The Suffering of the Saints and the "Prosperity Teaching"?     By David Nelson     (5-14-2000)

 

The more suffering we go through the more death to our flesh God accomplishes, and therefore we gain a greater spiritual anointing. I will show Scripturally how true this is. In I Pet. 4:12-16, 19 it says that if we suffer the Spirit of glory rests upon us. This Spirit of glory doesn't just come and go but it stays, and rests upon us. We are to rejoice in, delight in, and welcome sufferings. Suffering produces a deeper, more godly character. (Rom. 5:3-4 (through our experiences)) God is more concerned with the developing of our characters than our personal comforts or our goals and desires. We are to welcome sufferings, trials and persecutions. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials. (James 1:2) The more God leads you into "Christ's sufferings", the more you will see that He is accomplishing a molding in us, and we will be glad with exceeding joy. "Blessed are you, when men hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil...leap for joy; for behold, your reward is great in heaven;" for that is what they did to all the prophets, you're in the category of the prophets. (Luke 6:22-23) More suffering (less flesh), more glory (as God changes us into His likeness), more anointing. God wants to teach us to love as He loves, be longsuffering as He is, to be merciful as He is, to be perfect and holy as He is, and this will take a lot of death to the flesh, and often that is painful. (This is not just a suggestion from the Lord, "Be ye perfect, even as your  Father, who is in heaven, is perfect." (Matt. 5:48))

 

Jesus suffered when He obeyed God but He was made perfect through suffering. (Heb. 5:8-9) We are called not just to believe in Christ (can anything be more important than that?) but we are also called to suffer (this is in the same category as believing). (Phil. 1:29) Jesus suffered and we are to follow in His footsteps. God even now is grieved and weeping over His Church that lies in ruins (which is a very important, whole other subject). Do we know the Lord intimately, what He is thinking, feeling, and what is His heartbeat? Many do not, because they do not know His mind and heart, and so they do not know the fellowship of His sufferings. (Phil. 3:10) For many people there is a shallow knowing of Christ. Can you say with Paul, "That I may know Him (nothing else interests me), and everything else is dung in comparison." (Phil. 3:8) Do we walk with Him in the intimacy of His sufferings? That is why so few know, experience, or show forth the power of His resurrection in their lives. This is the order given in Scripture, To want to know Him only, everything else has become dung, to walk so close to Him that the Lord reveals His sufferings to us and we begin to feel and experience what God feels, and then a heavy anointing begins to permeate our lives, until the flesh and it's petty desires are burned up in God's fire, (our God is a consuming fire), this is the power of His resurrection in our lives! (Phil. 3:4-12)

 

The prosperity message and the faith message are very strong teachings in certain circles of the Church today. Here are some of the main verses quoted (and it would be great if we could fully understand and apply these verses for the Lord's glory): (1) Whatever you desire, believe and do not doubt, ask and it will be done for you. (2) Call things that are not as though they are. (3) Whatever you ask, in my name, I will do it for you. (4) By His stripes we are healed (physical, financial and other kinds of healing). Have you ever prayed for someone to be healed and they were not healed, or maybe they died? You may have had strong faith, the one who was sick may have had strong faith, and there may have been many others praying who were strong warriors of prayer. What happened? God had other plans. Maybe they died and God wants you to raise them from the dead? God has the final say as to who is going to be healed. Sometimes what God does is unexplainable. Kathryn Kuhlman could not explain to you why certain people were not healed at her meetings, can you? Oral Roberts did not heal everyone, nor does Benny Hinn. God doesn't choose to heal everyone either. Maybe it's not His will to heal them right now. Maybe a few more days, maybe a few more weeks, a few more years? More suffering or affliction may be His will, to change us and/or the people around us. Maybe the person's death will accomplish more in the people's lives left behind? Jesus did not heal everyone He saw sick. In Jn. 5:1-16 at the pool of Bethesda Jesus saw a great multitude of impotent folk, blind, lame, paralyzed...but it was God's direction to heal only one man. In Acts 3:1-10 a man who had been lame from his birth was laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful (the Beautiful gate). In vs. 10 the people recognized him, when they saw him walking and leaping and praising God, they knew who he was, he is the one who had been sitting at the Beautiful gate for so many years. Don't you think Jesus walked through that gate many times and saw that man and yet it was not God's will for Jesus to heal him. His healing was for a later time by Peter and John. Why do people stay sick when there are godly people praying for them? Why do people die young or prematurely? The standard answers are, you didn't pray hard enough or you didn't have enough faith.

