The Laws of Prosperity

 As we begin this study of prosperity and how it functions according to the Word of God, let’s read the basic scriptures on which our whole study is founded. Let me mention here that we are putting the Word of God first and foremost throughout this study, not what we think it says, but what it actually says! When we see it in the Word, believe  it, and begin to act on it, faith is created. “Faith cometh by hearing, and  hearing by the word  of God”  (Romans 10:17).

As you read our basic scripture text, remember Jesus said in John 17:17, “Thy word  is truth.”  For a clearer meaning substitute the Word for truth as follows: “Beloved, I wish  above all things that thou  mayest prosper and  be in health,  even  as  thy soul  pros­ pereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when  the brethren came and  testi­ fied  of the truth [the Word] that is in thee,  even  as  thou  walkest

in the truth [the Word]. I have  no  greater joy  than  to hear  that my children walk  in truth [the Word]” (3 John 2-4).

It would be good to point out that when the Apostle John wrote this Epistle, he was an old man and had been in the Christian walk for a long, long time—in fact, from the time of his youth. He had walked  with Jesus and watched  Him closely throughout His earthly ministry. John was a wise old man, strong in the Lord, and he said, “I wish above all things  that

you prosper and be in health.”

Through our traditional ideas, we have been lead to believe that prosperity is bad or ungodly.  However, John writes that

we should prosper and be healthy and then it says in verse 11,

“Beloved, follow  not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth  good is of God: but he that doeth  evil hath  not

seen God.”  If prosperity is evil, why would He want us to pros­ per? You see, there is nothing wrong with prosperity in itself. Money  is not the root of all evil. The love  of money is the root of all evil (see 1 Timothy 6:10), and there are people  committing this sin who don’t have a dime! I want you to realize,  however, that prosperity covers much more than finances.

When John said we should prosper and be in health, he added the phrase, “Even as  thy soul  prospereth.” Man is a spirit; he has a soul consisting of the mind, the will and the emotions; and he lives in a body. Thus, there is spiritual prosperity;  there is mental  prosperity;  and there is physical  prosperity.

To prosper spiritually,  you must be born again.  When you

accept Jesus as your Savior and make Him the Lord of your life, your spirit is reborn and brought into fellowship  with the Father, the Almighty God. This then puts you in a position to receive from Him all the things promised in His Word.

To prosper in your soul, you must be able to control your

mind, your will and your emotions. Just because  you have accumulated  large amounts of knowledge does not mean that your mind is prosperous.  Prosperity of the mind comes when you use the knowledge that has been accumulated—when you are controlling your mind instead of your mind controlling you. Second Corinthians 10:5 says we are to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (or against the Word of God), bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience  of Christ. The person who does this has control of his mind and is in position to prosper mentally. You cannot control your  mind  completely without  the Word of

God being alive  and  operating inside you.

You must control your will in the same way.  Some people

say, “Lord, help my will to crumble.” God doesn’t want a bro­ ken will that He can dominate. He wants your will whole and in submission  to His will so that the two of you can work together in unity. When God made man, He gave him a will

that has power. It is actually  a godlike  will because  man has the right to choose his own eternal destiny. Only a god has that kind of choice! Man was made in God’s image and given the

will to make up his own mind. You can go to hell if you want to and God will protect your right…you don’t have to, but you can. On the other hand, you can choose Jesus Christ and the Word of God. In Deuteronomy 30:19, God said, “I call  heaven

and  earth  to record this day  against you, that I have  set before

you  life and  death, blessing and  cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou  and  thy seed may  live.”  What a privilege!  The choice is yours!

When a man’s soul is prosperous,  his will is in line with God’s will. How can you get in line with God’s will? You can’t until you know what His Word says. His Word and His will are the same! An honest man can’t will one thing and say another. If you  are  in line  with the Word of God, you  are  in line  with the

will of God.

Let’s discuss our emotions as part of the soul. The person who is emotionally  prosperous  can control his emotions. I used to think this meant never showing emotions, but that’s not so. Jesus had complete control over His emotions, yet He wept at the tomb of Lazarus! The important thing is that His weeping didn’t cause Him to join the grief-stricken throng of people.  He continued to move in the Spirit. He put His priorities where

they belonged  and raised Lazarus from the dead. He showed emotions, but He was not moved by them.

