Reclaiming Prosperity: A Return to Its True Meaning
“Prosperity, Origin:
From Latin prosperitas, meaning: good fortune, success, thriving condition.”
Prosperity, Origin: From Latin prosperitas, meaning: good fortune, success, thriving condition.
Breakdown: Pro- = toward, in favor of
Sperare = to hope
So prosperity literally means:
"to go forward with hope" or
"a state of being in alignment with hope and forward movement."
I want to take the time to explore the concept of prosperity because it carries history, complexity, and deep spiritual implications. Like many powerful words—love, liberation, truth, and liberty…"prosperity" has been co-opted, distorted, diluted, and even weaponized. When I tell people I’m a prosperity coach, their reactions are often revealing. One person once said, "I think of the racket," referring to their experience in a church where constant pressure, guilt, and obligation drove them to give endlessly chasing a prosperous life they were told they could only earn through sacrifice. Instead of blessings, they were left with shame and a lingering sense of unworthiness.
This is not an isolated experience. In my years as a trauma therapist, I’ve worked with countless people carrying the weight of religious programming. Many wrestle with feeling unworthy, ashamed of their desires, and convinced they must continually give at the expense of their own well-being, to be considered "good" or "faithful." A particularly harmful expression of this is the prosperity gospel—a theology that teaches financial wealth and physical health are signs of God’s favor, achieved through faith and generous donations. In practice, it often becomes a transactional and exploitative system, preying on people’s hope and pain.
How Prosperity Gospel Distorts True Abundance:
Preying on the Vulnerable: Those in desperate situations are promised healing or miracles in exchange for money.
Financial Coercion: Congregants are pushed to give beyond their means, told their breakthrough depends on it.
Victim-Blaming and Shame: When promised outcomes don’t materialize, the blame falls on the individual’s lack of faith.
Meritocracy of Blessings: Faith is reduced to performance—donate, serve, prove—rather than a relationship with the divine.
As Rev. James Ellis III has said, the prosperity gospel becomes "an attractive heresy," turning ministers into profiteers and faithful people into victims of a religious hustle. Spiritual abuse like this replaces grace with guilt and turns abundance into a prize only the "worthy" can attain. But this is not the true meaning of prosperity.
If we go back to the etymology, we remember that prosperity is our inherent nature.
It is not:
Something to earn or hustle for
Dependent on external validation
Measured by material excess
Instead, prosperity is our capacity to grow and flourish, even in difficulty. It is the inner knowing that we are already enough. Want to understand prosperity? Step outside.
Let nature be your teacher:
Wildflowers bloom without apology
Stars scatter endlessly across the night sky
Oak trees drop hundreds of acorns without fear of scarcity
Creation reflects extravagant abundance. Not because it has something to prove, but because that’s its nature. As one spiritual writer observed, "Prosperity is the nature of the Universe and abundance is the expression of that prosperity. More leaves grow on trees this year than last."
True prosperity is not tied to what we produce, perform, or possess. It is:
Peace of mind
A sense of sufficiency
Joy in the body
The freedom of knowing we are deeply loved and supported by something greater than ourselves
Any theology or system that tells us we must earn love, safety, or abundance is not divine truth—it is a projection of human fear and greed. The idea that you must pay or pray harder to be worthy of a good life is a distortion. When we reclaim prosperity, we reclaim our dignity. We remember:
Prosperity is a state of grace
It lives in community, not competition
It flows through giving and receivin
It belongs to all of us because we are born into a prosperous, generous universe
The cosmos shows us this daily:
Trees give and receive
The sun shines without asking for anything in return
The rain falls on everyone, no matter their status
We are part of that divine economy.
This is the work I hold in my practice not just helping others earn more, but guiding them to feel more whole, rooted, and sovereign in how they define and receive prosperity. Because the journey is not just outward—it’s relational, spiritual, and embodied.
So the next time someone uses "prosperity" to pressure or shame, remember: The source of true abundance is already within you. Look to the fields. The rivers. The stars. There is no scarcity there.You are already enough. Already loved. The universe is bent toward your becoming.
To live Whole with Joy is to live in the truth that prosperity is who you are.
Reflect:
What did you inherit about prosperity explicitly or subtly from your upbringing or community?
Where have you felt like you needed to prove your worth?
What does your body feel like when you imagine living in enoughness?
I’d love to hear your reflections. What parts of this resonate with you? What dimensions of prosperity do you feel called to reclaim? If this speaks to something inside you, and you want to keep exploring inner prosperity, wholeness, and joy—subscribe and stay connected.