Health, Wealth and Prosperity

I have fought with several people over the last few years about Joel Osteen and the "Health and Wealth" Prosperity Gospel. I hate when people use the "size of your faith" as an excuse for something, either bad or good, happening to you. I don't think there is any Biblical basis for this way of thinking and Joel Osteen is a millionaire because people send him money and buy his books, not because he's some great Christian. He even gave a sermon once about finding good parking spots as a reward for being a good Christian...what Bologna!!

Well, I've never been able to have a great argument because I could never get what I believe into a nice little snippet of information. I always struggle with getting angry and letting emotions get in the way, while I'm speaking because this is a very personal issue to me. I had a friend in college that tried to commit suicide several times during spring break because her "boyfriend" and his family's homechurch were telling her that she couldn't speak in tongues because her faith wasn't strong enough. They were able to take a very strong girl and beat her down to mush, with their horrible doctrine and falsehoods about the measurements of her faith. And none of the rest of us could help her because she was head-over-heels for this guy and wouldn't listen to anything we said.

I was reading "The Christian Childbirth Handbook" by Jennifer Vanderlaan, today and had a spiritual breakthrough! I couldn't believe it, but she writes about the measure of your faith in such an amazing way, and its EXACTLY what I've always thought and could never get out of my mouth. So, I wanted to share it because it meant so much to me.

The outcome of your labor is not the measure of your faith. You can not tell how much faith you have by your possessions, your physical blessings, how easy your labor was or anything other thing we can see with our eyes. Faith is not determined by the outcome--Paul still had a thorn in his side, Job lost everything he had, Stephan was stoned. (2 Corninthians 12:7-10, Job, Acts 7:59)
Faith is measured by what you do, not by what happens because you do it. Faith is shown by the works--by Abraham moving away from his family when God said go; by Jonathan attacking the Philistines because God said go; by Ruth leaving her home to stay with Noami; by Esther approaching the King. The faith of each of these people would have been just as strong if their stories had ended differently. Would Esther have had less faith if the king had killed her? Would Ruth have had less faith if she had not found a husband? It was faith that made them do what they did. God determined the outcome. (Genesis 12:4, 1 Samuel 14, Ruth, Esther)
Faith is based on a trust in God's control and working out his plan, not a hope for a specific outcome. God's plan does not always turn out to be what you wanted. David prayed and fasted for a week because he had faith that God could keep his child alive, but in the end that child died. John the Baptist was following God's plan to prepare the way for the Messiah, yet he was beheaded. Paul asked to have his thorn removed and God told him no. You can have faith in God having the power to do something, and he still may not do it. (2 Samuel 12:15-19, Matthew 14: 1-12, Acts 7:59)
God does say things happen because we have faith. God never says faith is the only reason things happen. If you consider for a moment the statement, "Cars go when you step on the gas pedal," you can see the statement is 100% accurate, but not complete. In addition to stepping on the gas pedal you must make sure there is gas in the car, the car must be turned on and put into the proper gear, all the parts you do not control in the engine need to be in good working order. Yet none of this negates the truth of the statement that cars go when you step on the gas pedal. The gas pedal is simply one part of the greater system that makes the car go. It is the same with our faith--it is only one part of many reasons God works the way he does.
Job's friends had very formulaic ideas of how God worked. To them God was a cause and effect deity that man could control. If you did X, Y would happen. But God's response to Job's friends was, "you have not spoken of me what is right." You cannot use human wisdom to reduce God to simple if-then statements. Human wisdom cannot fathom the divine wisdom and understanding of God. There is no promise of an easy labor if you do this or that. There is no guarantee of a painless childbirth because you trust God. Yet there is the faith that God is good, and his plan is for good even if we cannot see it. (Job 42:7)