God has been dealing with me on the issue of finance of late. He had me write a teaching on this a few weeks back entitled, ‘Show Me the Money’. I also had to recently update it with the new impressions that He made on me. It is freely available for download at the web site listed below on the page with the link entitled ‘Teachings’.
I will be interested in peoples’ responses concerning this issue, because of the scriptures that tell us that there will be a transfer of wealth from the hands of the enemy’s servants into the hands of the righteous, faithful people, during these end-times. I read a book some years ago that speaks to this end. I believe the title of the book was, The Cyrus Anointing. God spoke to me several years ago, (even before I read the book) and showed me a couple of ways that this will take place. I can tell you that what He showed me is not the way that people might think it will happen. That is not really what I want to discuss here, but we can if you want. What I want to discuss here is primarily the fact that many Christians whose heart is to truly serve the Lord are poor or in debt. God has shown me some of the reasons why, but I know He has spoken to others about this and I would like to get their input here as well please. If you have read the teaching that God had me write, this will probably be redundant since most of it will be found in there, especially on page 38. However, here goes...
God showed me last week the areas that my wife and I fall short of receiving His blessing and prosperity. Though we have no debt and lack no good thing, I would like to have more money to use for preaching the gospel and reaching out to the poor in greater ways than we already do. As Joyce Meyer says, ‘Unless you are blessed, you cannot bless others’. The Bible says in Proverbs 10:22, (NKJV)...
22 The blessing of the LORD makes one rich,
And He adds no sorrow with it.
We would probably all like to have this blessing. I know that some of the T.V. preachers and others around the world have given messages on this blessing and how to acquire it; however for most people in the congregations it has remained elusive. This has led to critics labeling this type of preaching, ‘the prosperity gospel’ and saying that it will not work. There are many variants of this theme, but they all fail to produce widespread success in God’s people in the area of finance. The question is why? If we give our tithes and offerings in faith, pray and speak God’s Word over them, should we not be prosperous? Jesus did say that if we give that it will be given back to us multiplied, did He not, (Luke 6:38)? God showed me that the key to understanding why people fail to receive His blessing is found in Psalm chapter 1. There are three main areas that people usually fall short as outlined in verse 1...
Psalm Chapter 1 -
1 Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
The three areas are thus -
1. Operating in human wisdom.
2. Doing things that we should not be doing and hanging out with people that we should not be hanging out with.
3. Saying things that we should not be saying.
My main failure has been in the third of these three areas. I have recently had God put pressure on me to severely curtail the things that I ‘joke’ about, because God showed me that He views it as mocking or scornful. We cannot make fun of others or even ourselves, because we are made in the image of God. We cannot make fun of government or even the authority of the systems that we work under, because God has set those things up for a specific reason, (not the least of which is to see if we can submit to authority, even if it is corrupt). If it is not the Word of God or at least consistent with the Word of God coming from our mouths, it is better that we should not speak at all. If there is error in any of these three areas, then the blessing of the Lord will not be upon us and we will NOT really prosper in ANYTHING that we do. It is as simple as that.
The fourth area is also important and that is to have the things of God in the forefront of our minds. And finally we have to give generously and speak God's Word like water over our 'seeds'.
Therefore, the real prosperity gospel is that of perfection or maturity in Christ. Once we become perfected in Christ, then we will prosper. Until then, God will not give us excess money, no matter how much we give away or sacrifice, because we will only waste it and it will harm us in the long run. He loves us too much for that. One must enter into the spiritual Promised Land and exit the wilderness of just getting by before prosperity will come. One can only enter into the ‘rest’ of the Promised Land by becoming perfected in Christ. The wilderness experience of suffering and just getting by is designed, at least in part, to test our faith and to let God see what is in our heart whether we will obey Him or not. If one cannot be obedient in the wilderness where they just get by, then they will not obey God when there is excess and may even turn from Him and put their salvation at risk, (Deuteronomy chapter 8, Psalm 30, Proverbs 30:7-9 and I Timothy chapter 6).
Thus, if you find yourself in lack or just getting by and want to be truly prosperous, in order to receive the blessing of the Lord, you must, (with God’s help) correct any error in one or more of the three areas listed in Psalm 1:1, focus and stay focused on the things of God and give generously, even to your enemies, (if you want to be perfect - Matthew chapters 5-7 and Luke chapter 6).
