Word of Faith and the Concept of Effort and Reward

One of the biggest problems we face in the church is that the leaders don't take into consideration the mindset of those people who come to the church. Many people come to the church as a last resort, because the pressures of life have made them neurotic. As such, they are inclined to seek to do things to gain the approval of others. For most of people's lives, God is just the subject of after dinner conversation. But when a person gives their life to the Lord, and perhaps has an "experience", God suddenly becomes a reality to them. Therefore, their efforts will be inclined towards seeking God's approval.

The Concept of Effort and Reward

The Gospel is the good news about how we don't need to perform in order to gain the approval of God and others. From an early age we are conditioned with the concept of effort-and-reward. We often find ourselves subconsciously compelled to do certain things, without knowing precisely why. The reason for this is that we believe that doing those things will gain us approval. Look at the state the church is in because the church still continues to imply that Christians must do something in order to please God. Does it help, or does it cause struggle, pain and wasted time and effort?

Not every Christian is a chronic people-pleaser - but many are. There are believers who are not compelled to tithe and commit to acts of charity in the church, when they hear the pastor preach - but many are.

It still bothers me that Word of Faith teaching did very little to mitigate the consequences of highly covetous people getting hold of the teaching and trying to use it as a get-rich-quick scheme; to read dozens of books with the idea of extracting principles and formulas that would enable them to gain control over God and get blessed how they want and when they want.

Is There any Benefit in Following Word of Faith?

In retrospect, I suppose we needed to go through that in order to learn those mistakes. Kenneth E. Hagin was just excited about sharing his revelations and breakthroughs with the world and to refute long-held Christian traditions that didn't work. I actually have a lot of respect for Hagin: he faced an enormous amount of resistance from fellow believers who refused to accept that God still performs miracles today and that He wants to bless His people.

There is certainly a need for balance when it comes to Biblical prosperity. I don’t adhere to the notion that God wants all of His people to be poor and to struggle financially with the belief that one trial after another is doing a good work in us. Neither do I hold to the unrealistic assumption that God wants all of His people to be extravagantly wealthy by Western standards. I do believe that God wants His people to do well in life, to get their needs met and to prosper. But problems arise when we attempt to fill emotional voids in our lives by the pursuit of wealth. This is what the Apostle Paul was addressing in his letter to Timothy.

⁶ Now godliness with contentment is great gain.

⁷ For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

⁸ And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.

⁹ But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.

¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

¹¹ But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.

¹² Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

1 Timothy 6:6-12 nkjv

In verse 11 we read what we ought to pursue as believers: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. These are, of course, spiritual things. Once we secure these spiritual treasures – we will have all of our material needs met as well.

³¹ Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'

³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Matthew 6:31-33 nkjv

In 1 Timothy 6:12 Paul states that our fight is that of maintaining faith. This faith is with the purpose of keeping hold of the manifest presence of God (eternal life) within us, which brings us fullness of joy like nothing in the material world ever can.

I have to admit that ten years or so of reading most of Hagin’s books, actually did very little to help me. I was, and still am to an extent, a very insecure person; the promise of extravagant blessings and miracles in return for strictly obeying principles and formulas – was not exactly what I needed the most during that time – and never will be. What I really needed was the assurance that God loved me – just the way that I was; without any threats of curses, punishments and ex-communication from God if I failed to meet those strict standards and if I failed to confess the Word in the correct manner.

Seek to Enter into Rest

When we become Christians the first thing, the very first thing that we need to work towards is entering into rest: getting away from the concept of effort-and-reward, keeping rules, fulfilling standards, and meeting certain conditions and so on. That said - we ought to veer away from even a hint of anything in the way of rules, laws and principles. Otherwise, the effect can be devastating on many people.

It is difficult to not feel stirred-up by a motivating message that seems to promise wonderful rewards for the believer who is willing to “go all out for God”. But to an insecure Christian a message that is meant to motivate and challenge can become an oppressing obligation and an indication that they are not valued by God just the way that they are. As far as I am concerned – I have had enough of these motivational speeches in church – I just want to hear the good news of the Gospel being preached; I just want to know what the Lord Jesus Christ has already done for me and how that affects my life now.

Grace Can be a Stumbling Block for Others

Did you know that grace can be a stumbling block for others? If you go around telling other people what the grace of God motivates you to do in such a way that you make a rule or standard out of it - it re-introduces the law. It is good to encourage other people by giving them your testimonies. But if believers are not secure in the assurance that they are loved apart from their works – they are likely to feel jealous and to figure out what they can do to merit the same kind of favour, blessing and ability from God.

Let's get away from post-righteousness works that are really none of our business and focus on what Jesus told the Body of Christ to take responsibility for and seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.