Faith-Full Prosperity

We have designated October as Prosperity Month at Unity Spiritual Center Denver, so my mind is focusing on ways to speak about the subject. Well-known prosperity teachers in the New Thought movement of today come to mind; people like Mary Manin Morrissey, author of Building Your Field of Dreams and creator of Prosperity Plus and Prosperity Plus II, and Edwene Gaines, minister, teacher and author of The Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity.

Those who have been in the Unity movement for some time know that Catherine Ponder was a pioneering thought leader in the realm of prosperity consciousness. Her teaching is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. If you have not yet read her book, The Prosperity Secrets of the Ages, I highly recommend that you do. There are many other prosperity teachers, but these are the ones who have, to my knowledge, had the most far-reaching and profound influence on the prosperity consciousness of our movement.

This is perhaps an understatement, but I fully realize that not everyone appreciates Pastor Joel Osteen, especially after the negative publicity he received recently in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. He is, however, a leading voice in the arena of what is commonly known as the “prosperity gospel” for those who are seeking a more traditional approach.

I understand, too, that not everyone who is reading this post relates to Mr. Osteen’s approach to Scripture or even his presentation style. Regardless of what one may think of him personally or professionally, it is apparent that he is speaking to many people right where they are and evidently to what they need in a powerful and meaningful way.

His church, the largest Protestant church in the United States, boasts an average weekly attendance of over 43,000. In addition, his televised sermons are viewed by over 7 million people weekly and over 20 million monthly in 100 countries. Obviously, he is reaching people in numbers that none of those mentioned above, or probably even in the totality of our movement, have done to date.

While I do not agree with his theology, I am often inspired by some of the concepts presented in Pastor Osteen’s books. I truly appreciate the opportunity he provides me to reinterpret his traditional perspective into language that fits my theology. It seems that he is teaching, albeit from a traditional and more literal approach, much of what Catherine Ponder teaches from a metaphysical perspective of Scripture. In fact, there is nothing new in what Mr. Osteen teaches. He is simply teaching in a way that reaches those who still view the Bible literally. Obviously, they are a much larger segment of the population than those of us in New Thought.

As I began to consider my Sunday lessons on prosperity during October, I was once again drawn to read and listen to the audiobook version of Mr. Osteen’s book, Break Out! 5 Keys to go beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life. I used this book as the foundation for a series of lessons I gave four years ago at Unity of Arlington. Not surprising to me, because it happens frequently when I revisit books, I am reading and hearing things that I missed before. I realize that what is actually happening is that I am reading and listening from a different perspective. I have grown in my consciousness over the past three years, so naturally, I am experiencing his words differently. In what follows, I have chosen to share my perspective on Pastor Osteen’s words.

Unshakable Faith

Mr. Osteen says,

“When God puts a promise in your heart, you have to come to the place where you believe in that promise so strongly no one can talk you out of it.”

What is the promise that God puts in your heart? It is not the promise of health or wealth, not the promise of new job or the prefect relationship; not the promise of a new car or a grand home. The promise that God places in your heart is the same promise that is in the heart of all. God’s promise is not the manifestation of something in the physical, but is the promise of the truth of Oneness.

The promise is “I Am that; I Am.” The “I” which we call ‘God,’ ‘Universe,’ ‘Divine Mind,’ ‘One’ as well as many other names is the All in all and the All as all. The “I” is our only Truth. That Truth is “written on our hearts.” In other words, the Truth is recorded in our soul or etched on our spirit.

 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel

    after that time,” declares the LORD.

“I will put my law in their minds

    and write it on their hearts.

I will be their God,

    and they will be my people. – Jeremiah 31:33

That covenant is that the ‘I’ is all you need. Conditions change, people come and go, jobs begin and end, and houses are built and destroyed: “I” is changeless and eternal. We must place our faith so strongly in the awareness of the ‘I’ that nothing can move us. Nothing in the external can shake the faith that ‘I’ is the only Truth. No appearance, no circumstance can move us from our firm foundation in the Truth. It is this Truth that sets us free from the suffering caused by focusing on conditions.

Charles Fillmore, the co-founder of Unity, said,

“When we deny our attachment to matter and material conditions and affirm our unity with spiritual substance, we enter the new consciousness of real substance. Substance is not confined to matter; it is the idea that is the firm foundation of all that we conceive to be permanent.”

Mr. Osteen says, “If you focus on the condition, focus on the problem, you are using your faith but you are using it in reverse.”

Actually if you are focusing on your problem, if you are paying attention only to the condition, you are not using faith at all. Unity minister and author, Eric Butterworth, in his book Spiritual Economics, defines ‘faith’ as “consciousness centered in the Divine Flow.”  If we understand ‘faith’ from that perspective, it does not follow that faith can be used to focus on a problem. If we are focusing on the circumstance and we are not aware of the Truth in the midst of it, then we are in fear, not in faith. Faith is keeping our minds stayed on Truth.

Mr. Osteen encourages us to, “Get in agreement with God” (Job 22:21). We must be honest, and ask ourselves whether we are agreeing with the medical report or the financial report, or are we agreeing with the promise of God – the Truth of our Being.

This does not mean that we have to deny the appearance or live with our heads in the sand. It is fine to have information. However, it is essential not to allow the information to be perceived as Truth. The facts about a physical condition, financial situation, job or relationship are just that, facts; they are not your Truth. Do not allow the “facts” to inform your actions. Remove your focus from the facts before taking action and allow divine guidance to inform your actions.

Living a prosperous life is not something that happens to you; it happens through you. Living a prosperous life results not from focusing on life’s conditions and taking action to remedy them, but from living in conscious awareness of the eternal Truth of your being - the ‘I’ that is and was and evermore shall be All and taking action inspired from that consciousness. Your Good is not dependent upon any person, place or thing in the external. Your good is dependent upon you and your willingness to make that shift in consciousness.

Join us for our service this Sunday at 10:00. In my lesson, I will explore the role that the power of Faith plays, not only in establishing a prosperity consciousness, but also in demonstrating prosperity in our live.