Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!
Thanks so much for joining our group tonight as we continue studying the subject of one of God's special blessings: the blessing of PROSPERITY. We know for sure it's a blessing because the Holy Spirit said so and put it in writing a long time ago (Deuteronomy 28:11). And by the way that verse is still in our Bibles all these years later along with almost a hundred other positive mentions of the word PROSPERITY in all its various forms in both the Old and New Testaments that we can't miss if we'll just look into this subject objectively.
Despite this however, there is confusion in the Body of Christ these days about whether or not PROSPERITY is even a proper subject to be discussing. I know this first hand because quite often when I meet a fellow Believer for the first time and get around to mentioning that since January 1998 I've been writing a ministry publication called Prosperous Life Newsletter, what follows is a "talking points" lecture on the evils of TV preachers and their misguided so-called Prosperity Gospel. They usually don't ask me what I think about PROSPERITY because they're so eager to let me know their negative viewpoint. We rarely get around to talking about it as this wonderful blessing God wants us to have or that under the New Covenant it's ours literally for the taking by GRACE through FAITH because their negativity squashes the very life out of it. In fact, their default perspective of PROSPERITY is so negative they've lost sight of it as a special blessing pretty much altogether and there's nothing left that I can comfortably say about it. The mind I would be trying to speak to is closed.
Now I've already expressed in previous articles that I don't like to see TV preachers, or any other Christian folks for that matter manipulating Believers out of their money. So please don't get the wrong idea. On the other hand it is scriptural for ministers to offer Believers an opportunity to partner with them as we all work together to carry out what folks like to call the Great Commission. Indeed, the principal purpose that God has for our PROSPERITY is that out of it we can finance the cost of taking the GOOD NEWS to the entire world, making disciples of those who believe, getting them all baptized and then teaching them how to live a Christian life (Matthew 28:19-20). So instead of focusing on the TV preachers so much, it would be nice to let God handle that problem so we can get on with the task of downloading God's blessing of PROSPERITY. A big part of that involves overcoming the obstacles to it that the enemy has come up with and one of the biggest, most effective obstacles is GUILT.
The Hindrance of Guilt
Since 1985 we've been working through our counseling ministry with families that have financial problems, and over all those years we've spoken to tens of thousands of precious, conscientious, well-meaning, God-loving Believers. Among the issues that frequently come up is that so many Believers with financial problems are carrying around a lot of guilt and condemnation, and some of them have been dealing with that for several years. Yes, a lot of them made mistakes, made some wrong choices, maybe got into debt, made some bad investments or whatever wrong thing it was that caused them to get into financial trouble. Many others though had lost their jobs and their careers and their businesses because of factors they had little or no control over. But as a group, Christians are more likely to feel responsible for having gotten themselves into their present financial situations and many of them carry around related guilt.
It's wonderful to be a responsible Believer instead of just a victim but guilt baggage is NOT a good thing to be carrying around. It interferes in our personal relationship with the Lord and it makes us feel all down and out and stupid and unspiritual. We see ourselves as failures and think we ought to have been able somehow to come out of our situations with better results. Many relationships have been broken because of the pressure, a lot of divorces seemed like the right thing to do. The fact is a lot of Christians get really depressed and over all these years of counseling at least a couple of times a year we've heard folks tell us that they've been dealing with suicidal thoughts and temptations.
Why do Believers feel so guilty about financial failure? God doesn't condemn us for our mistakes, He's not even accusing us of anything, not even of our sins (2 Corinthians 5:19) much less our mistakes. It's not the Lord they're hearing from with all those negative reactions but Believers feel like they've disappointed God somehow and that He must be upset about their financial choices that turned out so wrong. Since they're Believers they think they shouldn't be failing financially anyway and many of them feel like God has let them down. Why did God allow us to get into this mess and why doesn't He come now and get us out of it?
They're also embarrassed that other Believers particularly in their local church will see them as incompetent and as somebody less successful and/or less spiritual than they used to be or ought to be or compared to the other members there. Instead of going to the elders for prayer and spiritual support they avoid those folks and try to keep them from finding out about their problems. They don't know how their leaders are going to react and they don't know if they can be trusted to keep their financial problems private. What if they tell everybody? And every Sunday they compare themselves to their more successful brethren in the congregation who've been less stupid and more spiritual even though the Bible says not to make those comparisons (Galatians 6:4). But their guilt is painful, degrading and holds them in what seems like a never-ending oppression.
A few years ago during the recession I was driving my car one morning down to a Christian AM radio station in South Florida to be interviewed and I inquired of the Lord what He wanted me to talk about. He told me precisely this: to speak encouragement to His people and to tell them they didn't have to feel guilty for their personal situations in the midst of an economy they had no control over. So that's exactly what I did and the result was that hundreds of people called the radio station and our office over the following few days to express appreciation for the encouragement that interview had given them. The fact is I learned a lot from that experience myself because I hadn't fully appreciated the extent of the guilt problem until I saw the reaction. The rest of the story is that over the following weeks and months that radio station repeated that one 30-minute recorded interview more than one hundred times and every time they did, many Christians called to express their gratitude for the reassurance.
