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

 

During the summer months while so many folks are away on vacation, we'll be repeating some of the earlier articles from this special series on PROSPERITY. Use them to establish a firm foundation for releasing your FAITH for God's abundance in every area of life: spirit, soul and body. These articles are repeated as they were originally written and may not contain certain minor last minute changes that were made at the time they were first published.

 

December 2, 2012:

 

This series of articles is about going back to SCHOOL in order to change our thinking on the subject of biblical PROSPERITY. Indeed, the Bible says that we are who we think we are (Proverbs 23:7) and if the Bible says something then it's the absolute, unchanging TRUTH (Psalm 119:160). Therefore, if we're not PROSPEROUS in life a major reason is probably because our THINKING about who we are tends towards lack and insufficiency. We don't think about ourselves as capable of achieving bible-based PROSPERITY so we don't live there. Instead of concentrating on working with the Lord to make our PROSPERITY develop, we fearfully focus instead on dealing with lack and insufficiency by the Flesh as a more or less expected base-case ongoing condition of life. The simple TRUTH is if Believers want to be PROSPEROUS then most of us need to change the way we THINK about ourselves so that we AGREE with who the Word of God says we are and that requires that we replace our fears with FAITH.

 

Now before we go any farther, keep in mind that the kind of PROSPERITY I'm talking about here is the kind that's mentioned in our Bibles more than 90 times as something positive that God wants for us to possess. PROSPERITY isn't a bad word if it's used correctly; it is after all a Bible word and the correct form of it has Bible characteristics. In fact, by GRACE through FAITH He's already made it available to us to be acquired and then used according to His plans, purposes and priorities. The Truth according to the Word is that God's PROSPERITY is supposed to be used primarily 1) for the establishing of His Covenant on the earth (Deuteronomy 8:18), and 2) so that you and I will have an abundance to carry out every good work that He calls us to perform (2 Corinthians 9:8). Indeed, true biblical PROSPERITY is a surplus over and above what our NEEDS require and the use of it on ourselves is a relatively LOW priority although a part nevertheless of the plan of God in accordance with the effectiveness of our stewardship.

 

If God's plan for Believers is to possess biblical PROSPERITY, then the core issues we need to address are first why MOST of us aren't anywhere close to being PROSPEROUS and second what we have to do to change that picture so it agrees with the Word. Perhaps understanding more about how we got to this point in our THINKING will help us overcome it so we can renew our minds more quickly and come to possess everything that God has for us.

 

The Origin of Insufficiency

 

The problem we're dealing with in this topic is INSUFFICIENCY and in the beginning when God created the Garden there wasn't any insufficiency. There were only surplus and abundance and INCREASE that greatly exceeded the needs of the two caretakers He had placed there. Indeed, God BLESSED the man and the woman (Genesis 1:28) and part of that BLESSING included His sufficiency and abundance in every area of life. Let it be clear that according to Scripture material riches were an important part of that abundance (Genesis 2:11-12). Indeed, the Bible describes ALL sufficiency in ALL things and as long as Adam and Eve obeyed God they lived under the benefit of that BLESSING.

 

Unfortunately, these first two people eventually disobeyed God (Genesis 3:6-7) and their sin caused the CURSE to come upon the earth and into their lives (3:14-19). For the first time the man Adam had to TOIL by the sweat of His brow and live off the "fruit" of the land which had also been CURSED (3:17-19). In effect then the BLESSING of God was exchanged through sin for the CURSE; and with the loss of the BLESSING, lack and insufficiency came into existence. In short, INSUFFICIENCY was NOT God's original plan and it came into existence because of disobedience and sin.

 

Even in that condition though, God was initially open to a relationship with mankind, but of course on His terms. Abel, Enoch and Noah are mentioned in Hebrews, Chapter 11 as men of FAITH who preceded the Flood and obeyed God. But eventually the Lord observed that the earth had otherwise become too corrupted and He helped Noah and his family survive the Flood so they could start things over again after the Flood. In the "post Flood world" the BLESSING was available to those who obeyed God and the CURSE came to those who disobeyed. Indeed, because of sin the CURSE was the prevailing condition of life on the planet. It was just that simple and we can see this more completely described in Deuteronomy, Chapter 28 where in verse 11 God made those who obeyed Him "abound in prosperity" while verses 15 through 68 describe the consequences of disobedience. Through the CURSE then came among other things lack and insufficiency and you can see this particularly in verses 28:11-13.

