David Diga Hernandez - From Frustration to Fruitfulness

I think it’s important that you recognize the significance of finance. You know the Scripture talks a lot about money, and I’m going to discuss money with you today. I used to apologize for having these types of conversations because I didn’t want to be labeled as a certain type of evangelist, you know, a «name it, claim it,» «blab it, grab it,» prosperity preacher. In reality, I’m not one of those types of preachers, but we must acknowledge that Scripture addresses money, finances, blessings, lack, prosperity, and poverty. Truly, poverty cannot be God’s will. Poverty causes starvation, poverty causes disease, poverty causes death, poverty causes depression, and poverty causes discouragement. How can that be God’s will? How can poverty be God’s will when everything we see in heaven reflects who God is? In heaven, there is abundance; in fact, there is so much abundance that you walk on gold. There is so much abundance in heaven that everything created is for our pleasure. If that’s how it is in heaven—with feasting, abundance, joy, peace, and provision—then Jesus said to pray that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Everything as it is up there should be down here. Poverty cannot be the will of God. Poverty is not a godly trait; poverty is not something that God will necessarily give you as a reward. Now, the Apostle Paul did say, «I’ve learned how to live abased and how to live in abundance.» In other words, he has experienced both poverty and abundance, but poverty itself, in and of itself, is not necessarily godly. We need to move away from that type of thinking. Instead of putting out a whole defense on why prosperity is God’s will—I mean, I’ve written articles on this on my blog and several papers on it, but that’s a different message for a different time—I want to speak to those who already know in their hearts, after reading the Word, that prosperity is God’s will. I’m not saying that everyone will be super-rich and have a gigantic house that you can see on television when they feature your home. I’m not saying that everyone will possess the tremendous wealth seen in the 1% of the United States, but I do believe that God wants to give each of us enough to provide for our needs and more so that we can bless others. To me, that is prosperity: to have my needs met, to have provision, and to have more abundantly than all we can ask or imagine. It is in the nature of God. In Proverbs chapter 10, verse 22, the Scripture says, «The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich, and He adds no sorrow with it.» You see, in the world, when you obtain riches and prosperity in an ungodly way, riches obtained in an ungodly manner can never be considered true prosperity because prosperity is wholeness. Prosperity involves every aspect of your life, so if I obtain riches in an ungodly way, in a deceitful way, or in an ill-mannered way, then it cannot be true prosperity because it is not from God. It is not godly; it was not rooted in the character and nature of Christ. Therefore, anything received outside of the character and nature of Christ can never truly be counted as prosperity. You have to realize that it is God’s will to prosper you. It is God’s will to bless you; you need to be convinced of that. God wants to bless you. This is the reality; this is the truth. You want to be blessed, and God wants to bless you. So, how do you move from the frustration of poverty and lack, the frustration of being unable to act, to the fruitfulness of prosperity? Because really, when you have overflow, you can fund the church; when you have overflow, you can support ministries, orphanage projects, and missionaries. I can go on and on. Everyone wants to be in that position, and God wants you to be there. You want to be in a situation where your needs are met, where your family is taken care of, where you can bless your family, bless others, and bless the kingdom. That’s not a bad thing to want. In fact, Matthew chapter 6, verse 21, says, «Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.» Money is a good gauge for your heart. Now listen—this is important: money is a good gauge for your heart. Why? Because it’s so necessary. You might say, «Well, preachers, all you ever talk about is money,» and some people might be offended that I’m discussing money in this video. I don’t expect this video to be even over an hour long, especially compared to average church videos. I would be wrong for talking about this for 30 or 40 minutes, maybe an hour. Yet, you work for money almost eight hours a day. Money itself is not wrong. Let me tell you why people dislike it when others talk about money: people don’t like discussions about money because it touches at the very heart of the issue. It’s easy to say «praise God.»