You will never be healthier  or more prosperous  than your soul. You can be born again,  even filled with the Holy Spirit,

and still not be prosperous  in your soul. For instance,  an old saint of God, living in poverty, can pray revival down on a church, get everybody  in town saved, and be lying in bed sick the whole time—if she  does not believe the Word of God for her health!  She can do these things, never knowing  the fullness of the infilling of the Holy Spirit and speaking  with other tongues, even though healing  and prosperity belong to her all the time. You see, her soul was not prosperous  in these areas; her mind had not grasped  the full meaning of the Word of God; her men­ tal computer had never been fed on God’s Word concerning healing,  the Holy Spirit and prosperity.  She knew  the Word enough  to seek salvation and revival and used this knowledge

to pray down the power of God. Her soul was prosperous  in this area.

The world’s definition of physical prosperity (prosperity  of

the senses)  includes  gold, silver, financial favor or power, politi­ cal favor or power and social favor or power. The world’s defi­ nition of mental  prosperity (prosperity  of the soul) is “knowing

it all.” Put these two ideas together and you have a person who

can use his mind to get financial and political power. This is the world’s total concept of prosperity.  You can easily  see its draw­ backs! Wealth and power cannot answer every problem. Money makes a lousy god! It can’t buy good health or prevent sickness and disease  from taking over the human body. Yes, it can go toward buying it, but the world’s system of healing  just isn’t good enough.  In the mental realm, a person can have all the facts in his head and not have the ability to use that knowledge to obtain the money or the health that he needs.

What produces  spiritual, mental and physical  prosperity? What brings all these areas together? The Word of God. The Bible says in Hebrews 4:12 that the Word is alive, powerful and sharper than a two-edged  sword. It says that it divides the soul

and the spirit, the joints and the marrow, and that it is a dis­ cerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. When you  are walking in the Word of God, you  will prosper and  be in health.

We cannot settle for prosperity in the physical  or the mental

realm only. It would be easy  just to settle for spiritual pros­ perity, but we can’t afford to be lazy and to discount physical and mental prosperity simply because  we are saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. It is the will of God for us to be made whole—spirit,  soul and body—and to be kept that way until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ (see 1 Thessalonians  5:23). As you walk in the light of God’s Word, you will become pros­ perous in every area of your life.

Spiritual  and Physical Law

We must understand that there are laws governing every single thing in existence.  Nothing is by accident.  There are laws of the world of the spirit, and there are laws of the world of the natural.

The laws of the world of the natural govern our activities in this natural, physical  world. We don’t float; we walk.  If the law of gravity were not in action, we would float. These physical laws can be manipulated.  For instance,  the law of gravity is used when flying an airplane,  but it is superseded by another physical  law, the law of lift. When you put the law of lift into operation, you can fly, but you must know something about the law of gravity in order to use the law of lift. You don’t do away with the law of gravity; you just supersede it with a higher law. These are natural, physical  laws, and they govern this natural, physical  world.

We need to realize that the spiritual world and its laws are

more powerful than the physical  world and its laws. Spiritual law gave birth to physical  law. The world and the physical forces governing  it were created by the power of faith—a spiri­ tual force. God, a Spirit, created all matter, and He created it with the force of faith. Hebrews 11:3 says, “…the worlds were framed by the word  of God, so that things  which are  seen were not made of things  which do appear.” The law of gravity would be meaningless if gravity were not a real force. Faith is a spiri­ tual force, a spiritual energy,  a spiritual power. It is this force of faith which makes the laws of the spirit world function. When

the force of faith is put to work, these laws of the spirit function according to the way God says they will.

Romans 8:29 says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ

Jesus  hath  made me free  from  the law of sin  and  death.”  There are two functional laws in the world of the spirit. One, the law of sin and death, was put into operation by Adam when he dis­

obeyed  God in the Garden of Eden. The other, the law of the Spirit of life, was put into operation  by Jesus Christ at His Resurrection. The law of the Spirit of life is the master law under which we operate as children of God. It supersedes  the law of sin and death and faith causes it to function. There are certain elements  which, when combined,  will bring forth the result God intends. Salvation is available  to every human being on the face of the earth because  the Word says anyone  who calls upon the Name of the Lord shall be saved (see Joel 2:32; Romans 10:13). This higher spiritual law of life is here in the earth, but every day people  die and go to hell. Why? Because the law of salvation hasn’t been put to work in their particular lives. It will work only  when it is put to work.

