“Say to the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. (Isa 3:10)
‘Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. (Psalm 128: 1&2).
Introduction : God wants his children to prosper in every aspect of their lives in an enduring way.He wants them to be blessed and declared it in different places in the bible that whoever belongs to him and walks in his ways will prosper. Many people in the bible who walked closely with God such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, Daniel, Esther prospered without using dubious means and they are written for our examples. If these people prospered and were great in their generation, no child of God has any excuse not to prosper in our own generation.
David said in Psalm 35:27 that God actually delights in the prosperity of His children. This means that when you prosper, you are fulfilling the reason why God created you, you are giving him pleasure. (Rev 4:10) Unfortunately in spite of all these promises of God made very clear in the scriptures, many children of God are not prospering the way God wants them to.
Reasons why some Christians don’t prosper
There are many reasons why Christians don’t prosper. Some love God, walk in his ways but don’t bother to claim the promises of God. They are satisfied with little. They are like the brother of the prodigal son. Some squander their resources refusing to save and invest, some don’t acquire any skill and loaf about lazily. They are like the prodigal son. (Luke 15:12-32). There’s another group of Christians who don’t walk in God’s ways; they disobey the truths revealed in the word of God and they expect God to bless them. All Christians should know that all the promises of God in the bible are conditional. This condition is made clear throughout the bible from old to the New Testament.
If indeed you love God with all your heart and obey all his commandments, He will bless you with enduring blessing
If you love God with all your heart and soul and strength and obey all his commandments, He will bless you with enduring blessing. It will go well with every aspect of your life. If you seek to expand his kingdom and you are committed to continuous righteous living, all the good things of life that people are chasing will be added to you. This same principle was explained by Jesus in Matt 6: 31-33. He told his followers not to worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?He said it is the gentiles who have not received Jesus that make it their life goal to chase such things. His followers should sow, reap, gather into barns, toil and spin like other human beings (work, save,invest and follow other principles of wealth creation) (Matt 6:26&28) but their goal, what they are seeking all the time is the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
We belong to a kingdom (country) called heaven. The King (president) of that country is God, our heavenly father. There are certain rules and principles that guide the conduct of the citizens of that country. Seeking the kingdom of God would mean that after you have become born again, you make efforts to bring other people into the kingdom and help those who are in the kingdom already to abide by the rules. Seeking his righteousness means abiding by the principles and rules of the Kingdom of God;that is, God’s ways of doing things. Someone who seeks his righteousness doesn’t allow anything to disrupt his right standing with God. He runs away from sin and if he makes a mistake, he quickly repents of it.
If someone who has gained citizenship of the country (is born again) abides by those rules and keeps a good personal relationship with the King, obeys the word of God (the constitution) without any argument, he is qualified for the blessing of God and all the benefits such as food, clothes, job, good marriage, peace, good health, wealth, high positions etc.
Is God too slow for you ?
It’s sad to note however, that many Christians don’t want to get their own prosperity through God’s ways. It looks too hard and slow for them. They say, after all, many unbelievers are wealthy, therefore they can get wealth their own way.They follow the system of the world hoping to get wealthy quickly and then begin to serve God thereafter. This is a great deception from the pit of hell. This leads to shortchanging themselves because with the arms of the flesh shall no man prevail. Some keep chasing these shadows until they die, others get wealth but lose their relationship with God and destinies and hence heavenly rewards. Some still try to keep their relationship with God but the level of blessing they experience would have been greater if they had been more committed to expanding the kingdom of God and living righteously. If you follow the ways of the world to get wealth, you may seem to prosper today but you shall soon be cut off. That prosperity cannot last. David and Asaph just like many Christians in our days at some point in their lives wondered why the wicked (those who live in sin) seemed to prosper while the righteous seemed to be forsaken. But thank God because He answered them. In Psalm 37:2, David said that those who prospered without following His ways whether they were Israelites (born again) or not will be cut down suddenly like grass. God told Asaph in Psalm 73:18 that the wicked are set in slippery places where they will fall and be cast down into destruction. In short, the prosperity of the unrighteous man is short lived but that of the righteous though it may seem to accumulate slowly; is enduring, associated with peace and without sorrow. (Psalm 37:11, 16, 18, 29, Prov. 10:22)
You are made righteous by Jesus, you have the blessing !!!
The enduring and true blessing of God rests upon the righteous and not just anyone who claims to be born again. When you become born again, God inputs the righteousness of Jesus on you but thereafter, you are supposed to maintain that righteousness. It’s like a white garment given to you to maintain, not allowing it to get a spot or wrinkle. If you walk in all the laws and ways of God,obeying all the truths revealed in the bible, you shall be blessed,it shall be well with you and this blessing will show in the form of several benefits.
In Psalms 128: 1-5, the bible says ‘Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in His ways. When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you. (NKJV)You will agree with me that it’s not everyone who works hard and has a lot of money that is happy, healthy and peaceful. That means the labour of your hands is not just the labour of your career. It includes all your actions, reactions towards God and fellow human beings. Righteousness involves working hard to keep your relationship with God. If you walk in God’s ways in every aspect of your life you will not just reap the fruit of your hard labour in your office, you will reap the fruit of that righteousness. This will include not just riches but joy, peace, health and wealth that will reach generations unborn.
Brethren, let us seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness and believe that God cannot fail, He will surely add all other things that we need.
Conclusion
When you live your life like this continuously, it may seem as if you are not wealthy now compared to some other people but it shall be well with you. You will have blessings that money cannot buy and those blessings will eventually manifest in terms of money and other materials. Even in your old age, you will continue to flourish. Moreover, when we go back home to meet our King, you shall occupy a high position which those who have made wealth without seeking His kingdom and righteousness would wish they could occupy, but it would be too late.