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.
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 all the scary things… this too had a long run-up before I finally dared to take the step of faith. I had read up carefully and researched the Bible about giving your tithes, but it still took a number of months before I actually took the step.
Know when you are about to take a step of faith, the enemy is lurking. Knowing what the Word says and the enemy’s tactics is essential to unmasking him and continuing your journey in faith.
Lies came into my mind: “If you start giving your tithes, you won’t get anywhere. Look at all the outstanding costs that still have to be paid, that has to be done first”, then “coincidentally” all kinds of nice offers or gadgets came my way. Luckily I recognized it, and despite all those things, I decided; I’m going to give my tithes!
No sooner said than done, and I started with an unexpected tax refund, of which I gave away my tenth to a wonderful church here in the Netherlands. Immediately that evening, God told me to go to a service the following Sunday at that same church, witch is an hour’s drive away, “Mmm, okay Lord, I have no idea why or anything, but I’ll go.”
Life with the Lord is truly a great adventure !
That Sunday morning, I reluctantly got up early. I was tired and didn’t feel like getting in the car so early and driving an hour to that church, but… I had promised God, so I went, and I went with anticipation. On the way there, the prosecutor came around the corner again “what are you doing, just turn around to go home, no one wants you there, you are tired”, again I recognized the lies, so I drove on.
I arrived and was apparently too late because the worship was already in full swing. Ultimately a beautiful service, and at the end of the service I got to talking to the man who had been sitting in the row in front of me for the entire service. Out of the blue, he started talking about tithing…. I laughed, and he asked, “why are you laughing,” and I briefly talked about my struggle with the part of trusting God in my finances. He replied “great, this is a confirmation for me, I do everything Spirit guided and I had on my heart to give you something, now that you have told me all this, I know that I am on the right track, can I have your bankaccount number because God wants to give you something, and thank Him for that.”
Completely astonished, I gave him my bankaccount number, we talked some more, and then we parted ways. Once I got home, I opened the bank’s app and saw the enormous amount he had transferred. In tears, I thanked God, and He said:
“I just want to bless you My child”
I immediately gave away another tenth of that amount to a powerful ministry of God here in the Netherlands.
This broke the last lie and fear for me about finances, giving, sowing, reaping, and tithing. From this moment on, I have not only become a partner in several powerful ministries that bear much fruit, but I have also started to sow more and give my tithes. Everything is led by the Holy Spirit because it is important to be “tuned” with Him when giving our finances, because you want to give on good ground.
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it."- Malachi 3:10
Stretch your faith
I want to encourage you, don’t immediately brush financial and material prosperity off the table, but investigate it! It has taken me months to renew my thinking about this, but I have discovered that God also does what He promises in this. It is He Himself who says: “Test me, prove Me, try and see that I will bless you,” Malachi 3:10.
Books that, in addition to the Bible, have helped me enormously are “God of Prosperity” (Tom de Wal), and 10% (Michiel Koelewijn). Another wonderful book is “The Richest Man Who Ever Lived” (Steven K. Scott).
Know that you have a Heavenly Father who wants you to prosper in all things. Your financial prosperity does not only have to do with you, but mainly with you help building 
God’s Kingdom here on earth, and in the meantime He will ensure that you do not lack anything.
As long as money doesn’t have us, our heart is with God and not in money or materialistic things, there is nothing wrong with money at all. As described in 1 Timothy 6:10, the love for money is the root of all evil. Not the money itself.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” – 1 Timothy 6:10
Start “stretching” your faith, and first believe God for, for example, a full tank of gas, the provision of weekly groceries, or a small amount of money.
Ask Him to teach you to give with joy in your heart and to show you that you can trust Him. Even though it seems scary.
He wants to bless you so that you can bless others. Explore this together with Him, and step out in faith, just try Him and see that He will open the windows of heaven for you.
