God Wants You To Prosper

One of the ways the devil has robbed us of our benefits as a disciple of Jesus is that until we become poor we cannot be righteous, holy or bring pleasure to God. Someone once said affirmatively that there are people that are like Christ living in this world (yes I agree) but they are only found in the villages where there is no civilization and they live in penury (I disagree).

You can live in the city and be righteous. You can be rich and be holy. You can be wealthy and be like Jesus. 

Jesus is not poor. He never lacked. Jesus has so much money he needed a Treasurer (Judas Iscariot) which is similar to banking. We could say Judas Iscariot was a Banker. A poor man cannot have a treasurer because he won't be able to afford it.

You are probably asking, "So why did Jesus emphasized that it would be difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God?"

Mark 10:17-25 tells us the story of a rich man who ran to Jesus with a sincere desire for eternal life. He wanted to know everything that is required of him. I can imagine the wide grin on his face when Jesus mentioned all the commandments according to the law of Moses. He must have been so impressed with himself as he boastfully declared to Jesus,"all these I have kept since I was a boy." 

The next thing Jesus did was to look him straight (hard) in the eye. Jesus looked at him and saw his heart. What Jesus saw was an Idol. Jesus saw something he loved more than eternal life. Jesus saw his heart and loved him (Mark 10:21). Jesus needed to show him that his wealth cannot love him back. But eternal life (Jesus) can love him first. 

Because this rich man loves his wealth which he practically worships and boast about, he left Jesus with a heavy heart. He did not expect that he would have to lose his wealth to have eternal life. Similarly, Jesus might not ask you for your wealth before you have eternal life, Jesus could ask for your spouse or child or career or self (anything that takes more space in your heart than God).

 

We all have one thing that we value so much that we need to check critically to confirm that it is not taking the place of God in our heart. I have a Good News for you today. Jesus wants to give you much more than you have. He does not want you unhappy and dissatisfied on earth. He wishes you well in all things. The actual fact is that God wants to take those things away from us because it is a limitation to greater things (Mark 10:29-30). God wants to give us those things in 100 folds right here on earth plus the bonus of eternal life.

God wants you to prosper but you must be willing to give ALL to have MUCH MORE.

Poverty is not your portion. It is not an attribute of God.