GOD WANTS YOU TO PROSPER

Photo by **Gerd Altmann** from **Pexels**

KEY TEXT: Psalm 35:27 (KJV) – “Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.”

God is happy when you prosper, but there is one condition. The condition He gives is that you must be His servant for Him to delight in your prosperity. As a servant submits wholly to the master, you must submit wholly to God.

How do you submit yourself to God?

Joshua 1:7 (KJV) – “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest.”

For one to obey God’s commandments, one needs strength and courage. They need strength and courage because the winds of opposition are great. If you make a solemn decision to obey God, you may displease the closest people, such as your family and friends. Be steadfast in obeying God; He will fulfil His promise of making you prosper wherever you go. When God says, “wherever you go,” He means that.

Joshua 1:8 (NKJV) – “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

Note the ending of the above verse; it says, ‘good success,’ meaning there is a bad type of ‘success’ you can have. Good success means total blessings. It means the combination of good health, good people around you, peace of mind, wealth, and possession of all the attributes of the fruit of the Spirit.

Some people have been blessed with wealth but lack health. Others have been blessed with health but lack wealth. If you surrender your life to God and obey Him, you will receive full blessings. Everyone can succeed in everything they do; the only requirement for that is to give total surrender to God.

As a child of God, whether you go to the desert or the wilderness or in a land full of famine or war, you shall always prosper. Your location does not limit God because He created the entire universe (Genesis 1:1). Deuteronomy 28:3 (KJV) – “Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.”

This verse means that God shall bless you everywhere you go. It does not matter how bad the economy is of the place that you are currently in. When God says He will bless you there, you can rest on His word. God blessed Isaac in a foreign land that was facing famine. God blessed him so much that the people of that land were astonished. They could not believe how a foreigner could prosper in their land, which had famine while their lives were deteriorating due to that famine (Genesis 26).

Matthew 5:14-16 (KJV) – “¹⁴ Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵ Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

God wants you to stand out and be a shining light in this murky world. God wants you to prosper so that more people can come to Him. However, He sets a condition you must meet for Him to bless you.

What is the condition?

Deuteronomy 28:1 (KJV) – “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:”

True prosperity will come in abundance if you obey everything God says. That is the condition. You must keep all His commandments, including the ones you do not like. Do not expect God to bless you 100% while your obedience is 99%. Because if your obedience to God is 99%, the question is, who is controlling the remaining 1%?

Deuteronomy 28:1 is extremely specific. It says, “All His commandments which He has commanded you.” For God to set you on high above all nations of the earth as He has promised in this verse, you need to obey His commandments, not somebody else’s commandments.

Many of us neglect God’s commandments by obeying human authority. For example, God has said, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” You go to a dating coach with four PhDs in various fields relating to marriage with over 30 years of counselling experience. She tells you, “You can have sex before marriage as long as you are faithful to that one person.” You choose to obey her because she is an authority in that field and disobey God, not knowing that God is the one who created marriage.

God has said, “Return a tithe” a distinguished billionaire in society comes and tells you, “Don’t return the tithe; pastors are going to eat it and make themselves rich, instead use the tithe money to go and help the poor.” You choose to obey that billionaire and disobey God not knowing that silver and gold and everything in heaven and earth belongs to God.

God has repeatedly said in the Bible that the seventh day is the Sabbath. A pastor who is so charismatic and has succeeded in pulling crowds worldwide tells you, “Any day can be the Sabbath, God is not narrow-minded and petty to judge us over something small like a day.” What we do not know is that God always has a reason for doing and saying everything.

When instructing Noah to build the ark, He gave specific materials and measurements for the building of the ark. Had Noah missed one inch or used alternative materials, the ark would have fallen short of God’s glory. When giving instructions on the sanctuary and the Ark of the Covenant, he was ultra-specific on every little detail (Exodus 25-27).

There is a reason He said the seventh day and not any other day. God is not a haphazard God. He does everything for a reason. When God tells you to do something, do it without question. Do it exactly as He has said it.

In the story of Zacchaeus, Jesus tells Zacchaeus, in Luke 19:5, “Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for today I must abide at thy house.” What did Zacchaeus do? Luke 19:6, “And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.” Zacchaeus did exactly as Christ had told him to. And as a result, He received a blessing which is salvation.

Many of us have misunderstood Colossians 2:16, which says, “Let no man, therefore, judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:” We should note that the verse starts with “Let no man judge you.” No man should judge you for whatever sin you are committing. God is the only one who is allowed to judge you. However, it does not stop the act from being sinful. God, who is all-knowing, looked down the ages and noticed that some Sabbath-keeping Christians would be judging others for not keeping the Sabbath when it is not their work to do so. God does not say do not keep the Sabbath day. He says, “Don’t judge someone for not doing it.”

