Part 11
For the world prosperity is defined as
“a condition where a person or a community is doing well financially”
Collins dictionary Online
Based on the definition above, do you think this is what the Lord meant when He told the children of Israel that He will make them prosper?
According to the NLT bible dictionary prosperity is defined as the
“condition of being successful or thriving”
NLT Dictionary
Prosperity for the children of God is not totally defined by financial stability. Looking at Exodus 23: 252 “… you must serve the Lord your God. If you do, I will bless you with food and water, I will protect you from illness. There will be no miscarriages or infertility in your land, I will give you long, full lives.”
Also take a closer look at Deuteronomy 28: 1-14, but focus on vs 11. ‘The Lord will give you prosperity in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, blessing you with many children, numerous livestock, and abundant crops.’ This verse is echoing Exodus 23: 25. In Deuteronomy 28 Moses was reminding the children of Israel of Gods’ plan for them if they are obedient. Moses went into detail to explain the rewards of prosperity if the people were obedient and the destruction if they were disobedient.
Have you ever heard of the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (look at the featured pyramid photo above).
What Maslow perceived and wanted people to understand is that humans are motivated when certain needs are met, he speculated that the lower needs must be met before one can move on to meeting the higher needs.
Our physiological needs of having food to eat daily; having somewhere to lay our head for shelter (at this stage it does not necessarily have to be a house/home); must be met before the individual is motivated to focus on safety needs. For example, if the lower needs are met, the person will then seriously start thinking; is the food I am eating good and healthy, will it make me sick? or is this place where I am sheltering safe?
Based on Maslow’s hierarchy3 the majority of people in the world would fall somewhere between love and belonging and esteem, if, we think of prosperity according to the worlds’ terms. But let’s use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to break down Exodus 23: 25 and Deuteronomy 28 and define prosperity as the bible explains it.
PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS: “I will bless you with food and shelter” – your towns and your fields will be blessed; your fruit basket and your bread boards will be blessed (Deut 28: 3, 5).
SAFETY NEEDS: “I will protect you from illness” – the Lord will conquer your enemies when they attack you (Deut 28: 7).
LOVE AND BELONGING: “There will be no miscarriages or infertility in your land” – your children and your crops will be blessed, the offspring of your herds and flocks will be blessed (Deut 28: 4).
ESTEEM AND SELF ACTUALIZATION: “I will give you long, full lives” – The Lord will set you high above all the nations of the world, …. you will lend many nations, but you will never borrow from them (Deut 28: 1, 12)
This is what prosperity for God’s children look like. Our level of prosperity is greatly linked to our level of obedience to the will of God. Based on God’s words, one can be prosperous without financial stability. Meaning they may not have money to do all the things they wish for, but they are still prospering in the Name of Jesus Christ and God the Father. Because of their obedience to the word and the will of God in their life, they will never lack or be in need.
Now a person seeking self-actualization, has the desire to become the best that they can be. But in Christ the self-actualized person will be what God had created them to be. And basically, for the children of Israel, they eventually entered the promise land as God intended, meeting their esteem needs, but they did not become self-actualized because they chose to start doing things their own way, they chose to follow what the other nations were doing and not what God told them to do.
So God’s vision for a self-actualized Christian is for them to be a people set apart for Him, one that He can rest His Spirit upon and tabernacle with, like He did with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Let us not be rebellious like the children of Israel.
When they inherited the promise land, because of their rebellious nature, they decided that they wanted Kings like the other nations around them. Noting that their esteem needs were met, they started envying what others around them have achieved. Remember, the grass is not always greener on the other side, and it’s not everything that we see others with, was meant for us to have as well.
So not because someone had a degree and is going for their masters and PhD, and YOU CAN as well, means that you should too; and not because someone upgraded their car and YOU CAN as well, means that you should too. Not because someone resigned from a post of manager in one position to be manager of a higher position and you have that opportunity to do the same, means that you should too. As children of God our self-actualization and our prosperity does not lie in our finances. It lies in the path that God has created for us to follow.
Isaiah 48: 17-18 states,
This is what the Lord says – your redeemer, the holy one of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is good for you and leads you along the paths you should follow. Oh, that you had listened to my commands! Then you would have had peace flowing like a river and righteousness rolling over you like waves in the sea.”
This is the meaning of self-actualization and prosperity for God’s people, It is in the Lords will that all people should prosper. But each of us will prosper when we esteem God higher than ourselves. Through obedience to His commands, He will lead us to our highest purpose in him.
So, it’s not about your ability to become a billionaire, or whether one is stuck on the millionaire salary or less. If they are obedient to God, He will use them to do great things right where they are, and in their obedience to be still, He will prosper them with a peaceful and happy life. They will never be in need, they will never be short of money where they have to be in debt to others because God will ensure that the money they make is enough to keep them comfortable.
- Come back next week for the continuation of this post ↩︎
- Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. ↩︎
- If you wish to understand Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs better see page at link Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (simplypsychology.org) ↩︎
The Face Behind the Window 