do in the area of our finances. Also, the word RIGHTEOUSNESS means to be in right standing with God which requires that we first receive Jesus as Lord and that thereafter we live by FAITH (Romans 1:17) because without FAITH it's impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). In sum our highest priority should be to seek the things of God, i.e. the interests of God ahead of our own so that we'll be able to connect to His PROSPERITY. It's hard for the Flesh to accept this concept but it's true: indeed, the universe is not about us; it's about the Kingdom of God and righteousness. And we'll NEVER be able to do these things by being passive Christians who live in the Flesh all the time.

 

It's not too hard by the way to confirm that Christians in the USA have a problem establishing the right priorities for their finances because many of us get OFFENDED if our local church even mentions the subject of money. We have a chance to put God first by tithing but fewer than 10% of Believers actually TITHE and the rest of us might leave the church if the Pastor were to bring up that subject more than about twice. Unfortunately that kind of attitude creates a big problem for Believers who want God's PROSPERITY because they're not able to develop their FAITH for increased finances. For example, there's a biblical principle that those who sow sparingly reap sparingly (2 Corinthians 9:6) and another one that says we'll lose what we try to hold onto (Proverbs 11:24) and yet another one that it's the generous person who'll be PROSPEROUS (Proverbs 11:25) and it's the CHEERFUL giver that God loves and gives GRACE to (2 Corinthians 9:7-8), etc. And that's just a few of the numerous biblical financial principles that impact the flow of God's PROSPERITY. In the end, the result of all the "financial sensitivity" in the Body of Christ is that many local churches are under constant pressure to LIMIT their teaching of essential biblical financial principles even though Jesus talked about them constantly; and because of the related lack of knowledge Believers wind up with, they're cut off all the more from God's PROSPERITY.

 

Not knowing the purposes of prosperity = Finally tonight, we need to know what God's PURPOSES are for His PROSPERITY so we can eventually come to the place where we can be counted on to use it correctly. The ability to use it correctly requires FAITH and by FAITH we connect to God's GRACE and by connecting to His GRACE we can receive His PROSPERITY, including financial PROSPERITY. If we receive it and don't use it for the right purposes, we'll find out that it'll have a very short stay with us and that it won't even satisfy the objectives we substituted for God's purposes. And we'll also find that it might be a while before we can connect to it again. How do we find out what God's purposes are? We can find them in His Word on a general level and from consultation with the Holy Spirit on a specific case-by-case level. The problem is that many Believers, maybe most don't know what God's general purposes are and we routinely ignore the Holy Spirit in both the pursuit of financial wealth and in how we then try to use it. And if we don't understand God's purposes for His PROSPERITY, it becomes easier to buy into one of the traditions that God is the cause of our insufficiency even though He promised PROSPERITY. So, according to Scripture, following are the main purposes for the use of God's PROSPERITY for you to check out for yourself:

 

1) Establishing the Kingdom of God on the earth (Deuteronomy 8:18)

2) Blessing other people and ministries (2 Corinthians 9:8-11)

3) Providing for current financial needs of you and your family (Matthew 6:25-34)

4) Personal financial growth as a reward from God for faithful stewardship (Matthew 25:21)

5) Estate accumulation to benefit succeeding generations (Proverbs 13:22)

 

Some Concluding thoughts

 

No one is going to master righteous financial stewardship in a week or two. It's a matter to work on for one's lifetime; and even as we work on it and learn something once in a while, we'll find that there's still more to learn that we hadn't seen before. But the good news is that God is not asking us to master all the ins and outs of this subject before His PROSPERITY starts to show up. If we'll just make an effort, take some action, get into the Word, consult the Holy Spirit, pray for wisdom and insight and understanding and revelation, etc. the rewards of PURSUIT will gradually manifest. Nothing comes from God by being passive, not even salvation and being born again when you had to release your FAITH and take action in order to change your life. Everything in the Kingdom of God requires our active PURSUIT but the burden of that requirement is light (Matthew 11:30), it's manageable because there's a lot of help available in Christ and if you'll put your treasure where the Lord is, your heart (thinking) will change (Luke 12:34) and as your thinking changes you'll start connecting to GRACE as your FAITH grows stronger and stronger. If you initiate the effort, God will ALWAYS respond. And so, may the Lord now richly bless your PURSUIT of His PROSPERITY in a special way!

 

Thanks for stopping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night March 10, 2013. In the meantime RECEIVE every spiritual blessing causing you to PROSPER not only in finances but in every area of life!

 

Sinners' Prayer

 

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:

 

Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.

 

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

 

And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:

 

Romans 10:9

2 Corinthians 5:17

Ephesians 2:8

 

Prayer Requests

 

If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx 

  

Donations

 

If you've been edified by Prosperous Life Newsletter, you may want to consider making a SEED FAITH offering to support the Ministry (Galatians 6:6-7). God has instructed us to simply provide folks with an opportunity to sow seed into good ground so in due season you'll be eligible to reap a harvest and the rest is up to you as the Spirit leads. For your information PLN is a nonprofit gift to the Body of Christ so your financial offerings will usually be tax deductible (consult your tax advisor). Just go to the secure Shopping Cart on the Cornerstone web site by connecting through the following link. We appreciate your support and generosity.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1 

 

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