That Your Soul May Prosper: Staying Planted in God (Psalm 92)

Introduction

Every new year, well wishes pour in: health, peace, joy, wisdom, success, prosperity. The word "prosperity" comes up often, almost like a reflex, but when you try to pin it down, it stays vague. It is an encouraging, mysterious word, hard to pin to your actual life. Have you been prosperous this year? Hard to say when you do not really know what that means.

Josias Laporte, pastor at La Chapelle (Momentum), opens 2026 by tackling this topic head on. And he starts with a warning: this sermon is not the prosperity gospel, that gospel which promises a life of constant victory, which measures your faith by your material wealth, and which makes you feel guilty when you go through trials. That gospel is not biblical. There is a huge difference between the prosperity gospel and the prosperity that flows from the gospel. The second one is healthy, necessary, and should be the aspiration of every believer. It is the prosperity of the soul.

The reference text is Psalm 92:1-16, and Josias reveals right away the "secret sauce" of the passage: "Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God." (Psalm 92:13). This year, if you want to prosper, stay planted in the house of the LORD. Stay connected to the heart of God.

Message outline

1. Staying planted in the house of the LORD

It is an agricultural image. The believer is compared to a tree solidly planted in the ground. "The house of the LORD" is not just a physical place: it is God's presence lived out through prayer, Bible reading, and community. Staying planted means staying connected to the heart of God. If your heart stays connected to his heart, your soul will prosper. If you disconnect, your soul slowly dies, like an uprooted tree. Why? Because God is your source of life, of salvation, of strength, of love, of comfort, of courage, of clarity, of wisdom, and of peace.

From there, Psalm 92 gives four pictures of a soul that prospers.

2. Growing like the cedar of Lebanon (Psalm 92:12)

The cedar of Lebanon was used for major construction: the temple, ramparts, bridges. It is a strong, resistant wood, but only once mature. Young, the cedar is fragile. It takes years for it to become what it is.

The believer planted in the LORD will necessarily become mature. That means: stable under trial, resistant to social pressure, to temptations, to family pressure, to ministry pressure. Resilient after failures and wounds. Persevering in God's will despite obstacles. This maturity makes you a better co-laborer with God for building his kingdom, and it makes your life more pleasant.

Josias tells a scene from his daily life: his daughter Kelia (10 years old) often argues with her sister Zoe (6 years old). One day, after a consequence, he encourages her to let it go, to pray, to ask God for patience. Kelia answers him: "Dad, you've told me this several times, we even had a Bible time on the fruit of the spirit, and I still can't do it." Without realizing it, she is showing her emotional, and therefore spiritual, immaturity: immature in love, in self-control, in patience, in gentleness. And that immaturity adds extra weight to what she is already going through.

How many of us live through the same thing? Circumstances are hard, but our immaturity piles frustration on top of it. The good news: we often ask Jesus to change our circumstances, when what he wants first is to come to the rescue of our immaturity. You just need to tell him: "Lord, help me." As 1 Corinthians 3:6 reminds us, "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase." Growth belongs to God. So does your maturity.

3. Bearing fruit in old age (Psalm 92:14)

"They shall still bring forth fruit in old age." Bearing fruit means the fruit of character and the fruit of good works, everything God does in you and through you. According to the parable of the sower (Matthew 13), those who bear fruit are the ones who listen to God, who are receptive, who say yes, and who put the Word into practice by faith.

Why speak of "old age"? Because old age here is symbolic of your life experience. Now your life experience has the potential to make your heart more receptive, or less receptive, to God. And unfortunately, more often than not, life experience hardens the heart: because of disappointments, wounds, misunderstandings, injustices, scandals, upbringing, bad choices, abuse, the path you have walked. All of that can make your heart wary.

But the promise is clear: those who stay planted in the house of the LORD will bear fruit despite all of that. Their heart will stay pliable, their faith will be purified, restored, increased, strengthened, renewed. You can grow old in years, but your faith will stay young if you stay connected to the LORD.

Josias illustrates this with his son Jordan, 4 years old: every time they walk into a store, Jordan asks for everything. "Dad, can I have that? Dad, can I have that?" To Jordan, his dad's resources are limitless, his father is a superhero stronger than anyone else. One day he will discover his father's limits. But with God, it should be the opposite: the more you get to know him, the more you realize his resources are limitless, the more you see that he is the only superhero of your story. So your faith stays young, simple, trusting, dependent.

