How to be Rich
[on earth and in heaven / or / here in this life and in the eternal life with God]
It is good to be rich , but you must use your wealth and all you have , for the glory of God , and to do His will and all charitable deeds . Your wealth is considered a talent you have taken from God , and so you must bear good fruits with it .
Be rich in every good thing , not only money , be rich in mercy , in love , in wisdom … and in righteousness and in all good things that God likes . All these things are much better than all the treasures of the earth , because they will lead you to the treasures of heaven and to the kingdom of God and so you will live with the Lord forever . Also , put your trust in the Lord before anything else , and say with David the psalmist "Ps. 23 : 1 The Lord is my shepherd , I shall not want" .
+ Prayer : [Lord , please teach me how to use my money , my wealth and all my riches , and all my talents which you have given me , according to Your will , that I may bear much fruits , and that I may glorify You and Your name , and to bring many people to You , and to do many good deeds . And also let me be rich in many good fields in You and through You , in the kingdom of heaven] .
+ The blessing of the Lord : It is said "Prov. 10 : 22 The blessing of the Lord , it makes rich , and he adds no sorrow with it" . So before we say how to be rich , we need to know , that someone can be poor but the Lord blesses the little which he has , and so he lives better than a rich one , he lives peacefully and without any trouble , and his health stays good .
Sometimes God lays up a treasure for someone in the kingdom of heaven , like Lazarus who lived very poor , but in heaven he became in the bosom of our father Abraham "Luke 16 : 19 –" .
The blessing of the Lord means that he blesses something and so it remains in the best case , and it does not decay nor be affected negatively in any way , for example :
1] "Deut. 8 : 4 Through all these forty years your clothing did not get old or your feet become tired" , here God blessed the clothing and the health of the children of Israel , so nothing wrong happened to them .
2] Also the blessing of the Lord can be in time and in effort , whether while studying or while doing any work . When the Lord blesses your time and your effort , everything will done for you easily and the best way .
This is briefly what is meant by the blessing of the Lord , but please read Chapter 28 of the book of Deuteronomy to understand it more .
+ Prayers : [Lord please bless me and bless my money , my time , my health , my work , my clothing , my car , my food and my drink , my house , my group on the net , my church , and my country . Lord , You are the Almighty God , lift me up , help me to do what makes me rich / or / give me a good job with a good salary] .
- Every one can pray as the Holy Spirit gives him and according to his circumstances . Pray what you want , even three times a day , and fast while you have in your heart your good desires ] .
- But , keep in mind :
1) That you must be righteous , so that God may hear and answer your prayers .
2) With God everything has a certain time , so you pray , but wait for the Lord .
+ What I am going to say , are God's words , not mine , I'll try to mention as many verses as possible , so study them by heart and memorize them , that they may be always in your mind to do them the best way and at the right time .
+ Now , here are a few little and simple things , which if you do , you will be rich on earth and in heaven , and if you do them you will also save much time and much effort , they are :
1] The vows . 2] All firstfruits and firstlings . 3] The tithes .
4] Honor God . 5] Give the poor and the needy .
6] And be righteous , be filled with good virtues , especially love , honesty , mercy , meekness , justice and truth … , and stay away from vices especially deceitfulness , adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness . And always pray to God with humbleness of heart .
+ [1] The vows :
If you take a vow you must do it as you said it , or else it will be a sin against you , you have the right not to vow at all in all your life , "Ecc. 5 : 5 , 6 It is better not to take a vow than to take a vow and not keep it , let not your mouth make your flesh do evil , and say not before the angel , it was an error , so that God may not be angry with your words and put an end to the work of your hands" , "Deut. 23 ; 22 But if you take no vow , there will be no sin" .
+ [2] and [3] All firstfruits and firstlings , and the Tithes :
- "Deut. 12 : 6 And there you are to take your … and your tithes … and the offerings of your vows , and your freewill offerings , and the firstlings of your herds and your flocks" .
- Concerning firstlings , it was from the time of Abel son of Adam "Gen.4 : 4 Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof" . The commandments of the firstlings were for people living in villages in the old , but now most people have jobs , and there is no commandment concerning firstlings to those who have jobs , so , the best opinion I like , concerning this , is that the first year after graduation should be all to the Lord (in the church) , and then , if at any time in your life you get a new job , you pay the first salary of the first month to the Lord .
