|
Biblical
Prosperity in Perspective 27
The Believer's
Heavenly Bank Account
by Pastor John Hamel
Way back in lesson number ten of this
series “Developing the Capacity to Prosper, Part Three,” we took a pretty close look at
the Prodigal Son. He did not understand the difference between being
covetous and being in Covenant.
Therefore, he took a major fall
financially. He received his inheritance from his father and went out
into the world, blowing it all on sin and wild living. He had not
developed “muscle” in the realm of handling tremendous financial
wealth. He had not been properly trained, tested or proven before
receiving his inheritance.
When he realized his mistake, he returned home,
asking his father to forgive him. His father not only forgave him,
but he restored him immediately to a position of dignity
and authority. His father hugged him, kissed him and threw
a welcome home party on his behalf.
The Prodigal’s older brother was disgusted
by all of this. He complained to his father that it was wrong to
honor his younger brother’s repentance and return. “After all,” he insisted, “he took all of
his inheritance and blew it on harlots and starlets, wine and crime, sin
and skin. He gave you the big burn and you honor his return.
What’s up with that, Daddy-o?”
I am always fascinated by his father’s
response.
Look what he said.
“And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever
with me, and all that I have is thine.” (Luke
15:31)
The father said, “Sure, you’ve been
faithful. You stayed with me when your brother didn’t and I
appreciate that. But don’t gripe because I killed a fatted calf for
him. You want a fatted calf? Go out back and get one.
They’re all yours anyway. All that I have is yours.”
Look more closely at that. The father
told the faithful son, “All that I have is yours.” Did you see
that? Don’t miss it now. The father said that all he had
belonged to his faithful son.
In this narrative Jesus is relaying that
everything belonging to the Father belongs to us as His sons and
daughters. Everything. Period. (Galatians 4:1-7) God is
the wealthiest, most successful Entrepreneur to ever set up shop on this
Earth and He is our Father. He is a good Father, too. When we obey Him and honor Him with our tithes and
offerings, He honors us with supernatural increase.
As a matter of
fact, when we pay our tithes and our offerings obediently, cheerfully and
expectantly, we are actually making deposits into bank accounts that the
Father has set up in Heaven under each of our individual names. Some
Christians have regarded this as “foolishness”, but the Bible teaches it
nonetheless.
Jesus
Said Every Believer Has a Bank Account in Heaven
If it is not true
that every Believer has a personal bank account in Heaven, then why would
Jesus have instructed us to lay our treasures up there?
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon
Earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through
and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor
steal:” (Matthew 6:19,20)
It is pretty clear from what Jesus states
here that we do indeed each have our own personal bank account in Heaven. Others insist that this account in Heaven
does indeed exist but is for use only once we get to Heaven.
However,
that is not what Jesus taught. Look at verse 20 again and you will
see that it says, “…lay up for yourselves treasures IN Heaven…” not “…lay
up for yourselves treasures FOR Heaven.” There is no need to lay
treasures up for Heaven. All the treasure we need is already there
waiting for us. We lay up treasures in Heaven so we can place a
demand on them while here on Earth.
The Apostle Paul said some things that make
it equally as clear that what we lay up IN Heaven is for use ON Earth in
the here and now.
“Laying up in store for themselves
a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on
eternal life.” (1Timothy 6:19)
Some Christians read this verse and wrongly
assume that Paul’s reference to “against the time to come” is a reference
to Heaven. However, this could not possibly be true. There is
no need for us to lay up in store a good foundation to be utilized in
Heaven. Nowhere in Scripture are we instructed to store anything FOR
Heaven. In Heaven everything is paid for. Everything is
provided for us there.
It is so important that we not confuse what
Paul is saying here. Paul is telling us to lay up in store for
ourselves a good foundation against the times to come here on Earth.
He is referring to the days ahead of us on Earth. He is telling us to
lay hold of all the benefits of Eternal Life right here on Earth. He
made this clear a few verses earlier.
“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on
eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good
profession before many witnesses.” (1Timothy 6:12)
We do not fight the good fight of
faith in Heaven. We fight it right here on Earth. We
do not wait until Heaven to lay hold of the benefits of Eternal Life.
We lay hold of the benefits of Eternal Life at the very same moment that we
are Born Again. At the very moment of making Christ our
Lord and Savior, all the benefits of Eternal Life become ours. Even the
Apostle Peter made this clear in his Epistle.
“According as his divine power hath given
unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the
knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:” (2Peter 1:3)
Peter said that by His Divine power,
Almighty God has made all the benefits of Eternal Life available to us NOW,
through the knowledge of God’s Word.
Jesus, Paul and Peter were not talking
about bankrolling a bunch of stuff now to use when we get to Heaven.
They are all talking about bankrolling a bunch of stuff in our Heavenly
bank accounts to be drawn upon now, here on Earth. They are all
talking about bankrolling everything that we need to seek and save the
lost, to destroy the works of Satan and to live prosperous lives that will
draw people to Jesus.
Back there in Matthew 6, where Jesus said,
“Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven…” the
word He used for “treasure” actually means “a protected storehouse.”