This same rule is true in prosperity.  There are certain laws

governing  prosperity revealed  in God’s Word. Faith causes them to function. They will work when  they are put to work, and

they will stop working when the force of faith is stopped.

The Bible says God’s Word is established  forever, and it is law (see 1 Peter 1:25). When God speaks,  His words become law in the world of the spirit. Jesus said, “Man shall  not live by bread alone, but by every word  that proceedeth out of the mouth of God”  (Matthew 4:4).

The success formulas in the Word of God produce results when used as directed.  Mark 11:23 says, “…whosoever shall  say unto  this mountain, Be thou  removed, and  be thou  cast into the sea;  and  shall  not doubt  in his heart,  but shall  believe that those things  which he saith  shall  come to pass;  he shall  have  whatsoev­ er he saith.” Here Jesus introduced a principle—a spiritual law—that works. It doesn’t make sense to the natural mind that with faith you can have whatever  you say even though it may be contrary to what you can see with your physical  eyes,  but Jesus said it and by the eternal Almighty God, it is so! When

you act on it, mix your faith with it, don’t doubt in your heart, this spiritual law will work for you!

Do you see how this functions? The laws of prosperity work the same as the laws of salvation, healing  and so forth. We are dealing  with the same God, the same Word, the same Jesus, the same force of faith and the same thief, Satan, who is trying to steal it away  from you! There are many people  who have the world’s idea of salvation, and they will go to hell with it! It is wrong! Man’s good intentions have nothing to do with eternal salvation. You can have good intentions to fly, but you will never get off the ground until you make the proper arrange­ ments—until you put the proper laws into operation. A farmer can intend to have a good crop, but if he never plants the seed, how can he possibly produce a harvest? These laws, both spir­ itual and physical,  must be followed  if you expect to get results.

The Bible says in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things

belong unto  the Lord our  God: but those  things  which are revealed belong unto  us  and  to our  children for ever,  that we may  do all the words of this law.”  Any law that God has ever revealed  to His saints will never pass away.  It will work every time it is put to work. Anything God taught Abraham or his descendants  about operating financially  will work just as well today as it did several thousand years ago. If you don’t believe it, you’ve never met a Jew! The formulas still work, and they always  will! Every law God has given us is recorded  in His Word, and He sent the Holy Spirit as our teacher to lead and guide us in these laws and show us how they operate for one reason—so that we will put them to work. Each time one of these laws operates,  it glorifies the Almighty God who spoke it

and adds one more defeat to Satan who said it would not work.

World’s System vs. God’s System

God has a highly organized  system to meet the needs of every facet of your life. The world’s system of meeting our needs works exactly  opposite from God’s system. God’s  system is totally  adequate. The world’s idea of anything  is very limited at best and stands 99.9 percent chance of being totally wrong. As believer,  we must be careful not to limit God in our individ­ ual lives to what the world says is so. The problem with the world and its system of operations  is that there is a spiritual mad dog loose in it and his name is Satan.

The world has a system of healing  that is a miserable  fail­ ure! We thank God for what good has been done with it, but we are forced to admit it falls far short of being adequate  to meet the needs of the sick around us. Some men are dedicated

to it as if it were a god. The world’s system of healing  makes a god of the hospital and a god of medicine.  Actually, for the most part, it leaves God out entirely,  and without God, it will not work! There is no way to get healing  except through the

power of God, either directly by His power or by the power He built into the human body. No man on earth can heal apart

from God.

There are two choices before you—the world’s system of healing  or God’s system of healing.  God’s system and its laws are contradictory to the world’s system. The world cannot understand  God’s system of caring for the human body. The Bible says the things of God are foolishness to the world (see

1 Corinthians 2:14). God made the human body. He definitely should be able to repair it. Ford Motor Company has that much sense! If they can build the whole car, surely they can build parts for it.

