God Wants Us to be Wealthy

Yes, God wants us to be wealthy, not just to have enough but to have more than enough in life. God wants to give us material wealth! This is the very idea I've learned from the book written by David Wong entitled, MAKING MONEY SENSE: GOD'S TRUTH.  I bought this book from a floating bookshop, MV Logos last February 2012 when it came to Cebu. However, an e-copy of the book is available at Amazon if you wish to read it yourself. The e-book costs $6. I encourage you to read the book especially if you are also desiring financial prosperity for yourself and family. You will benefit from the timeless and Bible-based perspective about money, wealth, and prosperity.  The book is not based on another Prosperity Theology, but it teaches about Stewardship Theology. God is the source of true wealth. We do not own it; we are only stewards of His wealth.

I'd like to share some of the insights and inspiring truths I found from MAKING MONEY SENSE: GOD'S TRUTH.  It is the character and nature of God to bless us with material wealth. God's promise of wealth in Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 8 says:

"If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefull follow all His commands...the Lord your God will set you high above all nations on earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God...The Lord will send blessings on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land He is giving you."

That is God's promise. However, while God wants to us to be rich, not all of us will be rich! That is a sad truth. Many of us lack financial intelligence or money sense. We have little understanding or appreciation of financial matters, or worst, we we do not understand it. Take for example the parable of the talents mentioned in the Bible in the book of Matthew 25:14-30 and in Luke 19:12-28. The master went on a journey and allocated his resources to his 3 servants, and he gave each according to their ability. On the day of accounting, all the servants, except one, were able to make a profit for the master while he was away. The other servant did not make any profit for his master. The master got angry on the 3rd servant, took everything away from him for his unfaithfulness, and gave it to the servant who was able to earn the highest profit for him. God gives more to those whom He can trust and has good financial intelligence.  

Another similar parable is found in Luke 16:1-8.  It is the story of a rich man and his manager. The rich man accused his manager of mismanaging his possessions entrusted on the latter, and wanted to fire him. He asked the manager to balance the books and return it to him. After that, the manager could safely go. For fear of losing his job since he is old already, the manager acted very shrewdly. He called all the debtors of his master and asked them to understate their debts (the manager might have charged the debtors more and what he was deducting was probably just excess profits), so he can still be able to collect payments from them (rather than nothing) for his master. In return, the master commended the manager, not for his dishonesty, but for his shrewdness.

Another reason why not all will be rich is because of our "just enough" mentality as described in the book. This mentality is a result of our long-term conditioning and training at home and church. We were taught to focus on our needs and not wants. That to ask God for more than our needs is being greedy and unchristian.  As a result, we become complacent; we settle for "just enough". We do not have or just have little drive to excel, to ask for more, and to be the best! We live in mediocrity.

Because of that "just enough" mentality, we lose many of the blessings that God would have wanted to give us.

Instead of living on "just enough" mentality, we must shift our mindset to "more than enough" mentality. The book suggests we need not fear in asking God for more. We can follow the example of Jabez in 1 Chronicle 4:10 who confidently asked God to "enlarge his tent". He asked God to increase his sphere of influence and responsibility. We can be like Jabez, too. If we are a christian and living for God, we can boldy ask God to give us material wealth. If God is pleased with us, He will give us material blessings. Wealth is a sign of God's favor on us. One example is Abraham. God promised blessings on him in Genesis 12: 1-3:

"I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and curse whoever curses you; and all peoples of the earth will be blessed through you."

There are other characters in the Bible who found favor before God like Job and Isaac. They were wealthy in material things. Just as God made them wealthy, He wants to give us His blessings, too. He wants us to enjoy it, so that we can provide for the needs of our family and for other people. He wants to bless others through us. The question is, "Do you want God to make you His channel of blessings?"

In my next article, I will write about principles for financial blessings also from the same book. If you want to learn more truths from the Bible about money, prosperity and wealth, you can check out MAKING MONEY SENSE: GOD'S TRUTH.