By Robert Hitchman
God wants you well. God wants you rich. He wants you wise. And He wants you to have His favor. In other words, God wants you healthy, wealthy, and wise. If you’ve been saved any length of time and watched any TV ministries in the last 30 years or so, you’ve heard this. Sounds great, but is it true? Is this something that a believer can sink his spiritual teeth into? Or is this just part of the end time deception Jesus said would come? (Luke 21) Well, the great thing about this passage in Luke is that Jesus said, “Take heed that you be not deceived.” Eighth verse. The Apostle Paul also gives us a clue into how we can avoid being deceived in 2nd Timothy. We must study to show ourselves approved of God. In other words, once you’re a believer, and you have the Word and the Holy Ghost, you don’t have to be deceived.
Let’s settle this once and for all. And this will let you know where I stand on this. And please, before you pick up your rocks to stone me or storm off, read the whole blog and look up the scriptures. And make sure you read the scriptures before and after to make sure I’m not taking them out of context. (You should really do that with any message, on any Bible topic. No matter who you heard it from.)
STUDY TO SHOW YOURSELF APPROVED
There is no prosperity Gospel as such. There’s just the Gospel, which includes prosperity. It includes divine healing and health as well as wisdom and favor, in addition to salvation and many other things. How can I say that? Let’s look at the Word. And I’ll start in the Old Testament. Proverbs 10:22 says, “The Blessing of the Lord, it makes rich, and He adds no sorrow (or toil) with it.” Now before you get all deep on me and say it’s talking about spiritually rich, let’s go to the Hebrew. The word Blessing in this scripture is the Hebrew word, Berakah. Some of the meanings is: prosperity, a gift or present. The word rich in this scripture is the Hebrew word, Ashar. It actually means: to be or become rich, to make rich, or to gain riches. Again, before you start screaming spiritual riches, let me share this. There are over a dozen scriptures in the OT that use the same Hebrew word translated rich. And in every one of them, it is specifically talking about financial or material riches. Not spiritual riches. So why would the Holy Ghost use a word meaning financial riches everywhere else but use the same word to mean spiritual riches. And the fourth verse of the same chapter says, “The hand of the diligent makes rich.” Same Hebrew word.
If you’ve been working for a living, you know people who are rich are diligent. Even if you’re not rich yourself but have some level of success, it’s because you’ve been diligent. Diligent in saving, investing, and/or managing your money. Successful people are diligent in not just money but in their craft. We’ve all heard of athletes who may be gifted but work harder than their peers. Consequently, they rise to the top, which usually means a big contract. (SHOW ME THE MONEY!)
WE DETERMINE OUR RICHES, NOT GOD
A lot of Christians seem to think that God arbitrarily determines who’s going to be rich or poor. Let’s go back to the Word. This time in the New Testament. Luke 6:38 says, “Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, shall men give to you.” Notice, the onus on giving is on you, not God. You determine how much you want to give, which will, in turn, determine how much is given to you. We can see this principle again in 2 Corinthians 9:7 AMPC. Let each one give as he has made up his own mind and purposed in his heart. (Emphasis mine) Again, you give as you make up in your mind and heart, not God. Not that God won’t influence you, but even then you have to be willing and obedient. God isn’t going to make you do anything.
One other thing. I always thought the “shall be given unto you” in Luke 6:38 was only referring to gifts. Not something we earn, like our paychecks. One translation actually says, “gifts will be given to you”. Well, after studying this passage in the Greek, it actually means “gifts given, wages earned, monies owed.” I think the Holy Spirit knows that God wants us rich.
FALSE HUMILITY
Religion will have you saying and thinking things trying to be humble but are biblically incorrect. Have you ever thought or said, “I don’t need much, just enough for me and my family. Just enough to make ends meet.” Sounds nice but that’s incredibly selfish. What about the poor? What about your church’s special projects? Or how about just helping a family member or neighbor, especially unsaved ones, in need? One reason you might think that way is because of one of the devil’s biggest lies. “What you get, you have to keep.” Have you ever found yourself in this situation? You’re in church, especially your church where you’ve been attending for years and you know and trust the pastor. Your pastor or a speaker gives a plea for a special offering. Not the regular tithes or offerings. Possibly a building fund, to support a missionary, for the youth group, or whatever. And you knew in your heart of hearts this was of God and a good thing. The only reason you didn’t give or give more than you did was because you didn’t have it. You gave $10 and you wanted to give $10,000, you pick the number. You think God doesn’t know that? You think the devil doesn’t know that? The devil knows that if you get riches in your hands, and your motives are right, you can really hurt the kingdom of darkness.
