so that you may live and increase (Deut 8:1)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nIn five chapters God reiterates His desire to prosper His children over and over. And yet, He doesn\u2019t give us all the \u201cprosperity\u201d we desire. Why?<\/p>\n
Humility Before Prosperity<\/h2>\n
God tells us in Deut 8:16, \u201cHe fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers had not known, in order to humble and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.\u201d God knows the human soul in its natural state is not able to handle prosperity.<\/p>\n
Prosperity without humility results in deadly idolatry and pride. God warns His people regarding His blessing in Deut 8:17, \u201cYou may say to yourself, \u2018My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me,\u2019 but remember that the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n
In order to be able to handle prospering, our souls must first be humbled and tested. James says it a bit differently in James 4:10, \u201cHumble yourself before the Lord, and He will exalt you.\u201d Humility precedes prospering\/exalting, precisely because a soul growing in true humility is the only soul that can handle being prospered. Peter repeats this idea in 1 Peter 5:6, \u201cHumble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you at the proper time.\u201d One with true humility, a mark of Christian maturity, understands that all he has is a gift of grace from the Giver of all good gifts. His maturity frees him to enjoy God\u2019s blessing without mistaking God\u2019s good gifts as an entitlement. His soul is ready to be prospered. God knows the proper time when prospering will not harm us.<\/p>\n
The Earthly Parents\u2019 Heart<\/h2>\n
As parents, we desire to see our kids happy, healthy and wise. Well, most of the time. Of course sometimes, we selfishly just desire to be respected, left alone, obeyed, or a myriad of other things! But, in general, we want to see our children prosper. And if we truly want them to be productive citizens as adults, we realize we can\u2019t give them everything they want as a child. If we want them to be happy, why don\u2019t we give them every toy they ask for? Why don\u2019t we take them everywhere they want to go, when they want to go there, as many times as they want?! Because we know their soul can\u2019t handle it. We know that we won\u2019t be encouraging a happy child, but a spoiled brat who is MOST discontent! We are very imperfect parents, but we know this.<\/p>\n
As our children mature, we gain the joyful privilege of being able to give them more. They realize they don\u2019t deserve it, they are more grateful for what they are given, and they can actually enjoy the blessing without harming their own souls. So it is with all of us. May we humble ourselves before the Lord and trust that the testing He allows is truly for our good and in the end He will prosper us, too. When our souls can handle it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
God is a perfect parent. He has a heart to prosper His children. Jesus says in Matt 7:11, \u201cIf you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.\u201d The Heavenly Father\u2019s Heart God repeatedly… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":7349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nProspering your Child: A Lesson from the Perfect Parent - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/prospering-your-child-a-lesson-from-the-perfect-parent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Prospering your Child: A Lesson from the Perfect Parent - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"God is a perfect parent. He has a heart to prosper His children. Jesus says in Matt 7:11, \u201cIf you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.\u201d The Heavenly Father\u2019s Heart God repeatedly... read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/prospering-your-child-a-lesson-from-the-perfect-parent\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-06-22T13:43:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-22T13:50:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20180622094303\/God-the-Father.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brent and Janet Aucoin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brent and Janet Aucoin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/prospering-your-child-a-lesson-from-the-perfect-parent\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/prospering-your-child-a-lesson-from-the-perfect-parent\/\",\"name\":\"Prospering your Child: A Lesson from the Perfect Parent - Faith Church Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-06-22T13:43:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-22T13:50:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/041fc4a5d5d089ab07655d7623c48065\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/prospering-your-child-a-lesson-from-the-perfect-parent\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/prospering-your-child-a-lesson-from-the-perfect-parent\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/prospering-your-child-a-lesson-from-the-perfect-parent\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Prospering your Child: A Lesson from the Perfect Parent\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/\",\"name\":\"Faith Church Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/041fc4a5d5d089ab07655d7623c48065\",\"name\":\"Brent and Janet Aucoin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121859\/AucoinsBrentJanet.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/faith-blog-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/20200408121859\/AucoinsBrentJanet.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Brent and Janet Aucoin\"},\"description\":\"Brent and Janet have been married since 1994 and have two adult children. 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