So, what is a more biblical approach?
1. God is good. He is generous. He desires that we have what we need, and more to share.
2. God is spirit, and desires us to worship HIM in Spirit and in truth. Any material thing or person that interferes in our worship is liable to removal. He will not share his glory with anyone.
3. God prospers and humbles according to his own plan and purposes. Paul said he could be content to abase or abound. God blessed Abraham's family with a fortune... then asked him to leave it behind. He gave Abraham another fortune, which Abraham held loosely, as we can tell from his tithing to the priest, and his foregoing plunder in a war, in order to keep his heart and allegiance to The Most High pure. Job prospered, and was reduced to nothing in a day. He was blessed for holding fast to his belief that God was a GOOD God despite his experience of devastation. After a season of darkness, the Lord again prospered him. Both Abraham and Job had the experience of a messenger coming to them to challenge their ideas of the limits of what God could do, of impugning his character.
Jesus spoke clearly: The Great Commission calls for willingness to abandon all we have at a moment's notice. Yet the Plan rests upon people like Cornelius and Zaccheus, and Lydia, prospering and opening their homes to the proclaimers of the good news and blessing the poor with what they need.
It is a defamation of God's character to believe that he prefers discomfort, rejoices in hunger, that he loves that which is ugly and harmful, or that he doesn't care about the physical needs of those who love Him.
What is God's will for me today? Is it for abundance? Or abandonment? We have his promise, "You will hear a voice behind you saying, 'This is the way: walk in it.' "
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