HOLINESS AND PROSPERITY
BY JIM KASEMAN
We are hearing a lot about holiness and prosperity in the body of Christ I want us to take a look at God’s attitude toward these two Bible subjects. Scripture clearly teaches us that God wants us to be holy and He wants us to walk in prosperity. In 1 Peter 1:16 we read, “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” Holiness is not a choice, but a command from God. Jesus is coming back for a bride that is without spot or wrinkle, a holy bride. Again in Ephesians 1:4 He states that we are to be holy and without blame. Holiness simply means “separated.” We ought to be separated from the world and consecrated to God.
Our spiritual fathers witnessed a holiness move; however, like many, they hit the ditch. Holiness became a religious set of rules, dos and don’ts. As Brother Hagin has said, you can start out in the spirit, but if you are not cautious, you can easily slip over into the flesh. This is exactly what happened in the holiness movement. However, we cannot allow their error to stop us from walking in the light of true holiness. God is a holy God and He wants His people to be holy. He wants us to be separated unto Him.
In recent time, tremendous emphasis has also been placed on prosperity by the Spirit of God. For years believers have stood on Proverbs 13:22 which states that the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. We are beginning to see wealth transferred into the body of Christ. 3 John 1:2 assures us that prosperity is God’s will. “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” Prosperity is God’s plan. Of course, spiritual prosperity must come first and is a prerequisite for physical or financial prosperity. However, the scripture clearly states, God wants us to prosper “in all things.”
We read in Joshua 1:8 that God will make our way prosperous and we will have good success. Prosperity and success come as a result of meditating in the Word. A simple definition of prosperity is to be successful, to thrive, to grow. It is God’s plan for His children to walk in prosperity and enjoy success.
$ God Has All The Gold
Now that we have seen that God wants us to be holy and it is His will for us to prosper, how do we bring holiness and prosperity together? Actually, you cannot separate holiness from prosperity. Both are spiritual truths. Religion says that you cannot be holy and prosperous but that kind of thinking is ridiculous. No one has more gold than God, and yet He is holy. He is separated from the world and very spiritual. According to Haggai 2:8 all the gold and silver belong to Him. Gold cannot make you holy or unholy. If gold is so evil, why isn’t there any mention of gold in hell? There is no gold in hell, however, the streets of heaven are paved with it. God wants us to be holy and prosperous just as He is! God’s people should be experiencing
holiness and prosperity.
$ Poverty Thinking
If it is God’s plan for us to walk in prosperity, why aren’t more Christians experiencing abundance and success? The first roadblock to prosperity is that of a poverty mentality. A definition for poverty
mentality is a mental state of lack. People with a poverty mentality always think lack and constantly speak lack. There is never enough, it doesn’t matter how much money they have they never have enough. Their
thinking is wrong. Regardless if the times are good or bad, they never get beyond that state of lack. These people have something more powerful than the Word of God supporting their beliefs, the traditions of men.
According to Mark 7:9 & 13, our traditions can become more powerful than the Word of God. It is tradition that has told believers that they cannot be prosperous and holy. Tradition will cancel out God’s Word concerning prosperity in your life. The Word of God declares that prosperity is the will of God, it is Satan that is poverty minded. When he brought sin and death into the world he brought in poverty. He tries to put that spirit of poverty on believers. He is the god of this world and this world runs off shortages and lack.
$ Greed
The next roadblock to prosperity is that of greed. Greed can be defined as an uncontrollable desire to possess everything. According to Luke 12: 15-21 the rich fool was a person of greed. He filled his barns
with plenty, heaping up things for himself. He was not rich toward God, he was rich toward himself. Greedy people never get enough. God called him a fool. Some would then say material things are not for Christians. That is simply not true. Jesus continues ministering to the disciples in verses 2234 and reveals the heart of God. Jesus tells us that He will give to us the very things the rich fool was gathering, if we will
seek first His kingdom. The question is, are things your treasure or is God your treasure? God doesn’t want us trusting in the “things” but in Him. He wants us to be rich toward Him and then He will fill our barns
with plenty.
When you live a life of holiness, you can be trusted with things. Why do we need things? We need things to help others, to finance the Gospel, to give to the poor, not to heap up for ourselves. If God can get the things to us, then he can get them out to the people that need them. He wants to use us. Get rid of the poverty mentality, watch out for greed and make sure God is your treasure.
$ Love of Money
Another roadblock is dealt with in Mark 10:17-31. Here we have the story of the rich, young ruler. His problem was the love of money. He had obeyed the Bible, and as a result had acquired great wealth, but he loved his money. His sin is found in 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows.” We can define the love of money as being unwilling to release what you have. We see in Mark 10:22 that the rich young ruler would not let go of his possessions. Jesus told him to sell what he had and give to the poor, but scripture tells us he was sad at Jesus’ saying and went away grieved. He missed a deal of a lifetime.
