From part one of this series, I told us that there are other highly important things we must consider if we want to be truly blessed by God. In this article is another top requirement from God if you want to prosper.
Now let us see a scripture passage that can aid us in digesting the truth I share.
“And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” Deuteronomy 8:18
I pulled out a bible passage which can help us understand this message better.
Moses in Deuteronomy 8:18, re-installed into the minds of the Israelites, that wealth, and God given riches are as a result of God establishing a covenant He had made with the fathers, which also applies unto them.
So, paraphrasing the text can read, ‘you shall remember the Lord your God, He giveth thee power to get wealth. And this is based on an agreement or a covenant made with your fathers, that he may establish it.’
Covenant is an agreement between two parties. When God enters into a covenant or agreement with man, He gives us instructions of what He wants from us. When we have done what He has said, in-turn, He will fulfill his own part of the agreement. This is called establishing a covenant. And a covenant cannot be established in the face of unfaithfulness and rebellion to agreement.
From the first part of this series, we traced the covenant that yields blessings back to the Abrahamic covenant. God’s word unto Abraham was that he would be blessed, and his generations will be blessed through him, if they will pursue after righteousness before God.
Carefully searching out the scriptures, we will find another word from God on what we must do to make our way prosperous. The word of God does not fail. When God tells us, ‘do this, and I will do this’, it becomes a sure agreement, a covenant word. And as long as men align to it, it will always prove itself true.
In Joshua 1:8, God gave out to Joshua a code, on how he (Joshua) can attain a prosperous rule, and achieve good success. Thus He entered into an agreement or a covenant with Joshua.
“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Joshua 1:8
Now, there is the factor of preparing for God’s blessings, or maturing to receive divine allotted wealth. This is the hidden word in the instruction which God delivered unto Joshua.
One may ask, ‘How does studying and meditating on God’s word, plus doing it, aid in prosperity and divine blessings and good success’? It is simple! But the answer has two parts.
- The Law of God is all about righteousness and Holiness. And we cannot forget the covenant of Abraham. So, by doing the requirements of the Law, Joshua would key into the Abrahamic covenant. And for Joshua to know the righteous requirements of the law, and have it in his heart always, he had to meditate on the word of God daily.
- The other part of the answer is the need for Joshua to grow in the knowledge of God. And this is the area we will touch in this article.
Knowing God is the principle of exploring and exploiting His divine graces. One truth preachers whose God is money will find hard to say is that ‘God desires us to know Him more than he desires sacrifice, money and gifts from us.’
“I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings.” Hosea 6:6
And after we have grown in the knowledge of God we can then do exploits with what we know. Put in another way, we need to exploit the knowledge of God for the betterment of our lives.
“But the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” Daniel 11:32
In the knowing of God is;
- Knowing His Judgments.
- Knowing His dislikes and what turns Him off.
- Knowing how He thinks.
- Knowing what He truly desires from us.
- Knowing how to relate with Him.
- Knowing how to obtain His favour, and His help in time of need.
- Knowing the righteous and holy ways of God.
- Knowing how God blesses and prospers His people.
- Knowing what He can do, and what He cannot do.
- Knowing the zeal of God, and what drives His walk with man.
- Knowing His word, His power, and His glory.
One of the reasons God does not bless us is because we are not yet grown-up in our affairs with Him; we are not matured enough to handle the wealth and riches that come from Him; we are still babes at heart and mind.
Riches can lead astray, but not for a man who has had a good and solid knowledge of God, and has become matured at heart by the things he knows. This was the second thing God was trying to achieve with Joshua.
There was a man whom I knew in his earlier days. He was a Church pianist and a brother in fellowship, until wealth surrounded him. Then his heart was led astray by the never-ending lust that comes with riches. He then began to sleep around with ladies in the church, and he impregnated some. He lost all fear for God, and started to engage in many fraudulent and deceitful means of increasing wealth. For whatever reason it was, he couldn’t be suspended by the Church. With his wealth he bought his way out of disfellowship.
This is a case of a man who obtained wealth without first washing his mind with God’s word, and preparing for it by His knowledge.
Now, God uses some things around us, to show and make us have knowledge of the deepest thoughts of His. This wicked man was the man through whom God opened my blind eyes to the fact that riches can derail men easily. Hence the need to prepare ourselves if we truly desire to prosper by the hand of God.
This brother who fell in the time of riches, could have been saved from destruction if he had good knowledge of God and His word, which has the power to change our hearts and mature it unto godliness. If he had known what he was supposed to know, he would not have stumbled.
