How to be Rich

If you want what you have, you are rich.

If you want what you lack, you are poor.

God is everywhere.

God has everything.

God loves all of creation.

God loves each person.

God is constantly giving, blessing and moving. We believe that God has all things. Everything exists in and through God. Then why do we not have what we are asking God for each time we ask? What is missing so that we can receive the blessings, the changes in circumstances, and the new life we desire?

I grew up with a worldview where wealth, possessions, and blessings were all synonymous with being rich. Those who had things, or money, were rich. In contrast, those who lacked possessions were poor. Life-circumstances dictated whether someone was rich or poor.

When traveling different places this worldview was challenged. As I met people who had very little, who were happy, this mindset was unable to remain. While traveling in India in 2023 I went to a village which was very remote. There on a small, broken, slim path of sun-baked bricks, which no car could traverse, was a woman. She was humming and singing. When I asked someone nearby what she sings, they said she sang to God. I watched as squatting, she pressed what looked like mud into the path with her bare hands. Upon deeper examination these were cow patties from her neighbor's farm nearby. She pressed them and they would bake in the sunshine to be sold as fertilizer. Without a husband and with no children supporting her, this was found to be a stable income to sustain her. As she went about her business, buying the manure, pressing it, and selling it as fertilizer, she sang with gratitude. Her face, although lined with years, shone with peace. This old mother's labor, contentment, and serenity tore apart my worldview on the path that day.

When you are open, everyone can be your teacher. The wise will show and tell you how to live and the foolish will show and tell you what to avoid. As I watched my new teacher live her normal day, I was changed. It was not just that her current circumstances challenged my worldview of happiness, contentment, and wealth; it was also that her future prospects were just as bleak. Yet the peace and joy which were evident in her countenance disturbed me. She was not working for anyone's attention, there was no one to see her labor of love, in this far away place. I knew I was going home to my job as a Walmart manager making more than this woman would see in her lifetime, but she became my teacher in contentment. My worldview would not fit in this new understanding and this part of my life had to be rebuilt. My new Indian mother taught me with her life and I am still living with the teaching today.

I shared this lesson with my fellow pastors in Africa as I attempted to bring this mother's teaching to pastors who have been taught they are poor when they do not have a proper home, when their church is not impressive and big, when their income does not live up to certain standards. We spent hours going over what I am writing now: true riches come from wanting what we already have. When we want what God has already given us, we will be rich. When we live rich, God gives us more. It is in valuing what God has already put in us that more is added.

Mark 4:25 says, "Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them."

Matthew 13:12 says, "Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them."

Luke 8:18 says, "Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them."

These verses have perplexed me from my youth. How can something be taken from someone who doesn't have? Why would God give to those who already have? Is this the benevolence we preach about? Is this the God we have known and the Jesus we have described? Yet He said it. Please. Those with ears to hear and a mind to understand, listen. Jesus says that if you value what you have been given, more will be given to you. The parable of the talents says this. The parable about the vineyard owner going away says it. If you value your beginning and are faithful with the little given, more will be added to you.

I have met no one in any nation who is not praying for blessing. But God has everything. And God is everywhere. On top of that God loves everyone. So what is the hold up? If you do not value what has already been given, how can you be trusted with more. If you can't love your life as it is, a change in circumstances will make no difference. How many times have the poor been given money to come out of poverty? Why doesn't it work? Because the ability to utilize resources comes in valuing what is already there. Whenever you have seen someone truly promoted by God, it is because they have lived by this spiritual law. Some may trick their way to a promotion, but their reign is temporary because they do not have what it takes to hold that space or that blessing without being destroyed by it.

We must become a people who are asking God to change our hearts, not our circumstances. Money will not fix the poverty within. A new relationship will look like the old one quickly if what is missing inside us is not remedied. Possessions are a fleeting treasure. Those who are truly rich, love what they have and are trusted with true wealth. Sometimes that even looks like possessions, but many times it is contentment that gives birth to a teachable, hungry, and available heart to God.

