Today I want to share with you how Jesus wants you to prosper financially. This is something that is important to everyone. It takes money to live, to get your needs met, and to be a blessing to others. God didn't leave us alone in this area and say, "I'm concerned about your spiritual part, but I don't care about your financial part...you're on your own." No, He loves you in every way—spirit, soul, and body—and He's made provision for you. Most people recognize that some degree of financial prosperity is necessary, but religion basically has taken a stand against having an abundance.

The Word of God teaches against greed in many different ways but also makes it very clear that finances are a blessing. In 3 John 2, the Apostle John said, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." What a strong statement. John says, "Above all things!" It's talking about healing, emotions, relationships, and finances. The Lord wants you to prosper and be in health above everything else. He wants you to prosper in spirit, soul, and body. That's His will for you.

Many religious people actually say that God wants you to be poor, that being poor is a godly thing, and the poorer you are, the more godly you are. I was raised under that kind of thinking, that preachers shouldn't have very much, that a Christian is a person who should do without. This certainly cannot be substantiated by Scripture. Abraham was the richest man of his time, so much so that kings asked him to depart because his possessions were affecting the wealth of their countries. The same was true of Isaac and Jacob. Joseph was a man who prospered and had super abundance. David gave to the Lord out of his own personal treasury over 2.5 billion dollars worth of gold and silver to build the temple. Solomon, David's son, was the richest man that ever lived on the face of the earth. When you look at it scripturally, people who have really served God were blessed financially.

There are examples of people who struggled and did without. Paul said in Philippians 4:13 that he could do all things through Christ and had learned to be content in whatever situation he was in. He said he knew how to be abased and how to abound. There were times when God's servants went through poverty and difficulty, but you cannot find in Scripture that the poorer you are, the more godly you are. That is not true, and you can go out on the streets and see it disproved. So, yes, there's a truth here that greed is wrong. In 1 Timothy 6:10 it says, "For the love of money is the root of all evil..." Some people take that and say money is the root of all evil, but it says the love of money is the root of all evil. There are people who love money and don't have a dime; others have great wealth but don't love it. They just use it.

Deuteronomy 8:18 shows the real purpose of financial prosperity. The Lord was talking to the Israelites, who were about to enter into the Promised Land and were going to experience wealth and prosperity in a way they never had before. He told them, "But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day." According to this passage of Scripture, the purpose of prosperity is not to have an abundance of things for your own selfish purposes, but so you can establish God's covenant here on earth. In other words, God will bless you so that you can in turn be a blessing. In Genesis 12:2 the Lord told Abraham, "I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing." Before you can be a blessing to anybody else, you have to be blessed yourself.

You need certain things and have certain needs that God wants to meet, but it goes beyond a selfish thing. He wants to prosper you so He can get His money through you and so you can be a blessing. In 2 Corinthians 9:8 it says, "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work." This tells why God is going to prosper you—so you can abound to every good work. It's actually like a scriptural definition of prosperity. What is prosperity? Is it having a nice home, a nice car, good clothes, and food on your table?

According to this verse, it is having enough to meet all of your needs and abound unto every good work. If you are unable to give to things you feel God has touched your heart about, if you would like to be a blessing to someone but are unable, then you aren't prospering financially according to what the Scripture says. God says He will bless you to the degree that all of your needs will be met, and you'll be able to abound unto every good work.

True biblical prosperity is not just to get your needs met, but so you can be a blessing to other people. The person who thinks only of themselves is actually selfish. If someone says "I'm believing God for more," others may think them greedy or selfish, but it depends on the motive. If you ask God for more so you can get a bigger house or a better car, that's not the right scriptural attitude. But if you are believing God for more because you have gone beyond seeing your own needs met and want to be a blessing to others, that is the attitude He wants you to have. He wants you to prosper. It's His will for you to prosper.

Matthew 6 talks about the things we need and then says if we will seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all of these things will be added to us. As you begin to put God first, He will supply all of these other things. All of your needs will be met, and you will be a blessing to other people. God does want you to prosper, but it really is dependent on your motive and your actions in this area.

I pray that this has challenged you and that today you're going to start believing God for His very best, which is for you to prosper.