Good Health and Prosperity

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"Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."                                                                        3 John 2.       NKJV 

The verse above is not be be taken as a blueprint and prayer so that we can all prosper and be in good health.  David Guzik tells us:

'Some have wrongly taken this as a guarantee of perpetual wealth and perfect health for the Christian. Of course, we should always remember that God wants our best and plans only good for us. Often present material prosperity and physical health are part of that good He has for us – and this prosperity and health are absolutely promised as the ultimate destiny of all believers. Yet, for the present time, God may – according to His all-wise plan – use a lack of material prosperity and physical health to promote greater prosperity and health in the scale of eternity.
Nevertheless, some live in poverty and disease simply because they do not seek God’s best, follow God’s principles, and walk in faith. As well, there are some others who say we should use God’s general promises of blessing as a way to indulge a carnal desire for ease, comfort, and luxury.'           Copyright David Guzik

The actual meaning of, 'Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things,' metaphorically means, 'I hope you have a good journey, and I hope that you succeed and prosper.' In literal terms, it is saying, 'I hope things go well for you.' However, we can still pray and stand on this verse and should do really. However, knowing the exact meaning for this phrase in its original form can be helpful. It helps avoid just plucking verses out of the bible at will and naming and claiming them. This absolutely is not recommended. Let The Holy Spirit lead you instead of just opening the bible and selecting a verse at random. I'm not saying this is wrong, but that, we need to ask God to lead us in His Word for the situation.

John made an analogy between the condition of our health and the condition of our soul. Many Christians would be desperately ill if their physical health was instantly in the same state as their spiritual health. God wants us to prosper in both our physical health and our soul. At times, God appears to allow us to go through testing times. This may be to teach us something or perhaps to strengthen us. When we have learnt this, He may, but not always, restore us to more prosperity in our health and soul. Basically, if we learn to place God in the driving seat of our lives, then all will go well for us. If we deviate from this path, we are taking over the driving of our lives, on our own. We need God in control. (Read Proverbs 4:20-27 for more clarity on this.)

You may be going through a real testing time at the moment. It happens to us all and many times, it is not nice to go through. However, as children of God, we need to learn and sometimes we can be stubborn in learning or slow to pick up on what He is teaching us. He may stretch our faith, to see just how much we really trust Him. He loves us and wants the best for us but we must do things His way. That can be the hard bit but far more rewarding in the long run.

Let Him prosper you in all things and allow you to be in health.

Copyright 2019 Grahame Howard 

dailylifewithjesus@protonmail.com