I read an interesting post the other day called “Have you Ever Prayed for your Sports Team to Win?”. The post and the comments caused me to reflect on how detailed God is in our lives and whether or not he wants us to prosper.
The Book of Mormon is full of stories of people obeying Gods commandments, becoming prosperous, turning away from God, and then losing their faith. Also, I’ve heard many Christians say that proud people are rich and God wants a humble people. Finally, scriptures such as 1 Timothy 6:10 are quoted often alluding to the fact that money is a sin.
Personally I feel that those who think wealth is a sin are wrong. I feel that God wants us to be successful and rich as long as it is done in the proper order. That order is as follows:
- Seek the Kingdom of God
- Strengthen Yourself
- Strengthen Others
Seek the Kingdom of God
Jacob 2:18-19 reads:
18 But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.
19 And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to
do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted.
In addition,
Matthew 6:33 admonishes us to seek first the kingdom of God and he’ll then bless us with what we need.
Strengthen Yourself
Alma 34:24-25 discusses praying for prosperity over our livelihood. For me, I compare this with the scripture in Luke 22 that discusses once you are converted, to strengthen your bretheren. How are we to help other people if our own houses are not in order and if we don’t have means to take care of ourselves and our families?
Strengthen Others
Once we are established by putting God’s kingdom first and also have enough means for ourselves we are then in a situation where we can bless the lives of others more richly. It is important to note here that all along we should be paying tithing and giving some extra along the way, but what I am writing about here is the excess money we make.
In my opinion, these scriptures show that God does want us to be happy and to prosper, if that’s what we want.
However, he first wants us to seek Him and turn our hearts to him so that if and when we do prosper, we will use the money how He would have us use it. If we don’t have financial ground to support ourselves, how are we to bless the lives of others?
Recently, I had a conversation with one of my co-workers. She had been shadowing me and was asking me how I’m so successful in my job. I asked her if she really wanted to know the truth and she said she did. I asked her if she believed in God and she said she was a recent convert to Christianity. I then shared with her the scripture in
Matthew 6:33 that tells us to seek the kingdom of God first and then He’ll provide for us. I told her about how I had started to schedule a lot of my sales presentations on Sundays since that was when many of the organizations had time to meet with me. However, I felt I wasn’t putting God first and that if I truly was converted I would put God first and honor the Sabbath by not working on that day. I called all my companies that were scheduled on Sunday for the year and cancelled them. This was a risky move, but I felt very good knowing that I was putting God first and then allowing Him to bless me how he saw fit. I then prayed that I would be successful. Not only did God bless me for putting Him first, but this year I’ve more than doubled the amount of sales that were projected had I kept the Sunday appointments.
I told her that it was by putting God first that we will be truly successful.
So in conclusion, I feel that God does indeed want us to be happy, successful, and rich as long as we are good stewards by putting him first, taking care of our own, and then taking care of others.
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October 31, 2009 at 3:52 am
Zena
“How are we to help other people if our own houses are not in order and if we don’t have means to take care of ourselves and our families?” My house being in order does mean I am “rich,” even “prosperous,” and definitely not “wealthy.” Is prosperity considered a roof over my head, a floor perhaps or just simply something which shelters me, the area in which I find privacy and/or nourishment and rest? I live in pretty humble circumstances and I find my life a LOT more ordered with a minimum of responsibilities. My same point is with “the means” to take care of myself and my family. This doesnt mean relying on the arm of flesh tho we have to maintain our living “in the world.” If Jesus wanted to prove this point Himself, He would have been rich on earth. In this argument, it might appear being poor is more difficult in which to actually maintain “humility.” I dont really know if Jesus was considered “poor” (as a peer group). For example, the simple circumstances of His birth was “no worse” than going into labor while on a trip away from home. The barn or cave was not uncommon for the vast throng of people in the dictates of the government, the humiliation was (probably) more in being under foreign rule than in the choice to deliver “hippie” style, I shall say. Am I entitled? the essence of pride. “Should” I be rich or compared to someone who isnt? or doesnt want to be, or is perfectly content with not only their “lot” but may perhaps find it possible to acquire a great amount of “order” in their lives which is then cast to the winds of “others?” This is not the significance of being rich – so nobody knows it. Is it mandatory to be credited with all this “order” bestowed upon others? I think I’m being ridiculous, now. Jesus Himself is meek, lowly of heart and –lets face it, not ambitious in the world.
