The Year of PWI – Wealth (Pt. 2)
Ministering: Pastor I.S James
Topic: 2016 – The Year of PWI – Wealth (Pt. 2)
Text: Dan. 2:48
As a born-again Christian, you have the down payment for blessings in your life – Jesus Christ. However, you need to keep your life inline with God’s dictates & precepts to qualify for these blessings. No one is going to monitor you to ensure live a righteous life. The beginning of Christianity is self-governance.
Prosperity Vs Materialism
Materialism is the endless accumulation of things out of greed & selfishness. Whereas, prosperity is a Bible word (Ps.1:1-3). God has no problem with people having things; He’s actually only against people being controlled by things that they (supposedly) own.
Prosperity is a natural result of following & worshiping God.
It’s your responsibility as a Christian to find out God’s promises for you as concerns wealth, hold onto them & pray them into existence in your life.
Matt. 6:33 – But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Abraham was a wealthy man; Isaac and Jacob were all wealthy! Even Lot & Esau had enough.
Job was the richest man in his time, yet he was also an upright man according to God (Job 1:1-3). Wealth didn’t change him.
These people controlled riches; riches never controlled or changed them.
Gal. 3:5-14
Gal. 3:14 – that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”
What is the blessing of Abraham?
3 Basic Forms of Abrahamic Blessings
- Elevation – You need to realise that your God Whom you serve is the LORD God, Most High (Jehovah Elyon) – God will lift you up! Honour, Exaltation, Promotion (Gen.14:22-24).
Therefore, elevation is your portion; promotion belongs to you.
- Ownership of things e.g. Properties, Land, Homes & Cities. These are basically things that can be passed to children. Our God is the Possessor of Heaven & Earth. (Gen. 12:6-9; 13:2; 25:5-6).
- (Gen. 12:6-9) The things that are yours in this year may be in the possession of someone else, who is simply taking care of it for you.
- The duty of the fathers is to blaze the trail in order for the sons to follow their paths. Wealth isn’t just what you build vaults for so you can accumulate and store it up, you are meant to pass it onto your children.
- Pass on a legacy onto your children, not just material possessions but character, morals, integrity and above all Jehovah – the God you serve.
- Dominion – Power, Influence, Authority over adversaries, against wicked plans of the enemy (Gen. 12:3; 26:11– So Abimelech charged all his people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.)
There is no way you will talk about dominion and not refer to power, wealth, influence and authority.
(Gen. 22:17) “Blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.”
Gen. 35:5 – “And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.”
If you are going to receive and wield power, wealth & influence you should be ready for the attack(s) of the enemies. This is why you need to have dominion – which is one of the facets of Abraham’s blessing.
Wealth (according to the United Nations) – Is not just a monetary measure, but also the sum of all natural & human assets e.g. Skills, Gifts, Talents, Abilities.
In our case, that will also include Spiritual Gifts & Abilities!
Dan. 1:17 – As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
From the verse above, you can see that nothing that makes up the dictionary definition of wealth (an abundance of valuable possessions or riches) was given to Daniel and his friends. So, how then did they become wealthy? It was the skills & knowledge God gave to them. This was the basis for the wealth they received/acquired.
CONCLUSION
In 2016, your gifts will make a way & bring you before kings.
Better still, aim for ‘spiritual wealth’ or currencies to cultivate in 2016 e.g. integrity of character, trust, faithfulness, generosity. These are the ‘true riches’ no one can take away from you (Lk.16:10-12).
- The one who possesses these ‘Currencies of the kingdom‘ is the truly wealthy man!
Because, like Joseph & Daniel, enemies can gang up against you; what man gives, man can also take away; but True Spiritual Wealth is yours forever!
It is when you exhibit integrity, faithfulness & character in your life that God will shut the mouths of your enemies.