4. Full of sap and flourishing: the palm tree in the drought (Psalm 92:14)

Sap is the equivalent of blood for a tree: it carries nutrients. The palm tree has two kinds of roots: shallow roots that drink water from the soil, and deep roots that go searching for moisture far underground during dry seasons. That is why you see palm trees in arid places: they stay full of sap and green even when it does not rain.

The palm tree is the image of the believer who stays alive despite seasons of dryness. Maybe in this season, praying feels hard, you read your Bible like a robot, you are going through an inner struggle, you are stacking up trials, losses, obstacles. You feel like God is distant, silent, far away. But if you still decide to connect to him, he fills you with vitality, with zeal, overflowing with joy, with peace, ready to serve.

Sports commentators say of an elite player at the end of a match: "The player digs within himself to finish strong." He draws from his inner tank whatever energy he has left to finish strong. At the start of a match it is easy, you are fresh, rested. By the end, everything is different: wear and tear, pressure, fatigue. In the spiritual life too, there are start of match seasons and end of match seasons. Your ability to stay green depends on a decision: making the effort to stay connected to God anyway. There is no shortcut, no magic wand. Do it when it is easy, do it when it is hard, when you are tired, when you do not feel like it, when you are suffering, when you are going through grief or a divorce. The match is not over until you give your last breath.

And when you hold on through the drought, others see it. They ask you: "Where does your strength come from?" Your life becomes the booster that jump starts their faith, like a battery you use to start a car in winter.

5. Anointed with fresh oil (Psalm 92:10)

"I shall be anointed with fresh oil." Psalm 92 is a psalm of joy, sung on the sabbath day. Fresh oil evokes the oil poured on the forehead of a guest of honor at a banquet, not on everyone, only on the privileged guest. God, the host of the banquet, pours this oil on you.

The sabbath is the rest where you stop your own works to fix your eyes on the works of God. When you start praising, when you start rejoicing over what God has done, joy overflows and worries do not carry the same weight anymore.

Remember King David: "David danced before the LORD with all his might... so David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet." (2 Samuel 6:14-15) There is a difference between being joyful and shouting for joy; between dancing at a party in front of people and dancing before the LORD. Worship makes the heart light.

On the moon, gravity is divided by six; astronauts almost float. Josias picks up the image: when you bless the LORD for his benefits, your worries lose their weight. They are still there, but they float around your heart. God draws the heaviness toward himself. Your heart becomes light and overflows with joy. That is the blessing when your soul prospers.

Key takeaways

• The prosperity gospel is not biblical. The prosperity of the soul is.
• The one condition for prospering: stay planted in the house of the LORD, meaning stay connected to the heart of God through prayer, the Word, and community.
• A prospering soul becomes mature like the cedar, stable, resistant, resilient, persevering.
• It bears fruit in old age, meaning despite your life experience, despite the wounds that could harden your heart.
• It stays green in the drought like the palm tree, because its roots draw deep.
• It is anointed with fresh oil, with a joy of worship that lightens worries.

Personal application

• Where are you in your connection to God at the start of this year: are you planted or uprooted?
• In which area of your life is your immaturity adding weight to what you are already going through? Are you ready to confess it to Jesus?
• What difficult life experience might harden your heart toward God today? What can you lay before him to stay pliable?
• Are you at the start or the end of the match in your current season? What habit will you keep "anyway"?
• What decision, what commitment, what resolution will you make to stay connected to God: a reading plan, a group of friends, a church you commit to, something to remove from your schedule?

Verses cited

• Psalm 92:1-16 · It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD... they that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.
• 1 Corinthians 3:6 · I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.
• Matthew 13 · The parable of the sower.
• 2 Samuel 6:14-15 · David danced before the LORD with all his might.

FAQ

Does "prosperity of the soul" mean a life without trials?

No. Josias insists: you can love Jesus with all your heart and still go through all kinds of hard things. That does not make you a lesser Christian, it makes you a normal human being. The prosperity of the soul is staying connected to God, mature, fruitful, green, and joyful through the trials, not instead of them.

Concretely, what does "staying planted in the house of the LORD" look like?

Three very concrete things: prayer, Bible reading, and community. It is also a decision to commit to a local church and a set of habits you keep "anyway," at the start and at the end of the match.

What if I am in a total drought and I no longer feel like praying or reading my Bible?

That is exactly where the image of the palm tree makes sense. Draw from your tank, send your roots down deep. Do it anyway. Tell God: "I need you." Growth belongs to God, not to your motivation of the day.