Smith Wigglesworth- The Power to Prosper
John, in his third letter, said:
“Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth.”
3 John 1: 2, 3
For many, when they hear the word “prosper,” their minds light up with having massive amounts of money. But was this really what John meant? You think about how much money you would need to prosper and then look at people that have that amount of money and you have to ask, is that really what you want? Take away the façade, and you find they also walk in fear, lack peace, and despite everything they own, they have no joy or satisfaction. So, is that really what John was talking about?
The third verse, I believe, adds important color to this important prayer of John. The brethren reported to John the truth being mighty in Gaius. Smith Wigglesworth said:
“God can never do all He wants to do, all that He came to do through the Word, until He gets us to the place where He can trust us, and we are abiding in fellowship with Him in His great plan for the world’s redemption.”
If we go back to John’s Gospel, he records the Master saying:
“They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.”
John 17: 16-19
In these words, we see that first, we are not of this world, so prospering is not according to the world’s way. Secondly, we are to be sanctified from the world by His truth unto Him and His purpose. If we are sanctified from the world, then we should not be moved by the lusts of this world. Third, Jesus has sent us to do something on this earth for His glory. You and I have been called by Him, and we are here by His perfect plan at the perfect time and in the perfect place.
We have to walk out of this life bringing Him glory, yet many people have stalled or become stuck. A powerful example is the story of Jacob meeting Esau. As we will see, the only way we can walk successfully on this earth is by abiding in the Secret Place of His Presence.
The word prosper means to succeed in an enterprise or activity. Now we start to see the heart of the Father. When we look at the account of Jacob preparing to meet Esau in Genesis chapter thirty-two, it starts with Jacob meeting an angel. Can you imagine meeting an angel and knowing it was an angel?
The Lord had told Jacob to return to the Land, and Jacob became terrified of his brother. Jacob doesn’t have enough resources, strength, or ability to overcome. Even meeting an angel was not enough. He then sees a camp of angels around him, and that is not enough.
Smith Wigglesworth said:
“It took God twenty-one years to bring Jacob to the place of contrition of heart, humility, and brokenness of spirit. God even gave him power to wrestle with strength, and he said, ‘I think I can manage after all,’ until God touched his thigh, making him know that he was mortal and that he was dealing with immortality. As long as we can see ourselves, we will do it.”
For us to truly prosper, he has to bring us to an end of ourselves. How many of us have spent most of our lives doing what we thought was the will of God in our ability and strength? Then when we finally come to the place where we can’t do it, we stall. We must come to that place where we are weak in us and finally strong in Him.
Smith said:
“In Mark 5: 25, we have the story of the woman who had suffered many things of many physicians and had spent all that she had, and was nothing the bettered but rather grew worse. She said, ‘…If I may but touch His clothes, I shall be whole’ (Mark 5: 28). She came to know her need. Our full cupboard is often our greatest hindrance. It is when we are empty and undone and come to God in our nothingness and helplessness, He picks us up.”
Until the woman with the issue of blood understood she needed the Lord, all her efforts were fruitless. You can try to grow a church, increase your ministry, or even see revival and, despite all your efforts, fail. We need an encounter with Him in the Secret Place.
Smith said:
“Peter says, ‘Humble yourself therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time’ (1 Peter 5: 6). Look at the Master at Jordan, submitting Himself to the baptism of John, then again submitting Himself to the cruel cross. Truly, angels desire to look into these things, and all Heaven is waiting for the man who will burn all the bridges behind him and allow God to begin a plan in righteousness, so full, so sublime, beyond all human thought, but according to the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
This is such a powerful image of the pressing into the deeper waters of the Secret Place of His Presence. For we must cast off all the old if we are to come close. Have we come to that place where we are done trying in our strength? Have we become like Jacob, where we spend the night wrestling with God?
Smith explained of Jacob:
“Jacob knew that his brother Esau had power to take away all that he had, to execute vengeance upon him. He knew that no one could deliver him but God. And there alone. Lean in soul and impoverished in spirit, to be changed, to be transformed! And when we do meet with God and receive the revelation of His infinite grace, and of His wonderful purposes and plans for your life.”
God had to get Jacob alone! He seeks to get us alone! Away from the crowd that so often carries us to the place where we are vulnerable, weak, and recognizing we desperately need Him. It is here that we begin to discover the power to prosper when we understand He is able and we need to connect with Him.
That night is like what happens to many of us in the Secret Place, where we recognize we need to get rid of a lot of baggage.
Smith said:
“I somehow think that as he would begin to pray, his tongue would cleave to the roof of his mouth. He knew he had to get rid of a lot of things. In days gone by, it had all been Jacob! When you get alone with God, what a place of revelation it is. What a revelation of self we receive.”
We see how God has not been our problem all these years, but the problem has lay with us. Our wrong thinking. Our wrong attitudes, our wrong words. But as we draw into the Secret Place and see the price He paid and who we are in Him, everything begins to change. Smith said:
“And then what a revelation of the provision made for us at Calvary. It is here that we get a revelation of a life crucified with Christ, buried with Him, raised with Him, transformed by Christ, and empowered by the Spirit.”
Looking at Jacob nothing changed immediately. But rather it took hours. Are we desperate enough to seek His face for as long as it will take because we know that first of all He is the rewarder of those who will diligently seek Him and secondly, we absolutely need His blessing?
Smith explained:
We are too occupied too much with the things of time and sense. We need to spend time alone in the Presence of God. We need to give God much time in order to receive new revelations of Him.”
“Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed; He wept and sought favor from Him. He found Him in Bethel. And there He spoke to us- that is, the Lord God of Hosts. The Lord is His memorable name. So you, by the help of your God, return…”
Hosea 12: 4-6a
Here we see that during these hours Jacob had a baptism of tears and was utterly broken. But Jacob refused to quit and let go. We too must learn to cling and press deeper in the Secret Place.
Smith said:
“You must never let go. Whatever you are seeking- a fresh revelation, light on the path, some particular thing- never let go. Victory is yours if you are earnest enough. If you are in darkness, if you need a fresh revelation, if your mind needs relief, if there are problems you cannot solve, lay hold of God and declare,… “I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.”
That blessing is the power to prosper so you can fulfill the purpose of Heaven. For without His touch, you can’t go into the Land. You need Him and you need His blessing!
