In order to lead in the prosperous way we need to pick up God’s signals. Our lives are not our own. True prosperity is discovering God’s specific direction and acting on it. His ways avert us from catastrophe. Refusing to listen or act on his leading can prove to be costly.
A Spirit-filled friend of mine, who keeps large sums of money in the stock market, kept receiving an unction in his heart to pull his money out, but he delayed for two weeks. He woke up on “Black Monday” to discover one of the greatest stock falls in history and lost $80,000 that day. After the event he said that he had recognized God’s warnings, but he had not trusted himself to act on them.
Years ago in Tulsa, Oklahoma I was driving my friend’s car in the parking lot of a big mall when I heard my inner man tell me to hit the brakes. I acted spontaneously, and within a second a car flashed by right in front of me. Ten minutes later I heard the same unction and I braked in the midst of major traffic. Seconds later a major pile-up of vehicles occurred directly in front of me. Happily, I missed it by a few inches because I had already slowed down. My response to His nudging saved me and all those behind me.
I’m convinced that Christians could avoid most accidents by being more sensitive to the One whose job it is to show us things to come.
Have you ever watched wicked people enjoying success? As a believer it can be challenging to your faith, but you don’t need to compromise your faith to prosper. The devil will always tell you that faith in God is for losers, and that you might as well just give up being “good” and play things the world’s way instead.
But we don’t want temporary prosperity. We don’t want prosperity today that we’re required to pay dearly for tomorrow. Wrong actions and attitudes have no future. Sin brings pleasure, but only for a short time. God is not mocked, we all reap what we have sown. No one sins and gets away with it.
We should never envy ill-gotten riches, because we don’t want the price tag that comes with the lifestyle. God has called us to a long-lasting prosperity and reveals that following Him is the key to our inheritance. We belong to the Lord and the whole world belongs to us.
Take comfort in the words of David if you see others taking shortcuts and moving ahead through deception or manipulation:
“Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give
you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37:1-5).
Industrious work is essential to self-esteem and dignity. Several years ago we were ministering in Brazzaville, Congo, preparing for a national leadership conference and crusade. At that time the unemployment rate was 95 percent. The Congo had just experienced ten years of civil war and no building was untouched by mortar fire. No family was untouched by bullet or tragedy. They were in total need.
We laid out our strategy for the upcoming meetings and told them that they would partner in this event. They would pay for it. At first they resisted such an idea. No evangelist had ever said that before! No one in the country had ever paid for a foreigner’s event, especially a preacher from rich America. With gentle persuasion we challenged them to take this responsibility, encouraging them that they were able.
At the end of the crusade, after experiencing crowds reaching over fifty thousand, the leaders came to us saying, “Thank you so much for pushing us to sponsor this event! You have given us back our dignity. Now we know we can do it! We don’t have to wait for foreigners to finance our work!”
“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).
Diligence in life means that we are working with all our heart, with total commitment. How do you put your whole heart into your work, school or your home? Recognize that what you are doing is unto the Lord and not unto man.
A halfhearted effort receives halfhearted results. That’s not prosperity! To prosper we need to work with a diligent attitude! There are some deceptive attitudes in Christian circles that are often disguised by religious terminology:
- “Whatever happens is God’s will so my input doesn’t matter.”
- “I don’t like my job.”
- “My ungodly boss doesn’t deserve my best.”
- “My job is only temporary so I’m not going to give it my all.”
- “I’m not one of the lucky ones who are gifted so I’ll just slide by.”
- “I tried the Bible way and it didn’t work for me.”
The Blessing comes as you work. You will never escape poverty’s hold without good, old fashioned hard work. The river-life of continuous blessing comes through your hands, your mind, and your effort.
Blessing is God’s business. Finding what He can bless is your business!
In Jesus’ parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30, the servant who hid his talent had a wrong perception of his Master. He said “I knew you were a hard man.” The ruler only asked for a minimum increase. In other words, just do something with what I give you. He was not making it hard. He was making it fair. A wrong perception of God causes fear, and fear causes wrong actions that result in destruction.
God is for you! He understands the fallen environment you live in and has given you gifts to overcome in this environment:
He gave you the gift of eternal life so you would have peace of mind about your future.
He breathed into you part of Himself so you would have awareness of His presence.
He gave you the name of Jesus so you would have authority over all evil spirits.
He gave you His promises for every area of your life so you would know His best for you.
He is not hard, He is benevolent! Right thinking will bring right increase!
