The western church is programmed for thinking the “Easy
Button” has been pressed when you sign up for Jesus, when by example history
shows this to be false. The man himself was beaten and hung on a cross to die a
painful and humiliating death. That is not the model “Prosperity Preachers”
when preaching their version of the Gospel.
Don’t get me wrong MANY life prosperous lives as believers
in Jesus. But our example was Jesus and the disciples with Paul. Think about it
one committed suicide, 11 were martyred and one was imprisoned on an island
when they failed to kill him. Not a rosy outlook no matter how much you try to
tie in John 14:13 it doesn’t work the way you think:
Whatever you ask in my name, this I
will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
The PP’s in the world want you to pray for that Porsche
while tithing to be in obedience in God. If you don’t get it you MUST have been
disobedient and therefore need to give more to the PP. It doesn’t make sense
when you read this and think it opens heavens treasure chest. Why didn’t James
or Paul or any of the others keep their lives? I would assume they prayed for
them in the name of Jesus before losing it.
So when we suffer and go through trials understand that we
are building character and stories for the kingdom. From this we must look at
James 1:2-4 to understand that we will have joy in the end and therefore stop “belly
aching” over the problems at hand. Have peace and even joy!