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On the Health and Wealth Gospel

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more that all that we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us...." (Eph 3:26)
The new “health and wealth” gospel that is being preached to us actually making us put a cap on what God can do for us. We should leave it to God, to his will. The ultimate purpose of Christian life is to glorify God and not to limit God.

The new gospel of prosperity that is being preached is one of “name it, claim it”. The argument is that human words have power to make things to happen. It follows from this reasoning that God will grant anything that we ask specifically. Promoters of this “gospel” say that we need to clear in our imagination and be specific about our prayer requests. For example, if you are praying for a car, don’t just pray for a car, they say. Pray for the specific model, specific color, etc.
However, I find this teaching and all its reasoning contrary to the Word of God!
The Bible teaches that we don’t know how to pray and the Holy Spirit comes to our help in our weakness to pray. The Bible also teaches us that God is a good God. He will not give us what harms us, though sometimes we may even ask for harmful things, being limited in our knowledge (James 4:3). God’s wisdom certainly overrules human’s faulty wisdom. Our imagination is limited. God’s blessings cannot be limited by my faulty imagination!
God’s gifts are the best, though I may not be able to appreciate the greatness of them. My inability to appreciate God’s gifts is due to my fallen nature (James 1:17). Ephesians 3:20 make it very clear that God’s blessings for us are not limited by what I ask for. He always grants more than that I ask. Then why should I limit God by the specifics that I can think of? God grants not only more than we ask for, but more than what we can imagine! That means we should not limit God by our imagination.
The new “health and wealth” gospel that is being preached to us actually making us put a cap on what God can do for us. We should leave it to God, to his will. The ultimate purpose of Christian life is to glorify God and not to limit God.
 
 
 

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