Word of Life Study Series
Word of Life Study Series
Prosperity is God’s Idea: Prosperity under the Old Covenant
Welcome to Word of Life Study Series- Prosperity is God’s Idea! Since the Bible talks more about money than any other subject, it must be important. This season is devoted to this all important area of the Bible, which has such a profound effect on us. Thank God for the Word, it provides us with revelation truth concerning God’s view on money. There is a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding concerning what the Christian perspective on finances should be. The goal of this season is to provide a framework of practical principles and applications to live by. Ignorance in this all important area of our life is costly. So let’s go for the gold, God’s highest and best for our lives, and for the furtherance of the Gospel throughout the world- blessed to be a blessing.
1. Beware of a Poverty spirit
There has been a scourge to the Body of Christ over that last few centuries concerning religious traditions of men that poverty and godliness go hand in hand. In other words, God purposely holds His children back from becoming rich in order to keep them humble. The notion espouses that to be Christ like and financially secure, are at odds with each other. Just like Paul’s thorn in the flesh, religious folks read into this Scripture things that are not there. Money itself is not evil, it’s the love of it that gets folks into trouble- 1 Timothy 6:10. The big danger of having a poverty attitude is that it makes us beggars and whiners. It also causes us to shrink back from God and faith because of an inferiority complex, condemnation and fear. So beware of this poverty spirit of religious piety to stay humble. It’s just the devil trying to steal from God’s children and keep finances out of God’s Kingdom. Yet on the other hand watch out for the spirit of materialism and consumerism that is pervasive in our society that detracts from God’s Kingdom priorities- the Bible condemns greed.
2. Examples of Old Covenant Prosperity
This generation of Job and Abraham did not know anything other than God blessing them financially. You can’t sell that old lie of the devil that God brings poverty on all of us to keep us humble to the Jewish folks, their Bible does not say that, neither does ours. The source of that kind of teaching apparently came from Zen Buddhism, through the study of Eastern religion by European people at the turn of the 19th century. That philosophy worked its way from there and started a trend of poverty vows and poverty oaths which are neither in the Bible nor a part of the New Covenant, but is actually in violation of the Covenant. Then it came over into North America.
3. Good Gifts from a Good God
It saddens me to say that the goodness of God is not fully settled in Christian’s minds. There seems to be some lingering doubts that our Lord withholds and afflicts us for our ultimate good. Religious ideology has done much to tarnish and obscure the accurate Biblical view that God is a good God- all the time! Certainly there are many aspects to God’s nature and character. He is a holy God who does execute judgment and punishment on the wicked. He also disciplines His children according to Hebrews chapter twelve. However, the manner in which discipline is carried out is primarily through His Word and the lessons we learn when we fail to repent. Thus reaping the consequences of our own actions when we open the door to the devil. I make this little clarification in order to avoid be generalized and branded into a narrow view of God; that He is a feel-good, candy man like deity who is only interested in giving His children goodies.