I hear people across North America make these proclamations all of the time..

“I’m blessed and highly favored! Just paid $400 in tithes and received a check to pay my light bill!”

“God blessed me with a 2019 Mercedes!”

“God is blessing me over and over..every time I turn around. Just received more hours at work. God favors me!”

Dr. Creflo Dollar is a popular “Prophet” who teaches his congregation that “God” wants them to be materialistically rich and wealthy. Sadly, many local mega churches here in Arkansas are following the same doctrines. But what’s funny is while singing this song in church as a child, “All These Blessings” from The Mississippi Children’s Choir, the only blessings mentioned were “eyes to see, ears to hear, a voice to talk, and legs to walk”. Never did it say “home ownership, more time on the job, expensive cars, expensive purses, and nice material things” were blessings.

But, we’re being taught that all of these material blessings come from God! And they love to use “supernatural” as if it is a mystery why they keep receiving lavish items and material wealth. I will publish a post breaking down the illegitimacy of the popular religiously promoted prosperity doctrine in another blog. So stay tuned!

I have come to a realization that these “blessings” that people were referring to were all “private” interpretations and stemmed from materialistic lust. It always feels like a “blessing” to get something you’ve never had! Your adrenaline is pumping and YES it feels good!! But lust feels good as well. And I’m not speaking of just sexual lust. We can lust after money, clothing, food, etc. It may feel amazing to sit at a buffet and just eat because the food is there. It feels great to have a closet full of clothes and shoes just because you want to look at it.

Lust by etymology is:

• lust (v.) c. 1200, “to wish, to desire eagerly.”

• lust (n.) “desire, appetite; inclination, pleasure; sensuous appetite,” from Proto-Germanic *lustuz ……“to be eager, wanton (lacking self-control)..

“If the rich and famous can have things like this (referring to luxury vehicles and mansions) then aren’t we as servants of God worthy to receive these?”

This type of teaching is what shaped my idea of “blessings” at an early age. I once thought “blessings” from God meant having a nice car, a big beautiful house, etc. until I woke up one day and realized..What “Master” or “Lord” would BLESS me with DEBT? Is that a blessing or enslavement?

If you owe any person money, you are indebted to them until that agreement is fulfilled. So, teaching people to lust after materialism is in essence teaching them to become a slave to their own ego…teaching them to want more so that they can work more and really never get a chance to enjoy the simple things in life.

I use the term slave as synonymous with “bondage”. You are attached to that particular person or company by a string of “I owe yous” until those payments are complete.

Try skipping a mortgage payment and see if that house really belongs to you. Try skipping a car payment and see if your blessing will still be parked outside in the morning. No, it will be taken by the real “God” of that item once it is repo’d.

Contrary to popular belief, ownership is not ALWAYS synonymous with freehold.

You can hold TEMPORARY ownership or possession of a home or vehicle until you no longer are able to uphold the agreement. And THEN you will discover that “God” did not “bless” you with these things. But, YOU took it upon yourself to attain these items to fill a personal need.

This is not to throw anyone under the bus, because I am not exempt from being once fooled by this doctrine. We have all been fooled by the American dream….collecting education debt in order to be “blessed” with a degree, only to get the job we wanted and enslaved 20+ years due to paying back school loans. Some of us lust after STUFF to put ourselves in an endless competition against every other U.S. citizen instead of just being content with the things we already have. We may have FREEHOLD of land, a home, a vehicle, and owe zero to any entity, but we STILL desire more because we are dissatisfied with minimalism.

My husband bought a brand new $35,000 truck in 2014. Guess what? We called it a BLESSING because it was exactly what he wanted…A red, crew cab, long truck bed, Chevrolet Silverado.

We even considered our military service a BLESSING due to the steady income. But then we realized, how can a blessing come with a contract? Would the Creator cause us to be servants to the point of exhaustion or encourage us to fight in wars in order to live a prosperous life?! We began to realize that more leased material possessions equated to more time spent at WORK just to keep up with the payments and even MORE time away from our children and family we’d started. Eventually, we separated from active duty military because we were tired of putting our family’s happiness 2nd to a job and materialism.

