The bottom line is, God wants you to prosper. Here’s what I mean when I talk about prosperity:
Godly Prosperity - More than enough for my family plus an overflow to accomplish everything God asks me to do.
Now, let me show you in scripture:
II Corinthians 9:8 NKJV - God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
In other words, God wants you to have way more than you need to take care of yourself so that you have the extra needed to help others.
Say this: God wants ME to prosper.
Last week, I explained the prerequisite to living in God’s promise of wealth. First, you must learn to trust God to provide for your needs.
If you don’t trust Him with your needs, you’ll be too busy taking care of your own needs. That in itself will keep you from living in prosperity.
You see, God’s love language is trust. He feels the most loved by us when we trust Him.
I’m not talking about trusting Him when everything is going right. Anybody can do that! I’m talking about trusting Him when things aren’t how we want them to be.
Another word for this kind of trust is “faith”. Faith says, “I don’t care what my circumstances are, God’s promises are true. The doctor doesn’t get the final word because God’s promises are true.”
So God’s love language is trust. And trusting God is a simple definition of faith. Take a look at what Hebrews says about faith:
Hebrews 11:6 NKJV - But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Now it all comes full circle. If we want to love God, then we trust God even when things aren’t going how we want them to.
To illustrate, I am going to read a message I received just a few days ago from someone right here at our church. She said:
“I just received a company-wide email to receive the vaccine by Dec 8th or face termination. I just submitted the exemption letter along with some research this morning. Pastor, thank you so much for your message on Sunday. You may never know how timely it was for so many. I can have peace in the storm because my Father cares for me.”
This is what it sounds like when you trust God. You get served with an impossible situation, you do what you can, and then sit back and enjoy the peace that surpasses all understanding.
And in order to get to a place where you live in God’s promise of wealth, you first have to learn to trust God to take care of your needs. Here’s the scripture you need to stand on:
Philippians 4:19 NLT - God will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
God supplies how many needs? ALL. Where does He get the resources to supply your needs? From His glorious riches. Do you have to earn it? No. It was given to you in Christ.
You don’t need to waste one moment consumed with your own needs. Why?
If this isn’t yet a reality in your life, it’s because you are trusting something other than God. Kind of silly when you think about it, but last week I explained why so many Christians have trust issues.
The answer is found in the life of Jesus. He always referred to God as His “Father”. He had a full understanding that Father and the Son were one. And He knew His Father was well pleased with Him.
There is one time that Jesus called Him something other than Father. It’s when He was on the cross about to die. Take a look:
Matthew 27:46 NKJV - And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
Notice He didn’t say, “Father, father, why have you forsaken me?” In this moment, Jesus became an orphan so that you and I could become sons and daughters.
It’s the divine exchange. Jesus took my sin so that I could have His righteousness. Jesus took my sickness so that I could be healed. Jesus took my shame so I could have His glory. Jesus took the curse so I could live in His blessing.
Jesus took my orphan spirit so that I could be God’s son. He took your orphan spirit so you could be God’s son or daughter.
Orphans are obsessed with what they do. They think, “If I do, I have. And if I have, I become.”
Sons and daughters are secure in who they are. They think, “Because of my Father, I already have what I need. Because of what I have, I do.”
This is the answer to any trust issues you have with God. All you need to do is ask Him to heal your orphan spirit - to heal all those times your earthly father messed up - so that you can see God as your loving Father who supplies all your needs.
Today I am going to solidify what we talked about last week by letting you in on your true identity. Last we talked about who God is to us. He is our father. Now I am going to show you who you are to God.
This past Monday, I took my six-year-old daughter on a date. She wanted to go to Hobby Lobby to get Christmas decorations for her room, so that’s where we went.
On the way in, she said, “I know exactly what I want. I saw it last year, and it should still be there.” So we went down every Christmas aisle looking for the thing she had in her mind.
As we were walking down each aisle, I’d point something out and ask, “Is this it?” No. So we kept walking. After we had been down every aisle twice, I squatted down and asked her to explain it to me.
She said, “I want a Christmas tree that looks like our big Christmas tree but isn’t big.” So I took her back to the Christmas tree section and showed her the 3-foot tree. That wasn’t it.
Then we went back to the section with all the mini Christmas trees. You know, the very first aisle we went to when we got there. I pulled out one with a burlap base.
The limbs weren’t spread out, so I was explaining how it would look like a Christmas tree once it was spread out. But she didn’t like the burlap base. So we went down the aisle a bit and there was one without it.
Finally, she said, “Yeah, that’s it. That’s what I was looking for.” We had already walked past it three or four times by then. But hey, we finally found it.
I don’t know if you’ve seen this section, but they have everything you could ever want for a mini Christmas tree. So we went through and picked out everything Leanna wanted for her tree.
You know what’s interesting? She never asked the price of any of this stuff. She was just looking around and grabbing everything that would complete her vision of this Christmas tree.
We got a mini tree skirt, and mini tree topper, a bunch of mini Christmas ornaments, a mini stringed garland, and mini lights. It was quite the haul.
Actually, when we got home, Beth looked inside the bag full of Christmas decorations and said, “I don’t think you are going to get all that to fit on that tiny tree.”
Not once was Leanna concerned with paying for everything. In her mind, she was on a date with dad, dad said she could have decorations for her room, and dad was going to take care of it.
She didn’t take time to think, “I wonder if I deserve this?” She didn’t ask me how much money we had in the bank. She willingly used dad’s resources to fulfill her vision of a Christmas tree for her room.