We haven’t known much about the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and a lack of understanding  has caused  prob­ lems in making this law function for our benefit. The Apostle Paul wrote, “And be not conformed to this world:  but be ye

transformed by the renewing of your  mind...” (Romans 12:2). In

order to be successful at God’s business,  we must understand how His system works. Don’t expect God’s best to come from the world’s system. He will work around and through it in order to reach you, but it is always  far below His best.

The absolute priority in studying prosperity is that you should never  think of it from a carnal viewpoint,  from the world’s attitude. You must train yourself to think in line with God’s Word. If you’re not careful, when you think of the laws

of prosperity,  all you will see is money—only  a very small part of prosperity.  True prosperity is God manifesting Himself to us

in His Word. If He is manifesting Himself through His Word, He

is always  within easy contact because  you can handle the Word. The only way you can have God with you on a continual daily basis is through His Word. We should not judge by our feelings or by our emotions, but by what God has said in His Word.

Let’s look for a moment at the world of finance, the biggest problem area on earth. Sickness is not our main concern. There are many healthy people  who are head over heels in debt, and

God’s  people have  no  business being in debt!  Here again,  we

find that the world has a system of finance which is complex and very poor in operation. It continually  rocks back and forth between  the two extremes of depression  and inflation.

However, when you are functioning in God’s system of finance, life can be very simple. Don’t borrow from anyone— get it from God. The problem with borrowing  is that it is con­ trolled by the world’s system. In order to borrow, you must subordinate  yourself to another person. Proverbs 22:7 says the borrower is the servant to the lender. By borrowing,  you subor­ dinate your name to another person. This is very important be­ cause of the spiritual significance  of your name. Your name is the same as your nature. If your name is good, then you are good—your reputation is good. You can do whatever your name can do. However, when you borrow and go into debt to some­ one else, you bow your knee to that person and look to him as your source of supply.  This creates a spiritual problem that can be very serious, particularly  if the other person is ungodly.

Look to God, He will give  to you, not loan to you! Believers

need to learn how to operate in God’s system. It isn’t easy to learn; but as you search the Word, you will have the desire to know God’s system. When you begin to operate by it and live by faith in every area of your life, God will step in and make

up what you don’t know. He will put you over! The deeper  you get into the Word and the more you learn, the more you will

expand;  the more you expand,  the more Satan will fight; the more he fights, the bigger the victory; the bigger your victory, the more glory to God; the more glory to God, the more you will expand!  It is constant growth!

At this point, let me emphasize  Satan’s part is this. When you hear the Word, when you learn to believe  God—especially in the area of giving—you become dangerous to Satan!  Jesus

taught that the sower sows the Word and Satan comes immedi­

ately  to take out the Word which was sown (see Mark 4:1-20). Why? For three basic reasons:

1.  The Word of God is the key to the laws of the Spirit.

2.  The laws of the Spirit govern the laws of the natural.

3.  Satan works in the natural world.

When you take the power of these laws and function them by faith, Satan is finished! When you learn the rules of the game, he is through. He is a defeated foe!

Let me mention that these laws of prosperity will work for anyone,  regardless  of their age! My children operate them just as successfully  as my wife and I. They have learned  God’s sys­ tem of finance and can absolutely  believe  God for anything  in

the world and get it! I remember when we needed  a van for the ministry to carry our equipment.  My daughter  Kellie came to

me and said, “Daddy, I want to be the first to give money for this truck.” She had a couple of dollars, so she gave it, and we made an agreement  together. Then she started confessing the return on her money and got it! It didn’t take her several months, and she didn’t start whining  about it—she simply said, “In the Name of Jesus, it’s mine!”

One day our little boy, who was about 6 years old at the time, came in and said, “Daddy, I want to give my money.” No

one had said anything  to him, he just came through leadership of the Lord. He doesn’t fully realize that God is directing him, he just responds to it. He’s a child. (This is how we are to respond as children in obedience.) He gave his money into

the ministry and began believing  God for the return. A few days later, he got it! A 6-year old boy! It works for him profi­ ciently! Why? Because  he is a born-again  believer  filled with the Holy Spirit. He is a child of God, and he has a right to work these laws. It isn’t a man’s age that causes the law of gravity to work; the law of gravity works because  gravity is a force. Remember, faith is a spiritual force and works by spiritual law (see Romans 3:27).

