What is Prosperity?
Prosperity is the state of thriving, flourishing, and experiencing success or good fortune. While it is most commonly associated with financial wealth and economic abundance, a broader definition encompasses health, happiness, personal fulfillment, and peace of mind.
Prosperity Defined:
3 John 1:1-2 NKJV The Elder, To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth: (2) Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.
3 John 1:2 AMPC Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers.
3 John 1:2 TPT Beloved friend, I pray that you are prospering in every way and that you continually enjoy good health, just as your soul is prospering.
There is a connection between your soul prospering and your natural material man prospering.
Prosperity does not begin in your bank accounts. Prosperity does not begin in your wallet or purse.
Prosperity begins in your spirit and soul.
This is the problem with programs that try and help people financially and materially. It might temporarily address natural circumstances but does not change anything on the inside of the people they help. Therefore, in the long term, people are not helped to get out of their current circumstances.
How does your soul prosper? The Word of God is what makes your soul to prosper.
God is not about pushing people down – He is about pulling people up!
We are going to prosper outwardly as we prosper inwardly!
2 Corinthians 9:8 NKJV And 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.
2 Corinthians 9:8 AMPC And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation].
Kenneth Copeland – True prosperity is the ability to use the power of God to meet the needs of mankind in every realm of life: spirit, soul, body, financially and socially.
2 Corinthians 9:8 TPT Yes, God is more than ready to overwhelm you with every form of grace, so that you will have more than enough of everything—every moment and in every way. He will make you overflow with abundance in every good thing you do.
Prosperity (Hebrew and Greek): to advance; to push forward and make progress; to help down the road, to succeed in reaching, successful; thriving; abundance (John 10:10)
The first step that is going get you headed to Godly Prosperity is to be rooted and grounded in the will of God (for you).
Romans 4:20-21 AMPC No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God, (21) Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His word and to do what He had promised.
You can never get too assured or confident in the will of God for your life.
What Kind of God Do We Serve?
Is He a God of poverty or prosperity?
What kind of God did Abraham know?
Genesis 17:1-4 NKJV When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. (2) And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” (3) Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: (4) “As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.
Did God multiply Abraham?
“I am the Almighty God” – “El Shaddai” – “El” emphasizes God’s might and power. “Shaddai” – the root of this word is “breast” like a woman’s breast.
Genesis 49:25-26 NKJV By the God of your father who will help you, And by the Almighty who will bless you With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb. (26) The blessings of your father Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors, Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.
Shaddai – signifies nourishment, supply, and satisfaction. An infant’s total source of supply is the breast of his mother. That is what God is to us.
He is mighty to nourish, supply, and satisfy.
He is our complete source and supply.
When you understand this, you no longer look to people to meet our needs. You no longer put pressure on people to meet our needs.
This is the God Abraham knew.
I will always be fed because He can never and will never run out.
Another Thing Abraham Saw in God
Genesis 22:7-14 NKJV But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” (8) And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together. (9) Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. (10) And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. (11) But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” (12) And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (13) Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. (14) And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
“Jehovah” – the name of God meaning “the self-existent One”
“Jireh” – Sees
Pre-vision and Pro-vision – God is the Provider that makes provision for what He sees before
yehôvâh yir’eh
BDB Definition:
Jehovah-jireh = “Jehovah sees”
1) symbolic name given by Abraham to Mount Moriah in commemoration of the interposition of the angel of Jehovah who prevented the sacrifice of Isaac and provided a substitute
yehōwāh yir’eh: A proper noun designating Jehovah Jireh, a name given to designate the Lord by Abraham for providing a sacrifice in place of Isaac (Gen_22:14). It means “the Lord will see to it” literally but also means “the Lord will provide.”
God saw ahead what was going to be needed and provided the supply.
God is never surprised by your need!
Never water down the Scriptures to match your experience. Some water down the book of Acts because they do not have the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
What kind of God did Abraham know?
Genesis 12:1-3 NKJV Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you. (2) I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. (3) I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Abraham knew “God the Blesser.”
He is the same God I serve!
What kind of man did the Blesser know?
Prosperity is not just one sided. There is a God-ward side and a man-ward side just as there is in all things.
What kind of man was Abraham that God could bless him the way that He did?
God knew a man that would obey Him. He would go anywhere and give anything that was asked of him.
Faith is believing and obeying Him when you can’t see how.
Genesis 13:1-2 NKJV Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. (2) Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.
God did all of this!
God has not changed!
Genesis 24:1 NKJV Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.
Genesis 24:1 NLT Abraham was now a very old man, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.
Genesis 24:35 NKJV The LORD has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great; and He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.
Galatians 3:13-14 NKJV Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”), (14) that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Abraham was very rich but never owned any land or a house just like Jesus.
Matthew 8:20 NKJV And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
Genesis 13:3-11 NKJV And he went on his journey from the South as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, (4) to the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD. (5) Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. (6) Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together. (7) And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land. (8) So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. (9) Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left.” (10) And Lot lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar. (11) Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east. And they separated from each other.
Abraham was a man of generosity and put others first; he was unselfish.
Genesis 14:11-16 NKJV Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way. (12) They also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. (13) Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, for he dwelt by the terebinth trees of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner; and they were allies with Abram. (14) Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. (15) He divided his forces against them by night, and he and his servants attacked them and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. (16) So he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.
Abraham was a man that believed God could do anything and was not afraid!
Genesis 14:17-24 NKJV And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him. (18) Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High. (19) And he blessed him and said: “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; (20) And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” And he gave him a tithe of all. (21) Now the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the goods for yourself.” (22) But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, (23) that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich’— (24) except only what the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.”
God also knew a man who is a tither!
Genesis 18:1-6 NKJV Then the LORD appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. (2) So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, (3) and said, “My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. (4) Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. (5) And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant.” They said, “Do as you have said.” (6) So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, make ready three measures of fine meal; knead it and make cakes.”
Abraham was a man given to hospitality!
Romans 12:13 NKJV distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.
Romans 12:13 AMPC Contribute to the needs of God’s people [sharing in the necessities of the saints]; pursue the practice of hospitality.
Romans 12:13 TLB When God’s children are in need, you be the one to help them out. And get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, if they need lodging, for the night.
Be the kind of person who loves to bless people, help people, make people feel comfortable.
1 Timothy 3:2 TPT Yet an elder needs to be one who is without blame before others. He should be one whose heart is for his wife alone and not another woman. He should be recognized as one who is sensible, and well-behaved, and living a disciplined life. He should be a “spiritual shepherd” who has the gift of teaching, and is known for his hospitality.
Genesis 18:17-18 NKJV And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, (18) since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?