Beloved, I Pray That in All Respects You May Prosper
In All Respects Prosper
God wants us to prosper in every area of our lives. It is time we accepted that. This verse is talking about balance. Just as your soul prospers.
The issue here is what kind of God do we serve. If it is a god of wrath, then our appropriate response is fear and blind submission. If our perception of god is of a god of punishment and abuse, we can only cower in his presence. If it is a god of ambivalence, then we have no hope of any help or punishment. If we serve a legalistic God, then we are hopeless in our attempt at perfection. Any God other than a God of love and blessing leaves us defeated and lost.
A God of Blessing
What proof do we have that God is a God of blessings? First, we are still here. Any other God would have disposed of us a long time ago. Second, God has crafted a plan for our redemption. Why would an ambivalent God do that?
He set laws and a pattern for our salvation even though we were not looking for one. He set apart a nation through which we could also see His plan of salvation and redemption. He sent His own son for our rescue and eventual victory and celebration.
' “ Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or what person is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!'
'But you are to remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, in order to confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. '
God wants to confirm His covenant with His people through the reality of financial wealth. Some, if not all, of us, are within our rights to expect to be wealthy because it is our God who gives us the power to acquire wealth. This is how God is saying He will confirm His covenant with His people.
In the parable of the talents, what is it the master says to His producing servants? 'His master said to them, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter the joy of your master.’ '
This is what the master says after a financial return on investment. I challenge anyone to find me a verse that says poverty or mediocrity is God's will for humanity. You won’t find it.
Conditional Gospel
Now I am not preaching or condoning the prosperity Gospel, but I am suggesting and believing in the conditional gospel. What is the conditional gospel?
'“Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today, that the Lord your God will put you high above all the nations of the earth. '
Deuteronomy 28:1
The conditional gospel says that if you fulfill the conditions of the Bible, you will be entitled to the blessing associated with the condition. The promise of Deuteronomy is prefaced by a condition.
Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today.
Why are the blessings conditional?
'Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’ '
'But you are to remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, in order to confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 'Deuteronomy 8:18
In the parable of the Talents, all three were instructed to go to work with the master’s money. The results of their work earned them the master's praise and blessing—or His curse.
This by Saint Augustine says it as succinctly as possible. Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.
To receive God's richest blessing, we must work. God will not lavish His blessing on someone who only wants to make it into a corner of Heaven. God will give the greatest blessing to those who seek to be close to Him by doing the work He has called them to do. God wants us to be creative, purposeful, and workers who are not ashamed of the gospel.
God wants to bless us in every area, including our financial lives, as long as we are in the process of becoming who He intended us to become. The blessings are not the end; they are the fruits on the way to our final destination.
A Plethora of Blessings
'“Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today, that the Lord your God will put you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings will come to you and reach you if you obey the Lord your God: “Blessed will you be in the city, and blessed will you be in the country. “Blessed will be the children of your womb, the produce of your ground, and the offspring of your animals: the newborn of your herd and the young of your flock. “Blessed will be your basket and your kneading bowl. “Blessed will you be when you come in, and blessed will you be when you go out. “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated by you; they will go out against you one way and will flee at your presence seven ways. The Lord will command the blessing for you in your barns and in everything that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the L ord your God and walk in His ways. So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord , and they will be afraid of you. And the L ord will give you more than enough prosperity, in the children of your womb, in the offspring of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless every work of your hand; and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will only be above, and not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you today, to follow them carefully, and do not turn aside from any of the words which I am commanding you today, to the right or the left, to pursue other gods to serve them. '