Here's a faith-based view of how to become prosperous.

Remember, anything worth having is worth working to secure.

PRINCIPLE ONE: GOALS

Identify your main objective and establish benchmarks on the way to your ultimate goal, in this case prosperity. Hitting benchmarks allows you to measure progress and stay motivated. Try to create intermediate goals that can be achieved in a reasonable amount of time. If your mind can dream it, then you can achieve it — with a few exceptions. When you put it all down on paper, goals can lead to a plan. Reflect and pray about your plan. Then germinate it with action!

PRINCIPLE TWO: ACTION

Most people fall victim to what T. Boone Pickens calls the "Ready, aim, aim, aim syndrome." They are more than willing to think about it and talk about it, but loath to pull the trigger and take action. All successful companies, products or services start with an idea, a thought, then a plan, then action. Repetitive, continuous action until you reach your goal. If you want to reap financial rewards, you must begin sowing the seeds now. Not tomorrow, or next month. You must create positive momentum now.

Many people wait for everything to be perfect before they get going. Therefore, they never get going and they never get the rewards. Don't wait. Start planting your seeds of financial success today. As Zig Ziglar says, "You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great."

PRINCIPLE THREE: PRAYERIZE

Spend five to 15 minutes each morning in prayer for friends, family and, yes, even your enemies. (You will find it difficult to stay angry with someone you pray for.) Prayer brings clarity to your thought process and generates positive spiritual energy. This clarity will help you stay focused on your goal and the immediate actions you must take to reach the objectives you have set.

Prayer really does work. I have seen it in my own life. You must "prayerize," visualize and actualize. Let me break it down: prayerize means to ask God for his blessing and help in the matter before you; visualize is to imagine what the future will look like once you have attained this goal; actualize means to take action and live out the journey in pursuit of the goal.

PRINCIPLE FOUR: VALUE

If you are seeking to be prosperous and be a good steward of the Lord's resources, you must provide value to others; you must in some way improve their lives. Otherwise, you are chasing money for the money, and you will never be satisfied because you will never have enough. To be a good steward of the Lord's bounty, to provide value to others as you are engaging in commerce, is a biblically sound principle. As you make life easier for other people, you will find a feeling of satisfaction in knowing you have helped improve other lives.

PRINCIPLE FIVE: HARVEST

Your hard work will pay off in time. Not on your time, but God's time. We see people in show business lauded as "overnight" successes. When you probe deeper, however, you'll find many of these people worked hard for years before "sudden" fame and fortune. The bottom line is that you must put in the time, energy and effort. It is indeed true that you reap what you sow. And remember, part of the enriching process is the journey itself. You learn so much along the way, thereby making yourself more marketable and valuable.