1 Chronicles 22:13
“Then shalt thou prosper, if thou takest heed to fulfil the statutes and judgments which the LORD charged Moses with concerning Israel: be strong, and of good courage; dread not, nor be dismayed.”
Who wouldn’t want to prosper in life? When God promises to prosper us, He is saying that He will help us move forward. He is saying that He will help us succeed or increase in a certain area. There are many areas in which we can prosper. We can prosper in our marriage or home. We can prosper in our finances, ministries, employment and in any endeavor in life. Anyone who has any initiative in life will want to prosper.
God wants us to prosper more than we do. God is not some ogre in the sky Who is waiting to press a button to hurt us, rather, He is a loving God Who made us to prosper in all that we do. Because He wants us to prosper, He shows us in His Word how we can prosper.
First, we are to take heed to the “statutes and judgments” of the LORD. The word “heed” means to take notice. In other words, we will never prosper when we ignore what God commands. There are times when we want to bury our head in the sand and ignore what God commands us to do, but that will not lead to prosperity. God has principles and commandments by which He wants us to live, and when we ignore those things, we are hurting our own prosperity.
You may wonder how to take heed to the statutes and judgments of God. Before you do anything, ask yourself what God commands us to do in that situation or what are the principles God wants us to follow in that area. This is the first step to God prospering us.
The second step you must take for God to prosper you is to “fulfill” His statutes and judgments. The principles and commandments of God are literally God’s instruction manual on how to succeed. If you don’t follow what He tells you to do, then you will never prosper. There are principles to prosperity, and you will never experience prosperity until you follow God’s principles.
The third step to prospering is having the right associations. Associations are very important to prospering in life because they dictate your influences and direction. Wrong associations will quickly block your road to prosperity. It’s important that you surround yourself with associations that line up with Psalm 1.
The fourth step in prospering is to quickly deal with any sin in your life. Proverbs 28:13 shows us that covering sin will block our steps to prosperity. Sin is the enemy of prosperity. You cannot cover sin and expect to prosper. You must quickly deal with your sin so that your road to prosperity will be clear.
God says, “Then shalt thou prosper…” You will only find success and be able to advance after you follow these four steps in any area. If you find yourself being stagnant in some area of your life, then take inventory and see if in that area you have avoided one of these steps. God has established statutes and judgment for every area of life, and it is only after you have followed these four steps that you will begin to prosper. In reality whether you prosper is not up to God it is up to you for He said He would prosper you after you do these things.