Tag Archives: prosperity

Do Not Resent the Good Fortune of Others

Do not resent the good fortune of others title photo

Do Not Resent the Good Fortune of Others

During the Christmas season I sent out an email to my subscribers informing them of a holiday hiatus. I unfortunately received a very hurtful and critical reply. After the holidays and vacation time, I prayed and thought about this exchange and felt like this would be a good, teachable moment for my readers. The lesson is on learning how to rejoice with those who rejoice and learning not to begrudge or resent the good fortune of others.

I’ll first share my initial email to my subscribers and the response I received. Then, I’ll share a reply to that response. After that, I’ll communicate what God put on my heart about the importance of celebrating the good fortune of others instead of being offended by it and what the posture of our heart should be.

My initial email sent out to notify I wouldn’t be posting for a while:

“Hello Happy, Healthy & Prosperous Subscribers! 

There will be no new teaching posts for the next few weeks. I’ll be taking a holiday hiatus! I’ll be in Europe for a bit to celebrate my 20 year wedding anniversary (so excited!!). It’s also my goal to make the most of the time with my kids and family to celebrate Christmas.  I encourage you to do the same!  Please don’t let the busyness of the season get in the way of your most important relationships.  Make the most of the opportunities you have while you still have them!

“How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil.  Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” James 4:14-17 (NLT)

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” Ephesians 5:15-16 (NIV)

May you and your families have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26 (ESV)

I’ll see you again in 2020!

Tracy 🙂 “

A reader’s email response:

“Seriously have to flaunt your personal life? It’s such a snub to people who are single. Whatever.”

My reaction or reply to this reader’s response…

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Confess Your Sins…

Confess your sins...

Confess Your Sins

“Whoever hides their sins will not be successful, but whoever confesses their sins and stops doing wrong will receive mercy.” Proverbs 28:13 (ERV)

Do you have some hidden sin that is blocking your success and prosperity? Concealing sins can prove to be a road block or a hindrance to us. Hidden and unconfessed sin can also cause anxiety and inner turmoil. It can begin to eat away at us.

“When I refused to confess my sin, my body wasted away, and I groaned all day long.” Psalm 32:3 (NLT)

“I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Sin has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within.” Psalm 31:10 (NLT)

God knows this and therefore has given us confession as an outlet. Weights can be lifted and refreshing can come when we confess things and come clean. Proverbs 28:13 promises us mercy when we confess our sins and stop doing wrong. Today I’d like to share four observations that I took away from this verse about hiding sins versus confessing them. 

Observation #1: Hiding sins blocks success

Whoever hides their sins will not be successful, but whoever confesses their sins and stops doing wrong will receive mercy.” Proverbs 28:13 (ERV)

Don’t hide or try to conceal your sins. You shouldn’t cover them up. Don’t act fake. Don’t act as if you never do anything wrong. Claiming to be without sin is just deceiving yourself and others. Everyone has sinned. So be transparent! Concealing sins blocks success and prosperity.

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” 1 John 1:8-10 (NIV)

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Romans 3:23 (NLT) 

Observation #2: Confess your sins

“Whoever hides their sins will not be successful, but whoever confesses their sins and stops doing wrong will receive mercy.” Proverbs 28:13 (ERV)

Admit your wrongs. Tell God. Tell someone else so that you may receive help, healing and accountability. Confession of sins can bring healing (emotional, physical, etc.) to yourself and to others involved.

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” James 5:16 (NLT)

It will also lift weights to get them off of your chest. It’s important to get sins into the light so that the darkness can be dispelled. Satan wants to keep them in darkness.

“All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.” John 3:20-21 (NLT)

However, keep in mind that all things in darkness and hidden will eventually be revealed anyway!

All things hidden will be revealed…

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With a Long Life I Will Satisfy You…

With a long life I will satisfy you...

With a Long Life I Will Satisfy You…

My family took another hit this past week as we had another death in the family. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we lost my cousin. This past week we lost the matriarch of our family, my 92 year old grandmother. Though her death was very difficult, there was still a lot of peace and comfort in her passing because we know she was the epitome of a godly woman who lived a long and rewarding life leaving behind a magnificent legacy. Now she is with her Jesus, a long awaited dream of hers.

“For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die.” Isaiah 57:2 (NLT)

There are so many things that come to mind when I think of my grandma, so many things from which we all could learn. She totally rocked the whole Proverbs 31 thing! As I’ve discussed before, these are not just important character traits for women. She was very family-oriented, and she loved her husband deeply. She had a great love for people and welcomed them with open arms, even the sometimes unlovable or those who occasionally made poor life choices. Forgiveness and generosity were in her nature. She had a gentle, quiet spirit.

“You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.” 1 Peter 3:4 (NLT)

Most importantly though, my grandma loved Jesus with all of her heart. I think her greatest desire was for her family to share that love of God.