 

Job was given no explanation from God for his sufferings. In Job chapters 38-41 God says to Job, can you understand all these mysteries that I recount to you that go on in the world and in the universe around you? No? God says, I do not choose to explain what or why I do all the things I do. Three men in the book of Job tried to find reasons why God did to Job what He did. Job could see nothing wrong with himself to deserve his sufferings. In Job 32:1 it says that the 3 men stopped all their explanations because Job was righteous in his own eyes and they all believed that something must be wrong with Job for him to suffer so. (God must be allowing all his sufferings for a reason that they were trying to explain, either Job didn't have enough faith, or that Job had fear, or that Job had some secret sin, etc., etc.). But God did not accept anything these 3 men said. In Job 42:7, 8 God says twice, these 3 have not spoken of Me the thing that is right (none of their counsel or ideas are correct, but My servant Job has spoken what is correct). Remember, Job couldn't find anything wrong with himself (the suffering continued not because of lack of faith, fear, or sin as the others thought). So, can we explain why everyone is not healed, why some die, or why suffering lasts longer than we want it to? I'm sure it was not immediately understood by Paul why he had to be in prison when, humanly speaking, it made more sense for him to be free to preach, win the lost, start new churches, visit and encourage the churches already established. Lord, do you really want me in prison when I could be accomplishing so much outside of prison? Paul could have said, I'm going to "name it and claim it", in one week I'm going to be out of this prison! But no, he would go on to write letters to the churches from prison (called prison epistles), and sooner or later he began to see God's purposes for being in prison. Some people are going through very hard things, and their problems are not going away. Is there something wrong with us or is God working out a bigger purpose than meets the eye? In Philippians 1:12-14 (a prison epistle) Paul explains how God showed him why he was in prison. "What has happened to me is really for the furtherance of the gospel. My imprisonment has come to the notice of the whole palace (praetorium) so that the soldiers, the guards, the army, the king, his counselors, and even other kings have heard or will hear the gospel. Not only that but the churches are growing stronger and more bold to preach without fear." God has a purpose. Paul may have only seen a small part of what God had in mind. God does not always tell us what is going on or what He is trying to do (like it was with Job). Will we trust Him?

 

In II Tim. 4:20 Paul said, I left Trophimus sick at Miletus. If everyone is to be healed, how is it that someone of the stature of Paul left someone sick in the city of Miletus? He was not able to heal him for some reason. Does God here have a purpose that we can't explain? Joni Erickson Tada (who broke her neck in a diving accident when she was young) wanted to be healed by God, she had the faith that God could do it, and she prayed and prayed and prayed. Is it for God's greater glory that she went on to faithfully serve Him in the ministry even though she would never be healed? Would you like to answer to God, you would have been glorified much more if she were healed serving you? Are you sure about that? Do you think God made a mistake when the person you were praying for to be healed died? Maybe down deep inside Joni still wants to be healed on this side of heaven. Would God be the most glorified by her being healed today, or like Paul, is she to stay till her death in a certain kind of prison for God's greater glory? (Paul never got out of prison, but tradition has it that he died a martyr's death in a Roman prison for God's greater glory).

 

I could say much more about all these things and write a much longer explanation but what I have said here should suffice for anyone who is open to understand God's ways sincerely. You may already have a shadow of doubt about the misuses of the prosperity message and the faith message. (Please realize that there is very important truths in these messages that need to be discerned. God will show you what is right and what is wrong in these teachings if you seek Him.) It says in the Word that we will lay our hands on the sick and that they will recover. Shouldn't we just take the Word for what it says, lay our hands on everyone for healing, believe, and let God do what He wants to do? That's OK. But remember, Jesus could not do many miracles in his own country because of their unbelief. In Acts 14:9 Paul was speaking and as he looked intently at a certain man he perceived that the man had faith to be healed. Do you have that kind of perception? Also, Peter and John looked intently at the lame man at the Beautiful gate and knew it was the moment for his healing. Jesus didn't heal him, for it wasn't the time for God's greater glory. What if someone would have said to Jesus, what about these others at the pool of Bethesda? What are you going to do about them? Jesus might have said, "That's not my concern right now, the Father hasn't spoken about that, I do nothing on my own authority, it's not my job right now." What about this man at the gate Jesus, "That's not my job now." What about the man Paul left sick at Miletus? It was not God's will to heal him on that day. God is unfolding his will. So, if people come up to you and say please pray for me to be healed, should you pray for their healing? Let us have discernment like Jesus did when He didn't go to heal Lazarus but waited a few days for God's greater glory. Maybe the person who comes to you for healing has some secret sin in their life so that God is not going to heal them till that sin is pointed out or they repent. Maybe they have a demonic problem and not just a physical problem. Maybe that has to be uncovered. Maybe they need more sleep, or to eat healthier foods, or help in some other area? What is God's wisdom and God's discernment to solve their problems? Walk with God and hear what He says. Others may talk about you or criticize you but be convinced in your own heart what God wants you to do and keep going on with His approval.

 

Many people that I have known who have suffered the most, and yet, by God's grace, they keep loving and serving Him, often these are the most anointed ones and the ones most used by God. The more suffering I see a faithful servant of God go through the more I predict that they will be more mightily used and anointed by God. Even if they are not used in an outward way, to be admired or seen by men, they are or will be used in the secret place of the Most High as an intimate friend of God or as an intercessor (prayer warrior). (Intercessors are seldom respected by anyone, they are misunderstood, envied or hated because their work only God fully understands or appreciates). God is the recipient of prayer, no one else except discerning ones or people who have deep lives of prayer themselves can begin to appreciate intercessors. Only God really knows.

