Are Christians Meant to Be Prosperous?

Are Christians meant to be prosperous? It depends on what you mean by prosperity. 

Biblical prosperity does not rely upon our human storehouses (i.e. stocks, bonds, lands, homes, and cash), but rests upon God's storehouse. We may have nothing in ours whereas his is infinitely abundant, not affected at all by the upheavals we experience from time to time in our realm. We don't actually have to have millions in our hand to be in the hand of him who has millions upon millions of anything we could need in his. He knows what we need and he can dispatch it in a timely fashion.. 

Now that's a notion of prosperity that is worthy of our trust! And the one we actually need to exercise faith in, particularly if we're to navigate turbulent seas unsunk by the weight of worry or the shock of disappointment. I have seen the faith of enough folks dismantled when their confessions, and their claims, and their commands, and their labored assertions fall to the dust, not even coming close to producing what they were aiming for. 

On the other hand, if we simply trust God's care, we can relax in trouble, put ourself in his hands and get on with what God wants us to get on with. 

Biblical prosperity cannot be measured by worldly standards. God gives according to his standard, not ours. We think we need a bigger barn and we want leeway we can see. God knows we need to follow Christ and live by faith. Desiring God to bless us by worldly standards instead of his is flirting with disaster spiritually. Do we not trust God's judgment, his grace, his character? Just exactly how big is our God, anyhow?

After a spell of leanness, or even in the midst of a storm, we must ask ourselves what kind of people we are. Are we those who are frantic, wasting ourselves desperately rowing against the wind, or are we those who are at rest in Christ? Jesus did what he did in lowly fashion, without the American dream, really, with nothing at all humanly measurable. Can we not do even greater works than he? 

Prosperity lies in the hand of God which provides what's needed when it's needed. If you believe that, you truly are prosperous, and in precisely in the way you're meant to be.