That “blessing” of a somewhat “guaranteed” paycheck on the 1st and the 15th was ONLY a BLESSING when we were happy buying everything we wanted at the time. But that “blessing” became a stumbling block…. or a “curse”….when we were too exhausted to spend quality time as a family.

If there was a deity sitting in the sky granting wishes because we are “deserving,” then we would have to say that the homeless and those living in disease-stricken, impoverished societies must not be good enough to get their wishes granted. They must not be praying hard enough to receive “blessings” from “God,” because their wishes have not came true yet.

This is what the modern day prosperity doctrine teaches. It never teaches a person to attain what is needed and then look to and fro to help others who don’t have anything. It teaches people to constantly want THINGS regardless of whether the need is there or not. You already have a home and reliable vehicle, but greed is telling you to get more, more, and more because GOD wants you to be wealthy to the point where you won’t be able to handle it! “He’s going to bless you BEYOND measure so much you won’t have room to receive it.” “God” is more concerned with YOU having MORE THAN YOU NEED than granting a simple wish of food and water. Does that sound like a loving Creator or greedy humans? Unconditional hearts would want to share any overages with those who do not have, not beg for more.

Only the citizens of the wealthiest countries consider material possessions BLESSINGS. However, if you zoom in on the lives of those living in Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and other remote places, the “Creator” is telling them a different story about blessings. I have personally lived in all of the above places or traveled to see with my own eyes. Costa Rica considers “Pura Vida” a blessing, which is simply living a pure life without chaos and slowing your energy down to enjoy this beautiful planet so that you aren’t rushing life away and living life only to work and die.

Attaining items in life in order to have the bare necessities and basic needs is totally opposite of desiring materials in order to fill voids and become greedy. Putting a stamp of approval on material possessions boasting and claiming that it was a gift from “God” only makes some feel better about being greedy, but it does not make the statement any more true. It’s time we as adults take responsibility for our own choices. It’s time to face reality and call things as they are instead of putting ideologies on “God.”

Remember these same “blessings” that make us feel esteemed and successful in the western world can also be the very things holding us back from happiness and a worry-free life.

Sure, these things we acquire help us to feel better externally…it fills a void when we (as those in the lower social class) can attain and possess the same things that others can. It gives us a sense of security. We often times feel that we should have something nice to compensate for our hard work. It is a NEED that we all experience at some point in our life…to appear wealthy…to have the best of the crop…until (like me) you examine all of your debt/bills and begin to question if it’s even worth it anymore.

In 2016, we sold all of our belongings to follow our heart and live a life free from debt and THINGS. We left the U.S. with clothes, shoes, and a clear purpose. It was the best decision of our lives. For the first time, I felt in my heart what the true prosperity doctrine was. Prospering mentally and physically is way more rich than appearing to be wealthy with materialism.

Blessings, in my opinion, are extramundane, corporeal, etc. Blessings are often things that can’t be seen but can be felt. Things like having good health, having daily peace, having joy in your heart, experiencing LOVE…rolling out of bed and laughing just because it’s a new day…giving thanks for the small things..selflessly giving to others to put a smile on their face.

Blessings to me are also bLESSONS…experiences that develop character and wisdom.

Blessing: a beneficial thing for which one is grateful; something that brings well-being:

I like to encourage those who are viewing the United States as a space of wealth or a country that is leading by example to please consider the things that you currently have. Many citizens in America are deficient of the mental/psychological wealth that other countries have.

All in all, we have the freedom to feel and believe what we will. What prosperity doctrine do you think more closely matches a blessing from The Mist High God? Material prosperity? Psychological prosperity? Combination of both? Or do all of these concepts depend on the individual and their current state of mind?

#myblessingisknowledge #myblessingispeace #laughterismyblessing #truthsetsmefree #freeyourself #trueprosperity #minimalism #love