Am I Prosperous?

What is prosperity? How do you become prosperous? Doesn’t the bible speak against becoming rich?

Short answers. Doing above well. Study hard, be prepared, and open to opportunities. No, but it does speak about how it could be harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.

For those that may know me or have listened to me talk about my life with Christ or better yet my theology, I stray far from prosperity teaching. I find it ironic that I decided to name my blog and first business Shear Prosperity. It goes to show that I somewhat understand the grey area. The truth of the grey area is that some people can handle it and others cannot. Some people can handle success, money, power, fame, and other describing words that make you think of prosperity, but others struggle and fail miserably when they get a piece.

What I have planned for this post is to take a few questions and answer them with my opinion, take a look at a few bible versus, and lastly add some practical steps for those wanting to become prosperous.

1. How do I become prosperous

Prosperity is a mindset added to a goal. Some people’s idea of prosperity would be working a 9 to 5 in a career you love, coming home to a family, eating a good meal, watching their favorite sport team beat it’s rivals, laying in bed with the love of their life, and getting a full 12 hours of sleep before work the next day. I also must agree that this sounds nice if there was more time in the day. When I think of prosperity I go a little above this. I say that I want to be able to do all these things but I want it on my own terms. I want to produce these same outcomes without having to worry about our 9 to 5 going away, getting laid off, business going bankrupt. This is my lomg definition of financial prosperity. You become prosperous with finances when income is inevitable. You become prosperous with finances when you find a way to make your money work for you instead of your time making you money. You become prosperous with finances when you figure out that being an employee your whole life will not set you up for retirement in the end. Prosperous with finances is a mindset and the goal is your idea of freedom.

2. Why do Churches always ask for my money? Are they only becoming prosperous because of others?

I want to start of by saying that all organizations need workers. Volunteering is the exact same thing as giving your money. Assuming that you know your time is valued. Churches, not for profits, for profits, small gatherings, and other organizations all have the same thing in common and that is time/money. Without having resources all things come to an end. The answer to the second question is… of course. A building cannot be constructed without labor, iron, wood, and cement. Sunday schools and teen worship do not happen without dedicated leaders and volunteers. Choirs, bands, mission trips, and ministries are not prosperous without you, your money, and your time.

Bible versus on prosperity

Jeremiah 29:11, Romans 1:10, 1Kings 2:3, Proverbs 16:20

There are many more versus on prosperity, but this is a good starter.

Prosperity in a Bible

What you may find while reading the bible is this never ending speech on “do this and prosper or do this and be shamed forever”. I can guarantee that you will never see the bible tell you specifically what career to seek, investments to make, day of the week to grab a lotto ticket, or what businesses start. I do guarantee that the bible says to follow God’s instructions. This is the beauty of being a human. We have choices! We can be a teacher, warrior, NBA star, fisherman, or pastor. But what God requires of us is that we follow him and be great at what we do. Thus, to be great at what we do we must study and learn how to be great. We must take risk and never sit on money (“parable of the Talents/Three Servents” Matthew 25:14). I know you are asking the golden question, “How do I learn?” My best answer is to read the following books and then research books that are specific to your field and learn more.

My Favorite Books

The Bible

Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert Kyosaki

Set for Life – Scott Trench

The E Myth – Michael Gerber

Be Obsessed or Be Average – Grant Cardone

Serious Commitments

As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. Joshua 24:15. There are many times in life and in your Christian walk that you will be obligated to your commitments. Also, these commitments tend to show your character. Since our recent move to the area, Tiana and I have been blessed to find a Jesus centered church that believes in a relationship with Christ more than the religious traditions. While I am on the topic of traditions, I want to be very clear that there are times that traditions are necessary. For example: breaking of bread, prayer and worship, church service, and many other times when gathering together as a community or group. My belief is when you are truly saved or “accept Jesus into your heart” you are making a commitment with Jesus. You are not merely having an experience with him as you would if you heard a great speaker and wanted to change your ways. It is a daily walk and giving of your life for something that is outside of yourself. When I was saved it was because I found out that Jesus was someone who I could have real relation with instead of just the knowledge of some higher being that hated when I was having sex outside of marriage or disrespecting the elderly. This was a profound moment in my life and changed it entirely. Once I made that commitment to be the son of God, a child of the light, Jesus disciple, I began to really see the world for what it was. I also found out the commitments that God had for my life and his intentions for it.

I find that people tend to not hold true to their commitments. Some intentional and some not so intentional. It could be the little things like forgetting to grab toilet paper on the way home from work. Then to big things like cheating on a spouse. We as Christians on the other hand are held to our commitments. We believe that our commitments to our friends, family, and neighbors are sacred. When we fail to hold firm to them, we are actually breaking a deal with God, which is unacceptable.

Now here are 6 tips that I have began to use and I think can be a general rule of thumb for everyone.
1. When you make a commitment or promise, keep it.
2. Think of commitments to someone as a make or break in your relationship.
3. Commitments that are followed through show great character.
4. God is pleased when we step up and hold to our commitments, because so few actually do.
5. Learn to say NO. Do not get yourself caught up in multiple commitments that over lap each other. You are bound to stumble.
6. Be ready for spiritual attacks. Without fail, something will try to come between you and a commitment. BE READY

Tiana and I have made a commitment to become leaders in our church. Before accepting the responsibility, we decided that we would make sure that those days were available. This means placing it on our calendars, missing birthdays, telling our bosses, and not committing to anything else until this time period has expired. It may sound so simple and easy, but yet I tend to think that it took a lot of work and effort to accomplish those few task. We believe that our commitment to leadership will in fact change lives. We also believe that there are perks to being in God’s will. God’s will tends to be hard because it is not always our favorite thing to do, but it is always worth it.