Bible teacher Joyce Meyer renounced prosperity gospel teachings during a recent sermon, in which she owned that her ideas of biblical prosperity had grown “out of balance” with Scripture. Instead, Meyer says that the Bible promises we will experience trouble—regardless of how much faith an individual has—and believers cannot simply believe their way to success.
“[In] the Word and Faith movement back in the ’60s and the ’70s, [there was] lot of teaching in that about prosperity,” Meyer says. “I thank God for it. God touched my life back then in a powerful way because I knew I was saved by grace, but I didn’t know anything about using my faith for anything other than just salvation. Faith is something God gives you that you need to use and release in your life. It’s a powerful force, but it’s not just automatic. You put your trust in God. You put your faith in Him.”
She continues, “I’m glad for what I learned about prosperity, but it got out of balance. I’m glad for what I learned about faith, but it got out of balance. So every time somebody had a problem in their life, it was because they didn’t have enough faith. If you got sick, you didn’t have enough faith. If your child died, you didn’t have enough faith. Well, that’s not right. There’s nowhere in the Bible where we’re promised that we’ll never have any trouble. I don’t care how much faith you’ve got. You’re not going to avoid ever having trouble in your life.”
Watch the clip for yourself here. Her comments on prosperity start around nine minutes in.