Prosperity: The World vs. God

Once again,  we have the world’s information opposing God’s information. If you know what God thinks or what He has said, then you have a very easy task of thinking and believ­ ing the same way.  If you know what God has said, you cannot be deceived.

To the world, prosperity,  like everything  else, is completely born of the senses, or the sense-ruled  mind. The world is gov­ erned by natural impulse and the physical  senses. Its slogan is seeing is believing. If you can see it, taste it, hear it, smell it, or

feel it, then it must be true; if you can’t contact it with your

physical  senses, it is not true.

As we have discussed  earlier in this chapter, the world’s definition of prosperity is very limited in its scope—financial ability and power. In fact, it goes only this far by its own admis­ sion. The world itself admits that it has no power to overcome

poverty, sickness,  spiritual ills or social ills.

True prosperity is the ability  to use  God’s  power to meet  the needs of mankind in any  realm  of life.  This covers much more than just finances, politics and society. Money is not the only degree  of prosperity.  You can have all the money in the world and still be poverty-stricken  spiritually,  mentally  and physically. Money is the lowest form of power that exists on earth. Do

you know what is the highest? The power of prayer! You can pray in the Name of Jesus, and God will use His ability to han­ dle your situation, whatever  it is. It takes the power of God to make you completely  whole.  God’s power is the only power that covers the entire spectrum of human existence.  God is more than enough!

To live a prosperous  life, your soul must prosper in all the truth of the Word. God’s power is in direct relationship  with His Word. He has used His Word to release  His power. He has sent His Word to us so that we may be in contact with His great power. Isaiah was quoting God Himself when he wrote, “So shall my word  be that goeth  forth out of my mouth:  it shall  not return  unto  me void,  but it shall  accomplish that which I please, and  it shall  prosper in the thing  whereto I sent  it” (Isaiah 55:11). His power covers the entire spectrum of human existence—so also then does His Word. We can see it in scriptures such as Hebrews 1:3 that says He is upholding  ALL things by the Word of His power and Hebrews 4:12-13 that the Word is a living thing which covers spirit, soul, body and thought life. It even goes so far as to say that nothing in the earth is hidden from

the Word of God.

Your faith is in direct relation to the level of the Word in you. Get your Word level up so that you can believe  spiritually, mentally,  physically, financially  and socially.  Thus you will be

in the position to handle any problem that comes your way

according to the Word of God. You  may not have the answer, but God has! Getting through to you is His only difficulty! God always  knows the answer,  but we are not always  in a position to hear what He is saying.

If you know how to use God’s ability to receive healing  and never use it to help anyone  but yourself, then it won’t work for you very long. If you can believe  God for healing,  help some­ one else get healed.  Spread it around! If you know how to believe  God financially,  start helping  the people  around you. You will begin to grow as you reach out to others.

In John 14:18-23, Jesus was teaching His disciples  and gave the perfect outline of prosperity:

I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while,  and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because  I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments,  and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me

shall be loved of my Father, and I will love  him, and

will manifest myself to him.  Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered  and

said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep  my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto  him, and  make  our  abode with him.

This is speaking  of a manifestation of God. When God man­ ifests Himself to you and lives with you, then you are living in prosperity.  You see, God by the Holy Spirit is here in the world. He is ready to move whenever  a sinner makes Jesus the Lord of his life, but He will not manifest Himself in a person’s life until

that person calls on Him. If God’s presence  were enough,  every human being on earth would get saved because  we all are in

the presence  of the Holy Spirit. He was sent to earth on the day of Pentecost and is still here today. The manifestation of God is the important thing. When we operate  in the Word of God, when we keep  His Word, then Jesus will manifest Himself, or make Himself real, to us. He won’t just be there—He will live there! Do you see the difference? If we put His Word first in

our lives, Jesus will reveal Himself to us. Then whenever  a problem arises in the physical  realm, we know the answer is

in His Word. We also know the Great One living  in us will put

us over when we act on that Word, no matter how impossible the situation is.

