The Blessings of God Bring Wealth and Prosperity
The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, without painful toil for it.
Poverty Isn’t Holiness
Have you ever heard you have to be poor to be holy? I have. Some people call my favorite pastors “prosperity preachers” for teaching about the blessings of God. In certain Christian circles, it’s taught that wealth is worldly. But if the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof (Psalm 24:1), why are His children doomed to poverty?
People who define holiness by a lack of resources may have missed today’s scripture. Sure, it’s not all about money. However, you can’t deny that a decent income is a need and not a selfish desire. How can we give to those in need if we’re barely making ends meet? God doesn’t want us to be financially destitute, just to focus on the right things.
Focus on the Blessor Not the Blessings
The blessing of God brings wealth, but your focus can’t be on that wealth. Let me explain with two scriptures. The first is well known, but not so often applied.
For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
See, the truest difference isn’t just in the haves and the have-nots. Jesus didn’t identify the pagans by what they had, but by what they were running after. They ran after fulfilling their own needs and wants. Christians have all the same needs, but we are to first seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness. He’ll do the rest. God doesn’t care what you have. He can take a homeless man off the street and give him a million dollar idea. It always has been, and always will be, the posture of your heart that matters most to God. And with the right posture, you grant Him the opportunity to bless you.
Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.
How do you find prosperity? The answer is not to make it your full-time focus. When you chase God’s will, you’ll find life, prosperity, and honor. Wealth should be a perk, not the primary goal. The difference between the wicked wealthy and the blessed wealthy is who they love. God’s children are called to love Him wholeheartedly. Conversely, the love of money will drag one into the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). Their affection is for and their intention is to serve the almighty dollar. It’s what they’re loyal to.That love is the basis from which they’ll make their decisions. To make money, they’ll compromise their standards, mistreat people, and certainly turn away from God.
When people of God get money, they should keep it in its proper place. Whether millionaire or welfare recipient, a child of God should stay focused on Him and His will. Most of us will experience varying seasons in our finances. But through it all, our eyes must remain on Jesus. As you focus on and pursue the will of God, He will bless you beyond measure.
With that being said, I want to clarify that you can’t earn a blessing. Nor do I want anyone to think there are “get rich quick” prayers. You’ll have to consistently work hard. God doesn’t reward laziness.
The Criteria of the Blessings of God
The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes to poverty.
Consistence, determination, and a strong work ethic are key in building wealth. No matter how often you go to church, God won’t send you checks to binge Netflix and scroll through your phone. However, God only calls us to work, not to painfully toil. When you focus on serving God and not just your bank account – you won’t have to exchange exhaustion, slimy tactics, and forsaking family for a payday.
As I mentioned earlier, you can’t earn anything from God. We aren’t holy enough to “deserve” the blessings of God. However, His grace grants us so many opportunities to increase. So then, besides proper focus, how can we set ourselves up to receive a blessing?
Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in obedience to Him. You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.
Again, I’ll emphasize that you can’t earn the blessings of God. However, there are some criteria. Fearing (trusting) the Lord and obedience to His word is what opens us up to receive His blessings and prosperity. While He can protect you in your mess, He can’t fully bless you in it. If God can’t trust you to serve Him with $2.00 in your pocket, He knows He won’t be able to trust you with $200,000 million either.
I think this is an important truth to stop and think about. We can fool ourselves into thinking that with more money, everything else will shift. Do these sound familiar? “I’ll be able to focus more on doing God’s will when I pay some of these bills off.” Or “I don’t have time to pray/go to church/tithe/help others right now. I’ll do that when I have more money.” If that’s your thought process, I’m sure you sincerely believe that once your bank account changes, everything else will too. However, the truth is, you’ll be the same person you are now, just with more money in your pocket. If you don’t prioritize God now, a check for a million dollars won’t change that. If you trust in money today, you’ll put even more faith in it once you get some.
Ask The Blessor
Follow Jesus’ advice. Put God first and watch everything else fall into place. If you aren’t sure exactly what you’re supposed to be doing, ask the only One who knows. Dedicate some time to prayer and reading your Bible. Ask the Holy Spirit questions and then give Him some clear-minded, quiet time to respond. I can’t guarantee when He’ll answer, but the Bible says you can trust that He will. The real question is, is your life and mind too loud for you to hear Him when He speaks? Once you’re ready to hear from God, you may ask Him questions like:
In what areas do I fail to prioritize you?
Have I put anything or anyone above you?
How can I begin walking in my purpose right now?
In what areas of life am I being disobedient?
How can I begin to trust You in areas where I currently have disbelief?
One of my favorite things to do is to use a prayer journal. Often, that’s just a regular college-lined notebook. I’ll write down a summary of my prayer request and date it. Then, to set the atmosphere and intentionally invite God into my space, I spend a few moments worshiping Him. After that, I say a prayer. If you aren’t used to praying, remember, it’s just talking to God. In this case, I would ask Him something along the lines of the questions mentioned above. To finish off the prayer, I’d ask the Holy Spirit to speak to me and then I’d be silent for 10 minutes.
If I’m honest, that 10 minutes is sometimes difficult. By the way, 10 minutes is not written in the Bible anywhere. It’s just one of the things I do often when I’m earnestly seeking God about something. Honestly, it’s been rare that He’s spoken to me directly during that time. The Holy Spirit usually picks some seemingly random moment to give me the solutions. However, I do appreciate and find value in that quiet time in prayer. Just sitting there trusting that God will speak to me refreshes my soul.
With that being said, actually focusing my mind on an answer that may or may not come right then, isn’t always easy. In that time, my mind constantly tries to wander. One thing I do is either direct my attention to a scripture or a gospel song. Let me explain. There are a few verses I have memorized. Before the silent time, I’ll pick one to force my attention back to God as other thoughts try to distract me. I’ll do the same with a few words from a Gospel song. The point is just to pick something to focus on when I get distracted. Sometimes, I simply repeat the phrase “Speak to me, Holy Spirit”.
Even if you don’t get your answer in that dedicated time, keep offering God the opportunity to speak. When you aren’t able to be in prayer, maintain the expectation that He WILL answer in due time. Keep an open ear and a sensitive heart. I guarantee He won’t leave you hanging, even if you don’t get the answer you want. If you don’t get any sense of an answer, and you also feel distant from God, you may consider fasting and praying. We won’t go into detail about that here. If you want to learn more about the power of prayer and fasting, there are plenty of sermons, scriptures, and books on the topic.
Trusting God and walking in obedience to Him aren’t tricky, over-complicated things. He wants you to prioritize Him and He’ll show you how to do so. Put God and His kingdom in first place and He’ll bless you with wealth, prosperity, life and honor. The blessings of God are available to you. Don’t seek wealth like the world does, let God bless you with it.