- As for tithes : "Deut. 14 : 22 you shall truly tithe all the increase of your seed, that the field brings forth year by year" , notice that God says "all" , any money you get , pay one tenth of it to God , whether your salary , or if you lease a house , or … . Even the poor man must pay tithes , and even priests pay tithes from what they get as salary from the tithes of the people "Numb. 18 : 26" / "Neh. 10 : 38" .
- "Malachi 3 :8 - 10" is a very clear verse about tithes "Bring all the tithes into the store-house so that there may be food in my house , and put me to the test by doing so , says the Lord of hosts , and see if I do not make the windows of heaven open and send down such a blessing on you that there is no room for it" , so paying all your tithes is one of the best things that will have God make you rich , it is the only time He says "put me to the test" . In verses 8 and 9 which are before this verse , God says "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, wherein have we robbed You? In tithes and offerings , you are cursed with a curse , for you have robbed me …" , notice here that He considers the one who does not pay tithes is a robber , as if he robbed God , and he will be cursed , because tithes is God's right for His house and for the priests and for all who work in His house .
- It is also said that tithes include time . I think that is why God told us to keep the Sabbath (Sunday) only for Him , so we better keep 2 or 3 hours daily to pray and to read and study the Holy Bible or to minister in the church .
- When we pay tithes and firstfruits and firstlings , we should pay them with joy , and pay them in the house of the Lord only not as a charitable deed to anyone else , because as we said tithes are God's right , it is not that we are righteous , even if your church is rich and does not need , give to any poor church or monastery .
+ [4] Give honor to the Lord :
- From "Prov. 3 : 9 , 10 Give honor to the Lord with your wealth , and with the first-fruits of all your increase , so your store-houses will be full of grain, and your vessels overflowing with new wine" , if we honor God with our wealth and with the firstfruits , He will increase them abundantly .
- We can honor God with many kinds of freewill offerings . The freewill offerings can be anything more than tithes and firstlings , like money or prayers and fasting or physical effort or ministry in the church , or by helping in building a house of God … , or by anything you can do or give . They also glorify and honor God , and at the same time they are for our benefit .
- Of course , whoever gives honor to the Lord , the Lord will honor him "1 Sam. 2 : 30 I will give honor to those by whom I am honored" .
+ [5] Give the poor and the needy :
- "Rom. 12 : 8 he who gives , with liberality" , "Deut. 16 : 17 Every man is to give as he is able, in the measure of the blessing which the Lord your God has given you" , so give with liberality but only as you can , if you give more than your ability you may be in trouble and will need someone to give you , so be careful , every virtue must be done with wisdom , but if you want to be like the widow of the two mites "Mark 12 : 41 – 44 / Luke 21 : 1 - 4" , it is up to you but be sure it is God's will .
- God commands us saying "Lev. 19 : 13 you shall not be cruel to your neighbor , neither rob him , the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with you all night until the morning" . "Duet. 24 : 14 you shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy , whether he is one of your brethren , or of the strangers that are in your land within your gates" . [see also "Duet. 15 : 11 / Prov. 21 : 13"] .
- Important Notes : 1) Not every poor in money is poor in spirit , and not every one who says I am needy is really in need , so as we said , be wise .
2)"Ps 41 : 1 Blessed is he who considers the poor; the Lord will deliver him in the time of trouble" , so redeem yourself by helping the needy .
3) When you help any one , have in mind that he may be a great saint and may help you in the last day .
4) The most important thing you must always consider and keep in mind , is that it is better to honor and glorify God than to help others , God must be always first of all , because many people everywhere make this mistake , they help others without glorifying God .
5) If you own a firm , try to hire righteous employees , that God may bless your firm because of them , as he blessed the house of the Egyptian [and all Egypt] because of Joseph "Gen. 39 : 5" .
+ [6] Be righteous , be filled with good virtues , especially love , honesty , mercy , meekness , justice and truth … , and stay away from vices especially deceitfulness , adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness . And always pray to God with humbleness of heart .
