Prosperity of the Soul

This text reflects, in my opinion, not only the feeling of the apostle John for, his friend and brother in Christ, but it reveals the will of God for all his children. Jesus taught that if we, who are bad, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will the Heavenly Father not give good things to those who ask him? (Mt.7: 11). Just as an earthly father desires the best for his children, Heavenly Father also wants the best for his family. Paul declared to the Romans that if God "spared not his own Son, but delivered him for all of us, how could he not also give us all things with him?" (Rm.8: 32). The fact that God wants our best is indisputable. The apostle was telling the Christians in Rome that if Heavenly Father gave what he had best - Jesus - there is nothing He can not give us!

I believe that God wants our prosperity, the best for each one of us. But what is prosperity? Strong's concordance defines the Greek word translated as "prosperity" (euodoo), in the following way: 1) have a fast and successful journey, lead by an easy and direct path; 2) guarantee a good result, make it prosper; 3) prosper, succeed. The word was also applied in the material sense (I Co.16: 2), but it reflects the idea of ​​doing well in all things. To prosper, therefore, is not only to have material needs supplied, but to GO GOOD in the spiritual, ministerial, family, health and work life.

God wants us to prosper, and we want it ourselves. But the prosperity that we will experience outside, in the circumstances, is directly linked to the prosperity we try from inside, inside the soul. Juan declared to gayo:

• "I want you to be prosperous ... how prosperous is your soul".

Or, in other words:

• "I want you to prosper AS MUCH as your soul is prosperous".

We can say that if Gaius's soul were not prosperous, John would be wishing that he were so unfruitful how unfruitful his soul was. But being very prosperous, then the apostle would then be saying that he would like Gaius to be very prosperous as very prosperous was his soul as well.

Understanding the prosperity of the soul is an important step to prosper in the circumstances, since what we test inside can determine the dimension of what we try out.

PROSPERITY CAN BE DONE IN CURSE

Both in Sacred Scripture and in history, we find examples of people who thrived outwardly without prospering inwardly, and the result is always the same: the blessing ends in a curse. One of these examples is King Uzziah:

"He proposed to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who was wise in the visions of God, in the days when he sought the Lord, God made him prosper." (II Chronicles 26: 5)

With the blessing of God, Uzziah reached what he himself would not have achieved:

"... his fame was spread far, because he was WONDERFULLY HELPED, until he became strong". (II Chronicles 26: 15b).

However, his heart changed when he achieved prestige and power. His conquests led him to act in the wrong way:

"But, having already fortified, his heart was exalted to his own ruin, and he committed transgressions against the Lord, his God." (II Chronicles 26:16)

Because circumstantial prosperity was not accompanied by the prosperity of the soul, what should be good, has become bad. And the story of Uzziah is repeated in the lives of many others in our day. Our Churches are full of stories of people who sought the Lord, achieved success in their professional, family, ministerial lives, but did not let themselves prosper in the soul in the same proportion as they props in these areas. The result is always the same: they have not known how to handle their new condition. Fame, prestige, promotion, conquests and money led to ruin. Many ended up far from God and without these things, exactly the way Paul warned Timothy:

"Those who want to stay rich fall into temptation, and trap, and into many foolish and pernicious lusts, which drown men in ruin and perdition, because the love of money is the root of all evils, and some, in that greed, they deviated from the faith and tormented each other with many pains. " (1 Timothy 6: 9,10)

Many already got rich at the cost of losing other inner values, including their own faith. This is not God's desire for us. That is why we must propsér in our soul. A prosperous soul is one who does not abide greed and greed. It is stripped of selfishness and pride. If a person is prospering materially but his heart is sustained by money, it is because his soul is not going well. It is this understanding that we perceive in the Agur prayer:

"Two things I ask of you, no more denying, before I die: remove falsity and lies from me, do not give me poverty or wealth, give me the bread that is necessary for me, so that when I am fed up , deny you and say: Who is the Lord? Or that, impoverished, come to steal and profane the name of God. " (Proverbs 30: 7-9)

He examines his soul and recognizes two dangers: that of poverty by stealing and breaking divine principles and also of prospering and forgetting about God. If someone's prosperity deprived him of communion with God, then she became a curse. The condition of our soul can become a limiting factor for external prosperity. Just as a father does not want to give a child something that hurts him, so the Lord does not want to add anything that would take away from his purpose.

But, if on the one hand the Agur prayer reflects the understanding that the blessing can not separate us from God, on the other hand it should not generate in us the feeling that our current inner condition should serve as a limit to external prosperity. If we perceive a heart that will turn away from God with wealth, we must seek detachment, which is one of the evidences of inner prosperity.