Jesus goes on to say in verse 23 of Mark 10, “…How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” The disciples were astonished at Jesus’ reply. Then we read in verses 2331 what Jesus
will do for the one who leaves everything to follow him. Peter quickly replies, “Lord, we have left all.” According to Mark 10:29 & 30 we see that the hundred-fold comes to us in this lifetime if we are willing to
leave all and follow Jesus. However, not only will you receive the hundred-fold return, but it will come with persecution. You have to use your faith for the hundred-fold return, but no faith is required for the persecution. It is sad to say, but most of the persecution will come from Christians. Usually, they are lazy Christians who have not taken the time to develop their faith in the realm of prosperity.
Why is the love of money such a great sin? If you are unwilling to release what you have, then God can’t use you to bless others. God wanted to use the rich, young ruler to meet the needs of others. We are the body of Christ and if He is going to bless someone, He is going to have to use His body to do it! God wants us to have “things” because He has need of these “things” for the sake of the Gospel.
It is God’s will for you to prosper! Establish yourself in the Word of God concerning prosperity. We read in Philippians 4:19 that God desires to meet our needs according to His riches in glory. God supplies your needs in accordance with His ability. You have a rich father, so therefore, your needs will be met with abundance. In Ephesians 3:20 He uses the words “exceeding abundantly.” God has more than enough and He wants you to have more than enough.
Of course, we are assuming that you are walking in love. We learn from Galatians 5:6 that we will never receive any thing by faith if we are not walking in love. Faith works by love. If your faith is not working in the realm of prosperity, check your love walk. Also, be sure that you are operating at your level of faith. If you can’t believe God for gasoline for your Volkswagen, then don’t go around confessing for a Cadillac.
$ Blood Covenant
We need to have an understanding of how God works in the area of prosperity. Anytime you see God working with a man in the Old or New Testament it is on the basis of covenant, blood covenant. A blood
covenant cannot be broken, it is the strongest covenant there is. If God ever broke the covenant, broke His promise, His word, He would self destruct.
In the act of making covenant, there is a point where both sides state their liabilities and assets. They are saying, “everything you have is mine and everything I have is yours.” We are in blood covenant with God. The blood that Jesus shed enabled God to enter into covenant with man and man to enter into covenant with Him. Everything that Jesus has, everything that God has is ours, everything we have is His. This
is the mentality we need to develop, it is a scriptural mentality. Many Christians do not understand that the Christian walk is based on blood covenant. Now we can understand Romans 3:17. We are joint heirs with
Jesus. This is how God saw the rich, young ruler, everything he had belonged to God. Every dime we have belongs to Him. In Malachi 3:10 we see that the tithe belongs to God. When we pay our tithes and give
offerings, we are operating in covenant. As a result of operating in covenant, the windows of heaven will be opened.
The covenant is the great exchange. We exchange our poverty for His prosperity. We exchange our weakness for God’s strength. In the natural, it was common for those who were weaker to make covenant with the stronger. We are in covenant with the wealthiest and holiest Being in the universe. Let’s get rid of that poverty mentality, greed, and the love of money. It is ridiculous to hang onto those things in light
of the covenant. Let it all go and receive what our covenant has provided.
In 1991, while spending time in prayer, God instructed me to take the limits off, to let Him do what He wanted to do with this ministry. I had thought we had done great things, but God wanted me to stretch. I
began to magnify God, I searched the scriptures and began to build my faith. I got focused on where God wanted us to go with this ministry. I overdosed on the Word of God. As a result, it has been easy for our
faith to grow. We started out three years ago believing God for a boat for the Amazon. In the beginning I was believing for a $30,000 barge. But after meditation in the Word, God stretched our faith and it jumped
to a $250,000 boat and then it ended up being a $500,000 project. Believing for the $500,000 was just as easy as believing for the $30,000. In fact it has been one of the easiest things we have ever believed for.
We took the limits off God. Our faith has grown through the years and the ministry is blessed! The things we have are not because people have given them to us, but because we have given. The blessings we are
experiencing in this ministry today, are a result of our giving. We have given and God has given back to us. Of course, He uses people, but our faith is in the Word of God. Make God your source. Believe God for
the impossible!
$ Meditate and Renew
How do we change? How do we develop a prosperity mentality? How do we stretch our faith? It all begins with the renewing of the mind. We need to get our thinking in line with the Word of God. Romans 12:2
tells us not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We renew our minds through meditation upon God’s Word. The only limitation we have is in our thinking and the only way to get rid of these limitations is through meditation. Get the Word before you and keep it there. As you meditate upon the Word, your faith will begin to increase and you will be able to take the limits off.
Find out what your limits are and begin to stretch your faith.
Be holy even as God is holy, get rid of the poverty mentality, watch out for greed, be willing to release what you have, take the limits off and begin to walk in prosperity so that the Gospel of Jesus Christ can be taken to the world and the needs of the people met!
THE ABOVE MATERIAL WAS PUBLISHED BY JIM KASEMAN MINISTRIES, SEPTEMBER, 1997, PAGES 1-3. THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED FOR STUDY & RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.
