“In everything that he undertook in the service of God’s temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.”
2 Chronicles 31:21, NIV
Prosperity is not a bit of magic that lands from Heaven on God’s special ones! And prosperity is not always measured by wealth and worldly success. There are principles that need to be applied and also a realisation that to be prosperous in God means walking a path of humility and being content with whatever version of prosperity God blesses us with. To be at peace and know that all is well with your soul is a form of prosperity whose value is beyond gold and diamonds. And one of the dangers of material prosperity is the temptation to pride – which became a trip wire in Hezekiah’s life which caused distress and sickness in his later life.
There are three principles in our Scripture for today which are foundational for a prosperous life: Firstly, obedience to the laws of God; secondly, seeking God’s input on everything we find to do; and, thirdly, working wholeheartedly – and that can sometimes mean working really hard as well. These three basic principles are a powerful recipe for living a godly and successful life.
Jesus made it clear that love and obedience go hand in hand – saying that if we really loved God, then we would want to follow and obey Him. The Bible is full of stories of how God blessed people’s lives, when they chose to do what he had shown them. Sadly, there are also the stories of how things went badly wrong when they ignored what God had said! When it comes to guidance it’s easy to start doing what we want, and then asking God retrospectively to help us – much better to seek His plan for our lives first and His guidance on the daily steps of life, than to do our own thing and then cry out to God for help when we get into deeper water than we intended!
Working wholeheartedly is an important principle for entering in to God’s prosperity. We can’t expect to receive when we don’t give our all into anything – and when it comes to serving the Lord, does He have the whole of our heart? And that’s an important question for us to consider.
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that You gave everything You are to save and rescue mankind. I’m sorry, Lord, for times when I have expected You to bless me when I have been less than wholehearted in serving You. Help me now, Lord, to put everything I am into loving and serving You for the rest of my days. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
