By Shayla Papik —
Danielle Pulu, at 17, saw the offering plate circulate — and nobody put in more than $5.
“I remember seeing everybody pass and nobody drop anything in. Maybe a dollar, maybe two, maybe five at the most,” she recalls. “I myself had nothing to give. I remember praying, Lord, I want to be able to be a solution. I want to be able to write a check and fix the car and provide the house and pay the rent and be the answer to someone else’s prayer, Lord, to be able to help. God, I want to be a millionaire.”
That offering plea — to help some poor, poor family in the church — catalyzed a life transformation for Danielle Pulu.
At the time though, she wasn’t sure she had asked for the right thing.
“I braced myself and I waited for the guilt, for the shame, for the spiritual alarm bells to come off, as if I had just prayed something that was selfish and un-Christlike,” Danille remembers. “Instead there was peace. And God said yes –– not audibly, not in a moment where lightning came from heaven, writing did not appear on the wall, a bush did not start burning, but he confirmed it through providence and through the working of my life that has led to me becoming a millionaire by the age of 25 years old.”
Two years later, she was a multimillionaire.
Here are her lessons:
- Poverty does not equate to holiness. “Most Christians have been accidentally programmed to pray small, to think small, and to expect bad things to happen. We’ve been taught that wanting wealth is greedy and that asking God for abundance is presumptuous and that the truly humble Christians get scraps and call it being content.”
- Pray specifically, not vaguely. “Specific prayers don’t inform God. He knows the number of hairs on you head. Specific prayers focus you. Your brain cannot move toward a target that it cannot see. When I prayed to be a millionaire, something shifted in my brain, not because God needed the clarification; I did. That’s when you start noticing business opportunities that you would have missed, skills that you need to develop, people that you need to connect with, and resources that were always available but that you never paid attention to.”
- Pair your prayer with Proverbs-level work. “This is where the false prosperity gospel falls apart. You don’t sit back and wait for a check to arrive. Proverbs 10:4 says Lazy hands make for poverty, but diligent hands bring wealth. (also Pr. 12:24, 21:15, etc.) Diligence and wealth are connected. Prayer positions, but work propels you. If God wanted to bless you with the harvest, he wouldn’t give you a fully grown garden. He would give you the seed, but you would still have to plant them. You would still have to water them. You would still have to tend the field. And so the growth is God’s, but the work is still required from you.”
- Expect it for kingdom purposes, not just comfort. “Biblical wealth is ultimately about stewardship for God’s glory. False prosperity makes wealth all about you. Pr. 11:24-25 says, One person gives freely yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly and comes to poverty. God blessed Abraham so he could bless nations. God prospered Joseph so he could save Egypt and Israel. God gave Solomon wisdom and wealth so he could build the temple and govern well. Pray boldly without guilt. And then you should act after the as if the answer is yes, unless God says otherwise.”
