Well today we talk about personal wealth. It's rather interesting that at the beginning

of the book of Job, Job is a wealthy man. And at the end of the book of Job, Job is a

wealthy man times two. So is a right to expect God to intend to double the wealth of all

his children. That's the question today prompted by Job and sent to us by a listener,

Pastor John. Hello. My name is Genesis. I'm 23 years old and live in the Philippines. I

do not believe prosperity preachers who claim God wants all Christians to be very wealthy.

However, is it a sin to pray for God to give me enough money to enjoy a comfortable life?

Or are we Christians meant to embrace and welcome only loss and suffering?

Is there any place for praying for and seeking out greater degrees of material comfort?

Is this only dangerous? Is there a safe way to pray that our modest net worth double over time?

As I read scripture, I see that God intended to double Job's wealth in the end. You can

see Job chapter 42 verses 10 to 17. Was that only for Job or does God welcome Christians

to pray to this end today? I hear essentially three questions. One, is it right to pray that

I have enough money to enjoy a comfortable life? Two, is the Christian meant to embrace

only loss and suffering? Three, does God intend that the doubling of Job's resources be

a model for us to pray toward? So let me try to shed biblical light on each of those

questions in reverse order. One, does God intend that the doubling of Job's resources

be a model for us to pray toward? If God did it for Job, does He want to do it for us?

Now that's the kind of question that we cannot answer in the same way for everybody.

For example, I am absolutely certain it would be a sin for me to pray that my resources

be doubled now because as an American living a comfortable middle class lifestyle, I am

by global standards vastly more wealthy than billions of poor people around the world.

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