Prosperity: October 5, 2010

Today's Word for Tuesday October 5, 2010

PROSPERITY

DEFINITION

A successful, flourishing, or thriving condition.

SCRIPTURE
Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. III John 2

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

Most people today do not understand the real meaning of prosperity. You can ask one hundred people what their definition is and most will say financial success. John gives us a different look at the word prosperity in the above verse when he prays for his friend that he will have good health and that his soul will continue to prosper.

John understood that God is concerned not only for our spiritual condition (our soul) but for our physical condition as well.

The world has its priorities wrong. The priority of the world is all about making money and gaining power. On the road to obtaining their prosperity, people destroy their physical health with stress, lack of sleep, sexual immorality, alcohol and drugs. People seem to be willing to pay the price.

Prosperous people find it difficult to obtain spiritual prosperity. They fear that if they come to the Lord they will have to give up their prosperity and many of the "things" they have and they are not willing to pay the price or do not want to give up that much. They do not understand that God wants to bless and prosper those who love Him and honor Him in their lives.

Jeremiah 29:27 reads, "I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." This promise was given to the nation of Israel. As we read through the Old Testament we see that time and time again that God prospered the nation of Israel when the people were following Him and keeping His commandments. We also see how when the Israelites turned away from God they lost not only their prosperity but eventually their whole nation was lost and scattered.

What God promised the Children of Israel are the same promise's He gives to us. God's first desire for His people and for each of us is that our soul will prosper. That is why the first commandment that He gave Moses was that we are to have no other gods before Him. God also showed that He was concerned about their physical health when He instructed Moses to establish dietary rules as to what they could and could not eat. God also established laws of sexual morality because He knew the power of immorality to destroy one physically and spiritually.

For the Christian, prosperity in life is dependent on what God blesses us with. In the Old Testament we have numerous references which reveal to us that how we prosper in life is dependent on how our soul prospers.

We read in Genesis 39:3 about Joseph, who at that time was a slave and his master saw that the Lord was with him and "made all he did to prosper in his hand." Joseph stayed faithful to the Lord in spite of the pagan environment that he was in and God prospered not only his soul but everything he did. In Deuteronomy 29:9 Moses instructed the Israelites to "keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do."

In II Chronicles 26:5 we are told that King Uzziah, a 16 year old when he became ruler of Judah, honored God in all his deeds and thoughts and the scripture says, "As long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper."

As we read these illustrations from the Bible it is clear that what John says, in the verse we have put above, that prosperity will come to each of us as our soul prospers with our Lord.

Our family is not what the world would call wealthy but we feel we have been very prosperous. We have been blessed by God far beyond what we deserve. Although our prosperity has not been riches or wealth, God has prospered us in many other ways. He has given us good health, talented and God fearing children and ministry opportunities where we have been able to touch the lives of those who were spiritually and physically hungry.

And now for the past eighteen months God has prospered us in a new ministry of these free family daily devotionals. We are able to say that these devotionals have given us prosperity because of the hundreds of friends like you who have sent us emails asking for prayer and other needs and concerns.


LEARNING

Our memory verse for this week is found in Colossians 3:17.

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the father through Him.

PRAYER

Thank You for guiding me in my walk with You. Give me direction, wisdom and understanding as I learn to serve You so that You can use me to further the good news of the gospel.