CHANGING THE HEART

Prosperity should not be avoided because of the risk of being transformed into a curse. If so, God would never prosper someone like Uzziah. The divine advice is that we police our heart:

"... if your riches prosper, do not put in them the heart". (Psalm 62:10)

We must keep our intimate alignment with the principles and values ​​of the Kingdom of God, so that material prosperity does not lead us to greed, greed and selfishness. We do not need a Franciscan mentality that flees from wealth as if this were the problem. We must allow our soul to be treated by the Word of God and by the action of the Holy Spirit. Just as we do not run away from this world by locking ourselves in a convent to try to sanctify ourselves by hiding from sin, we do not run away from money and prosperity in order not to sin. We must deal with our hearts, and keep ourselves aware of what our greatest treasure is.

Some people rely on the Agur prayer to avoid prosperity. But they do not understand the essence of their prayer, which is not wanting to prosper if it means getting away from God. If we perceive within ourselves an inclination to this, we must seek God's dealings and victory over
This type of inclination. I do not pray like Agur; I ask God to make me prosper in the soul, to prepare me to prosper from the outside without this becoming a problem.

OVERCOMING SELFISHNESS

Another text that has been misunderstood by many Christians is what talks about collecting treasures in heaven:

"Do not store up for yourselves other treasures on earth, where moth and rust corrode and where thieves dig and steal, but collect for you other treasures in heaven, where trace or rust corrodes, and where thieves do not dig, nor steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6: 19-21)

Someone said that Jesus taught that we can not have treasures here on earth, but it was not what he said. He said: "do not ACCUMULATE for yourself treasures on earth." This word translated from the Greek original as "accumulate" is "thesaurizo". According to Strong's Concordance, it means: "to gather and store, pile up, accumulate riches, keep in storage, store, reserve." There is something about the prosperity of the soul that we need to understand: it leads us to live above selfishness. The purpose of materially prospering is not to REPRESS the resources just for us, but to SHARE what God gives us. We must be like the bed of a river, where resources always pass; They do not stop entering but they do not stop coming out either.

Gathering treasures in heaven is something that is done not only by investing in the reward that comes through winning souls, praying and fasting, etc. All the times that the New Testament talks about gathering treasures in heaven, it involves something that the person does with his earthly resources. The Lord Jesus told the rich young man to sell his goods and give to the poor, and he said that this would mean having a treasure in heaven (Mt.19: 21). Many people believe that to have a treasure in heaven is to have no treasure on earth. But, in another biblical text, we see the principle of treasuring up in heaven while still possessing possessions on earth; Paul told Timothy:

"He exhorts the rich of the present century to ... practice good, be rich in good works, generous in giving and ready to share, accumulate for themselves treasures, a solid foundation for the future, in order to seize the true lifetime ". (I Timothy 6: 17-19)

That is, a person does not have to run out of treasures on earth to meet in heaven. She has to learn not to recover for herself, but to overflow for others. The reason why many do not attain greater prosperity in God is precisely because of the egoistic mentality of wanting to repress only for oneself. We need to understand that many times God will not respond to some prayers that are purely selfish:

"You ask and you do not receive, because you ask evil, to squander in your pleasures". (James 4: 3)

When what the person wants to receive from God is only for himself, this is seen as waste, as waste. The divine plan is that we overflow. What we achieve should never be only for ourselves, but to share with others. This is what the apostle Paul taught the Ephesians:

"He who stole did not steal more, before, work, doing with his hands what is good, so that he has what to share with what he needs". (Ephesians 4:28)

We can not earn enough for our needs, but to meet the needs of others as well (in addition to contributing to the Kingdom of God). And to overcome selfishness, creating a mentality of overflowing resources, is to prosper in the soul.

OVERCOME THE PRIDE

Besides selfishness, one of the poisons that reach our soul and prevent us from being internally prosperous is pride. Paul sent Timothy to warn about this danger:

"He exhorts the rich of the present century not to be proud, nor to place their hope in the instability of wealth, but in God, who gives us everything richly for our complacency." (1 Timothy 6:17)

A normal inclination of the human being is to find that his conquests are the fruit of his effort and skill and to forget the intervention of God. Nebuchadnezzar was judged by this (Dn.4: 29-36). But after leaving his state of madness, he praised God and spoke of how God humbles those who walk in pride:

"Now therefore I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and glorify the King of heaven, for all his works are true, and his ways are righteous, and he can humble those who walk in pride." (Daniel 4:37)

When he placed his people in the land of Canaan, the Lord also warned them not to become proud of their conquests:

"Do not say, then, in your heart: My strength and the power of my arm acquired these riches, before remembering the Lord, your God, because it is he who gives you strength to acquire wealth, to confirm his alliance, which, under oath, promised his parents, as it is seen today. " (Deuteronomy 8: 17,18)

Pride precedes the fall (Pv.16: 18). Therefore, we can only have permanent prosperity abroad if our soul prospers by overcoming pride and threshing the path of humility.

LIVING INTERIOR PROSPERITY

We go to live the inner prosperity when God is our greatest value, and we place it before anything else. One of the biblical texts that best reflects this balance is the declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ about putting the kingdom of God first:

"But seek first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." (Matthew 6:33)

If we prosper spiritually, we will prosper physically and materially. May the Lord help us achieve this!