God's Plan for Your Prosperity

The conclusion of our study in Proverbs titled "Hope for the Harried Household" ends with a collection of four-letter words. Work - Plan - Save - Rest - Give - Pray. In our time together Sunday, Pastor Tom focused on these words and what Scripture provides as guidance. In today's faithnotes, we’ll review God's plan for your prosperity and hope for your harried household.

Work. Work is God's wonderful provision for the meeting of your family's needs, and it is clear that He makes no commitment to support the lazy. Work was part of the Creator’s plan…labor was the consequence of the curse!

• "A worker's appetite works for him, for his hunger urges him on." Proverbs 16:26
• "The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty. The getting of treasures by the lying tongue is a fleeting vapor, the pursuit/seekers of death." Proverbs 21:5-6
• "A faithful man will abound in blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich will not go unpunished. To show partiality is not good, because for a piece of bread a man will transgress. A man with an evil eye hastens after wealth, and does not know that want will come upon him." Proverbs 28:20-22
• "In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." Proverbs 14:23

Remember, it's not wrong to have riches, but it is wrong to let riches have you.

Plan. Make plans for your life and ask God for His guidance in those plans. Preparation secures the future and keeps one from simply being consumed by the present.

• "Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise, which, having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer, and gathers her provision in the harvest. How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest - and your poverty will come in like a robber, and your need like an armed man." Proverbs 6:6-11
• "The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty." Proverbs 21:5

Save. Joseph serves as an excellent example. In times of good crops he saved some of each crop as provision during times of poor crops. Good times are a great delight…but they are only temporary…things will not always be as they presently are.

• "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, and the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous." Proverbs 13:22

Rest. It's okay to rest. Remember, the Lord rested on the seventh day of creation. We're called to rest in God, not our riches. Our confidence must at all times reside in the Lord and not in our stuff.

• "Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is my portion, lest I be full and deny Thee and say, 'Who is the Lord'? Or lest I be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God." Proverbs 30:8-9
• "Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death...the righteousness of the upright will deliver them, but the treacherous will be caught in their own greed...He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf." Proverbs 11:4, 6, 28

Give. How much do you give? Your bank account provides a statement of your theology. God has invited us to partnership with Him in the management of His financial resources and He permits us to set our own salary! But His purpose is that we be "channels" through which His resources flow, not "reservoirs" which hold them back.

• "There is one who scatters, yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, but it results only in want. The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered. He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it." Proverbs 11:24-26
• "He who gives to the poor will never want, but he who shuts his eyes will have many curses."  Proverbs 28:27

Join us as we begin a journey of giving. Each day for the remainder of September, give something away. It can be something you know another person needs. It can be a reminder of something special someone did for you. It can be cash to help someone in need. Surprise someone you don't know with a random gift of kindness. And through it all remember the One who gave us the greatest gift of all. Jesus was willing to give up the treasures of heaven to make you His treasure.

Pray. Remember 90% of praying is the art of listening. Don't chatter so much that you don't hear God speaking to you. Often when you hear God speak to your heart will be unsettling and challenging. But this simply brings into play the seventh four-letter word…OBEY! Prosperity is the treasured possession only of those who are proven to be trustworthy by their consistent and cheerful attitudes/actions of obedience.

• "My son, if you will receive my sayings and treasure my commandments within you, make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding." Proverbs 2:1-3
• "Now therefore, O sons, listen to Me, for blessed are they who keep My ways. Heed instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it." Proverbs 8:32-33

Praying sharpens your vision to see needs and opportunities...it also reminds you that your stewardship is the resource which belongs to another.

Consider again three wealthy men:

1. The rich young ruler who had an idol possessing his soul which kept him from inheriting the true riches which would have brought him ultimate and unending satisfaction.
2. The wealthy tax guy who discovered that when his heart was filled with Jesus, he had more money than he needed. In fact, suddenly his riches became what they always had been, just money!
3. The King’s Son who willingly exchanged His riches for poverty so that we who were living in spiritual poverty might become eternally rich. He gave up His own treasure to make us His eternal treasure!

Work. Plan. Save. Rest. Give. Pray.
Words that offer hope for the harried household.