“Christian virtue.” Unsuspecting millions were led to believe that it was “pious to be poor”, a belief which was useful in forestalling revolution among the masses. Some of those old feudal ideas about poverty as a spiritual virtue have persisted until today, but they are false, man-made ideas and not God’s rich Truth for you and me.
Thus, make no further excuses to yourself or others for wanting to be prosperous. It is a divine desire that should be given divine expression. You can boldly give thanks that prosperity is your divine heritage; that the Father’s desire for you is unlimited good, not merely the means of a meager existence.
Right Attitudes Will Pay Your Bills
Now, in order to help you establish the all-important prosperous attitude, that God is the Source of man’s supply as the Creator of this rich universe, and that God’s will for you is therefore the wealth of the universe, I suggest that you paraphrase the words of the Lord to Moses: I will remember the Lord, God, for He it is that giveth me power to experience wealth.
Perhaps you are thinking, “Yes, but is this kind of thinking practical? Can such attitudes actually help put shoes on the baby, food on the table and pay the rent?” Yes, it can! Recently, I talked with a young woman who seemed to have everything against her. When stricken with paralysis, her drinking, gambling, non-working husband deserted her, leaving several children to support and educate. Though she had a roof over her head, it was mortgaged. Though her husband was required by court order to provide a small monthly allowance for support of the children, it was insufficient to meet their needs. However, each time that I visited this woman, who for many months was bedridden and more recently confined to a wheel chair, she always joyously reported new channels of supply which had opened to her.
On one visit, she stated that she had been given enough canned food to last several months; that money had appeared as needed for clothes for her children from some relatives in a distant state; that her own medical expenses were being met by a friend who is overseas; that, indeed, every financial need was being met. Fresh paint had even arrived for the outside of the house and a neighbor was busily repainting it!
When I asked what her prosperity secret was and how she had been able to meet every bill on time, while she was in a wheel chair with no ample or steady income, she said that one prayer had been her great source of strength and supply: Whenever a financial need was near, she would quietly meditate over and over upon this promise from the 46th Psalm: Be still, and know that I am God.
One day the mortgage payment was due on the house in the amount of $40. She had not a cent of the money, so she quietly began to think on these words: Be still, and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am God at work in this situation now. Around noon she got a sense of peace about the situation and so completed her meditation period. About an hour later, as she was being served lunch by a relative, in walked a neighbor who placed some money in her hand. He said, “Our Sunday School class got to thinking about you. There was some extra money in the treasury and we decided we would like to share it with you.” The amount he handed her was $40! This woman, recognizing God as the Source of her supply, has proved that this Source will never fail her, even under extreme conditions of ill health, marital disappointment and financial uncertainty. Of course, her great desire is to become self-supporting and financially independent of gifts from relatives, neighbors and friends. Surely she will realize this desire as she perseveres in prosperous thinking. She is now beginning to walk again for the first time in several years and will soon be able to work, too. Meanwhile, she is proving that God’s rich supply can come in many unforeseen ways to meet the needs of the moment, regardless of life’s hard conditions.
The Psalmist was recognizing God as the Source of his supply when he declared, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. It is a good prosperity prayer to declare often. A housewife needed $100 to cover two bills that were due by the end of the week. Early that week, whenever fear tried to creep in as to how she would pay those bills, she declared over and over, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. On Friday morning, the day the bills were due, a check arrived in the mail for $110! It was from a company her husband had worked for several years previously. They wrote a letter saying that they had just “found” in her husband’s account that this amount was still due him; and that they were enclosing it to clear his records with them. A businessman with a large family was getting toward the end of the month financially. He was paid once a month and it was still a week until payday. The groceries were getting low. His wife reminded him of these facts on Friday before Saturday morning grocery shopping time. Together they agreed to look to God for their supply and to affirm guidance. They did so by constantly affirming, Our sufficiency is of God. Saturday morning the mail arrived with a check from the State revenue department enclosing an income tax refund in the amount of $60! This couple was expecting several hundred dollars in Federal income tax refunds but had forgotten about a possible State tax refund. The amount covered their needs nicely until payday.
A saleswoman who had had a lot of financial expense and whose sales had fallen off decided to look to God as the Source of her supply by affirming over and over from the Lord’s Prayer, Give me this day my daily bread. It was like a landslide. Her sales picked up tremendously so that the commission checks started coming in again, plus her salary. Neighbors brought her prepared dishes of food as a token of their esteem for her. She was given several lovely items of new clothing by a friend. Some of her customers brought her gifts in appreciation for her loving service to them. A number of invitations into friends’ homes for dinner were extended, which she enjoyed. Daily her needs began to be supplied, as she had prayed they would be. Her daily bread appeared in many satisfying forms.
How to Stabilize Your Finances
Of course, the wonderful thing about recognizing God as the Source of all riches, and taking Him into your financial affairs and into every department of your life, is that the more you do so, the more stabilized every phase of your life becomes. In due time, there are no stringent financial emergencies to be dramatically met with instant manna from heaven. Instead, things just get better and better financially, so that there is always substance on hand to meet your needs.
The Psalmist pointed out what happens when you consistently think of God as the Source of your supply: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law doth he meditate day and night. And He shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that bringeth forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also doth not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” (1st Psalm)
But it is good to know that, until you develop a proper understanding to bring forth the substance of the universe in an abundant, unbroken stream of supply, the financial needs of the moment can be met by looking to the Source of all riches, a rich, Heavenly Father.
The Link Between Thought and Supply
Perhaps you are thinking, “If my prosperity comes basically from God; if He is the Source of my supply, then why all the talk about ‘prosperous thinking’? What does prosperous thinking have to do with my supply?”
God’s rich supply is all around you universally, as well as innately within you, as talents and abilities and ideas longing for expression. But that rich supply and substance must be contacted and used. Your mind is your connecting link with it. Your attitudes, your mental concepts, beliefs, and outlook are your connecting link with God’s rich substance and your access to it. God can only do for you what He can do through you, by means of your thoughts and ideas which lead to your reactions. Thus, prosperous thinking opens the way to prosperous results. Begin making contact with the rich, universal substance around you and with the rich substance within you by declaring often: I stir up the gifts of God within me and around me, and I am blessed on every hand with happiness, success and true achievement.