Be blessed,
Ray
I will be interested in peoples’ responses concerning this issue, because of the scriptures that tell us that there will be a transfer of wealth from the hands of the enemy’s servants into the hands of the righteous, faithful people, during these end-times. I read a book some years ago that speaks to this end. I believe the title of the book was, The Cyrus Anointing. God spoke to me several years ago, (even before I read the book) and showed me a couple of ways that this will take place. I can tell you that what He showed me is not the way that people might think it will happen. That is not really what I want to discuss here, but we can if you want. What I want to discuss here is primarily the fact that many Christians whose heart is to truly serve the Lord are poor or in debt. God has shown me some of the reasons why, but I know He has spoken to others about this and I would like to get their input here as well please. If you have read the teaching that God had me write, this will probably be redundant since most of it will be found in there, especially on page 38. However, here goes...
God showed me last week the areas that my wife and I fall short of receiving His blessing and prosperity. Though we have no debt and lack no good thing, I would like to have more money to use for preaching the gospel and reaching out to the poor in greater ways than we already do. As Joyce Meyer says, ‘Unless you are blessed, you cannot bless others’. The Bible says in Proverbs 10:22, (NKJV)...
22 The blessing of the LORD makes one rich,
And He adds no sorrow with it.
We would probably all like to have this blessing. I know that some of the T.V. preachers and others around the world have given messages on this blessing and how to acquire it; however for most people in the congregations it has remained elusive. This has led to critics labeling this type of preaching, ‘the prosperity gospel’ and saying that it will not work. There are many variants of this theme, but they all fail to produce widespread success in God’s people in the area of finance. The question is why? If we give our tithes and offerings in faith, pray and speak God’s Word over them, should we not be prosperous? Jesus did say that if we give that it will be given back to us multiplied, did He not, (Luke 6:38)? God showed me that the key to understanding why people fail to receive His blessing is found in Psalm chapter 1. There are three main areas that people usually fall short as outlined in verse 1...
Psalm Chapter 1 -
1 Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
The three areas are thus -
1. Operating in human wisdom.
2. Doing things that we should not be doing and hanging out with people that we should not be hanging out with.
3. Saying things that we should not be saying.
My main failure has been in the third of these three areas. I have recently had God put pressure on me to severely curtail the things that I ‘joke’ about, because God showed me that He views it as mocking or scornful. We cannot make fun of others or even ourselves, because we are made in the image of God. We cannot make fun of government or even the authority of the systems that we work under, because God has set those things up for a specific reason, (not the least of which is to see if we can submit to authority, even if it is corrupt). If it is not the Word of God or at least consistent with the Word of God coming from our mouths, it is better that we should not speak at all. If there is error in any of these three areas, then the blessing of the Lord will not be upon us and we will NOT really prosper in ANYTHING that we do. It is as simple as that.
The fourth area is also important and that is to have the things of God in the forefront of our minds. And finally we have to give generously and speak God's Word like water over our 'seeds'.
Therefore, the real prosperity gospel is that of perfection or maturity in Christ. Once we become perfected in Christ, then we will prosper. Until then, God will not give us excess money, no matter how much we give away or sacrifice, because we will only waste it and it will harm us in the long run. He loves us too much for that. One must enter into the spiritual Promised Land and exit the wilderness of just getting by before prosperity will come. One can only enter into the ‘rest’ of the Promised Land by becoming perfected in Christ. The wilderness experience of suffering and just getting by is designed, at least in part, to test our faith and to let God see what is in our heart whether we will obey Him or not. If one cannot be obedient in the wilderness where they just get by, then they will not obey God when there is excess and may even turn from Him and put their salvation at risk, (Deuteronomy chapter 8, Psalm 30, Proverbs 30:7-9 and I Timothy chapter 6).
Thus, if you find yourself in lack or just getting by and want to be truly prosperous, in order to receive the blessing of the Lord, you must, (with God’s help) correct any error in one or more of the three areas listed in Psalm 1:1, focus and stay focused on the things of God and give generously, even to your enemies, (if you want to be perfect - Matthew chapters 5-7 and Luke chapter 6).
Be blessed,
Ray