If you want God to bless you fully, you must do exactly as God tells you to. If you do that, you will synchronize with God, and He will bless you. But if you choose to obey someone else in place of God, you should go to that person to give you blessings.

For example, if you are employed and under a boss, you must do the work assigned to you to get wages from that boss. You cannot work for IBM and expect to get a salary from Microsoft. Likewise, you cannot work for a fashion house and hope to get compensation from the hospital. The conditions for any job are that for one to earn from that job, they need to do the related work assigned to them. God wants you to do exactly what He has told you to because he wants to bless you.

Obedience to God is an expression of love for Him (John 14:15 (KJV) – If ye love me, keep my commandments). Obedience to God is an expression that you genuinely believe in Him. The faith chapter, which is Hebrews 11, mentions various heroes of faith. All those heroes of faith, obeyed God.

For example, Hebrews 11:7 (KJV) – “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” Noah did what God had told him to. He built the ark. When you are an accountant in an organization, you need to do the work you have been given in your role as an accountant. You cannot do the job of a cleaner and expect to get the salary assigned to an accountant.

Every organization and every government on earth has rules. If you disobey those rules, there are penalties. It will be unreasonable to expect God’s government to be any different. God’s standards are superseding high that the only way He can explain them is through symbolizing the distance between heaven and earth. Isaiah 55:8-9 (KJV) – “⁸ For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Because of His loving nature, God may exercise mercy on someone if they live a disobedient life, but one day the doors of mercy will close on that person.

God’s children enjoy a level of favor that others do not enjoy. They have special blessings that others do not have. Even though God gives rain to the just and the unjust (Matthew 5:45), God reserves special blessings to those who obey Him. This rule does not mean that God is unfair. He blesses His obedient children so that others can look at their lives and be drawn to Him because He loves everybody and does not want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9).

These are some of the things that God wants for us that we may not know (based on Deuteronomy 28:1-14):

God wants everyone to go to heaven.
God wants everyone to be rich materially.
God wants everyone to be healthy.
God wants everyone to have wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.
God wants everyone to get the most suitable marriage partner.
God wants your kids to be well-behaved.
God wants everyone to have the right set of friends.
And there are many other blessings that God wants to give you.

The reason we are facing the problems we are facing is because of sin. Remove sin, and all these problems will go away. In heaven, there will be no sin, and thus there will be no problems.

The work of salvation is also a work of restoration. The work of salvation is meant to restore all these blessings lost due to sin. Luke 19:10 (KJV) – “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The work of salvation is meant to restore all the privileges that sin lost. Romans 8:32 (KJV) – “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

Psalm 1:1-2 (KJV) – “¹ Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.² But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.”

Always meditate on God’s Word. Always meditate on God’s Commandments. Before you complain to God for not giving you what you want, go to the commandments in Exodus 20, read them, and ask yourself which ones you are not keeping.

When the rich young ruler went to Jesus to ask Him what He shall do to get eternal life, this is what Jesus responded, Matthew 19:17 (KJV) – “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.”

The young man asked Jesus which commandments he meant. This is what Jesus responded, Matthew 19:18-19 (KJV) – “¹⁸ Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, ¹⁹ Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” The young man said that He had kept all these commandments, but when Jesus told him to sell all his possessions, give the proceeds to the poor and follow Him, he went away sorrowfully.

If you take a closer look, you can notice that Jesus listed the commandments that are related to the relationship between man and his fellow man. He did not list the commandments relating to God and man’s relationship.

The action of going away meant that man esteemed his riches more than God. This action signified that he had another God before God and that was his money. This means that his relationship with God was missing something. The rich man refused to give his possessions to the poor, meaning he did not love his neighbor as himself as he had claimed to. In short, he broke the two sets of commandments: love for God and love for his fellow man.

We may think that the rich young ruler’s story is far-fetched and does not relate to us. That is how we behave as Christians. We are filled with self-righteousness, just like the rich young ruler. We are in a comfort zone where we tend to believe that we have done all we can to please God, and we need not do anything more. Such thoughts lead to spiritual stagnation and degradation, eventually resulting in stagnation in all aspects of our lives.

As you read the commandments and meditate on them, ask yourself, are you fully keeping them. Tell God to search your heart and show you what more you need to do because the commandments of God are so deep and high. Matthew 5:21-22 (KJV) – “²¹ Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: ²² But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

You may think you have obeyed the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” because you have not physically murdered someone.

