TODAY’S DEVOTION (Monday 3rd February 2020)
“Then Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, to the South. Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.” Genesis 13:1-2 NKJV
WELCOME TO THE 34th DAY OF OUR YEAR OF REJOICING
God wants you to prosper. I am sure you have heard these words over and over from the lips of so many preachers. Indeed, like every good Father will desire for his Children, God wants every of His Child to prosper.
Sadly, some are not prospering because they do not understand what prosperity all is about. Some even believe Prosperity is not for the righteous. They believe that poverty and adversity is a mark of true discipleship.
Well, Jesus indeed said if we want to be His disciples, we must carry our cross daily and follow Him. That cross is not perpetual poverty and adversity but the price of doing divine will. The price could be temporally adversity and scarcity, but it is not perpetual adversity and poverty.
Some hold another dangerous view; they believe Jesus was poor so they should also be poor. In fact, someone attacked me with this school of thought. But Jesus was not poor. What the Bible described as “the poverty of Jesus” has nothing to do with the earthly. Paul was comparing the eternal glory Jesus stripped Himself off with earthly glory to come and die for our redemption.
Whatever the earth considers as glorious is poverty compared to what Heaven consider as glorious. So, Jesus was not poor in the sense that we know poverty to be. Though He owned no Estates He had a house even before stepping into ministry. He was into what we will call real Estate today, because carpentry was not just for furniture making in His days. They built houses for clients also.
He had a large clientele that was why everyone knew Him as the son of the carpenter. So, He was indeed rich – both in Spirit and in truth. If you call a man who could get money from the mouth of fishes “poor” it means you are ignorant!
JESUS WAS RICH ENOUGH TO PAY ALL HIS BILLS!
His garment was so expensive that those who killed Him had to cast lots to determine who will own it. If it was just some rags He wore, no one would have bothered. The Bible says it was a seamless garment knitted by one of the women. In His day’s seamless garments where the most expensive!
He could hire ships and small boats to embark on His ministry trips without financial stress. Don’t forget boats and ships were the highest level of transportation in His days. That means if He were physically on earth today, He will not just be hiring the best cars for ministry trips but airplanes and private Jets.
He was so rich that He made a thief His treasurer. The man was stealing His money, yet it never ran dry.
He had a team of notable people supporting His ministry. In other words, He had financial partners. The Bible made it clear in the book of Luke that those who were healed of different diseases supported His ministry financially. You may not have seen all these in the Bible, but they are there.
He enjoyed the prosperity of the righteous as King of kings and LORD of lords walking the earth realm. And if we are to look unto Him as the author and finisher of our faith, we must also look unto Him in money matters. He walked this earth to show us how to walk the earth.
He spoke about money in the same spirit and passion He did about Heaven and Hell. The only thing He frowned at is a disciple making money his or her god. He warned that we cannot serve God and mammon. We cannot be loyal to both. If we are loyal to mammon, we will never be loyal to God. Money becomes a curse where we become more loyal to riches than to God.
I guess this is where some prefer poverty. However, they forget that it’s easier to serve God in riches than in poverty. One can still be a servant of mammon even in poverty.
THE WORD MAMMON SIMPLY MEANS RICHES.
Mammon was a Canaanite god in charge of riches. It is a spirit that makes Christians trade relationship with God on the altar of money making. That is why God will never give His Child money in surplus until He delivers Him from the mammon spirit.
Money to those who have been delivered from the mammon spirit is simply an instrument for serving God and advancing His purposes. The more of it they have, the more of God’s purposes they will accomplish. The less of it they have, the less of God’s purposes they will accomplish. That is why God cannot afford to keep us poor; especially those of us who understand His will.
The Bible made it clear that His cities or purposes can only be spread through our prosperity. It is our prosperity that will put the word of the LORD on radio. It is our prosperity that will feed the poor, clothe the naked, build houses for the homeless, and send the fatherless to schools.
And it’s important to note that prosperity is not limited to finance. It is a whole package! There is marital prosperity. There is the prosperity of sound Health, which many do not have. There is the prosperity of the mind. When God said His cities or plans and purposes will prosper by our prosperity, He was referring to prosperity as a total package.
As you embrace this glorious day, I want you to understand that money was not meant to be on our head but under our feet. God created earthly treasures not to be served but to serve us and enable us to do His will.
Have a glorious Day!!!!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY:
“Again proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “My cities shall again spread out through prosperity; the Lord will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem.”‘” Zachariah 1:17 NKJV