Prosperity, Health And Power Of Faith

[farafina]

Hello everyone!I visited two churches this Sunday.In the first church the sermon was about the power of faith. With faith, your desire becomes attainable and you will obtain it. It is all about having a goal. Examples were given also about the fact that in GOd, we become healthy and prosperous by faith. Using 1 Samuel 1, the story of Anna who prayed and God gave her a son. "I was born a winner! He has placed His Nature in me", was repeated with the 2000-people crowd cheering in joy.Then I went to another church in the evening. There, the sermon was about "God does say no", and refuting the Prosperity Gospel and the word-faith idea. He used lenghty Biblical passages and demonstrated that God does not always say yes to our prayers and that we are not co-creators with God, but God alone is sovereign. (James 4:3, Luke 9:28, Mark 10:35-40, Luke 9:51-56, Matt 5:24, Prov 28:13, Micah 6:8, Isaiah 59:1...etc)My question therefore is about how biblical is the prosperity-health-word-faith discourse? And do you think it is right for some to it " a different gospel"?Food for thought and discussion.

FaraLady

 

[HammerStone]

Well, I suppose you could say I "agree" more with the second sermon, but I partially agree with the first as well. The main issue with this first is that it turns Christianity into an everything is easy, I must be doing it all wrong if life is not as smooth as lake waters on a windless day. The obvious refutation of this concept comes in Job:

Job 1:1There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

That's pretty high praise from the Word of God for Job. Yet look at what he went through. Look at the fate of the early disciples and apostles of Christianity for another example. It is wrong to equate always be blessed physically from worshiping God.However, I caution throwing out the baby with the bath water. God does bless, but it is always done in His great will.

Deuteronomy 15:6For the LORD thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee.

So God does bless, and sometimes its very physical. The grand book of Psalms has a lot about this, Psalm 24 comes to mind right off.In closing, remember Christ:

Matthew 4:19And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Matthew 6:10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

(Afterall, why did Christ instruct us to pray for God's will to be done?)

Matthew 26:42He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.

A favorite pastor of mine uses a simple and silly example. If you have a child that loves snakes, and just wants a pet snake soooo bad that he wants a large boa constrictor -- do you give that child the snake that can kill him? Absolutely not. As a father or mother, you know despite him wanting something, that something might harm him. He should not have it. It is the same with your heavenly father. We aren't always meant to have something, because it is not His will.

 

[Polar]

I have had 'difficulties' the last couple of years with outright pervasive prosperity preaching. Even those the give us both sides of the coin (no pun intended).The first problem is that most see 'prosperity' in the worldly wealth sense (and yes God does bless that way).The point I think that is missed is that if you delight in the Lord and seek him wholeheartedly, the "desires of your heart" will likely mirror what God wanted for you specifically all along.So the message shouldn't be that God is a cash cow for those who love Him, but rather the greatest prosperity and blessing you know will be in an intimate relationship with him.

 

[Christina]

I dont believe God will ever pay us for just thinking/praying that he will .... God will see to it our needs are met if we are good Christians if he blesses us with more than we need .... As he did Job ... We had better be doers ...not standing in church praying for more wealth to fall upon our heads but out doing his work earning it ... God says do not test him... If one is stupid enough to jump off a cliff saying God will save him...He will most likly die ... Do not test God ... If one wants to sin all week and go waste their time in church on Sunday praying for wealth instead of learning Gods Word ..doing his work ..IMHO they are testing God setting themselves up for failure....And when it fails to happen will they blame themselves? ...No, most likely they will blame God for not giving what they decided they deserved ... I dont have much use for these kind of churches..

 

[farafina]

I dont believe God will ever pay us for just thinking/praying that he will .... God will see to it our needs are met if we are good Christians if he blesses us with more than we need .... As he did Job ... We had better be doers ...not standing in church praying for more wealth to fall upon our heads but out doing his work earning it ... God says do not test him... If one is stupid enough to jump off a cliff saying God will save him...He will most likly die ... Do not test God ... If one wants to sin all week and go waste their time in church on Sunday praying for wealth instead of learning Gods Word ..doing his work ..IMHO they are testing God setting themselves up for failure....And when it fails to happen will they blame themselves? ...No, most likely they will blame God for not giving what they decided they deserved ... I dont have much use for these kind of churches..

I agree with all your postings. They all mirror what I was feeling throughout the whole sermon in the first church: I don't understand wealth in the material sense but in the sense that those who have Christ are rich in Christ because we are heirs of the Kingdom of God. Christina, it is funny that you mention TESTING God because that is exactly the expression that the preacher used. As a matetr of fact he mentioned that he tested God personally several times. The specific example he gave was that he decided to test God and donate $1000 for the church and sure enough, he walked into a store one day and all the items were on sale 80% off. I was HORRIFIED. It is reassuring for me to see your opinions on the matter. I felt personally that the message was diluted and made to sound more motivational and self-help (if you understand what I mean).

 

[golfjack]

Is it God's will for us to prosper? Of course. Is it God's will for us to be disease free? Of course. God's will is found in His Word. If one puts the word if in front of God's will, then they are disagreeing or just don't know God's will for us. It is always a matter of faith to obtain the promises of God. Faith is believing before receiving. A good verse to throughly study is Mark 11:23-24 to find out on how to live healthy and prosperous lives in Christ. Also, use the Bible to determine who we are in Christ. Peace, Evangelist

 

[Mighty Bear]

Prosperity is not wrong but sometimes we forget the simple pleasures in life. Pain and suffering sharpens our senses, makes us more aware of things so we appreciate more the little things in life. Pain and suffering makes us gentle, makes us graceful.