Friday, June 4, 2010

Free Yourself from the Spirit of Poverty

  • Money Won't Make You Rich: God's Principles for True Wealth, Prosperity, and SuccessPoverty is a spirit that the devil uses to keep us from achieving what God have ordained in us.
  • God cannot trust us with His anointing, if we don’t know how to handle money.
  • Becoming faithful in little things makes God entrust us in big things
  • Lack is a golden opportunity for us to believe God for a miracle and consequently growing in faith
  • Love for money has become an idol in most human hearts. Most people can do anything for money.
  • Our source should not be money but God. We should reach a point whereby the economy of the world does not matter to us any more, because we are drawing from God as our source.
  • Poverty may not have anything to do with material stuff and money, but is is usually manifested that way.


Put God first

Haggai 1:5-9
5. Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
6. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
8. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.
9. Ye looked for much, and, lo it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.

What are you busy doing? Are you working hard, but earning less, planting more but harvesting less, investing more but getting less profits or even incurring  losses? Consider your ways. Have you neglected God and all that pertains to Him? Have you ignored the great commission of spreading the Word of God? Have you put your business first than putting the business of God first? Have you put your profession first rather than putting God first?

It is as simple as it sounds - PUT GOD FIRST. When we put Him first, he will bless the works of our hands. We usually open a door for the devil to steal our resources when we stop putting God first and anything we bring home, God blows it away and we are left with nothing. Just imagine putting money in a bag that has holes. Spiritually , it happens to us Christians when we neglect the work and the ministers of God. Have you ever heard someone saying, “ I get a lot of money, but I don’t see what I do with the money or I can’t show anything I have done”? This statement is very common.

When we SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD, God will turn everything around for us because He will take full control over our lives. We shall eat and be satisfied, we shall drink and be quenched, we shall clothe and be warm, our earnings shall do great projects and God shall protect our wealth instead of blowing it off.

To walk in abundance should be our key as Christians. We should be enriched in everything because our God is rich. The bible says in Haggai 2:8, The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts.


Pay your Taxes to the government

Luke 20:25  And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be God's.

When we withhold our taxes which are justly due, we open a door to the devil. Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. if we expect good services from the government, we should be faithful in paying our taxes.


Pay your tithe (Malachi3:8-11)

Tithing is fundamental. Pay God the first fruits of your earnings. Tithe is not given, but it is paid. Tithe belongs to God and when we don't pay it we are robbing God. Personally, I don’t want to be labelled as robber of God – it is terrible. The bible says that when we don’t tithe we are cursed with a curse. We should test God by tithing, for He will open the windows of heaven and bless us and we will never lack anything. Tithing should not be a one year trial, but it should be a lifestyle so as to allow God to rebuke the devourer (the devil) who comes to plunder us of our blessings.

Leviticus 27:30  And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's: it is holy unto the Lord. Tithe is our seed that we plant in God’s work (or in God’s garden). If a farmer eats the seed instead of planting it, that farmer should not expect to harvest that season. Do you want a bountiful harvest?, then sow your seeds in God.

Tithing shows our faithfulness to God, because God gives us 100% , but expects us to pay only 10%. It is a way of taking God onboard as a partner in our undertakings and therefore opening  a door for God’s protection of the 90%,  our family, our health, our jobs, our businesses, and our everything.

So the conclusion is, when we don’t tithe, we actually open a door for the devil to destroy the works of our hands. Nevertheless, as we tithe let us remember the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faith.


Remember the needy


Isaiah 58:5-14
5. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?
6. Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
7. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
8. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward.
9. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
10. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
11. And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
12. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
13. If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14. Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

For us to get healing, restoration and answered prayers, we need to stop criticizing others (pointing fingers to others). If we are part of God’s ministry in this world, we should not criticize others because we know that the devil is the accuser of the brethren and we should not help him in doing that. This does not mean that we cover sin, but we should work in restoration ministry that the Lord has given us to restore others. Most of the church splits are caused by criticizing and slander and the devil celebrates when he sees what is happening.

Sometimes we ignore relatives, whom we know very well are struggling to survive. Instead of stepping in to help without being asked, we  assume and sometimes avoid them. When we help our relatives, it touches the heart of God and provokes Him to bless us. The needy are always around us on daily basis. When we help the needy, the bible says that we lend to God, who will pay us back with an increase.

Honouring the day of worship is very important. When it is time to go to church, let your friends and family know that it is not time to come visiting you. They should know that you MUST have an appointment with God, which you can’t miss. When they see the respect you have for God, they will be convicted to repentance. Some Christians have even turned Sunday to be the time of going to the beach, for an outing and  other pleasures.

When we do as Isaiah 58: 5-14 prescribes, then we will thrive even in hard economical times (even in drought). The same God who taught Isaac how to do productive agriculture in times of drought, will teach us to make wealth even in hard, thin times.

 

Feel free to comment about this article through the blog.

2 comments:

  1. this is the right way to change and transform peoples lives in our country KENYA. if we dont reach out to the needy,helpless,poor,sick then why shuld we not feel embarasses and guilty when we say "we love God".

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  2. I love your insightful comment shiku. Just as God loved us and in return He GAVE His son for our redemption. If we say we love, then we have to do something to show that we really love.

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