Some people  are waiting  for a special  manifestation of God’s grace before they will get saved, but they don’t have to wait at all. We are born of His Word (see 1 Peter 1:23). If a man will confess Jesus as Lord and believe  that God has raised Him from the dead, he will be saved (see Romans 10:9-10). It is a simple matter of believing  God’s Word. You don’t have to wait to receive salvation—it is being offered. You don’t have to wait to receive prosperity—it is being offered. These things are offered by Jesus in His Word.

You know, the Bible says in Philippians  4:19 that God will meet your needs according to his riches in glory  by Christ Jesus, not according to your need. I have heard it preached  that if you ask God for $100 but need only $20, you’ll probably  just get

$10. You won’t find that in the Bible, but God does say:

If ye be willing  and obedient,  ye shall eat the good of the land (Isaiah 1:19).

What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe

that ye receive them, and ye shall have them

(Mark 11:24).

…ye have not, because  ye ask not (James 4:2).

When you act on the Word of God, the desires of your heart will begin to grow and line up with God. Then He can cause all grace abound toward you (see 2 Corinthians 9:8).

The first step is to get your mind off yourself. Begin to take up

the needs of the Body of Christ as if they were your own. The Word states very plainly  that if a man comes to you needing food and clothes, don’t just pray for him and send him away cold and hungry.  Feed him and clothe him!

Another thing, God will not just meet your needs according

to your  job.  Businessmen  have come to me and said that these things work for me only because  I am a preacher,  but this is foolishness! I know preachers  everywhere it’s not working for.

Some men say, “But I don’t have the opportunity for people  to give to me. I’m not out preaching.  They don’t think of me when they give. I have to work for mine.” Well, if you have more

faith in you job and your own ability to work than you have in the Word of God, then it definitely  won’t work for you. God will certainly use what is available  in your job to bless you or even get you a better one, but He is not limited to your job unless you  limit Him to it. If you will stop and think for a

moment, God did not make His covenant with a preacher;  He

made it with a farmer, a working  man named Abram. The Scriptures show that Abram turned to the Sodomite king and said, “I don’t even want the string from your sandal because

you could say a man made Abram rich” (see Genesis 14:23). No man made Abraham rich. God made him rich. Can you see this?

There is a basic, fundamental truth that runs throughout the

entire Bible, throughout God’s history of dealing  with man. Every time there was a need, no matter what that need was, God had a man somewhere  who had the resources—spiritually, mentally or financially—to meet that need. For Israel, there was Moses. For the world, there was Jesus. For Jesus, there was a man with a donkey.  For Ephesus, there was Paul. The Bible says God gave gifts to men—apostles,  prophets,  evangelists,

pastors, teachers (see Ephesians 4:11). He had a man to provide every need. No one person will ever be so spiritual that he doesn’t need other people.  We all need one another.

Begin to include the Body of Christ in your needs. Begin to include the lost in your needs. If a man came to you needing clothes and you didn’t have any clothes to give him, both of you would be in trouble. You need clothes for yourself, and you need to be able to supply  him with clothes. Jesus said, “Why do you worry about what you will eat and what you will wear? Your heavenly  Father knows you have need of these things” (see Matthew 6:31-32). But He also said, “Give,  and  it

shall  be given unto  you;  good measure, pressed down, and  shak­

en  together, and  running over,  shall  men  give  into your  bosom”

(Luke 6:38).

When I realized  this and began to consider the needs of others before my own, I found that my needs were met super­ naturally! It was uncanny!  I had spent practically  all of my adult life in debt. It seemed  that every business venture I tried just

fell apart, leaving  me even further in debt. Then I turned to the Lord, determined  to commit myself to His Word, and began walking  my bedroom floor with my Bible in my fist, shouting at the top of my voice, “My God meets all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!” I just kept confessing this hour after hour, day after day! My situation looked absolutely impossible  at the time! I had no place to preach and nothing

much to say! (One thing I could say was, “My God meets all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!” I knew that sentence  very well!)  Eleven months later I was completely out of debt. In the meantime,  I learned  to include other people in my needs by giving to them and getting involved with them. When I began to give, I suddenly  realized  one day how very busy I was with God’s work. Years have come and gone and I haven’t caught up yet. When you do this, God will move heaven and earth if necessary  to reach you.