However, like each commandment, God defines killing not just in the physical sense but also in the spiritual sense.

These are some of the examples of killing that we may not know:

Hating people in our hearts. We ought to love everybody, including our enemies.
Discouraging people and shutting down their dreams, thus killing their ambition.
Treating people with contempt, this action kills them mentally because it makes them feel less worthy.
Drinking alcohol and taking drugs (Our bodies are the temple of God, and we are destroying them by doing that (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)).
Failure to exercise temperance when eating. Either eating the wrong food or too much of the right stuff (Our bodies are the temple of God, and we are destroying them by doing that (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)).

Examine the last commandment that tells us not to covet. Ask yourself how often you go to social media and wish to have things someone else has. And as minor as this action looks, it hurts us because we are not fully integrated with those lives to whom we compare ourselves.

We do not know if they are genuinely happy or not as they look on social media. We do not know the battles they are fighting behind social media. We do not know if the life they are displaying is real. Many people have sunk into depression because of this. Many individuals have gone to the extreme of committing suicide because of this.

We should not compare ourselves to anyone because our paths and purposes differ. “To every man is given “his work” (Mark 13:34), the work for which his capabilities adopt him” – Education, Page 138.1, Ellen G. White.

If people did not covet, most of them would not have gotten into some of the mental health issues that they have gotten. If people did not covet, they would not have entered some of the illegal businesses or other sinful ways of making money. If people did not covet, they would not have gotten into some of the debt, thus causing financial instability in their lives. These few examples alone show us the curses of disobedience and the blessings of obedience. Everything God tells us to do is for our benefit. Everything God tells us to do is meant to give us gifts in our current lives and the afterlife.

As you examine your sins, do not view them as impossible to overcome. Because if you view them as impossible, the devil will bring all sorts of excuses and explanations why you cannot overcome them. Take your sins to God, ask for forgiveness, and tell God to help you overcome them. You will be surprised by what will happen. Remember that God’s power is the most powerful in the universe because His power created everything. Therefore, combine your efforts with divine power, and you shall see significant changes in your life.

Notice the last phrase of the above verse. It says, “that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth.” One of the reasons why many are reluctant to obey God is because they think obedience to God is only relevant to enter heaven, and it will take a long time for Jesus to return.

In Deuteronomy 28:1, God does not mention going to heaven, even though heaven should be the ultimate goal for all Christians. In His wisdom, He says, “above all nations of the earth.” God says that if you obey His commandments, He will improve your quality of life on earth.

“It is wrong to waste our time, wrong to waste our thoughts. We lose every moment that we devote to self-seeking. If every moment were valued and rightly employed, we should have time for everything we need to do for ourselves or the world. In the expenditure of money, in the use of time, strength, opportunities, let every Christian look to God for guidance.”—The Ministry of Healing, Page 208, Ellen G. White.

There are certain things we do that we do not know are sinful. That is why we need to ask God to search our hearts. Wasting time, wasting our thoughts, and wasting money is as evil as killing, stealing, and committing adultery. We are wasting what we do not own. We own nothing. We do not even own ourselves because if we did, we would dictate the day we should be born and the day we die.

Sin goes deep, the same way righteousness goes deep. That is why we need to surrender to God moment by moment. Giving in to distractions, such as scrolling on social media when doing important work, is as immoral as committing adultery.

We are in a constant battle, and we need not slumber. We need to always be vigilant. Before doing something, ask yourself if you are doing the right thing. And if you are doing the right thing, ask yourself if that is the best way to do it since we need to do everything excellently.

“Higher than the highest human thought can reach is God’s ideal for His children. Godliness—godlikeness—is the goal to be reached. Before the student, there is opened a path of continual progress, an object to achieve, a standard to attain that includes everything good, pure, and noble. Students will advance as fast and as far as possible in every branch of true knowledge. But their efforts will be directed to objects as much higher than mere selfish and temporal interests as the heavens are higher than the earth.” – True Education, Page 12, Ellen G. White.

“God’s standards are high that no other standard is higher” – Pastor Randy Skeete.

One of the reasons God has blessed very few people to astonishing levels is that very few people have surrendered totally to God. Many people languish in mediocrity and expect excellent results. Ellen White writes that true conversion is exceedingly rare.

Very few people are willing to obey God fully. True Christianity is more than going to church. It is more than praying every day. It is more than having a role in the church. There is no problem with doing all these things. However, the questions that arise are; what is the motive for doing them? And how well do you do them?

