October 2011 Archives

The word prosperity has been hijacked. It has been tainted, skewed and buried.

The term prosperity gospel has been tainted, skewed. Many have buried or killed off the word prosper from their vocabulary - though they do not say it in words to others or to themselves. 

Yet, the fruit is not there.

The word "prosper" appears in the NIV version of the Bible 84 times:

Go ahead, click the link above and check it out, try the dozens of versions online as well.

It's in the old and the new testament too. Yet, the word has lost meaning. It has been skewed. Buried.

What do you think of when you hear the word? Do good, holy, righteous, positive things come to mind? Do you yourself come to mind? Do others who do big, bold, amazing things for God come to mind - but not you? 

Some say the most common Hebrew word for "prosper" is tsalach (tsaw-lakh') it means:

break out, come mightily, go over, be good, be meet, be profitable, cause to, effect, Or tsaleach {tsaw-lay'-akh}; a primitive root; to push forward, in various senses (literal or figurative, transitive or intransitive) -- break out, come (mightily), go over, be good, be meet, be profitable, (cause to, effect, make to, send) prosper(-ity, -ous, - ously). 

See for yourself in the Strong's condorance online:

To keep it simple and to remove the controversy around the word, of which tends to result in us staying clear and far away from the word or what it means - when you hear prosper, think "to move forward, to advance, by the hand of God".

That removes the controversy. Sadly, the word prosper requires a disclaimer often today, for when we hear the word, it brings up controversy and tainted, skewed applications. The common responses to it are to create the wrong motives that do not "move forward or advance every area of life" or to bury and stay clear of it, which also does not "move forward or advance every area of life".

Now with a more acurate meaning for prosper in focus, and that should from this day forward come forth when you hear the word, to from now on always bring up a good and healthy thought pattern - there is a secondary problem attatched to the word prosper.

When we hear the word, prosper, and think to move forward, to advance, by the hand of God, while we want the favor, the blessing of God, in all areas, to do what we were created to do, bring glory to God, in all areas of our life, in all ways - another area of misdirection tends to come about.

Misdirection, because that's what the enemy does. We see it all around us and it is crippling men and women of God from prospering, remember, moving forward, advancing, in every area of life, for the glory of God.

With the properity gospel, the word prosper, often skewed, is even more skewed, in associating with it, doing works or having faith in our faith of works, yet another work of us, to be that which will move God to bring about the forward movement in our life, to be prospered, by God, because we serve, tithe, give, sacrafice, etc. of which all boil down, not ultimately to God, but to our work, our ability, our action, to deserve, earn or merit God's response. This is based on God's promise if we obey, He will bless us, and that is true and in His word. The problem is that we, are fallen people, we have sin still in us, and we will not be able and are not able to keep God's law in perfect obedience and do what He asks us, perfectly, every time, and in every way.

I for over a decade, tried my hardest to do this. I tried to do what God called me to do, I gave, I tithed, I served, I stepped out in big steps of faith. Yet, I constantly was bombarded with doubts if I had fully done everything, and exactly and without flaw, that was asked of me by God. The answer of course is no, I am not capable of being without sin, I can and have grown in freedom and we find freedom from bondage to sin, but we can not become free of all sin and become perfect with a sin nature still in us. Thus, in trusting in or appealing to our works or our faith in believing God to honor us for our acts or works of faith, giving, serving, etc. we are applying the consequences of not obeying the law, of obeying God. If we tithe for a decade, but do not tithe on birthday money we are given and forget or if we sell something we bought and made a profit and do not tithe on it, is that really tithing? I recently read in Malachi how God was not only calling out His people for stealing in the tithe, but also for stealing the offerings. The offerings were above and beyond the tithe. Have I given faithfully every time God has prompted me? Have I even heard everytime He was asking me to do something? Leaning on obeying God to merit, deserve or return the favor, the blessing of God, to in effect then be prospered by God, to be advanced, to move forward, does not bring about life nor does it bring about the fruit of what the word prosper is about. Simply because we can not keep the law in full because we can not be without sin, we can not be perfect, on our own, by our efforts or works.

If you, like I used to, are leaning on your great and amazing feats and obedience to things God has called you to and think you have kept and been faithful to warrant God's blessings, you are placing yourself under the ministry of the law, God's grace is big and his mercy is great and He is for us, but remember what Jesus asked of the man who said he had done all the things Jesus asked him. Jesus increased what was asked of him, told him to go and sell all he had, for he was a rich man, and that man walked away. He could not do what Jesus asked of him and increased the law. That's what the law does, it it designed to bring us to the end of trying to save our self as well as trying to earn the favor of God, already imparted to us by the finished work of Jesus Christ, His imparted righteousness to us, if we only will receive and understand grace. I am not making the law or obeying God a light thing, I am doing the very thing Jesus did, I am lifting the law up to what it was given to do and to the standard of which God gives it. If we rely on our efforts or our ability to obey and warrant God's blessings, we are in effect lowering the requirements of the law, so that we can justify our self as have kept them and obeyed them in full.

