John 10:10 tells us that Jesus Christ came that you and I would have access to a more than abundant life. This is good news indeed! For many years, hundreds of years in fact, religious thinking has taught us that poverty equals piety. The thinking that equates poverty with pleasing God has been burned in the psyche of many individuals. It is one of the reasons that many people have a difficult time accepting the abundance that Christ offers, even though their words indicate otherwise. In their hearts, they believe that never having enough is somehow a more favorable state to God, and that this tug of war struggle of eking minuscule portions of His exorbitant overflow is what He always had in mind. I don’t think so.
One of the things we have to get straightened out is the fact that our definition of abundance doesn’t always mean the same thing as God’s definition of abundance. His is the one that counts. In Deuteronomy 28, He gives us a thorough rundown of what He means by abundance. In a nutshell, it includes prosperity in the land, so that it produces and provides sustenance continually; blessing families with many children, blessing the fruit of our labors, continual increase in healthy livestock and crops, which in modern times translates to prosperous in ALL the ways to keep good food on the table and clothes on our backs—manufacturing, industry, production, etc. It includes sending rain at the proper times, blessing all the work that we do, and handling any haters the enemy tries to send our way. It also includes God’s protection and arc of safety around our children and families.
God never changes, and neither does His definition of abundance or His commitment to bless. He was committed to do this for His people living during Old Testament times, and they were not seeded with the Holy Spirit of promise. How much more is He willing to do for those of us who are in Christ today? Our Master Jesus didn’t just make abundance available, we are his brothers and sisters, and a more than abundant life is our destiny in him!
In Deuteronomy 28:13-14(NLT), Heavenly Father gave His people the conditions upon which the promise of abundance rested. First, they were required to listen to His directives, and secondly, they were required to obey them. He said, “13 If you listen to these commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, and if you carefully obey them, the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always be on top and never at the bottom. 14 You must not turn away from any of the commands I am giving you today, nor follow after other gods and worship them.” Obedience to God’s Word is the key that unlocked the door to abundance and kept it that way.
This is not a complicated principle. In 1Samuel 15:22(NLT), Samuel, the prophet, said, “What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.”
The fat of rams was considered a prime sacrificial offering, but God branded it undesirable if the people had not demonstrated humility by being obedience to His truth. In the heart and mind of God, obedience is always going to be number one. But we flip the script and make our religious practices number one. As long we conform to traditions and habits, we think we’re in the clear. Heavenly Father desires that we seek His Will, trust His Word, and understand what He requires from us.
It is a mistake to equate poverty to pleasing God. It conveys that we don’t truly understand God’s nature. Ephesians 3:20(NKJV) sheds some light on His heart by telling us, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” Heavenly Father is always ready to bless and take us infinitely above anything we can ask or think, but He will not take us further than we’re willing to go. If our level of thinking regarding His provision is limited, we will not be able to rise beyond what we think.
It cannot be lost on us that those who see the power of God through the lens of ‘less’ will match their efforts to what they see. Those who view God’s empowerment to them as limitless will seek to multiply it like the person in the parable that Jesus taught in Matthew 25:16. He received five bags of silver and invested it to earn five more. God relies on Godly people to steward His abundance so that others who lack will be blessed. It is not to satisfy greed, but to take care of need. If you are willing to stay close to God, and to please Him by being obedient to His Word, you will open the doors to abundance in your life, and witness the overflow He has promised.■
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“Prosperous and Pleasing God” written by Reverend Fran Mack, edited by Kim Times for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2018. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.