TODAY’S DEVOTION (Friday 10th December 2021)
“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 344TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF HIGHER HEIGHTS.
We bless our LORD and savior Jesus Christ for giving us another day. Not everyone who slept last night woke up this morning. He did not keep us because we are better than them. It is out of His mercies that we are not consumed, for His compassion fails not.
Indeed, as David would have put it if he were here, if the LORD should mark iniquities, we shall not stand. But there is forgiveness with Him so that He may be feared.
It’s a great privilege to serve the God who created Heaven and earth and to hear Him call us His own. It’s a privilege to get out of a life of sin, separate from the evil and corrupt systems of this world, and break ties with everything satanic and be separated unto Christ alone. That was in effect what our father Abraham did when he was called out of his father’s house.
Genuine salvation involves walking away from darkness and clinging unto Jesus Christ – the true light; not for one day, two days, one month or one year but forever. That is how we become rich in spiritual and earthly Blessings.
However, the greatness of each one’s riches is determined by so many factors which space will not let me state. One of it is our ability to follow Jesus without missing one step – our ability to make His footsteps our pathways.
No one follows Jesus Christ in spirit and in truth and miss the riches of His mercies, the riches of His grace and the riches of His glory; especially this end times. The reason for that is simple. Those kingdom riches are who He is and are capable of making earthly riches (a major tool for doing His blessed will) available to us.
And there is so much to do with both spiritual and natural riches this end times, especially in view of transforming moral landscapes and leading men and women genuinely to the LORD.
IN OUR DEVOTIONAL TODAY’S, I WILL BE SHARING WITH US ABOUT NATURAL RICHNESS. I HOPE YOU ARE READY!
To start with, I want to submit to you that God wants you to prosper; especially as your soul prosper. I am sure you may not have heard these words; that is God wants you to prosper as your soul prospers. Because many do not care about the prosperity of their souls or relationship with God. They just want His money!
We are the wife of Christ – the true Church, and we will be a very bad wife if all we want is His money and not a relationship with Him. That is what we call the harlot Church in the apostolic. But God wants us to prosper economically, as our walk and talk with Him prospers.
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 is all about. Many think prosperity is having all your need and canning all you have. They take materialism for prosperity, hence piercing themselves with many sorrows.
Others even believe financial Prosperity is not for the righteous. They believe that poverty and adversity is a mark of true discipleship. They do not realize that this was a maxim propagated by certain group of elites many years back, through certain priests to keep the poor who seek the LORD poor and the rich who do not rich.
A rich, righteous and well connected Child of God is a very effective tool of kingdom advance in God’s hands. With his kingdom wealth and connection with God, he can do so much for the LORD on the face of the earth.
The truth is, if you have a wrong believe of anything in the kingdom of God, it will hinder you from manifesting the blessing of the kingdom in that aspect of your life.
WE MUST COME INTO AN ACCURATE REVELATION OF PROSPERITY IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD TO LIVE IN PROSPERITY AS GOD’S KINGDOM CITIZENS.
Revelation remains Heaven’s clearance to the earth to come into things supernatural – especially things that will equip us financially to do God’s blessed will. These are not days of walking in darkness or wrong understanding of things in the kingdom. These are days of clarity of vision and revelation.
Your life will become clear and exciting if you walk in the clarity of the vision of GOD’s plans and programs for your life and the scriptural revelation of things in His kingdom that have been made available to you.
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 sometimes back when he heard me preach about financial abundance by the power of God. 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 the earthly glory we celebrate as glory. The Bible made it clear that whatever the earth considers as glorious is poverty compared to what Heaven consider as glorious. That was what the apostle meant.
God cannot afford to keep His own poor this end times because the execution of His end time redemption programs rest upon our shoulder. Lazarus will not be needed this age because he was too poor to have any financial instrument to serve God. Thank God he made Heaven but with no soul to present to Jesus. In the final day when we will all appear before God, he will only have one out of the five crowns keep for the righteous as reward.
GOD CANNOT AFFORD TO KEEP US POOR THIS END TIME, LIKE LAZARUS WAS.
We cannot be eating under the table of the rich and be able to preach on the media, and do all the money-things that need to be done to save souls today. So Jesus was not poor in the sense that we know poverty to be.
In fact, if you look at Bible History He was not even poor by earth’s definition of poverty. So why should we be? If He was poor, He would not have been able to do the many things He did. The Bible made it clear that though He owned no Estates because it was unnecessary but He had a house even before stepping into ministry.
He was a carpenter but it was what we will call real Estate today, because carpentry was not just furniture making in His days. They built homes 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.
Those who call Him poor are ignorant. I said it before that if you call a man who could get money from the mouth of fishes “poor” it means you are ignorant! He was rich enough to pay all His bills when He was physically on earth!
Those who studied the details said, His garment was so expensive that people 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 days, 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 yet His money never ran dry. Thieves will tell you, try to steal from the poor and see what will happen to him or her. There will be nothing to even steal in most cases. Those who have something to be stolen from them will immediately feel the impact of a thief’s visit.
JESUS ALSO HAD A TEAM OF NOTABLE WOMEN SUPPORTING HIS MINISTRY FINANCIALLY.
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. That is why it’s important to learn to read the Bible yourself and not just stop at what people are saying.
Jesus enjoyed the prosperity of the righteous as King of kings and LORD of lords, walking the earth realm with deep humility and strong financial stability. He never had the prosperity of the wicked or that of a fool that is why people calls him poor.
Those who call Him poor only know about the prosperity of the wicked and that d a fool, and since they cannot trace it in Jesus, they end up calling Him poor. From the indices of the prosperity of the righteous He was not poor.
I believe, if we are to look unto Him as the author and finisher of our faith, we must also learn to look unto Him in money matters as the author and finisher. He walked this earth in the prosperity of the righteous to show us how to walk the earth living in the prosperity of the righteous.
He spoke about hell and Heaven more than He spoke about money, but He spoke about all of them with the same spirit and passion, stressing the importance of making Heaven and also having money for kingdom advance while you are on your way there.
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. We must be loyal to God alone and then money will find us.
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, if Christ is established in your heart than to serve Him in poverty. One can still be a servant of mammon even in poverty.
In fact, mammon worshipers are made up of both the poor and the rich, the great and small, the sick and the healthy and etc. So, it’s not about our financial status but the state of our heart; who enjoys the most of our allegiance, God or mammon?
The word mammon simply means riches. Mammon was a Canaanite god in charge of riches; a manifestation of Baal. 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 will they can do. The less of it they have, the less of God’s will they can do. That is why God cannot afford to keep them poor; especially if they understand His will for their lives.
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, Television and satellite. 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 the prosperity of the righteous 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 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 His will.
You shall not be poor in Jesus precious name! Amen!!
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY
“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