1] Wisdom , knowledge and understanding : they are better than riches , and even more they will bring glory and all good things including riches , and that is here on earth and in the eternal life , see "Prov. 3 : 35 / Prov. 8 : 11 / Job 28 : 18" .
2] Meekness [to be meek means to be harmless] : "Ps.37 : 11 / Mt. 5 : 5 Blessed are the meek , for they shall inherit the earth" , so be meek that you may inherit this earth , and inherit the new earth with God in the everlasting life .
3] Faithfulness : "Prov. 28 : 20 A man of good faith will have great blessing , but one attempting to get wealth quickly shall not be innocent" . So be faithful , and don't try to be rich quickly .
4] Also every other virtue and righteousness in general , bring every good thing "Ps. 37 : 29 / Prov. 31 : 10 / and also read the sermon on the mount (Mt. 5 , 6 ,7) / and Deuteronomy 28" .
+ What lead to poverty :
1] "Prov. 23 : 21 the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty" .
2] "Prov. 6 : 26 by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread" .
3] "Prov. 11 : 28 He who trusts in his riches shall fall , but the righteous shall flourish as a branch" .
4] "Prov. 28 : 20 , 22 he who makes haste to be rich shall not be innocent … He who hastens to be rich has an evil eye, and considers not that poverty shall come upon him" .
- If you see anything opposite to this happens , and an evil person is very rich , don't worry , for this will be for a while , or because God is giving him his reward here on earth only but in the eternal life he will not be with God , like the rich man who was with Lazarus "Luke 16" .
+ Usury and interest :
To make it easy , we can say that usury is the bad interest and is against love .
In "Deuteronomy 23 : 19" , God commands us saying "You shall not lend upon usury to your brother , usury of money , usury of victuals , usury of any thing that is lent upon usury" , in another version it is "Do not take interest from your brother on anything , money or food or any other goods" .
Briefly , the difference between interest and usury , is that , if you lend a poor or a needy person and take interest from him , this is usury and is sin , but if you lend someone who will achieve a project to gain much money , then , you can take interest from him , for you are now like a bank who gives loans with interest .
But , please , when you give anything to anyone in need , or if you want to do Jesus' commandment "Mt. 5 : 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away" , be wise , don't give unless you are sure he is really in need . I know some people who gave much money to others , but later they found out that they were deceived by them . Pray before you do anything .
+ From the Sayings of our Lord Jesus :
1] The previous verse : "Mt. 5 : 42 Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away" and "Luke 6 : 30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back" , here we learn that we should give to the poor and the needy without looking to a reward from them , but still we have hope to get our heavenly reward from the Lord .
2] "Mt. 5 : 20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees , you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven" , this verse applies to the whole life in general , but as an example here we can say , the Pharisees paid tithes , but now in the New Testament we should pay more than that , and should do charitable deeds as much as we can , and do all this for the glory of God and because we love God and men , not only because we should obey the commandment .
3] "Mt. 19 : 21 / Mk. 10 :21 / Lk. 18 : 22 Jesus said to him , if you want to be perfect , go , sell what you have and give to the poor , and you will have treasure in heaven" , "Mt. 6 : 19 lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven" , from these verses we can be sure , that in heaven there is wealth and riches , or in other words , someone will be richer than another , although they both are in heaven , but still there will be different classes , exactly as there will be difference in glory "1 Cor. 15 : 41 one star differs from another star in glory" . Every one in the eternal life will differ in every thing than all others , exactly as we all now are different than each other , because in the eternal life there will be a similar social life , but without marriage , without sorrow and without any evil or any bad thing .
What confirms also that one will be richer than another , is that the Holy Bible mentioned many times that Jesus our Lord , when He comes , He will reward everyone according to his deeds and according to the good fruits he has made , so there will be a great reward and a small reward . This reward will be of different kinds including wealth and riches .
+ So now if you want to be rich in heaven : do all what we mentioned here in this book , love God and men , be filled with the Holy Spirit and good virtues and do every good charitable deed you can , that you may be worthy to hear the voice of the Lord saying to you "Mt. 25 : 34 - 36 Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me" .
Amen , O Lord Jesus Christ , You are my God , You are the Almighty the Gracious , please , let me be worthy , to be with you in Your heavenly kingdom forever , and to take good reward from you . Amen .