We pay tithes and offerings here on Earth and credit for doing so goes into
a protected storehouse in Heaven. There our credit is protected from
being eaten by “moths,” corrupted by “rust” and “stolen” by thieves.
These are all metaphorical references to Earth’s unstable economy.
There is no unstable economy in Heaven,
which is just further proof of the fact that we do not have to lay up
anything for use in Heaven. Economic instability exists in the Earth
only, which is why Jesus said to do the bulk of your banking in Heaven, not
on Earth. We do not need a major bankroll in the sweet by and
by. We need a major bankroll in the semi-sweet here and now to save
the lost, break Satan’s back and to be examples of God’s goodness to the
suffering people of the world. This will draw them to Him.
Paul
Specifically Referred to Bank Accounts in Heaven
Many Believers are
in the same boat as the Prodigal Son’s older brother. Like him, they
believe that everything belongs to the Father and that it is pretty much
inaccessible to the family. The father corrected his older son,
explaining to him that everything he owned was also his. It was just
sitting there unclaimed through the older son’s ignorance and fear.
The father had to explain to him that it was his, because somehow he had
not been paying attention. He had been making wrong, unfounded
assumptions that were not based on truth. That is what happens when
you do not do your homework.
Our Heavenly Father
is also attempting to explain, through His Word, that all He has is ours; yet, some of us are not paying
attention either. He is trying to explain, through His written Word,
that we are free to access that which is His and ours. Some have no
idea in the world that He has set up Heavenly bank accounts in each of our
individual names. These bank accounts can be increased through the
timely payment of tithes and offerings. However, most Believers do
not pay tithes and offerings in faith, expecting their accounts to
flourish. Most Believers pay tithes and/or offerings in fear. As I said, most Believers do not even know
they have a Heavenly bank account, never mind that it can be increased and
accessed. Let’s see what Paul said about
that.
“Now ye Philippians
know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church
communicated with me as concerning giving AND receiving, but ye only. For
even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not
because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your
ACCOUNT.” (Philippians 4:15-17)
There is some
revelation in here for anyone who is brave enough to receive it. Paul
said that the Philippians were the only ones who communicated or
participated with him concerning giving AND receiving.
I have had many
Believers walk up to me and put money into my hand. Immediately I ask
the Lord to return it to them in the form of money or in the form of things
that money cannot buy. More often than not, they will say, “Oh,
no! I would never ask God to give me something in return for obeying
Him.” I then ask the question, “Then how do you expect to stay in
operation if you don’t allow the Lord to give you a harvest on the seed you
plant? Soon you’ll run out of seed and you’ll be broke. What
kind of a farmer are you? His will is prosperity not poverty.”
Paul made this
perfectly clear when he commended the Philippians for participating with
him in the matter of “giving AND receiving.” It is the will of God
for us to cooperate with Him in the matter of “giving AND receiving,” not
just giving alone. When we do not allow the Lord to increase us
through our giving, we limit what He is able to do through us, we keep the
Gospel from being preached on a worldwide level and we cause people to end
up in Hell unnecessarily. Here again, we
are dealing with the issue of false humility. We covered that issue
rather well early on in lesson 13 entitled “This Isn’t Just About You, Honey!”
Therefore, we will not go into it again here.
However, I will say
if you are still afraid of prosperity, you will want to go back and re-read
that lesson until you become afraid of NOT prospering. I will go one
step further and say that there is a specific curse that comes upon people
when they refuse to allow God to bless them with the abundance of all
things, for any reason. (Deuteronomy 28:47,48)
Paul commended the
Philippians for both their giving and their receiving, because he had the
revelation that it was not just about him or them. Paul commended
their generosity but not because he desired a gift, as he said in verse
seventeen. Paul commended them because he desired fruit that would
“abound” to their “account.”
This clearly reveals that each of us has
an account in Heaven where exacting records are kept concerning our giving
and receiving, or concerning our credits and debits, or concerning our
deposits and withdrawals. It is just time to get a Bible clue on
God’s will for you.
It is simply not
possible to read the words of Jesus, combined with the words of the Apostle
Paul, and not believe that each individual Believer has a supernaturally
protected bank account in Heaven. These are accounts where treasures
can indeed be laid up against the difficult times to come here on
Earth.
These accounts can
abound and increase through the giving of tithes and offerings (Malachi 3:10-14; Hebrews 7:8), giving to the poor
(Proverbs 19:17), making any type
of investment into the preaching of the Gospel (Mark 10:29,30) and by giving
simply as praise to God. Sometimes this is to be done publicly, other
times it is to be done in secret. (Psalm 118:25-29; Matthew 6:3)
These bank accounts can be drawn upon at will for the work of the Gospel
first and the meeting of one’s needs after that.
In our next lesson we will study withdrawing from
the Believer’s individual bank account.
Be blessed … John and Barbara Hamel
How
to Be Born Again (Receive Christ as Your Savior)
How
to Receive The Holy Spirit & Power
Home
l Bible
Training l Top l
Beliefs l
Contact
|