This revelation, this truth on grace, on the finished work of Jesus Christ, we have understood for salvation, for justification, but not when it comes to being prospered. To being moved forward, to advancing forward, by the hand of God.

I have sat under preachers who preached, and heavily, tithing, serving, giving and built large and big churches and ministries and also witnessed the fruit of it. It was not prospering, it did not advance God's people in all ways, in every way, nor did it do so for the men who preached it. The law is a heavy burden, and it can not be kept. Grace is light, and grace changes us. 

Yes, we understand it was Jesus, His completed work, on the Cross to pay for our Sins, but we must also understand that our rightousness, our condition to be blessed, the requirement of being right before God, to be blessed, is imparted righteousness from Jesus, it is by grace.

The gift of eternal life is a gift, it is grace, we can not earn it, we can not buy it. The blessings, the favor of God, the properity He gives, if we try to earn it, leaves us working and fighting against a up hill battle and one that is hard. When we experience and have the favor of God, when He prospers us, what we do with what He gives us, what He blesses us with, those are all things for which we will store up treasures in Heaven. By treasures, I also mean people, material things on earth of little value eternally, and I don't think they are what are referred to as treasures in Heaven. Yet, what we are entrusted with eternally, however that works, with the more we do here on Earth, with what God gives us and asks of us, that we are empowered to do by His grace, those are things with are impacted by what we do with what we are given, by grace here in this life. That is moving into another subject though, and not the focus of this entry.

This truth of grace and prosperity has changed my life. It has been tested already and the enemy has tried to steal this truth from me, to hinder it and to silence me about it. Yet, I can and do stand on this truth, just as I do in believing for blessings, to be prospered in all ways, and in all areas, not because of anything I have done by my works to deserve it, but because of the finished work of Jesus Christ. There is no sin or failure or doubt or fear that can steal what it is to have prosperity from me, because there is nothing I did to warrent or deserve or earn it. This is a huge blessing.

As God continues to give me vision for the Desired Life Network and the ministry, I no longer have to strive, worry or do anything of myself to earn or warrant God's blessings for the means and resources to do so. I did nothing to be given the vision, and all my striving to advance and grow it, did very little, but now walking in the grace that prospers me because of the finished work of Jesus, the ministry is moving along, God is prospering it and me. I have had unexpected challenges and problems come up, and they brought fears, doubts and brought the heart of God into question, I wondered if I could trust Him. Yet, all of those doubts, that sin, those fears, my hope and my favor, blessings and prosperity are not based on my work, my faith to believe, but my faith to trust and believing in the finished work of Jesus Christ in my life for all things and in all areas. 

It is my hope that this same revelation of hope will become real to you as well. This is a key aspect of discovering the Desired Life, it is one that we can not earn, and one we do not deserve, but one that we yearn for and that was paid for by the finished work of Jesus Christ. We are forgiven, and we are made righteous by His imparted righteousness. That is the hope we have in Jesus Christ.

Sometimes it takes going through disappointment to open our eyes. I have in many ways been blessed my entire life and I don't want to over look those blessings in writing this. I know there are many who have not had the blessings I have had and that my obstacles and disappointments over the past decade are not as tough as some of the ones others have gone through. I have been fortunate that for a good chunk of this year I have not been dealing with a lot of severe discouragement and it has been good for me in many ways. However, in the past week I have had a few large discouraging things happen in my life that have knocked me down into a pit of discouragement. They have produced a great deal of fears and caused a lot of doubts in my life. I am slowly working through these and seeking God to find where He is leading me and asking Him to carry me through what I can't do on my own. There has been one thing that has been growing on my heart though this time though that I am starting to give a good deal of thought about. There are a lot of people right now who have been in severe discouragement from many disappointments. Now that I am going through some form of that it has reminded me of how it effects us in many ways that are often forgotten by those trying to help us out of discouragement. These can also be used by God to help other people as understanding what people are going through is a huge part of being capable of helping others through them. I would never choose or want the discouragement I have been through, but in a way I can thank God and praise Him for the understanding He has given me of the things we feel and go through in these things to better comfort and relate to those going through them. It is often said people want to know we care before what we know.

When I think about the hardest thing of everything I have been dealing with lately, at the core root it goes to feeling let down by God. Not that long ago before I began to understand grace more I was feeling discouraged because I at some deep level felt God was letting me down because for nearly a decade now I have lived my life surrendered to Christ and serving Him has been my primary focus in everything I have done and stepped out in doing. With the teaching in popular Christian culture on expecting God's blessings when we are serving and giving of our time, finances, life and doing our best to honor Him while going through the discouragement I was going through it was especially at times hurtful. Recently I read a book on grace and my view on the blessings of God has shifted to them being based on grace in placing our faith in Jesus and not relying on our works to deserve blessings, but recieving grace by faith from the imparted righteousness of Jesus and all the works flowing from that, but not looking towards works in anyway for blessings. Simply because in trying to earn God's favor in keeping His laws for blessing if I fail to keep even one small part, I am guilty of breaking them all. Trying to earn or deserve God's favor is something I tried doing in a way unknowingly in the way I was for nearly a decade and it was hard, very hard. Now being awake to grace and being free of that I have began to experience more freedom and life in many ways.

