$$$ Prosperity... how much is enough?

I think many are missing the point of the message of prosperity. It's no use to God if your goal in life is to accumulate wealth, without doing any 'good' with it. Back to my example now of income. If someone earns $50,000 a year and gives 20% to the church, and someone else earns $500,000 a year and gives 10% to the church. Is the first person more holy than the other? Do we judge a person on how much they give? NO!

But now looking purely at the amounts that each has given, there is much more that you can do with 10% of $500k than 20% of $50K. This is why prosperity is preached, not just to be rich for materialistic gain, but to be rich so that in giving, the kingdom of God is furthered.

So should we believe that where we are is where God has placed us, and we should be content with what we have... we should just give what is biblically required from God, which is 10% of our income, and whatever God needs, he will provide to us. We should not seek to better our lives as if God wants us to be rich, then he will make us rich, so we should just sit back, and wait?!

Yes of course God will exist without money. He doesn't need money, but to survive in the world we do. While we are not of the world in spirit, we still live in the world. We still need jobs. We still need to pay rent, mortgages, bills etc. The church still needs money to run the buildings, support missions, produce television ministries... hire sound recording studios to produce music, hire venues for conferences etc etc... yes it all costs money.

God is not going to send a miracle down to magically put money in the bank account to pay for all of this. We do! We are God's hands in the world. We are the way in which God works to raise money. It is through you and me and it's this spirit of prosperity that we should believe in that we all need so that our giving may increase.

Oooo... faith is another thread/forum on it's own. But let's talk about faith in the context of prosperity.

Matthew 17:20
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you."

What Jesus was saying here, if you had only a tiny bit of faith, and you believed in it with all your heart, and you KNEW that what you said was possible, then you CAN move a mountain!

Try it right now. Try and move your computer screen 10 inches to the right just by saying so! How much faith do you have to move it? Am I saying that you have no faith? NO! Because there is another important aspect to faith. That is the will and purpose of God.

You only need to speak in faith and it WILL be done through the Holy Spirity. But what are you speaking? Are you speaking from your own heart's desires, or are you speaking the will and purpose of God? Do you pray and ask for a big house... is that the will of God that you have a big house? Will it further God's kingdom in you having a big house?

Be prosperous. Have God's kingdom in the front of your mind, in all that you do, and all that you work for, and one day you will find that you're living in that big house, and having that nice car and earning those $$$... You see, God will provide for you, but you need to think outside the small square that you're living in, and know that God has big plans for your life WHEN you do walk the path that he has for you. A path that leads to prosperity and wealth, both material and spiritual.