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October 31, 2009 at 6:54 am
ezra
Excellent testimony, Ama.
It does become a matter of faith. Your faith led you to make that decision. You prayed God would bless your action.
Your fear was that sales would sag or diminish–and along with that your family’s life would suffer. You feared God more than you feared the cancellations. Excellent.
Martin Luther commented on this, noting the First commandment calls us to have no other God before me. His explanation of that commandment:
We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
Jesus admits that people seek many other things –and they are rewarded in this life. They receive their reward in full in this life. But not in the life to come.
Therefore live your life fully focused on God’s love, trusting in him, believing the Word and the forgiveness God pronounces in the name of his only Son, Jesus Christ. God will bless you now–in this life, even in the midst of persecutions!–and also in the life to come.
Fully blessed by him, we are enabled to be a blessing for others: forgiving, sustaining, embracing…
in Jesus’ name,
Ezra
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October 31, 2009 at 7:15 am
ama49
Hi Zena,
You bring up a good point. “Rich” is relative to each individual and as the Book of Mormon scripture that I quoted indicates, God will bless us according to our desires and righteousness. Regardless of what we consider “wealth” to be, we need to realize that God is first and the giver of everything.
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October 31, 2009 at 7:16 am
ama49
Ezra,
Thanks for the compliments and encouragement. Faith isn’t always easy, but once we take the step God surely works wonders in our behalf!
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October 31, 2009 at 2:55 pm
john
Once we begin equating wealth with righteousness, we are in the same boat as the televangelists.
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November 2, 2009 at 12:24 am
ama49
Hi John,
What we’re talking about here is using the money God blesses us with to give Him the glory by acknowledging His hand giving it to us (whatever amount he sees fit to give us) and also using that money as God would have us use it by blessing others.
I’d like to have more input from you than just one sentence. Maybe you can elaborate on what you mean exactly.
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March 13, 2012 at 11:29 pm
Pedrina
03/13/2012
Dear Ama, I believe you wrote the above letter “Strengthen Others,” with I agreed with you 100%. ALSO, GOD should always come first in every second of human’s lives. In addition, we should help others in every away we can, and if GOD be bless us with a great wealth, the bless will not be only for myself and my family, but to help others too. May GOD bless you and your family.
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August 9, 2012 at 2:04 pm
Elizabeth
I do not practice Mormonism, but I am a Christian. I came across this site today and liked what I read.God is teaching me about how He blesses me and what I should use that blessing for. I’ve never been without because God has always provided. I’m in awe of how He provides! I always seek God first now and pray for His guidance, but my question to you is, can we ask for something specific (say $180,000)? Will God honor that request, or will He wait until we’re ready to receive it because He doesn’t want us to squander it?
(My heart is in the right place because I want to bless my house and family and to bless others. My husband and I are making a list of people we’d give $10,000 to once we get some money.)
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August 10, 2012 at 9:20 am
graceforgrace
Hi Elizabeth,
Welcome to GraceforGrace! I love having Christians of various denomonations stop by here because although I’m a Mormon, I’ve found that I learn a lot from other Christians and I’ve had feedback they’ve learned a lot here as well. I’m going to write another post with your question because I can not only share with you my perspective, but others will share theirs as well. I encourage you to come back and visit.
Once I’ve written the article, I will post it here in this discussion so you can read it.
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August 10, 2012 at 9:39 am
graceforgrace
Here’s the link to the article in response to your question, Elizabeth: https://graceforgrace.com/2012/08/10/god-and-riches-faith-and-prayer-for-180000/
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August 10, 2012 at 9:37 am
God and Riches: Faith and Prayer for $180,000 « Grace for Grace
[…] couple years ago, I wrote a post titled Does God Want Us to Be Rich? In that article, I concluded that as long as our hearts are first, placed on building the […]
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