Why is guilt such a particular problem that we should be discussing it in this Newsletter especially in a series about PROSPERITY? As I've explained in previous articles financial PROSPERITY is still a BLESSING under the New Covenant and when folks aren't financially PROSPEROUS according to God's definition of it then they lose their PEACE. Something in their lives is missing or broken and PEACE can't exist in that environment. Yes, I know the Apostle Paul said he had learned to be content with humble means but he didn't say he preferred it that way and he DID say that the Philippians had done the right thing in sending him an offering so he could live in relative PROSPERITY (Philippians 4:11-14). And anyway, how many of us are up to his spiritual level? If you're not quite there yet then you need to know that GUILT over the loss of financial PROSPERITY is itself a HINDRANCE for regaining that PROSPERITY. And here's how that works.
When we have a problem in the Kingdom of God, we need GRACE to deal with it. GRACE is God's unmerited favor and empowerment to overcome that problem through FAITH. The GRACE of God is already available because Jesus already paid for it but we have to connect to it by FAITH. We believe for God's GRACE to produce a solution for our problem and we receive the solution by our FAITH. If you're carrying around a lot of GUILT, you're going to have a lot of trouble with this process because GUILT crushes your expectation that things are going to get better which is a good definition of biblical HOPE. FAITH is the substance of things that are HOPED for (Hebrews 11:1). In sum, GUILT destroys your HOPE which diminishes the power of your FAITH which makes it really difficult to connect to God's GRACE. The bottom line is your GUILT is holding back your reconnection to God's blessing of PROSPERITY, in this case financial PROSPERITY.
Overcoming Guilt
Guilt is not something to get used to or to learn to live with. It's not something to cultivate or tolerate because it's coming from your enemy the devil. He's the one who's the ACCUSER of the Brethren (Revelation 12:9-10) and he's the one who's condemning you. Jesus doesn't condemn anybody (Romans 8:1) and He specifically said He didn't come for that purpose (John 12:47). A lot of Believers think they can generate their own GUILT without any help from Satan but that's not accurate. We're all spiritual beings and we're either going to be influenced by God or His enemy. We're incapable of generating our own GUILT and why would born again believers be doing that anyway if it makes us feel bad and separates us from the presence of God? No friend, there's an enemy who's trying to separate you from God so he can steal or destroy everything you possess and then kill you (John 10:10). It's time to SEE what's going on and take authority over it, and here's how we should do that:
1. Tell God how much you appreciate what Jesus did for you and thank Him that your sins are ALREADY forgiven. You don't have to ask Him for forgiveness because you ALREADY have it. God has ALREADY chosen to not remember our sins (Hebrews 8:12, 9:12, 10:12 and 10:17).
2. Second, agree with the Holy Spirit that you need His instruction to change whatever destructive things you were doing in the past that contributed to your loss of financial PROSPERITY.
3. Third, put your nose in the WORD of God because the Holy Spirit will use it to instruct you and because it will cause your FAITH to grow (Romans 10:17).
4. Get righteously angry with your enemy the devil who caused you to lose your PROSPERITY, accused you of sin that Jesus ALREADY paid for and brought guilt and condemnation into your life to destroy your PEACE and separate you from God. If you RESIST him he will flee (James 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8-9).
5. Finally, use the WORD against the enemy the way Jesus did (Matthew 4:4, 7. 10), use the NAME of Jesus to bring back the promises of God the way the Apostles did (Acts 3:6) and use all the weapons of warfare at your disposal (Ephesians 6:10-18) to kick the devil out of your house and out of your finances. Be sure also to speak DIRECTLY to guilt and condemnation and command them to depart from you immediately. They are spirits and they will obey you because of the authority of Jesus (Matthew 28:18). When they try to come back don't waste a moment in resuming your RESISTANCE.
This is a bit of an over-simplification but limited space rules. Don't forget to be praising God every chance you get because praise raises the level of your JOY and the JOY of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10). And, when you do any of these things do them in FAITH. If the WORD says you can do these things and overcome the influence of the enemy, then believe it and expect things to work out as you believe.
Some Concluding Comments
When you've done all these things then you STAND waiting in FAITH for God to Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you (1 Peter 5:10). It will happen by GRACE through FAITH and your bible-based financial PROSPERITY which is defined as any surplus over and above your needs will soon return. You WILL be able to find His GRACE again to do that not because you're so great but because Christ in you is so great.
And keep in mind that none of us has been created with the ability to carry around our own burdens. They're not for you to carry. They're for Jesus to carry. When we try to carry them the result is GUILT and CONDEMNATION because we're trying to do somebody else's work. And when the devil sees that he'll come around to point out your failure and your shortcomings and your weakness. So let Jesus have all that and enjoy the return of your PROSPERITY.
Thanks for stopping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again next Sunday night on November 3. In the meantime may you RECEIVE through FAITH every available spiritual blessing while you 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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