Here’s a thought to counteract that “what you get, you have to keep” lie of the devil. Let’s say, for arguments sake, you need $5,000 a month for living expenses. That would include saving for college, retirement, vacation savings, etc.,. I’m sure you’re praying and asking God to help you. Why not ask God for $20,000 a month. Then, you can pay all your bills and ask God what ministry you can bless. You don’t have to keep it. There are plenty of poor people, missionaries, as well as your own church you can help. Of course you have to build up your faith to get to that position, but that’s for another message.
MOTIVES, MOTIVATION, AND PURPOSES
Of course, for God to Bless you financially, your motives have to be right. Kenneth Hagin Sr. once said God told him His attitude toward riches and prosperity. God said, “He’s not against His children being rich. He’s against His children being covetous.” You can see this in the Amplified Classic’s version of Genesis 12:2. “I will bless you with abundant increase of favor and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing, dispensing good to others.” (emphasis mine) Now I know some of you are saying God’s talking to Abraham there. That promise is not for us. Well, while He was talking to Abraham, those promises belong to us as well. In Galatians 3:29 it says, “If you be Christ’s, then are you Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Therefore, since we’re in Christ, anything that God promised to Abraham belongs to us.
It has also been said that if you don’t understand the purpose for something, you’ll abuse it. Well, we’ve definitely seen that where prosperity is concerned, especially in the Body of Christ. Do you stop driving your car because someone else used a car to rob a bank or commit some other crime? In other words, they abused their car. Of course not. So just because some preacher or believer you know misused the prosperity God blessed them with, doesn’t mean you can’t prosper. The main purpose of prosperity for the believer is to finance the preaching of the Gospel and relive human suffering. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a nice house (even a big one) or a brand new luxury car. Here’s the key though, do you own the car or does the car own you? God may bless you with a brand new Range Rover, and a week later ask you to give it to a missionary. That’s why it’s important to be a tither. Which brings me to my next point.
THE TRUE ROOT OF ALL EVIL
I’m sure some of you are screaming, “Yea, but doesn’t the Bible say that money is the root of all evil?” No, it doesn’t. The scripture you’re thinking of says The love of money is the root of all evil. Those of you who believe that money is the root of all evil, do you even know where that is in the Bible? It’s 1 Timothy 6:10. You can be flat broke and be guilty of that sin. And you can be “filthy rich” and be innocent of it. If you’re a tither and a giver, more than likely you don’t love money. People who love money aren’t givers, and they certainly aren’t tithers. Being a tither almost forces you to trust God. And trusting God for your finances sort of pushes any “love of money” out of you.
THE GOLDEN RULE
I’m sure many of you are familiar with what’s called the golden rule. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” I’m sure you believe that’s a good way to live, as do I. While that is in the Bible, that’s not what I would call the “golden” rule. The term I’ve heard called the golden rule is “He who owns the gold, makes the rules.” While that specific term is not in the Bible, the principle is. Ecclesiastes 10:19 says, “Money is the answer for all everything.” The Message Bible says, “It’s money that makes the world go around.” The easy to read Bible puts it this way. “When you have a lot of money, you can buy anything. You can buy anything you want.”
I believe my last point proves that God’s will is prosperity for the Body of Christ. Individually as well as corporately. I also believe that what we’ve seen in the last year or so proves that. With big tech and the liberal media trying to censor and silence Christians and conservatives. A lot of major corporations bowing down to the left and other liberal organizations doing the same. Some Christians are afraid to speak up for fear of losing their jobs or their businesses being canceled. With that attitude it’s hard, or impossible, for Christians to have “life more abundantly” (John 10:10) or “reign in life” (Romans 5:17). If more Christians were rich, they wouldn’t be concerned about loss of income to provide for their families. They would be boldly speaking out against all this ungodliness going on. They would know God’s got their back, financially. Especially if we had more Christians in places of authority, such as heads of big tech and corporations, they couldn’t silence us. You saw what happened to Parler. I’m not saying we should start some Christian communes out in the woods. It’s just that, as the Bible says, when you have money, you have “the answer for everything.”
REJECTED KNOWLEDGE
In closing let me say this. When I or anyone else says God wants you rich, we don’t necessarily mean being a millionaire. One of the meanings of the word rich is abundantly supplied. In other words, God wants you abundantly supplied for the job or ministry He’s called you to do. Most of us are familiar with the scripture in Hosea, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Unfortunately, most Christians don’t know the full context of this scripture is not just lack of knowledge but rejected knowledge. Look it up for yourself, Hosea 4:6. It’s one thing if you don’t know. It’s entirely different if you find out about something God has for you and flat out reject it. And it’s even worse if you accept the devil’s substitute, poverty and lack, and claim that’s God’s way of keeping you humble.
Again, God doesn’t have an issue with you having nice things. He has an issue with nice things having you. Keep your motives right, your heart pure, and your eyes on the prize God has placed in front of you. Most of all keep the Word in your eyes, ears, mouth, and in your heart and the Holy Ghost will correct you if you start to stray. Selah.