However, in the past week I experienced a few very discouraging things and one in particular was very hurtful in feeling God had let me down in a promise in a big way. Yet, He has taken care of me and has provided, just that it was in a way that was not easy and since then it has produced in me many fears if I can really trust God to provide and experience His blessings, not because I earned or deserved them, but because I am his son and have placed my trust in his grace as a man justified before Him because of the imparted righteousness of Jesus. Everything that I have studied and learned in the word has me 100% certain of this and I believe that the Holy Spirit has confirmed it to me as well, but my subjective experience has not been confirming the objective truth that I have come to hold in my heart. This is the core thing in me that has caused me to some degree a level of agony of disappointment and with it a lot of fears if I can trust God to provide and guide me.  

Yet, there is a great deal of freedom in what I have come to grasp in grace, I still believe and hold to what I have learned about grace and even though I have struggled now with the feelings I have had and experienced doubts and fears, I still am confident in keeping my faith placed in the finished work of Christ and justification and imparted righteousness of Christ before God. I have tried relying on myself and battling with my own ability and it failed. In my doubts and fears, I still realize that I can not save myself nor earn God's favor or blessings with out again having doubts or fears and failing to never sin again to thwart them. That is something that I did want to get across in this entry as it has been life giving and nearly every day now since understanding grace I hear friends, family and people around me say things on their life that are life taking in relying on their own efforts and not on grace. I am more convinced than ever that grace, what we have thought to be so simple and basic, is something very few of us really have embraced or understood. We are saved by grace, because we can not save ourselves, why we have been so blinded that we are blessed by grace, not from sinless perfect obedience to God (which we can not do) and I think not understanding that grace is crippling the church today.

Yet, here I am with an experience, having embraced and trusted fully in Jesus, believing and receiving not just the forgiveness of my sins, but coming to God with the imparted righteousness of Jesus, not holding back because of my sins, nor foolishly holding on to my works or obedience to what He has called me to do in life - and discouragement has come. Yet, the more I lean on Jesus and His grace, the more I am feeling lifted out of this pit. 

I don't have all the answers and perhaps this is simply a case of waiting for God, but as I have come to understand grace, it is not something far away and long delayed when coming to God. Maybe it is a matter of me simply not yet fully grasping grace and receiving and experiencing it. My sins, my disobedience, my faults, my works - anything of or by me is no longer a factor in what I am experiencing because the only thing of us that counts is our right believing in the finished work of Jesus Christ and with all our heart believing Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins by His finished work, and for the imparted righteousness of Him, to us, by faith, another part of His finished work. I've began to experience the fruit of this truth, joys, peace, life and freedom and in many ways. Maybe I have not grasped it fully yet though and God is waiting for me to embrace Him more to free me or maybe this is a test to help me grow in His grace. God as our loving father I am also convinced tests us only to prosper us, and in prosper, a word often tarnished today, I mean in it's proper meaning, to move forward, and there is no one who can refute that God does not have it in His will to move us forward in every area of our life.

What I have noticed though that in this time of struggle, with fears, doubts and discouragement is that moving forward and getting out of this pit is hard and is like a being in a pit and we can't get out of it on our own. In the past when I have fallen in this pit, I had to call out to God to lift me out, because in the pit, the effect on our thinking and our mind is sheer toxic and mentally and spiritually can disable us from moving forward. It takes God, reaching down and picking us up to get us out of it and that often can involve people to help in the process.

There are a lot of people struggling right now and stuck in a pit. I've known it as we all have for a while now, but having fallen in a pit myself this week, it is a reminder of what it is like to be in the pit and how desperately we need help out of it. It has me wondering how can I help others find courage and gain the knowledge to turn to God and to receive and experience His grace to get out of it. How can I help rally God's people to help pull others in the pit out - and we have to be out of the pit to help pull another out of it. 

If you are in any kind of discouragement and in a small pit or a large pit and really need help only the right understanding of God's grace and I think in some way finding and being around others who will help you out of the pit - will help you out of it.

Put this all to thought and prayer and ask God to direct you and lead you in prospering, that is moving forward, in all areas of your life, not in your own effort ability, but in His grace to change you, produce in you real life and to guide you. 

That is what I am doing and because I need help, to get from here, to where God is leading me, as pulls me out of the pit, and gives me direction, I can start walking there and so can you. If you need help, ask God and expect Him to help you in finding community with a local church or body of believers to walk with you in it. I know God has greatly used others in this walk and seeking God to help pull me out of the pit I fell in and they are I am sure going to have a role in helping me get from here to where God is leading me too. He will do the same for you too.