Now, a big question in the minds of many Christians is does

Satan  bless  people financially? Many times it looks as though

the ungodly  men have all the money, but this is not true. There is more wealth hidden away  than they will ever possess. The Bible says plainly  that God will cause us to have the hidden wealth of the world, the hidden riches of the secret places (see Isaiah 45:3). The Word tells us that “…the wealth  of the sinner is

laid  up for the just”  (Proverbs 13:22). Why then does the sinner

have it? Because  there are certain facts of financial law that will work when put to work. Israel has proven this. God taught Abraham certain things that the Jews are using today, and they are still working.  You won’t find a Jew who believes  in poverty because  poverty is not in the Old Covenant. It is in religion, not in the Bible. It was put into Christianity as a religion during the Dark Ages when the Word was taken from the people  and put away  in monasteries.  Poverty oaths were fed into Christianity when the religious hierarchy  took over. The men operating it were not born-again  men.

You can look at the world’s system of finance and see a perfect picture of Satan’s whole pattern. It can be stated in just a few words—“The thief cometh not,  but for to steal,  and  to kill,

and  to destroy” (John 10:10).

How do you kill a body of water? Stop it from flowing.

How do you kill a physical  body? Stop it from functioning. How do you kill the Body of Christ financially? Pile up all

the money in reservoirs and stop it from moving. Satan is a deceiver.  Absolutely nothing he does is a blessing.  Proverbs 1:32 confirms this, “The prosperity of fools  shall  destroy them.”  It may look as if he is blessing,  but he always  destroys. He always

presents a dead end, no way out. In fact, if you want to discern between  the work of God and the work of Satan, remember: Satan always  tells you there is no way out, but Jesus says, “I am

the way” (John 14:6). If it is doubt, defeat or discouragement, it

is from Satan—ALWAYS.

By believing  God and including  the needs of the Body of Christ in your needs, you become an open channel for the things of God to flow through to others. Everything you have received from God flowed through Jesus. Did Jesus ever lose anything

by giving it to you? No, He still owns it all. First John 4:17 makes a startling statement, “…as he is, so are  we in this world.” This does not say as  He was  or as  we  are  someday going to be;  it says as  he  is,  so  are  we.  In His position at the right hand of God, Jesus has more than enough  to give. Well, we are His joint

heirs, and He is ready to see to it that we have enough  to give

(see Philippians  4:10-19).

An example  of this channel  can be seen in the book of Revelation. God gave His revelation to Jesus, who signified it to His servant John by His angel;  the angel gave it to John; John was to give it to the churches; and they, in turn, would give it

to the Body of Christ who would feed it to the world. A con­ stant channel,  a constant flowing—the flow of love…the flow of power…the flow of money…the flow of food…the flow of everything  you need!

The basic principle  God has planned  to use in supplying the Body of Christ and allowing  the Body of Christ to supply

the world is summed up in one verse from Ecclesiastes, “Cast thy bread upon the waters:  for thou  shalt  find  it after  many days” (Ecclesiastes 11:1). Give, and after a while it will come back to you again.  You have to start “casting you bread” some­ time—tomorrow will never do. You can’t wait until your bread comes back before you cast it out. Many are waiting for their ship to come in who have never sent one out! Things don’t work that way.  It would be like saying to a stove, “Give me some heat, and then I’ll put in some wood.” You give—then  it will be given to you again.  The key is to give continually.  As

you are walking  in the Word and God’s prosperity is being pro­ duced in your life, you will reach a point when your bread is coming back to you on every wave! It is your  job to put it on the water. It is God’s  job to see that it comes back! You do your job and let God do His, then you will be continually  receiving. The more you give, the more you will get; the more you get,

the more you will have to give. God intended  for these things to work this way.  When you get to this point, more will be coming in than you can give away!

