A Great Prayer For The New Year
“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 1:2 (NKJV)
Prosper: “to help on the road, i.e. (passive) succeed in reaching; figurative to succeed in business affairs :- (have a) prosper (-ous journey).” Strong’s Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.
To “prosper” in this context is a much broader concept than the “making money” that we generally identify the term with. In 3 John 1:2, “prospering in all things” is “making progress” (to help on the road) in every aspect of life. To the prayer that they “prosper in all things” is added a specific mention of praying for their health to prosper; to have good, sound, health that is “progressing”.
“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”
“….just as your soul prospers.”
“Just as” is the same as saying; “in the same manner as”, which makes the “soul prospering” the key to “prospering” (making progress) in “all things” and their “health”. So what does this “soul prosperity” mean?
Soul: In this verse, “soul” is a specific reference to; “‘the inward man,’ the seat of the new life”
(Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words). And in conjunction with that, will follow the other concepts of the “soul”; referring to our mind, will, emotions, decision making, etc.
Our “soul” (our inner man, mind, will, emotions, decision making, etc.) is going to “prosper” (make progress) in direct relation to the “positive” or “negative” information we “feed” into it. If we “prosper” our souls with positive, uplifting, motivating, things; it will “prosper” (progress) positively; unfortunately, feeding negativity into our soul will cause it to progress in that direction.
1 John 3:2 isn’t just a nice prayer for someone; the principle of it becomes a key factor in the “prosperity” (making progress) in any area of our lives. “Moving forward”, “making positive changes” are what our New Year’s Resolutions are all about. Therefore, “prospering our souls” becomes a “key factor” in our opportunity for success in seeing those “Resolutions” (desired changes) come to pass and be effective in our lives. “In the same manner as” we “prosper our souls” on the desired change, we will see the manifestation of that change in our lives.
The best way to “prosper our souls” is to feed God’s Word into it. What area(s) of your life do you want to see “prosper” in 2018? Find out what God’s Word has to say about it, apply that to your life, and see what happens. The key here is that we have to be diligent to study God’s Word and rely on His Spirit within us to reveal what “He” has to say to us about our situation. We can’t simply rely on what “someone else” says God’s Word says; we need to hear “His voice” in our “heart” (inner man) in order for it to “activate” the “progress” (prospering) He intends for our life.
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV)
Yesterday, I wrote about the “cocoon” process of “renewing our mind” which results in our being “transformed”. The “renewing of our mind” is an excellent example of “prospering our soul”, which is the foundation for “prospering” (making progress) in any area of our life. (see Fred on Facebook)
“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 1:2 (NKJV)
*** Fred Wilson *** is an author, former coach, teacher and Life and Liberty News Contributor.
