Joseph Prince - Understanding Prosperity With A Purpose
This is an excerpt from: Prosperity With A Purpose
My fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, if you are suffering, all right, in any way during this famine of lack or shortage in any area, or you're in debt, and you can't imagine how you can pay off your debt. First and foremost, you gotta release that faith in your heart to see a God who wants to prosper you. And because of all the teachings that we hear, you know, that it's so rife now on YouTube and social media and, you know, wherever you find people, talking about this, it's always, like, in the negative way, about tithing and about, you know, you hear phrases like health and wealth gospel, you know. And I agree, all right.
Let me say this, I agree that there are extreme teachings on this where it's all about greed, it's all about covetousness, it's all about the love of money. I'm not referring to that. I'm not talking about prosperity for self-aggrandizement, I'm not talking about for self and only for you and yourself and your family. No, it is prosperity with a purpose. We're talking about Abraham now as an example of how God blessed him, and you see that when God called him, God says, "I'll bless you, and you shall be a blessing". What does that mean? That means, "I'll bless you so that you can be a channel, you can be a blessing".
And, of course, we know that the greater, plan of God is the gospel of Jesus Christ because "In your seed shall all the nations be blessed". That's the gospel right there, that's what Paul says in Galatians and Romans, in that very verse, "In your seed shall all the nations be blessed". So, God blesses us, even financially, all right, or with great possessions in His Word so that we can channel these things, amen, for the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Can I have a good Amen? So, we see that God prophesied this 400 years before they came out that, from Egypt, that they would come out with great possessions. And the Bible says, "On that night," in Exodus 12 when they came out, "They asked the Egyptians for articles of silver, articles of gold".
Notice these are precious items, amen, metals that they asked for. Articles of clothing, for what purpose? There's a purpose for this prosperity, Yes, when they came out that night, they were laden down with gold, silver, precious materials. For what purpose? To build God's house, amen. So, right from the start, 400 over years when God prophesied, already God had that in mind, that He would prosper His people for a purpose, and the purpose has always got to do with His house. Today His house is the church of Jesus Christ. That's where our tithes go, that's where our sowing is sown into, the gospel of Jesus Christ, amen. And sometimes we feel like, you know, this ground is dry ground, we are looking for the latest creation, the latest innovative ideas to make money, but, friend, these fads come and go, amen. And you may make money for a while, but you're gonna lose a lot in the process. But God's ways is this.
When God blesses you and God prospers you, "The blessing of the LORD maketh rich, and he adds no sorrow with it". And the word eseb there, sorrow, all right, is the word painful toil. He adds no painful toil in that labour. Whereas some of these other things, you may or may not prosper in only one area, financially. Yes, you may have a bigger house now, all right, you may have one more car, all right, but what you gave up to get all that just in one area, money, God's prosperity is more than just money. So, we see that God prospered his people in the end times. The end times for them will be the last days in Egypt, all right. For us, it's our last days in the world. Something’s gonna happen in the end times. Notice when the transfer took place. Like I said just now, it did not happen in the beginning of the plague, nor in the middle of the plague, but the last of the plagues, of the ten plagues. It was the last, and we believe that we are the generation that's gonna see Jesus Christ return.
All right, we are seeing all the signs right now happening, a global pandemic, a global recession. I mean, this, plagues and, famines have happened down through history, but on a global scale, back to back? No. And another thing, the Bible says, "Wars and rumors of wars". Now we are seeing major, major power like Russia come into play, wars and rumors of wars, and the rumors of wars, the threat of wars, right, like, like, China and North Korea, we are living, we are that generation, people. And before the worst happens, the Bible says Jesus will return. "So lift up your heads, your redemptions draws near". So, as we see that this is gonna happen in the end times, and we know that in the book of Ecclesiastes it says, "That which was is that which will be".
So, the principle of God is like this. Whatever you see in the Old Testament, it gives you wisdom to see what God is doing in the end times, amen, the days that we are living. Like the Bible says, in another place, in Corinthians, it says that "All these things happened to them as examples," for us in these last days, in these end times, "upon whom the ends of the times are come". So, we are the people who are living in these days, but we draw wisdom from the Word of God in the Old Testament, amen. And these things are written in such a way that it so, contemporary, it is so now, amen, for us. And that's when we spend time in the Word. You know, some people look at the Bible as an ancient book, you know, with ancient history. No, no, when the Holy Spirit, all right, speaks to you from the Word, even the Old Testament, it gives you the now word as to what you should do. Like the children of Issachar, they had understanding of the times and the seasons, of the times and seasons so that Israel would know what to do, amen.
So, I believe that God is raising up sons of Issachar to interpret the times and the seasons we are in and to release your faith to believe that this transfer of wealth will find its way to you. But, you see, I believe that when God finds people that He can trust with this wealth, amen. Now, if you are afraid of the word wealth, I can use, just use the word provisions that He has for His people, amen, if that makes you feel better, but the Bible says wealth. So, whatever the Bible means when it says the wealth of the sinner, I don't think that's spiritual wealth of the sinner, all right. The wealth, that is what I'm saying. "The wealth of the sinner is stored up," or laid up, "for the righteous," Amen. God says that it's gonna come into your hands, oh righteous one. It's gonna come into your hands. And that's why you need to hear teachings on this, so that you will believe God and be open to receive it, amen. Because if you don't hear it, faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God.
And you find it in the Bible throughout in the Scriptures. Before God does something, He sends a prophet, He sends a spokesman, and the person will proclaim God's Word so that it releases the faith of the people, and then they see the Word come to pass, amen. And, of course, you know, if we refuse to hear the Word, we just say that, well, I just believe it's gonna happen to me, you won't have the faith by which you are able to receive, because "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God". So, it does matter, child of God, whether you believe that, God wants to prosper you, or, you know, you believe that, no, I don't think that this part of God's plan, if you don't believe God wants to prosper you, you are not able to receive that part of His blessing, just as in everything in the Christian life.
How do you receive salvation? You heard the word about salvation. Someone shared with you or you heard through one way or another the message, the gospel, the Word of God, the gospel in, and you heard the gospel, the word of the gospel, and you received Jesus Christ because you heard. Faith comes by hearing. The same thing, healing comes... how does healing come? You need to share the Word. Now many-a-times we think that we just lay hands on people and they receive. Well, we find that when they don't receive, all the more it tells us we need to sit down with them and show them from the Word how Jesus bore their sicknesses and diseases for them to see, and you pray that they will have a personal revelation of those Scriptures, amen. Then faith comes, and then they are able to receive.
Same thing for this end time transfer of wealth. We gotta believe God that God wants us to have it, amen. And you know God will do it in such a way that He'll be just in doing it. All right, God's not gonna do it in an unjust way, ok. You cannot go and rob the wealth of the sinner, amen. Or you cannot cheat your way into the wealth of the sinner. You cannot manipulate your way. No, no, it will be done in fact, the way the children of Israel did it, the Bible says God gave them favor. So, we see one big key there is favor.