 

Is it true that whatever you desire you can have? When you are close to God you don't desire the same things you used to desire. Ask whatever you want? In I Jn. 3:22 it says, "And whatever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight." Jn. 15:7 says, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." (I don't think it is a shallow thing to abide (be at home) in Christ). Both of these verses are conditional. If you meet the conditions you can ask whatever you want. Isaiah 58 is a prime example of people who prayed, fasted, loved to draw near to God and yet didn't get the results to their prayer life that they wanted. (Is. 58:2-4) Do you want to pray to God and have Him say, "Here I am, what would you like?" Then read Is. 58 and allow the Lord to reveal to you His conditions for a powerful and miraculous prayer life. (You must walk close to God, know His mind, to do the works Christ did and greater works). God will change your desires the closer you get to Him. You will pray differently too.

 

You may have been praying about something for a long time, and your desire for that thing just won't go away. God may put a desire or an idea in our minds or spirits that we believe is God's word to us and god will not let that desire or idea go away no matter how many times we put it on the altar or how long we have to wait for it. We might say, "God, burn up my desire if it is not of you, but if it is, let me hold on to the desire you have given me and I will not let go until you do it. But while I am waiting for the fruit of my desire to come I will be content waiting and trusting in you. Your grace is sufficient for me, whether the thorn remains in my side or whether the thorn is taken away, either way I am content in your grace. If your grace takes it away or if you give me the grace to bear it, your grace is sufficient for me. I have learned (through suffering) the secret of how to be content in all circumstances, whether I am abased or abound (am in jail or out, bear with the thorn or have it removed, receive my healing now, later or never). (Remember, a desire or hope from God will not go away).

 

There are many good lessons that have been learned from the prosperity message and from the faith message. I think it is very good that someone can learn to give $20.00, $50.00, $100.00, or a $1,000.00 to God when He tells them to. God wants you to be able to let go of your money when He speaks. Opening your wallet is hard, like opening your heart sometimes is hard. But if you can't open your wallet then your heart is still somewhat closed to God. Would you give your car away, your clothes, your home, etc., etc. Yes, it's good that faith preachers and prosperity preachers have taught people to give in obedience to God. But some of those preachers will go to hell for their greed. Their hearts have deceived them because they wanted to be rich. And the people who obediently gave to God may go to heaven having never received the new car or financial miracles that they were promised by the preachers but never came. If Jesus came up to you right now and said, "My son, my daughter, you have opened your heart and your wallet to Me and you gave to Me as I have bidden you, but the car you are waiting for, and the gold rings and jewelry with diamonds and other jewels that you wanted, the bigger house, the financial freedom to pay all your bills with extra money in hand to do as you please, is that really what you want the most?" What if Jesus were to say, "For all your obedience in giving, what would you rather have, (1) closeness to Me, deep revelations, personal visits of myself to you, deep understanding of My most intimate truths or (2) all the material things that the prosperity people say you can have, expensive cars, big houses, expensive jewelry, plenty of money. You can only choose one of these. If you have to think and ponder which one you would rather have, you have been sitting under the wrong teaching and have believed the wrong thing. Is it possible God could give you both (1) and (2)? Maybe. But if all I ever have is (1) that is everything to me. I don't want any mixture of desire for other things to deceive me, side-track me, or weigh me down as I run the race for the high prize through this crooked world. You can't serve both God and mammon (material things). You will be deceived and side-tracked. If God chooses sickness for you (or a thorn in the side that doesn't go away), prison for you, Job experiences, death of loved ones, a simple life, a life like John the Baptist or Jesus or the apostle Paul (foxes have holes in the ground and birds have nests in the trees but the Son of man has no where to lay His head), if He chooses to withhold from you houses, children, health, freedom to do as you please, even in ministry you will not be able to get what He doesn't want for you, because God wants to kill your flesh, your desires, and He is causing your flesh to suffer until you learn to enter His perfect rest, where you will finally cease from your labors and your desires and only want to do His labors and His desires. Then you will have discovered the secret place of the Most High God where all the suffering He sends you has it's perfect work and you are a vessel cleansed and made ready for greater works than the world has yet seen. Oh, He wants to give you good things, He wants to give you things that you desire, He wants you to be happy, supremely happy, but He knows that cars, jewelry, and money are not the answer, closeness to Him is, and He will change your desires if you let Him (even about your ministry) so that it will become His ministry. Oh, my precious friend, if you only knew how He desires to be at work in you to desire and do His good pleasure. The world is waiting to see someone like that. The Church is waiting too. And God is ready to do it in you. More suffering, more anointing. More suffering, less flesh, more of God, more power (but not to show off). More of God, more humility. We may even be content to hide away with God as an intercessor, in brokenness, with a deep love for others that only God can show you and give to you.