This is our month of divine wisdom and we know that God is the source of all wisdom, and the wisdom we need to navigate life in all areas is in him. This day we will be considering: “Wisdom for financial prosperity”
According to 3 John 1:2 it’s God’s desire for us to prosper but He even qualifies the prosperity, He says above the prosperity that you imagine, God desires that your soul prospers and as your soul prospers, i.e He desires that all other things be added unto you, just like the scripture which says “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and every other thing shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33)
Essentially it’s a back up or source for this scripture, this scripture says I desire that you prosper and be in health but the other scripture says, you have to put me first and as you begin to pursue the things that are important to me, all these other things will comes as add ons, or fringe benefits.
So, let’s settle it in our hearts this morning that God wants us to prosper, God wants you to have wealth, God wants you to control resources, He wants you not to have issues in your finances but then there seems to be a great paradox because we still have many people, including Christians who are serving God to the best of their ability but are not prospering, so it seems the scripture is not materializing in their lives and some times you may begin to ask God: ” Lord why is that so?”
There is this scripture that I personally refer to because it’s quite instructive, John 12:8, it says: “For the poor always ye have with you always”
This is Jesus Christ himself saying the poor will also be around.
So it’s almost like it doesn’t matter what you do, there will always be poor people around.
Like I’ve probably shared before, I suspect one reason for this: and that is the fact that there are many people who will not do what is required of them, to get out of poverty, many who will not obey God’s instructions, but will choose to do something else.
It’s amazing how those things happen, some times when i say this, you may begin to wonder: “why will somebody not do what he is supposed to do in order to prosper?”
But that’s the paradox of man, there are many things men will do, knowing fully well that those things are not good for them but they will still do it,
The medical doctors often share that smokers are liable to die young, yet as you know, there are still smokers, in the same way, people have been told that alcohol has bad effects on the liver but people still drink alcohol even to stupor,
Men know that certain things are not good for them but they still do it.
Another example is that, the Bible has told us the effects and consequences of sin, yet some men still decide to commit adultery/fornication and proverbs 5:5-9, tells us what the end of the adulterous man will be, one of consequences states that other people will spend the wealth of such man.
Many even in present day, still commit adultery knowing fully well that the consequences are grievous.
So, the scripture tells us the poor will always be amongst us definitely because they will not do what is required of them to be rich.
There are people that will read what is been written here this day and will decide not to do it, others may say they have heard it before but still refuse to do anything about this.
So if your desired financial prosperity is not happening the problem is not with God
More often than not, the problem is with you, so you need to ask yourself: why is it that I am not prospering?
This day I just want to highlight a few things that may be the cause of your current unpleasant financial situation.
Speaking of financial principles, the first thing you need to understand is in Psalm 24:1, this Bible verse tells us that everything belongs to God
It tells us that the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell in.
So everything is God’s, the resources, the land all belongs to God, the people of the earth also belongs to God, the rulers, all belongs to God, looking critically, everything owned by every man on earth belongs to God.
So also anything you are seeking for, wherever it is at the end of the day the ultimate owner is God.
If God owns everything, then God has no problem in terms of capacity to make wealth available to you, He has infact said He wants to make the wealth available to you
The scripture has told us that His wealth is limitless, everything is His own, now when you think about it, where is the wealth?
The physical wealth you can see, when you go underground, there are minerals and resources stored underground, and all belongs to God
He is able and willing to make you wealthy
Only ensure to yield to His word and do as instructed.
Everything in creation belongs to God and He is willing to bless us, He said in Deuteronomy 8:18 that He is the One who gives power to get wealth, it means God will empower you so that you yourself can be wealthy.
So look at this scripture and our previous scriptures, one said that God desires that you prosper and be in health, so God desires that you proper, the other scripture says the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, helping us know that everything belongs to God, and lastly, He said He is the one that gives power to get wealth.
Note that God didn’t say He’s going to give you wealth, what He says is He will give you the power to get wealth, which means God will bring things your way, there are a few things that struck my heart regarding this topic that I want to share with you
And I’m just going to drop them as bullets, first thing to understand is that it is a very cheap thing for God to make you wealthy.
It doesn’t take God thirty minutes to move you from where you are financially to where you ought to be.
He can do it just like that, so God is not limited in capacity but the fact that He has capacity to do it doesn’t means He’s going to do it, because sometimes He’s looking for certain things to satisfy Himself that its a smart move to take you to where He wants you to be, we look at Like 19:11-27, the scripture was about a given parable of a house holder that was traveling.
He called his ten servants and gave them some amount of resources, and told them he’s going away for a while but he will be back, he told them to occupy till he comes, he went away. After a while he came and started asking those people to give account, so the first one came and explained that he has generated ten pounds, his matter said he would make him king over ten cities, the second one came and said he got five pounds, but the last man came and said he knows his master is a wicked man wanting to reap where he didn’t sow, so he the servant refused to trade with the one pound given to him, but returned it to the master, the master then rebuked him and said the servant should have at least kept his pound for him in the bank so it could have gained interest on his return, that’s the most basic thing he could have done.
The master then punished the servant for not doing the needful.
What does this parable teach us? It tells us something
This tells us that, God is an investor, He invests His resources, He just doesn’t throw them around, He’s looking for people who He came can commit His resources to.
So what did the master do? He instructed that the pound with the unprofitable servant be taken away from him and given to the servant with the ten pounds
Why? Because that was the most profitable investment, God is ready to commit resources into the hands of the people but any wise investor will ask you; what are you going to do with this money? What kind of return are you going to give on this money?
In the same way, God is saying to you; “on earth there’s a serious work to do, kingdom work is a serious work, I have things I need to get done and I’m moving resources to places where my work is been done”.
“what’s in it for me” – is a question every investor asks
And God is asking you same question, if He decides to make you wealthy, what’s in it for God?
I think that’s a major question you need to answer, if you can answer that question correctly and truly make God happy, then He can begin to channel resources towards you
So why should God make you wealthy? Why should He prosper you? What’s God’s stake in the resources that comes to you?
If God checks you thoroughly and sees that you are not going to be profitable for His purpose, He may likely not bless you.
For example, many were given resources, and after then they stopped coming to church. And some come to church but decide not to follow the leading of God as regards blessing other people, and supporting the work of the kingdom.
Even the basic thing such as paying tithe, many refuse to comply yet expect God to commit resources into their hands.
Think about this; God gave us everything, He only requires us to pay ten percent of our income yet many are arguing with God, What audacity!
God is still asking you, if He blesses you, what’s in it for Him?
It’s a fundamental question you need to answer.
God is likely going to look for a person in whose life His investment will be highly profitable and bless Him
So understand these:
– All resources come from God, He owns everything
– God desires to channel those resources to people who will use it according to His will
– God distributes wealth and resources through channels, e.g through your job, business, career etc. So you must not idolize the channel or the resources given, rather always recognize God as the giver of all things.
The wise thing to do right now is to position yourself in such a way that you will qualify for your share in God’s prosperity.