“The man who attempts to keep the commandments of God from a sense of obligation merely—because he is required to do so—will never enter into the joy of obedience. He does not obey. When the requirements of God are accounted a burden because they cut across human inclination, we may know that the life is not a Christian life. True obedience is the outworking of a principle within. It springs from the love of righteousness, the love of the law of God. The essence of all righteousness is loyalty to our Redeemer. This will lead us to do right because it is right—because right doing is pleasing to God.” – Christ Object Lessons, Page 97.3, Ellen G. White.

The above quotation tells us that some people attempt to obey God to merely fulfil a requirement. Their obedience does not flow from deep within. Ask yourself, how many times have you prayed hurriedly just to have a clear conscience that you have prayed and to tick it off your to-do list? Therefore, instead of asking God why dreadful things happen to good people, you should ask Him, what are you not doing that you are supposed to do? Never assume that your spiritual life is perfect, and you are in a sinless state.

God’s standards are high, and he has given us the grace and ability to meet them.

Ephesians 3:20 (KJV) – “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”

God can do beyond what we ask or imagine, and He will do it if we obey Him.

One of the devil’s lies is that it is impossible to live a sinless life. The devil has succeeded in causing us to believe that the commandments are difficult to obey. 1 John 5:3 (KJV) – “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous.” The Bible says that the commandments are not hard. We have deeply sunk into sin, and as a result, we view the commandments as burdensome to keep.

Romans 8:7 (KJV) – “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Our carnal minds naturally resist God; therefore, it will be difficult to obey God’s commands with our power. God knows this, and that is why He is willing to give us His infinite power to enable us to overcome sin. Therefore, we need to ask God to help us overcome whatever sin we struggle with, and He will ease our burdens. Matthew 11:28 (KJV) – “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

God’s power unlimited. He is an omnipotent God.

Below are verses that speak of the omnipotence of God:

Luke 1:37 (KJV) – “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

Matthew 19:26 (KJV) – “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, with men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”

Jeremiah 32:17 (KJV) – “Ah Lord God! Behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:”

Philippians 4:13 (KJV) – “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Genesis 18:14 (KJV) – “Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Jeremiah 32:27 (KJV) – “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?”

Romans 8:31 (KJV) – “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”

We should not be afraid of anything nor let challenges push us down because God has our backs with his infinite power. Ask God to give you the strength and courage to keep His commandments and watch your life prosper. He will surely give you if you ask Him because it is His will for you to obey Him.

A popular teaching says that because we are under grace, we need not keep the commandments/obey God.

What does the Bible say?

Romans 6:1-2 (KJV) – “¹ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? ²God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”

Romans 6:15 (KJV) – “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid.”

Finally, trust in God to fulfil the promises He has made for you in your life.

Isaiah 55:10-11 (KJV) – “¹⁰ For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: ¹¹ So shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

Numbers 23:19 (KJV) – “God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?”

MAY GOD GIVE YOU THE GRACE TO MAKE YOU OBEY HIM, AND MAY HE MAKE YOU PROSPER IN EVERYTHING YOU DO!

GOD BLESS YOU!

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for taking pleasure in my prosperity. Help me to surrender my heart and life fully to You, obeying Your commandments with courage and faith. Guide me to walk in Your ways, so I may shine as a light in this world, bringing glory to Your name. Amen.

Activity

Share this message with someone.

Daily Obedience Tracker: Create a simple checklist for the week with two sections:

God’s Commandments to Follow: Include actions like “spend 10 minutes meditating on scripture,” “show kindness to someone,” or “refrain from negative talk.”

Areas to Surrender: Identify one area each day where you struggle to fully obey God (e.g., forgiving others, tithing, or observing rest).

At the end of each day, review your progress and pray for strength and courage to improve. Reflect on how submitting to God’s will is bringing peace and prosperity to your life.

Author: Mark Alex

BUY MY EBOOK: A FAITH FUELED LIFE: I RUN ON FAITH AND I’M NEVER RUNNING LOW

A FAITH FUELED LIFE: I RUN ON FAITH AND I’M NEVER RUNNING LOW (Amazon): https://amzn.to/4atSjuO

A FAITH FUELED LIFE: I RUN ON FAITH AND I’M NEVER RUNNING LOW (Google Play): https://bit.ly/4i9fXQp

Email: gettruthgetlife@gmail.com

Phone Number: +254710633247

My LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-alex-0b87a9109/

PayPal: gettruthgetlife@gmail.com

Revolut: revolut.me/markalex92