Proverbs 21:5 “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity.“
Is prosperity really this simple? First, just because something is short, does not mean it is simple. Let’s break this verse down.
Good Planning: not just any planning leads to prosperity. Good planning is required. This means it is possible to plan and work hard and remain broke. Your planning must be good planning. Good planning can include:
- writing the plan on paper
- making the plan simple to understand
- clearly defining responsibilities for implementation
- specific and measurable deadlines
- staying realistic with the plan while stretching you to be your best
- accountability
- checklist of action items
- and more…
Hard Work: the word hard means “not easy”. Physical, emotional, and/or intellectual sweat must be involved or it does not qualify as hard work.
When you add good planning to hard work, you are still not guaranteed prosperity. You are simply on the path that leads to prosperity.
The headline of this article is a bit misleading. It leaves out two important words: “leads to“. This introduces a perseverance factor that is easy to overlook in a quick reading of this verse. This means that if you get on the path of good planning and hard work and stay on that path, it leads to prosperity.
Though this verse is written in the context of financial prosperity, it is also true regarding other things in life:
- is your family prospering through healthy close relationships?
- is your mind prospering through a commitment to lifelong learning?
- is your body prospering through healthy eating and exercise?
- is your soul prospering through a growing relationship with God?
And just like financial prosperity, these take good planning + hard work. Without discounting the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, let me ask a question. Are you involved in good planning + hard work to enable your mind, body, family relationships, and soul to prosper?
“I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 1:2
Please leave comments below. This is a conversation, not a lecture!
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
God has a plan to bless me and to prosper me. So If i can get properly aligned with His plan that should be the start of a good plan, eh?
Hey, I’m gonna send that to some of my kids.
Good refocusing and encourgement
Thanks much
Bruce,
I believe that God has in mind for all of us to prosper, but we seem to forget that He has a path for us to travel to get there. We appear sometimes to fail in understanding His words.
Bill
What a great brake down of the verse. Life change is a process and guess what, so it the road to prosperity. Thanks Bruce, great job.
This one speaks right to my heart. Far too long have I been expecting results with a simple plan and minimal effort. Time now to really start working hard. Thank you for the weekly encouragement.
Prosperity doesn’t always mean riches or more money. Unfortunitly that is what most people think when reading this verse. To get prosperity in family, health etc is worth much more than money. Remember money is the root of all evil.
I also found a verse in Proverbs that states: Proverbs 13:11 (New International Version)
11 Dishonest money dwindles away,
but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow.
This ws a real eye opener for me. If I waited for that big bonus to save with, it never happens! The only way to save is a little each week and watch it grow!
Good planning and hard work is the path to all goals, whether we are saving money, getting out of debt, losing weight, or working on family problems. I like the way you put it. Laying out a plan will help me to get the things I need done. Thanks for helping me focus on the important things of life.
Thank you for such a right now rhema word.
I receive what the Word says – good planning + hardwork leads to prosperity. I doubly receive this Word because it is from the 21st chapter of the Book of Proverbs which was written by Solomon, the richest and wisest man that ever lived.
Many people would consider such as prosperity gospel. Such people allow the world’s view of prosperity to cloud their judgement. The world’s view of prosperity is about the accumulation of things. The Biblical definition is altogether different.
Knowing the Biblical definition of prosperity would be of great benefit. Anyone have or seen one?
I appreciated everything you touched on here. I believe all of these parts of our lives go hand in hand and need to be in balance and relationship with God.
God recently gave me instructions on what to do when with my finances. I believe He did this because He has a specific “something” for me to do after retirement. Retirement comes after meeting those financial goals He set for me! It will be a few years and I don’t feel like He’s telling me to hurry, but it’s on my mind a lot these days.
Thank you so much for blessing the world with your great insight and encouragement!
Ray,
Money is not an evil thing. It is the LOVE of money that is evil. We must trust God to provide for us…and He will. Denise, I want to encourage you to act NOW on those instructions God gave you. I, too, have been saying I need to get out of debt, but until I started actually doing something about it, thanks to Bruce, I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and will be able to enjoy my retirement debt free! God is so good! Blessings to you all!
Thanks for the clarification Diane. Indeed, 1 Timothy 6:10 says it is “the love of money” (not money itself) that is the root of all evil.
And thanks for encouraging Denise.
I pray that this blog becomes a place of interaction and encouragement between many people across the world…just like what you have illustrated here.
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it