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.
One major question and challenge in answering it since God gave me the vision for what has become DLM is what is the ministry about? What does it do? This is a loaded question. 
