“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:9–10 (NKJV)
Growing up in church, I noticed everyone handled money differently. Some believers held tight to their money, while some gave it away freely. Others believed poverty was godly and resisted any talk of financial success. Where did we get such a range of beliefs?
First let’s go back to early church history. Back then, thousands of Christians faced death because they refused to recant their faith and worship the Roman emperor. Then a new leader came to power and made Christianity the state religion, ending the persecution. That sounds great—but this emperor began to institute new doctrines about poverty as a means of controlling the church and funnelling more money to the government.
People began to believe that being poor was godly. Yet nothing could be further from the truth! If you go to the poorest countries of the world, you’ll find a concentration of drugs, prostitution and people killing each other just to steal food for their kids. There’s nothing beautiful or godly about poverty.
In today’s verse, Jesus prayed for God’s will to be done on Earth “as it is in Heaven.” And what do we find in Heaven? Is it a place of bankruptcy and barely getting by? Not even close! The streets are paved in gold. Peace, joy, health and prosperity overflow in Heaven, and that’s what God wants for us here as well.
The Word makes it very clear: God’s will is for you to be blessed and for your work to prosper (Deuteronomy 28:8). And the best part about being blessed? You’re able to be a greater blessing to others!
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