On September 03, 2007 while having my daily morning commune with the Lord; the
Holy Spirit spoke these words to and through me. He said: “Every time you
give unto the Lord, you give unto His Kingdom!” He again repeated these
words: “Every time you give unto the Lord, you give unto His Kingdom.”
He said: “Think Heavenly and you will see My Glory! Remain
Kingdom-focused!”
Practically every week we receive e-mails and telephone calls from pastors and
other ministers of the gospel from all over the world requesting some form of
financial assistance. Needless to say, there is no cost that we can equate to
that of a soul. However, the reality is that there are tremendous financial cost
associated with building and sustaining every ministry. We, like many others,
have stepped out on faith to do the will of the Father.
A couple of months ago, I felt the Holy Spirit nudging in my heart to teach and
speak to our community of faith concerning “Health and Wealth.” He told me to
place a page on the website! Considering much of the controversy that exists in
the Body of Christ today with respect to “The Prosperity Gospel” and its
negative connotations; I struggled. I have spent the last couple of months
meditating on this issue; and now feel led of the Spirit to express some the
revelation that He has given to me; and how our ministry will seek to remain
“Kingdom-focused” as it relates to health and wealth.
“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest
prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that
is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.
I have no greater joy than to hear my children walk in truth.” (I John 3:2-4
KJV)
As I searched the scriptures further, I was really astonished to observe that
the Holy Spirit led Apostle John in this scripture to addresses both health and
wealth. I don’t equate the instructions of God or His revelation in a similar
context to what the world calls coincidence. Therefore, it is the desire of the
Lord that we should prosper and be in good health. The Greek word for prosper
here is euodoo from a compound eus meaning good or
well. Thus, to help on the road i.e. to pass, succeed in reaching; or
figuratively succeed in business affairs or some other desired goal in life. Let
us now examine the terms health and wealth in their biblical context.
HEALTH
The Old Testament Hebrew words speak specifically to sickness; as opposed to
health. The terms used include: (mahlah;) for ailments (tahluim),
and for weakness or illness (hli). The root word from which most
of these are derived is halah “to be weak or sick.” Notably the
vocabulary of health is very limited! Rapa means “to heal” or “to
make healthy.” It cognates and synonyms stand in contrast to sickness. In
contrast to weakness, there is strength; in contrast to debilitating illness,
there is health and wholeness. Therefore, it is impossible to teach on health;
and the importance of health without; dealing with sickness. There are mutually
exclusive! The Bible views health as wellness, a condition in which a person
fully exercises all of his or her capacities of wholeness in mind, body, soul
and spirit. Sickness is weakness, a diminishing or limiting of these capacities
in an individual’s life. Theologically sickness is related to sin; whereas God
is the source of all health and wellness. Sin is an enemy of the body and the
spirit! Hence, personal sin may bring sickness as a result of the choice made by
human beings in every aspect of our lifestyles; including poor health and
nutrition habits. Furthermore, our environment is trapped in a wreckage of
pollutants and antioxidants; many of which are as a result of not exercising
prudent dominion over the earth that God extended to us. Again, there is a
spiritual relationship between health and wealth. Jesus in His teachings on
wealth; primarily focused on spiritual attitude; rather than on material gain.
In other words; if God blesses us what will be our attitude to His blessing. The
key is not the blessing in itself! However, should He decide to bless us with
material blessings; will we continue to Kingdom-minded and Kingdom-focused. God
blesses us that we may establish His covenant; that He swore to Abram. (Genesis
13:2).
WEALTH
Hebrew has an extensive vocabulary of words linked with wealth. Many are
synonymous, with basic meanings overlapping. Some of the major terms used are:
huzzah (“possession” or “property,”) used in relation to land
promised by God. Oser (“riches,” “treasure), gadol
(“rich,” indicating one whose possessions have increased in size and
importance), hon (a poetic term for wealth, indicating a great
enough supply of goods to make life easy), hayil (“wealth” in the
30 of the approximate 240 OT occurrences but meaning “strength,” “might”), hosen (“treasure,” “wealth,” “material prosperity”); kabod
(the riches that make a person weighty or significant in society. This list is
not exhaustive; but serves to illustrate the diversity of the word WEALTH; which
our present day vocabulary associates almost entirely with MATERIAL RICHES.
“But thou shall remember the Lord thy God: for it is he
that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which
he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other
gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye
shall surely perish.
As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish;
because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:
18-20 KJV)
Our New Testament perspective is critical to our understanding of this doctrine.
Several Greek words communicate the idea of riches or wealth. Bios
simply means “life,” or one’s property as a means of sustaining life. More
significant are thesauros and ploutos. Thesauros
means “treasure.” It speaks of that which is stored up and saved by human beings
as especially precious. Hence, the New Testament makes it clear that God’s value
system is different from that of human beings; thus, often what human beings
treasure has little value to Him. Ploutos is “wealth” or “riches.”
It refers primarily to the world’s goods; though “rich” is frequently used in a
figurative and spiritual sense (II Corinthians 8:9; Ephesians 2:4; James 2:5).
Other key words that call for our attention are mamonas;
translated “Mammon” in many English versions. It means “wealth” or “property” as
does chrema. These New Testament terms provide a means of refining
and defining how we as Christians are to govern our lives with respect to
wealth.
It is important to note that wealth and riches are blessings from God; ONLY if
they are gained in harmony with God’s values. Jesus taught about wealth
frequently in the synoptic gospels: (Matt 6:5-34; Matt 13:18-23; Matt 19:16-30;
Luke 12:13-21; Luke 16:1-15; Luke 16:19-31); too mention a few. The desire for
riches is a trap, for the LOVE of money is the root from which grows every kind
of evil (I Timothy 6:3-10). The wealthy can “lay up treasure for themselves as a
firm foundation for the coming age;” by refusing to put their hope in their
riches and being “generous and willing to share;” (I Timothy 6:17-19). Believers
are also not to show favoritism to the rich (James 2:1-13). Furthermore, wealthy
oppressors are warned. The riches for which they have defrauded the innocent not
only rot and corrode but also cry out to God against them. Most importantly,
love calls us to use material possessions for brothers and sisters who are in
need. We can thank God if He chooses to give us riches, and then we can use our
money in His services.
Those of us who view spirituality as something related only to a person’s inner
life are in tragic error. It is our bodily life on earth that sin found
expression; it is in our bodily life on earth with all its relationships that
Christ’s gift of newness is also to find expression. The revelation that the
Holy Spirit gave to me on September 03, 2007 to which I refer above is the key
to understanding how I believe we ought to deal with heath and wealth. We are to
treat our bodies as His temple; i.e. we are to exalt Jesus in our physical
bodies (I Corinthians 6:19-20); that He might be revealed in and through us (II
Corinthians 4:11). This has personally given me a revelation to seek to use more
wisdom in my daily health and nutrition habits; and to seek to create a greater
awareness of same for the Body of Christ. Secondly, to provide what I believe
from my due diligence are honest and legitimate means opportunities to create to
support Kingdom building. As a servant of the Lord; it is my command from Him to
speak prophetically to health and wealth. In the coming years this mega-industry
will create more Christian opportunities for legitimate wealth creation than any
other industry. This wealth creation is to provide much-needed financial
resources for the poor! We must “be obedient to remember the Lord;” “keep
our covenant with Him;” by blessing others when He blesses us.
“Think heavenly so we will see His glory;” and “remain
Kingdom-focused in our ministry.”