The morning of her funeral

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Prayer for You This Year–2018

Prayer for You This Year 2018

Photo by Ümit Bulut on Unsplash

Prayer for You This Year–2018

As many people start the year with a fresh start and New Year’s Resolutions, it’s a time to look toward the upcoming year. The same is true for me. I’ll be participating with my church in a 21 day challenge involving 21 days of prayer, discipline and bible study. During the month of January, I will be spending some time in concentrated prayer. As part of my prayer time, I will be spending time praying for my blog, readers, and subscribers. I plan on praying for each person on my subscriber list individually.

There will be some general areas that I will be praying for each of you, which I’ll detail below. However, I’d also like to take this opportunity to reach out to you and see if you have any specific needs or prayer requests that you would like me to pray about. I would love to hear from you!

You can let me know your requests by:

  1. Posting a comment below (at the bottom of this page)
  2. Sending a message through my contact page by clicking here
  3. Sending me an email at tracy at happyhealthyandprosperous dot com (I have to list the email this way to avoid those crazy spam robots! :P)

I will add your specific requests to my list, and I will commit to praying for you and your needs. If you don’t have any specific needs, please know that you are still being prayed for by name anyway!

General areas I’ll be praying for

  • Spiritual growth and relationship with God and for you to also grow in wisdom stature and favor like Jesus did
  • Health, healing and emotional well-being
  • Relationships with others in your life
  • Work
  • Finances and prosperity
  • Gifts, calling and purpose
  • Direction
  • Strength and courage
  • Peace
  • Open doors for you this year and close the wrong ones
  • Experience God’s love this year

My prayer for you this year…

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Prayer for Your Finances

Prayer for your finances...

Prayer for Your Finances

For some, Christmas can be a time of excitement, fun, and generosity. Unfortunately though, for others it can be a time of worry and anxiety due to finances. Sometimes the end of the year, corresponding with Christmastime, comes with extra expenses. Then on top of that, purchasing gifts can add up…especially if you have numerous events like family celebrations, work parties, church events, Secret Santa gift exchanges, outreaches or charitable giving that requires some of our finances, etc. Sometimes it can be stressful figuring out where the money is going to come from for all of that.

The wise thing to do would be to budget for the end-of-year expenses and Christmas giving. It’s a good idea to allocate or set aside a little bit of money each week or each month for this purpose. Regrettably, many of us haven’t exercised this kind of wisdom (or unexpected events and expenses have prohibited us from doing so). Because of this, when we don’t use wisdom sometimes we have to pay the consequences of poor decision making. That being said though, God still cares about our finances. He cares about the details. Additionally, even when we mess up He still cares about helping us.

Several years ago, I learned a few strategies for praying over finances. With Christmastime being a stressful time for finances for many people, I thought this might be a good opportunity to share some of those strategies and a Prayer for Your Finances. These strategies and prayer work anytime though–they don’t just apply at Christmas!

Remind God of His promise provision

God is our provider. We can approach God boldly with His promise of provision. Philippians 4:19 promises us that God will supply all of our needs. Jesus also gives us an example to pray for our needs in the Lord’s Prayer. Moreover, one of God’s names is Jehovah Jireh, which means “the Lord will provide”. All throughout scripture you will see countless examples of the Lord’s provision. When praying over your finances, remind God (put Him in remembrance) of His promise of provision.

Put me in remembrance; let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right.” Isaiah 43:26 (ESV)

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 (KJV)

“Give us this day our daily bread” Matthew 6:11 (KJV)

“Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the LORD will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”” Genesis 22:13-14 (NLT)

“God is my helper! The Lord is the provider for my life.” Psalm 54:4 (GW)

Take a look at this hilarious short video clip of Joe McGee when he was at a point in his life where he was frustrated financially and decided to put God in remembrance of His promise of provision.

Pray for wisdom over your finances

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A 5 Day Lesson in Generosity

A 5 Day Lesson in Generosity... a start in my journey to overcome greed

“Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.” 1 Timothy 6:18 (NIV)

A 5 Day Lesson in Generosity

There are many, many things that I need to work on and improve upon in my life. Thankfully God doesn’t convict us or work on too many of our flaws all at once! He doesn’t want to overwhelm us, and he meets us where we are. This week I thought I would share with you something that God has been teaching me the last few weeks. It’s the concept of generosity.

Recently, in my church small group we’ve been doing a book study on Andy Stanley’s Enemies of the Heart. It’s been a very convicting study. I started the book thinking that I didn’t really struggle with some of the “heart issues” he discusses. However after further study, I found myself saying, “Crap. I totally struggle with that.”

Greed

Unfortunately, greed was one of those heart issues. I never really considered myself a greedy person. After reading the book, however, I discovered that greed and selfishness are issues that I still need to conquer. Tithing has never been an issue for me since I was taught that growing up. Also, I’ve always been giving with my time and gifts. Sometimes though, I have a harder time letting go of money, material things or even my desire for superficial things in life. Sometimes I struggle with contentment.

NOTE: God wants us to be blessed, prosperous, and have good things. However He does not want those things to become idols or lord over us. Nor does He want them (or the desire for them) to pollute our hearts with greed and selfishness, causing us to become less effective in loving Him and our neighbors.