Satan operates in a way exactly  opposite from this. Every­ thing he does spells filth and stoppage.  When you see a wicked man with a great amount of wealth,  you are looking at a finan­ cial reservoir created by Satan to stop the flow. “And Jesus

looked around and  said  to His disciples, With what  difficulty

will those  who  possess wealth  and  keep  on  holding it enter  the kingdom of God!”  (Mark 10:23, The Amplified  Bible).  If a man has a million dollars in a safe and won’t spend it, it is absolutely

worthless—to him and to everyone  around him. There are many people  who could benefit from it, but he has the channel blocked.  The only one profiting from this kind of thing is Satan. He uses the forces of hate, fear and greed to keep  financial resources locked up. Proverbs 1:19 tells us that greed takes

away  the life of its possessors.  Satan can show you how to make  money, but he can’t show you how to keep  it. Selfishness is never  able to maintain what it builds—it always destroys.

Suppose a man decided  to save his left arm and just use

his right one, thinking that years later when his right arm got tired, he could switch over and use the left one again.  What would happen  to his left arm? It would lose its ability to func­ tion, wouldn’t it? Now, this is a foolish idea, but the principle  is true for a man with $100,000 stashed away  because  of fear that one of these days there wouldn’t be any money left.

If you are exercising  this kind of fear with a few dollars,

you are just as guilty of being a reservoir—a dead end, a satanic stoppage—as  the man who stopped up a million dollars. Someone with no more than a secondhand  shirt can be just as guilty of greed as a man with millions of dollars piled up some­ where.  One is just as deceived  as the other. To a person who is cold, a secondhand  shirt looks pretty good. As I pointed out before, the Bible does not say that money is the root of all evil; it says the love  of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10), and there are millions of people  committing that sin who don’t have a dime! God can do more with 15 cents given in faith than kings can do with mountains of gold! The little widow  proved this with her two mites (see Mark 12:41-44). Remember not to limit God to only what you can see and understand  with you head. When the entire world is completely  destitute, God will still have plenty and can make it abound toward you. As He is, so are  we in this world.  So don’t be afraid to become a cheerful, freehearted  giver.

In the spiritual realm as a born-again  believer,  you have life and the ability to share it with others. You need to learn how to give this life to meet their needs. The Word of God says, “How beautiful are  the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace,

and  bring  glad  tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:15). I won­ dered what this really meant until I heard the story of a mission­ ary and his family who were captured  by the Japanese  during World War II. After they were taken captive, they were told that Washington, D.C, had fallen, that the United States had surren­ dered,  and that Japan was in control. Well, you can imagine what this did to those people.  They felt absolutely  hopeless! The Japanese  dragged  them around the country and finally began  killing them because  there wasn’t enough  food. They took this missionary’s  little girl and shot her. The next day

they heard a deafening  roar and saw the sky covered  with

B-29’s! Those people  just went crazy! They had been complete­ ly without hope, laboring under the lie that their country was defeated.  Later a G.I. kicked  in the door on their compound and said, “You’re free,” and when he did, the missionary  fell down before him and kissed his boots! You have the life-giving force of God Himself residing  inside you, and the world is desperate  for that life! Don’t be stingy with it. Freely you have received  …freely give.

When you make it your need to get salvation into the hands of the people,  when  you make it your purpose  to feed the gospel  to the unsaved,  God will support what you do. This is true prosperity! God has obligated  Himself to communicate  the message  of Jesus Christ to the world. He will move heaven and earth to do it because,  to the man who has never heard it, Jesus has never died or been resurrected  from the dead. To that man, the sacrifice of Jesus means nothing. The Word says in 1 John

4:17, “…as he is, so are  we in this world.” God is feeding us

through Jesus. When you go to the Lord, He has more than enough  to meet the need. Have you ever turned to the Lord with a problem and had Him say, “Well, that’s new! You’ve come up with something heaven can’t cover”? Of course not!

God has more than enough  to solve the worst problem you could have. Jesus is the channel  to us, and we are the channel to the world.

True prosperity is the ability to look a man in the eye in his moment of impossibility and take his needs as your own. Those who are spiritual are to help those who are not. We are to bear one another’s burdens.  When a brother comes to you with a problem, join with him in prayer, join your faith with his. Put pressure on Satan with the Name of Jesus and get him off the man. Put pressure  on the laws of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Lean on your righteousness  in Jesus Christ. Lean hard  on

it! Lean hard  on your sonship. Lean hard  on the blood of Jesus.

Praise God, they work!