029 - Why God Isn't Prospering You.

We've all heard Jeremiah 29:11 that God has plans to prosper us.

We've also heard the many verses that say that when we ask anything in His name that He'll give it to us.

However, when we look at our own lives and businesses, and we aren't prospering, we can start to wonder where God is.

Is He really good?

Does He actually have good gifts for me?

Am I even good enough to receive them?

Well, here's what I want to do.

First, I want to share a story that shows the truth about God's gifts.

Second, I want to give you a framework for stepping into those gifts & watching yourself prosper in this next year.

Let's start with the story.

It was Christmas eve.

As a child, we always opened presents on Christmas eve. And I loved opening presents.

This Christmas, however, we got something way better than what we could have ever asked for.

You see, earlier that year, my mom woke me up one cold Sunday morning with a scream.

She was sitting in the breakfast nook with a coffee, as she did every Sunday.

But, this time, as she looked out the window, she saw something devastating.

Our beloved miniature dachshund Oscar, was in our miniature pool, not moving.

During the night, he must have stepped on the thin ice, thinking it was thicker.

He broke through and there was nothing his tiny legs could do about it.

We all lost a part of our hearts then.

So, that Christmas, you can probably guess what my parents did.

My dad excused himself during the present opening, and came back from the garage, carrying a box that was barking.

These tiny little barks that still make me smile.

Another miniature dachshund.

This one, we named Frankie.

The best gift we could have ever asked for.

And, how do you think my dad felt like, when us children started yelling with excitement over that one gift?

It made his heart smile. Giving us a good gift made him smile.

In the same way, God is a good Father.

He LOVES to lavish you with good gifts.

Gifts that you ask for & gifts that you don't even know to ask for.

The issue is, we tend to have a lot of beliefs about God & ourselves that keep us from receiving the gifts He wants to give us.

Imagine, if us children would have turned our face away from the puppy and didn't receive the gift?

How devastated would my dad have been?

Yet, this is what God, the Father deals with all the time.

Because we don't believe He is good or that we are worthy of His gifts, we constantly reject what He's giving us.

Then, we blame Him for not giving it.

Instead, we must know the truth about what God wants to give us.

Truth About God's Gifts:

1. His gifts are always good & perfect. (James 1:17 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.")
2. He never withholds any good thing. (Psalm 84:11 "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.")
3. He always gives generously. (James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.")
4. His desire is to prosper you. (Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.")
5. He has already given us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3 "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence...")

These are the truth.

Yet, why are many of us barely surviving in life?

Why does God's abundance and blessings seem far from us?

And how can we practically start to receive all that He has to give?

Well, let's break it down.

1 - Get clear on the vision

Habakkuk 2:2 “Write down the vision, and inscribe it clearly on tablets..."

I'm currently doing an "Clean Until Christmas" eating challenge.

This means I can't have any added sugar, dairy, or breads. Because it is clear and I made a decision to stick with it, it's easy to follow.

However, before this challenge, my eating was starting to get bad.

The reason for this was because I wasn't clear. I started to allow "cheat meals". The problem was, I didn't create a clear boundary for them.

So, they kind of started stringing together.

If I had gotten clear to where I could have a cheat meal every Friday for dinner, it would have been clear.

And easier to follow.

But, a lack of clear vision, made my diet worse and worse.

So, we must get clear on what we actually want from God.

Instead of saying, "I want to help people make 6-figures", it's clearer if I say, "I want to help 100 people make 6-figures in 2024".

That's clear.

What are some clear goals for yourself?

Write them down.

For me, I wrote them on a whiteboard that I see daily.

2 - Give it to God

1 Peter 5:7 "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you."

Here's the reality, God is better at making your vision happen than you are.

So, almost every morning, as part of my morning routine, I give all of my visions, dreams, and desires to Him.

Even more than that, I submit my whole being to Him, trusting that He will lead me and guide me into the things that He has put on my heart.

I'll picture myself holding my hands out to give all of the visions to Him.

Then, in return, I receive what HE WANTS TO GIVE ME.

I ask for His goodness in the thing that I gave over. I ask for things that He wants me to ask for.

It's very freeing and very empowering.

And, it's something we should make a habit of doing daily.

Even now, take a moment... Picture all of your desires and dreams, give them to God, and ask Him to bless them.

Then receive what He has for you.

3 - Believed you have received

Mark 11:24 "Therefore, I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you."

This is really the secret to walking in all of God's gifts and blessings for your life and business.

We have to believe that we have ALREADY received the gifts.

I saw a TikTok video the other day where the lady talked about how much her life had changed in the past year.

She went from living in Michigan with a dead end job, to living in Miami with a successful DJ business.

And, she attributed all of this success to writing down the vision, AS IF IT ALREADY HAPPENED, 3-9 times every single day.

Essentially, she would write in her journal the following: "I'm grateful for the house I have in Miami. I'm grateful for my successful DJ business. I'm grateful for the friends I've made along the way."

Every day she wrote these things down multiple times.

And in that next year, the exact thing she wrote down every morning happened.

You see, when we believe in the vision from a state of gratitude that it already happened, it does something to our faith.

We start to actually believe the vision.

And, when we start believing it, we start taking action toward it.

This lady, when she started actually believing that she's going to live in Miami, she started searching for places to live.

This led to actually finding a place and making a deposit.

This led to moving and everything happening.

Faith produced the action.

You must do the same.

Don't let doubt keep you from the things God wants to give you.

For me, every morning I thank God for every single vision I wrote on my whiteboard... as if it's already happened.

Conclusion:

God's gifts are good.

And He desires for you to be tremendously prosperous and blessed.

However, we tend to miss out on what He wants to give us because we...

1. Don't know what God really wants to give us.
2. Don't think we're good enough to receive it.
3. Don't believe that it's going to happen.

I'm convinced that if you follow the process I laid out in this video, you can completely SHIFT your life in the next couple months.

Where God's blessings and goodness are truly evident in your life and business.

Will you take time to seek out His desires for you?

Will you take time to believe that they are for you?

Will you receive His gifts freely?

Start by writing down the vision in a place you can be reminded of it daily.