Where is the place you can go to obtain “maximum increase” in your life? God designed church so that the maximum number of people could gain benefit with a minimum amount of effort.
God directs a man or woman to prepare a message and preach it with anointing, so people can sit and listen and their lives will be increased and inspired. The result is a burden-free life with God’s ideas filling your mind and faith filling your heart to do the impossible.
This is the rich soil for increase that God designed for people, but many see it as an intrusion into their lifestyle. Only when famine comes do they run to the pastor for a quick fix, a drink of water for their parched ground.
In reflecting upon this holiday, we can only imagine the fear and trepidation our founding fathers faced as the imminent separation from England was approaching. We meet many people facing tremendous difficulties and fears in today’s world. The 4th of July celebrates the decisive action that our forefathers took. It was a moment in time from which there was no turning back. Their faith and commitment became the beacon of hope and freedom shining on a hill for every person to see. Their cry for freedom has become the rally cry for those held captive to oppression, poverty and fear.
As we have travelled the nations of the earth we have heard both villager and king declare that the freedom experienced in the USA is a model for all people. This freedom and independence came at a great cost. These brilliant thinkers of 1776 dared to believe in something greater than themselves. Facing fear, they stood up to proclaim new destiny!
Samuel Adams said,
“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great Anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” (Note: Adams prediction written to his wife was off by 2 days, thinking we would celebrate the momentous day on the actual day the document was drafted.)
On this distinguished 4th of July holiday, let this be a declaration day for each household, ministry and business. A group of people with purpose did this in 1776 and affected the whole world! As we are called to affect the whole world, let us arise and declare our freedom from poverty and fear, and declare our alliance with King Jesus!
Regardless of what the economic and political pundits say about the “good ole USA”, we choose to meditate on the good promises of the Lord and declare His word!
When the fireworks go off we will be shouting “Hallelujah! Jesus is Lord! We are FREE!”
Happy 4th of July!
In the fall of 1988 Kevin and I were married. I had struck out on a new journey in life and was so excited—yet very apprehensive! Our goal was to impact the lost with the love of God. After we paid all of our bills and prepared for our first journey overseas, we had exactly $1.00 left over!
Now, I had gone to a faith school, been trained in faith principles and married a faith man, but still, it somehow seemed incredible to me that after sharing our vision with friends and partners we had only $1 left for our trip! How could this be? What should I do??
Well, I decided to go! I remember thinking to myself as I boarded the plane, Are you crazy? You’re going overseas for three months with only $1 in your pocket?!
To make a very long story short, when we arrived in Detroit on the first leg of our journey, we found that the airline had overbooked our next flight and was asking for volunteers to give up their seats for $400 per ticket. As you can imagine, we jumped at the opportunity! We took the money and ended up having a wonderful overnight visit with family and friends in Detroit.
I learned a great lesson. By making a decision to act, I put myself in position to receive a blessing. We often intersect God’s blessings as we travel life’s road. This is our day of opportunity, and I say “I AM READY!!”
When I was in Moscow one winter, record setting freezing temperatures froze the pipes of the heater units and caused a real flood, as well as a dangerous freeze inside. Our director had the good idea of an old iron gas heater in the center of the main room to warm up the house until we could replace the whole system. The heater had to be turned off at night, and the first thought in the morning was how to get the heater going again. A little spark was all it took, and everyone would gather round until the warmth began to spread.
Friends, don’t start your day without a spark. Yesterday’s spark won’t do! The fire has to be rekindled every morning. What is that spark to you? You probably know how to find that java jolt for your body, but it might take a little more time to spark the divine impulse within you that will lift you to a place of expectation and peace as you deal with the day’s issues. When you are warm then everybody around you will benefit.
“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:6).
“Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior…” (2 Peter 3:11).
We live in Florida where bugs thrive in the moist, humid, hot weather. If you don’t place some kind of protection in and around your house, soon you’ll be sleeping with the fleas and stepping on the cockroaches.
The devil is utterly defeated and powerless, but he is an opponent looking for entrance into your home. Like the roaches, he flees when you turn on the light. Our light is the truth of God’s Word. The devil cannot exist in truth, because he is the father of lies.
We observe this truth overseas quite often. Many times we present the Gospel to people groups that have lived in false religions or atheism for a thousand years, and suddenly in a moment, they completely change when they hear truth!
The only weapon the devil has is deception, and his only entrance into a born-again believer is the mind. He is looking for you to grab hold of a lie so he can have a foothold in your life. Allow God’s Word to wash your thoughts and steer your thinking into right paths, and you won’t be tripped up by the devil!