 

We need to consider also that the PROSPERITY of Deuteronomy 28 was under the LAW and was available only to those people under that Covenant who were obedient to the LAW of God which at that time was limited to the Jews of Israel. That means the Gentiles who lived outside the Covenant of the Law did NOT have access to God's kind of PROSPERITY. His kind of PROSPERITY is special because as a part of the BLESSING it never causes sorrow (Proverbs 10:22).

 

Prosperity is NOW for the Gentiles

 

The third chapter of the Book of Galatians is one of the most important books in the Bible especially when it comes to the subject of PROSPERITY for Believers under the New Covenant. The reason is that it confirms for us that Jesus REDEEMED us from the CURSE of the Law (Galatians 3:13) and in that process He made the BLESSING of Abraham available to Gentile Believers (3:14). What Jesus accomplished was to fulfill the Law which made it possible to ANNUL it (Hebrews 7:18) because it had become obsolete (Hebrews 8:13) which made it possible to then REPLACE it with a NEW and better Covenant that according to Scripture has BETTER promises (Hebrews 7:22, 8:6).

 

Now the good news is that this New Covenant with Jesus as the Mediator (Hebrews 8:6) connects us back to the Covenant that God established with Abraham (Galatians 3:14, 17-29) because God had made it an EVERLASTING Covenant (Genesis 17:7) which meant that it could never be cancelled or annulled or become obsolete. And under that older Covenant, He'd promised Abraham that all His descendents would be BLESSED; and those descendents just so happen now to populate all the Gentile nations in addition to all the Jewish folks anywhere in the world. The result is that all New Covenant Believers in Christ, Gentile and Jew alike are in a very special position: we have access to God's PROSPERITY from the BLESSING of Abraham because we've been REDEEMED from the CURSE and under the New Covenant we can TAKE possession of that PROSPERITY simply by FAITH that's been grounded in LOVE (Galatians 5:6 and 1 Corinthians 13:2).

 

Friend, there's nothing in the Bible to even suggest that God's PROSPERITY has been withheld from New Covenant Believers. So it's time to acknowledge this and throw off false teaching from past centuries that have CORRUPTED our thinking. The PROSPERITY of God belongs to the Church and it's time that we claim what belongs to us so we can go about the work of the Kingdom. There's absolutely no condemnation in seeking after what God has for us if we do it with a right heart, right motives and right priorities. God's PROSPERITY is our right as Christians because our Father has it for us and because Jesus died on a Cross so that it could come to us through Abraham instead of through the Law. Among other things, Jesus died for the REDEMPTION of your PROSPERITY:

 

2 Corinthians 8:9 = "...though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that YOU through His poverty might become rich." 

 

In closing, I made the point last week that the Old Testament folks never had a problem understanding PROSPERITY. Those old people of FAITH submitted to and followed after God and they ALL became PROSPEROUS. They expected to become PROSPEROUS because they understood it was a benefit of their relationship by FAITH with Jehovah God. And the Lord used them to accomplish great things on the earth as they helped prepare for the arrival of Messiah.

 

So what's holding the Church back today? Why do we have a problem understanding it if those old covenant folks embraced it easily? We have a unique almost foolproof opportunity to live in God's PROSPERITY, but our thinking has to be modified if we want to take advantage of the opportunity. We have to renew our minds to the Truth of the Word, start agreeing with the Truth and then start living by FAITH the way we're supposed to (Romans 1:17). We can do all that by meditating on the Word of God at every opportunity so that our FAITH will grow (Romans 10:17) and cause our way to be PROSPEROUS (Joshua 1:8-9). God will BLESS you with His PROSPERITY for agreeing with and trusting in His Word!

 

Thanks for stopping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again next Sunday night on August 5. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing and cause you to PROSPER 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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