The word of God sanctifies us; it prepares us for the blessings of God. Let us take lessons from this – No parent will give his or her child a gift which he or she does not know how to handle. No father will buy a car for a babe in age and mind. No man will give his children what will kill or destroy them. The process of preparing the mind to effectively put to good use the blessings, riches, and gifts we receive comes with growth; and growth is about amassing knowledge. It is not all about age, but maturing in mind.
Thus you can find a full grown adult with a baby’s mindset in handling riches. He cries to God daily to bless the works of his hands, and to enlarge his coast. But he knows not the Lord richly, so earthly riches will destroy his soul.
But knowledge matures the mind. The knowledge of God matures a believer in Christ. Without knowing the ‘whats’, ‘hows’, ‘wheres’, ‘whens’, ‘whys’ concerning our walk with God, we are bound to harm ourselves, and stumble into many great errors. But studying and meditating on the Bible will help us.
I know of a family for which I stood before God, earnestly praying for them to be blessed. One day God spoke to me, saying, “If I will bless this family, this woman (the wife and mother) will act in folly. She will cause her husband to leave the Church.” And as the Lord spoke, He played unto my eyes the vision of this word of truth.
This case unravels the deepest thoughts of the Great Monarch of all ages. He sees the future! And He acts to bring about a good end for those whom He has loved.
For this family, what hindered their prosperity was the lack of growth, the lack of preparation, and the lack of godly maturity. The woman could not handle the wealth they yearn for. This was a family of God, a pastors family. But the wife of the priest knows not the Lord as she ought to know Him; so, God couldn’t open the windows of blessings and prosperity. He has seen that it will bring destruction to them.
Again, a woman was sent by God to instruct a church where I worshiped sometime ago. This church was stricken by great hardship, and they direly asked that the God who blessed Jabez would come and open the doors of blessings and prosperity unto them. But God, instead of blessings, sent a woman of God with the word “Are you prepared for what you are asking for?”
Hence, brethren, there is a preparation and what we must do in order to convince God that we are ready to be blessed and given kingdom wealth. And it is done by growing and maturing in the knowledge of God. And we grow by studying it, meditating on it, and doing what is written in the book of the law. This is more pleasing to God than the seeds and sacrifices we give for God to prosper us.
Now, I do not say that we should seek to know God and stop giving. You do not yet know God if you do not serve Him with your wealth. Giving sacrificially is biblical, and it is required by God. But the corruption is the way giving out money has overshadowed the more important matters of faith, Christian maturity and Christian prosperity. The error is that greed ‘spined’ sermons and empty prophecies have overshadowed the truth of God.
Less than a month after I turned 29, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, ”You have served Me, and from now you will know that serving Me brings wealth.” That soon? Yes that soon and that young!
In the past 4 years I have read the Bible more than 4 times. I now have solid knowledge of God, His judgments, and His word. Riches would not easily cause me to stumble if I continue to grow in His knowledge and graces. Like David, I can also say, ‘Thine word have I hidden in my heart, that I may not sin against You.’
I remember some years ago when Jesus said to me, ‘you should read your bible everyday.’ May God bless that Sunday afternoon. It was the beginning of my journey of richly knowing God. And in my frequent study of this Book of the Law, I have gotten good knowledge of;
- Why I am a Christian
- The covenant of a Christian
- The power of righteousness
- The power of holiness
- Why God blesses us
- How God blesses us
- Things we must do for God to bless us
- Riches and Wealth are part of the great test. Read: Tested by Fire
- How to overcome temptations rising from wealth
- Seeing life beyond riches
- Giving is necessary, but money and seed is not the firsts things concerning God’s divine blessings. You cannot pursue giving while neglecting other weightier matters.
- You cannot claim to love and serve God without giving.
“Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first-fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.” Proverbs 3:9-10 - Giving that moves God does not start and end with giving in the church or church project. There are those who are put down by conditions of life, we must give them too. As an evangelist I have great need for support and partnership for my crusades and other projects; yet I cannot keep the truth from you God’s people. Even as you give to support God’s work, do not turn blind eyes on the less privileged. The poor and the hungry. If we turn our eyes away from them and only give into Church work or to men of God, we are deceiving ourselves.
- How to stay strong in the presence of great riches
Knowing these things and more can enable one to prepare and become ready for seasons of divine blessings and open doors. Not knowing them will make it hard for God to bless us. He cannot afford the error of stumbling because of His providence.
Finally, we must acknowledge that the eternal destination of man’s soul is more precious to God than temporal happiness on earth. That is to say that the soul of man is priceless to God. For this, the Eternal God wants us to enter His kingdom more than He wants to give us riches. If He can secure our eternity with Him, and foresee that we can be trusted with wealth, there is nothing good He will withhold from us in the right season. This truth is also sure!