Deuteronomy 30:9
“Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers.”
God wants to prosper us. He wants our lives to overflow with blessing. David says in Psalm 23, “My cup runneth over.” Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do infinitely more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us”.
What kind of prosperity is this? It’s spiritual, situational, life stage, financial, relational, with our children and more. We’ll begin with the spiritual. Jesus said in John 15:2, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.” He wants us to be fruitful. He will take away the unfruitful parts and prune those that have potential.
What’s the evidence of spiritual prosperity? The fruit of the Spirit. The list is in Galatians 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” The Lord wants these to be present in us. If not, He will prune areas until they are.
What if we are lacking some of this fruit? This is part of the pruning process. The Lord will do some clipping. He doesn’t do all the maturing at once. It takes a lifetime. We can be resistant. Hebrews 12:6 speaks of what The Lord does with His children. “For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.” Hopefully we won’t resist long, otherwise we are cutting off His blessing. We will cause our own lack of prosperity.
Lord, thanks for Your blessing. Help us to yield to You in the process.