Most of us wouldn’t even dare be that bold with our Heavenly Father. Yet, here’s what scripture tells us:
Hebrews 4:16 NKJV - Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
You know what this scripture is referring to? When we find ourselves struggling with sin. It’s basically saying:
“When you are at your worst - when you’ve really messed up - come boldly to your Father and receive mercy and grace in your time of need.”
Why does God want you to march up to His throne with boldness and say, “I did it! I sinned against you!”?
Because the only reason a Christian struggles with sin is because they’ve forgotten who they are. And the best way for you to be reminded is to be in the Father’s presence.
Here’s how James explains it:
James 1:23-24 NLT - For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.
Do you realize you’ve never seen your face? You’ve only seen a reflection or a picture of your face. But you’ve never actually seen your own face.
You’ve also never seen your spirit. But the Word of God works like a mirror and helps you recognize your spirit. So, when you neglect the Word of God, you forget who you are.
You forget that you are free from sin. You forget that you are healed. You forget that you are God’s righteousness. You forget you have authority over Satan.
And when you forget who you are, you find yourself living in sin. But the best part of it is, even though your mess is your own doing, your Heavenly Father says, “Come boldly to me and receive grace.”
Why? Why is God so gracious? Because He wants to remind you who you are. You are His son or daughter and He is well pleased with you. He wants to supply ALL your needs.
So the only reason a Christian struggles with sin is because they forget who they are. It’s the same way with godly prosperity. You might want to write this down:
Godly prosperity comes by knowing who we are, not because of what we have.
Poverty is an evil spirit that creates an identity crisis. It’s the same with all the gender and sex confusion going on these days. It’s all an evil spirit that creates an identity crisis.
Satan is on a mission to make you forget who you are. He wants you to forget who you are to God. He wants you to forget you are physically. He is the author of confusion and there is no better way to get you confused than an identity crisis.
Here’s what it sounds like when you have a poverty identity crisis:
“I’m just not good with money.”
“I’ll never make enough money.”
“I’ll never get out of debt.”
“I don’t have a degree.”
“It takes money to make money.”
All of these types of thoughts reveal an identity crisis. Your true identity is royalty, but you are acting like a peasant and therefore you are living like a peasant.
Reminds me of a young baby who was separated from his family at birth. He was adopted and grew up with a dad who worked hard day in and day out. But no matter how hard he worked, they always had barely enough to get by.
He would often hear his adopted father say things like, “People like us just don’t get ahead” and “God keeps us poor to keep us humble”.
So, when he became an adult, he had the same outlook on life. Like his adopted father, he became a hard worker but always struggled to provide enough for his family.
One day he became curious about his birth family so he decided to do some research. Imagine his surprise when he found out that a ten million dollar estate had been left to him by his grandparents.
It was available to him all along. The estate planners just weren’t able to track him down. So, he had just lived the last 30 years in poverty even though he had a ten million dollar net worth.
It wasn’t until he discovered his true identity that he broke the chains of poverty and began to live his true identity.
Godly prosperity comes by knowing who we are, not because of what we have.
Most Christians are waiting to identify as prosperous when they become prosperous. That’s not faith!
We must first identify as wealthy because our Heavenly Father is wealthy, not because of our circumstances.
Going back to the story about my daughter. She identifies as wealthy because her dad is wealthy. She doesn’t own anything, but her dad does. And as far as she is concerned, it all belongs to her.
Now, let me show you several scriptures that reveal our true identity.
Psalms 1:3 NLT - They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.
Psalms 103:5 TPT - You satisfy my every desire with good things. You’ve supercharged my life so that I soar again like a flying eagle in the sky!
John 4:14 TPT - For when you drink the water I give you, it becomes a gushing fountain of the Holy Spirit, flooding you with endless life!
Proverbs 10:22 NLT - The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.
This is a good time to point out that it is possible to become rich on your own. It’s hard to do, but there are plenty of people who pull it off. We can call this worldly prosperity.
Here’s the part about it that sucks. Worldly prosperity makes you rich and adds sorrow to it. You have to sacrifice relationships, sacrifice your integrity, and bulldoze others on the way to the top.
But when the blessing of the Lord makes you rich, He adds no sorrow to it. You become wealthy and still have your family intact. You become wealthy while maintaining your integrity, living generously, and never taking advantage of others.
Godly prosperity comes by knowing who we are, not because of what we have.
When is an apple tree an apple tree? After it bears fruit? No. Even when it has no fruit, it is still an apple tree. Actually, as soon as the seed germinates, it is an apple tree.
We can’t wait to identify as prosperous until we become prosperous. No, we have been prosperous all along because we are sons and daughters of the King.
I know this is hard to wrap your mind around, but I want you to get this. Your identity is who you are regardless of your circumstances.
If I moved to Colorado and acted like my parents didn’t exist, I would still be their son.
I haven’t seen my older brother in several years. He sure doesn’t act like my brother, but he is still my brother.
Your identity is who you are regardless of your circumstances.
Your current circumstances might tell you that you are poor. And if you identify with your circumstances, you’ll stay poor.
But if you latch on to your true identity in Christ, the blessing of the Lord will make you rich.
Identity comes first. You must solve the identity crisis. How?
It all comes back to the mirror analogy I gave you earlier. The only reason you know what your face looks like is because you’ve looked at it over and over in the mirror.
If you want to know what your spirit looks like, you must look at it in the mirror of God’s Word, over and over and over.
I hold up the mirror for you all every Sunday, but can you imagine what you’d look like if you only looked in the mirror once per week? Your hair would be a mess and you’d have something in your teeth.
Y’all, it’s time to develop the discipline of getting in the Word of God day and night. Start the day with the Word. End the day with the Word. That’s how you recognize your true identity.