So here is the step. Today, love what you have and where you are. Take time to be in the moment God has given you. Live in the place where God has planted you. Do not look ahead. Do not look behind. Spend even this moment in the present. Eternity is forever, but you only have access to it in this moment. Right now you can choose to love it by being in it. My examples to the pastors were different, but I will share them with you. If you have one pair of shoes, wash them in the morning, dust them off at night. Treasure them and they will become two pair. If you pray for a motorcar, but will not even take care of your own shoes, do not expect God to answer that prayer. If you ask for your own home and your own plot (of land), take care of the place where you live now. If you live in a small place, look after it. Take special care of it. If you live on someone else's land, care for it as it was your own and God will bless it. When this is done, it opens you up to receive the answer to your prayer for your own land.

Jesus says in Luke 16:10-12

¹⁰ “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. ¹¹ So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?¹² And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?"

To my friends in the West I would say, a lot of our prayers are about God bringing peace to outer circumstances, relationships, or our mental position. If our prayers are for peace, then we have to position ourselves to let go of the turmoil in our own minds. The suffering which is often caused by overanalyzing, overthinking, or attempting to control what is out of our control. I will write something to speak to this soon. Even as I am writing today, I feel God asking me to write another day on acceptance, but I will leave it for another teaching to stay on track.

For today, there is a prayer I want to teach which will help facilitate loving your life as it is. It is a prayer exercise God has taught me and I want to give it to you as a gift today. As with any gift, if you do not want it, or would rather wait, please feel free to scroll past it.

1. Breathe: (silence)

   Find a quiet or private space where you can have 5-10 minutes to practice the exercise. Take a moment to breathe deeply for three full breathes. Breathe in through your nose, hold it until the tension builds in your body and release it slowly. During the prayer, continue as you can to remember your breath and come back to it if you become distracted.

2. Release: "I will let go"

   After 3 breathes, hold 2 fists out in front of your body. The intension is to let go of trying to control life. Release the hold you have tried to have over your circumstances and say "I will let go." Speak it with that intention and release your fists. Feel the tension and weight come off of you.

3. Raise your offering: "I will lift up"

   Next, see your circumstances and maybe the state of your family or even the world in the palms of your hands. Now in this part of the prayer we offer our lives, which we have let go of, to God. Raise your circumstances up to God in your palms and bow your head in reverence to God as you say, "I will lift up." This act of surrender may come with peace flowing into you.

4. Lift your eyes: "I will look out"

   Lift your gaze with the intention of seeing God and what God has for you. As you raise your gaze up speak, "I will look out." During this part of the prayer God may bring new ideas, or understanding to you.

5. Build your faith: "Because, You are enough"

   Take your raised hand and bring them down into prayer hands over your heart. Speak over yourself that God is enough to take care of all these things. God is enough to lead you in what you are going through. God is enough to bring you to the promised land He has for you. With you hands over your heart say, "because you are enough." You will feel your faith rise during this statement. Repeat it and repeat it and your faith will rise even more.

This can be practiced for a short time just once through, or you can continue to go through the steps. I once sat for an hour and spoke these words with these motions: It has been one of the greatest hours of my life so far. Practice and watch what God will do.

1. "I will let go" (fists released)

2. "I will lift up" (palms raised, head bowed)

3. "I will look out" (eyes lifted to God)

4. "Because you are enough" (palms together over your heart)

My last notes, ramblings, and wrap up: God already has everything. He can give it to us at any time. So why isn't God giving what we are asking for? We are not ready. We have not matured to take hold of the blessing which God has set aside for us. When you are rich, you will know that all God is always with you and all God has is yours. When you need it, it will come to you. When you know that God is enough, all the things which are required to go to the next place He is calling you to will come. When you love and use what you have, even more will be added to you. When you want what you have, you will be rich. If you want what you lack, you will always be poor. Thank you for the love, encouragement, resources, and prayers. God is within you and when you seek Him you will find Him. God bless you all today.