With each heart issue Andy Stanley covered a practical step to overcome that issue. (You know how I love practical steps! 😉 ) According to the book, the best way to overcome greed is by practicing generosity.

He listed a few examples in the book of ways to apply generosity. First and foremost though, he suggested that we pray and ask God to show us how HE would have us carry out acts of generosity. For after all, we are just managing His assets/money anyway. I also remember hearing another pastor give similar advice many years ago. He suggested that you pray each day and ask God to show you how you can be more generous that day. 

My lesson in conquering greed started with 5 days of generosity.

Day 1: Giving 2% of my paycheck

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Your Gift Will Make Room For You

Your Gift Will Make Room For You

Your Gift Will Make Room For You

God gave us our gifts and our talents for a couple of purposes.  One is to point people to Him, which we’ll talk more about later.  Another purpose of our gifts is to bring us prosperity, honor, influence and happiness.  Pretty cool, huh?!  The bible says that your gift will make room for you.  I’d like to encourage you today that God does want you to be Happy, Healthy & Prosperous, and He will use your GIFTS to help you accomplish that!

Your gift will make room for you…your gift is designed to prosper you, to make you money and bring you wealth, and to provide for you. Your gifts were designed to help you make a living.  They will advance you in life and move you forward.  God wants to bless you through your gifts.  In turn, your gifts will be a blessing for other people too.  Your gifts will meet a need, and consequently you will be compensated for that.  It’s a win-win!

It’s pretty cool to me that I actually get to do what I love (teach, write, speak) and get paid for it!  I think for so long I felt like I was just going through the motions in life, in my jobs, and in my roles.  I lacked a sense of purpose.  I think a major factor in that was that I hadn’t discovered my gifts yet and wasn’t fully using them.  I was frustrated because I was operating outside of my gifts.  When I started to discover my God-given gifts and started to use them, joy was an automatic by-product.  Knowing that I was helping others with my gifts and getting paid to do so was a huge bonus!  The proverb that your gift will make room for you started to make a lot of sense to me. 

YOUR GIFT WILL MAKE ROOM FOR YOU MEANS THAT IN ADDITION TO ADVANCING THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, YOUR GIFTS & PURPOSE ARE MEANT TO PROSPER YOU AND BRING YOU SUCCESS AND FULFILLMENT.

“A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.” Proverbs 18:16 (AMP)

“A present [gift] is a precious stone in the eyes of its possessor; Wherever he turns, he prospers.” Proverbs 17:8 (NKJV)

“But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.” Deuteronomy 8:18 (NIV)

When we faithfully operate in our gifts the way God intended (to serve Him and His people), those gifts will bring promotion into our life.  If used right, Continue reading

Feeling Lucky? It’s Not Luck, It’s Favor.

Feeling Lucky It's not luck it's favor ...Learn how to be more lucky or have favor Feeling Lucky? It’s Not Luck, It’s Favor.

There’s a lot of talk about luck on St. Patrick’s Day.  People who know me often call me a lucky person.  Today I thought I would share the secret to my “luck” with you.  It’s not luck; it’s favor.

I think God blesses people.  I think many “coincidences” are God-ordained moments and opportunities.  In my opinion, many people are just favored, not necessarily lucky.  I also think that this has a lot to do with what we speak out of our mouths.  There is TREMENDOUS power in words (I could share enough on this for a whole series of posts).  If you’re somebody that always says, “I never win anything” or “I’m just not lucky” or “I don’t have good luck” etc.  Guess what…You’re going to have exactly what you say.  On the other hand if you say and agree with what God’s Word says, that you’re favored, then you’ll have exactly that!  You’ll be favored (or some might call it lucky).  Either way, it’s good to be favored or lucky.

“Surely, LORD, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.” Psalm 5:12 (NIV) 

Some good things that come into our lives are a direct consequence of our actions.  The flipside is true as well.  I think some bad luck is just flat-out reaping what you sow or in others words…Karma, getting what’s coming to you, or getting your comeuppance.  Eric actually thought I made that word up, when I said I hoped somebody would get their comeuppance (I think I actually said “comeupins” probably with a bit of a southern drawl).  So I looked it up to show him that it was a real word and that I didn’t make it up.  I think I have a lot of sayings that I picked up from my parents or grandparents that he’s never heard before so he thinks I just make stuff up.  In his defense…I really do sometimes! 🙂  In fact the other day I went to a Moms In Prayer luncheon with a friend, and we were admiring the table setting.  I told her that it was very “Pinterestable”.  One of the other ladies asked if that was a word, and I had to admit “No.  I just made that up.”  However, I did later go and google that word and found that other people actually already use it, so I guess I didn’t really make it up!  I didn’t make favor up though—it’s real.

As Christians, prosperity is something that is ours simply because we are children of God.  God wants us to be prosperous.  I don’t call my site Happy, Healthy & Prosperous for nothing!  I also believe that prosperity is so much more than wealth or monetary or superficial gain.  I believe Continue reading