August 7, 2024

Prosperity Gospel, perhaps you have heard of it? It all sounds very negative and ‘not from God’, but perhaps we are missing the point? I am convinced that God is a good God, a good Father who wants to take care of us in all areas, and I certainly believe in the area of our finances.  There was a time when I struggled to truly trust God with my finances. I wanted so badly to learn and experience how God really wanted to take care for me. But at that time being a single mother, I found it terribly scary and wanted to keep control over “my” money.  As my dear friend told me, “You’re throwing out anchors,” and she was right, I didn’t dare to trust God 100%, and I always made sure I had a backup plan.  /*! elementor – v3.23.0 – 25-07-2024 */ .elementor-heading-title{padding:0;margin:0;line-height:1}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title[class*=elementor-size-]>a{color:inherit;font-size:inherit;line-height:inherit}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-small{font-size:15px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-medium{font-size:19px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-large{font-size:29px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xl{font-size:39px}.elementor-widget-heading .elementor-heading-title.elementor-size-xxl{font-size:59px} More month than salary The word “prosperity” may trigger a spontaneous allergic reaction in some people, but when we examine what God intended it to be, it is so beautiful! His purpose is that we, as His children, may be a blessing to others, so that He will be honored for that.  God blesses us with our gifts, talents and qualities, and He blesses the work of our hands (Deuteronomy 28:12). We can use the money we earn from this to bless others by, for example, sowing seeds in a beautiful ministry or your church, helping people who have less to spend, or paying for a stranger at the cash register. God will show you who you can bless. In the meanwhile, God will make sure you don’t fall short in anything!  I recently learned that we are “blessed to be a blessing, to have bread and seed, enough and extra”. (Genesis 12:1-3, 2 Corinthians 9:10–11).  I also was allowed to learn from Jesus in Mark 6:40–43. He fed so many people with what at first seemed like too little. But what exactly was He doing there? He took what He had, lifted it up, thanked God for it, and blessed it.  And what did God do next? He multiplied it! Enough and extra came; Jesus and His disciples were blessed to be able to bless the crowd of people too!  “Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves.”- Mark 6:41 WOW! That was a revelation right there! First of all, I could just be grateful for the money I had, the food I had in the fridge, and even the gas in my car. Even though in the natural, at that time, I had more month left than salary, LOL, I continued to thank God for it and to bless what I had, so God in turn could continue to work and ensure that I was not lacking in anything! the cheerful giver The next stumbling block that I had to tackle within myself was giving with a cheerful heart because God loves the cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:6-8). I can tell you, I always gave, but I didn’t give very happily, rather out in fear and always safely within my budget.  That had to be different!  I prayed, and asked God to teach me this, because I also wanted to give happily! And again, because my heart was open to learning and growing, God led the way. I became more and more confident until one day God put an amount on my heart to give to the church which was quite a large amount for me at the time. I said, “Okay, Lord, even though I can’t miss it and it ‘hurts’, I will do it anyway. I choose to give with a joyfull heart and I choose to trust You, because Your Word says You will take care of me and I believe Your Word above my circumstances”.  Sometimes we don’t fully understand things, but then the ‘art’ is to simply choose to trust God. I thanked God, blessed the amount and transferred it. Then I let it go and didn’t think about it anymore. Within one day, that money came back to me via another special route, and not only the amount I had sown, but many times more! And there it was again: “Blessed to be a blessing, bread and seed, enough and extra!” With that came a deep realization and awe for God: the world is burdened by high costs, energy, groceries, taxes, everything is becoming more and more expensive, and for many, it is no longer feasible.  But we serve a God who rises above this world and economy, and in Him, we are completely free from all worries about rising costs! Sunday is coming The topic of finances has been a learning process for me for a number of months now, and God is slowly releasing me from all old thoughts and patterns and fear of not having enough. Small but also very large hurdles have already been overcome. For example, God has made me realize that I need to stop a certain income stream. It gave me stress, uncertainty and was more like a curse than a blessing. Being apart from that would give me more peace. But, despite all that, it still was a huge step of faith for me. Because I am so hungry, and because I know that I know that I know that I know (no, this is not a typo, LOL) that God’s Word is truth, also in the area of finances and prosperity, I also took that hurdle, followed His lead, and stopped that income flow. I want to receive all the blessings and promises that Jesus accomplished on the cross. So, I trusted God would fill that gap….and He did! At the time of writing, I have arrived at the point; give your tithes. This was the biggest obstacle for me the area of finance. Just when I thought I had seen