John 14:13 is another popular verse with the Prosperity
Gospel preachers:
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my
name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If it were that simple!!
I think people don’t really understand why this is so hit
and miss for many of us when we pray. Often we use the cliché “it’s God’s will”
which often hurts after a death. How can death and illness be God’s will? We
often dismiss unanswered prayer to “God’s time. But when is “God’s time” and
why does it never seem to align with our own?
In my personal journey from debt to an abundant life was
long and difficult. But throughout it I see God’s fingerprints all over the
trip. We would be traveling along the way and hit roadblocks that seemed
insurmountable or derail our progress, when they only “nudged” us back to God’s
desired path for us. See if I had won the lottery or sold our property in 2007,
we would have sunk a ton of money in a business that was going to close anyway
and not have anything left. I can go on from jobs that were below my pay grade
yet were enough to chip away at the credit card debt and allow us to survive.
Through this we learned the hard lesson of the evils of
debt!
As the property kept getting delayed, what seemed to be a “curse”
ended up being a blessing. We always seemed to find the perfect spot only to
have it fall through because our deal in Georgia was delayed. The one thing we
discovered is that delay helped us find EXACTLY what we wanted!! God is awesome
when you step back and see the big picture.
Now what has prompted this revisit of exploring the Prosperity
Gospel is we recently watched “The Secret” again. While I dig the concept they
tend to focus too much on the stuff and not enough on the other side of the
abundant life. Also, they miss the idea we are made in the “image” of God and
therefore have those same qualities to a lesser extent. The movie focuses on
our interaction with the “universe” and “energy” while suggesting that all God
is.
If you watch it be aware of the “mystery religion” or
cultish parts of this. They try to remove God from the equation and since we
have that same “spirit” often they dismiss a higher power. This removes God
from the equation which is wrong!
At the other end of the spectrum, the “Prosperity Gospel”
preachers tie into this same abundant energy we call can tap into and forget to
close the loop with God. They make God seem more like the genie in The Secret
and forget “the rest of the story”.
In our prayer life we need to focus on abundant life,
praying for everything and not just the goodies and connect with God! Also, understand
it IS that simple, pray for things in Jesus’ name and they will be given to
you. You need to receive and understand it may not look like how you prayed.
Your desire to be rich and debt free may not include the lottery, but rather a
more difficult road. You just need to believe and wait, never give up and
remain focused on the positive.