There is an enormous amount of teaching about the prosperity of the believer and a lot of it is really good and needed. However, as with any teaching, some of it isn't good and as with any teaching, a whole bunch of us get it wrong, even if the message is right. A lot of what goes wrong with this teaching comes from a mis-reading of Luke 6:38. You know, that is the verse that says give and it shall be given, shaken together, pressed down, running over will "men" give to you. Reading this wrong is an error of big proportions. First of all, that verse in context is not about money, but mercy. It is mercy you give and mercy you get back. It is as simple a message as "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". It is about horizontal behavior expected of us. It is not about money! Not even if we have taken a jillion offerings using this verse, and we have. This misreading teaches us to give money to men and then expect men to give money back to us.and that is not what the Bible teaches. This is sort of like "scratch my back and I'll scratch yours". And, that is exactly what we do not want to do. It takes our eyes off God and on to man. Sooner or later that error is going to choke the life out of us.
Many times, in the church world, I have seen people give to the church or the minister and then expect cash back, at some point. Sounds like this, "I gave to them, or that church, and when I needed it, they let me down, they didn't give back". God only knows how many have left the Kingdom through disappointment just such as this. And, it came because they were looking to man for divine supply. I have found that those, who have perhaps unknowingly fallen into this error, when trial comes, come out of it that trial with bitterness for they were looking for men to rescue them. Perhaps they were not aware of it, and didn't mean it that way, but they were not in fact giving to God, they were giving to man.
It is true, that when you give to God, when you sow, you will reap a harvest. However, it is explicitly not money for money. Our giving is actually a part of our interactive relationship with God, otherwise known as grace. We are involved in His business. We give to Him and He gives to us. His promise to us in the sowing and reaping passage of Galatians (Gal. 6), is "life everlasting", or manifestations of God. The promise in the sowing and reaping passage to the Corinthians was not money for money, but "grace" for our money (2nd Cor. 9). We give whatever we give and for our giving, His promise is "grace", even abounding grace. His promise is sufficiency in all things, abounding in good works and being enriched to bountifulness. Don't settle for mere money when you could have all that! His abounding grace certainly does involve meeting financial needs, but it is much more than that. Grace is the involvement of God in the affairs of our life - our whole life. Sometimes what you need is not more money but the intervention of God in a certain matter. Understand, it is not your dollars that brings you bountifulness, but your grace, interactive, involvement with God. You are involved in His business and He is involved in yours. If it were your money doing this, than the whole thing is no more than buying and selling. Of course, some have merchandised the gospel and reduced it to that level and that is sad but that is not God's plan for properity.
There is a condition to this kind of prosperity. All that we give to God, whether it is money, praise, time, service, prayer, worship, etc., is is to be given "cheerfully" (a word meaning hilarious). It is not just the gift God is looking at, but also how it is given. I have seen some offerings given that must have irritated God, if He can be irritated. They were just people grudgingly doing their duty. And, doing it with stingily. For that matter, I have seen a lot of praise services that were no better. It is clear, God spews lukewarm out of His mouth. and I have seen a lot of lukewarm stuff being passed off as praise. It is a "cheerful" and unreserved, abundant giver God loves and responds to with abounding grace. It is not just giving any old way, but giving hilariously. Remember, you are not buying and selling the things of God with your giving. You are interacting with God. When you are giving Him what He asks, beit money or praise, and doing it cheerfully - He is preparing to flood you with grace in return. Don't look at men for the answer. God may use men, because He is interacting with other believers and we are all in this together. But, He may not. And, He may not use the people you were expecting. He can drop an answer out of the sky, if He choses. And, it is His choice, not yours.
Prosperity requirements? Be a giver. Be cheerful giver. Be a God watcher, not a man watcher.
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