The Bible says that you can pursue and overtake
your enemies and recover what they have stolen from you. It is a standing order
in the word of God. The Bible being a very straightforward book gives you the
two sides of the coin. It also tells us that curses can pursue a person and
overtake the person. The same Bible also makes us to understand that blessings
can pursue a person and overtake the person. I must point out to you that the
spirit of poverty is a very stubborn spirit and it has to be dealt with, with
full force by the hammer of the Almighty. Deuteronomy 28:2 says, “And
all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken
unto the voice of the Lord thy God.” So, blessings can also pursue and
overtake a person. Psalm 23:6 says, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life...” When you combine Deuteronomy 28:2 and Psalm
23: 6, you get an amazing information. We have always
been taught that we should pursue blessings, pursue money, be very aggressive
and work ourselves to the bones. Then when we get the money, we hoard it. But
now the Bible is saying something completely different. It is saying that those
things that you are busy worrying your brain about can pursue and overtake you.
Remember that God knows no barrier or impossibility.
Most
of the wealth in the world is in the wrong hands. Why are they in the wrong
hands? We, Christians allowed it. Many of the things that are happening are so
because Christians allow them. When we stand as a church of God
and say that we disallow a particular thing, it would not happen. Our word
cannot be challenged because it is by eternal decree. We are sons of the living
God by adoption. We were not voted into it, so nobody can vote us out.
Men
love the supernatural and they like to see the miraculous. It is because of
that you always find people crowding around street magicians putting big snakes
round their necks. The Bible says that signs and wonders shall follow
believers. It did not say we should be following the signs. Miracles can pursue
and overtake you that is the truth. Beloved, I have a
word for you from the Lord as you are reading this message: God says that He
has just started His work in your life and He has not finished yet.
At
the end of the day, the only true fire and power is God. People may say all
kinds of things but the only person who has the final say is not the doctor, or
the banker, or the lawyer, or the judge. It is not the president, but the
Almighty God.
THREE REASONS
MANY CHRISTIANS ARE POOR:
1.
God will not give you what will kill you. It is like a small boy watching his
daddy shaving and he says, “Daddy, give me the blade, give me the blade.” No
matter how he loves the child, he will not give him the blade. So your
spiritual level and your level of brokenness may be too low for God to entrust
wealth to you. That is why the Bible says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God
and its righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you.” They are
automatic addition. Here comes the first question to you in this message. “Can
you confirm in your spirit that the kingdom is in you? Are you a broken
Christian? That is the first poverty-destroying weapon
God
may be looking at you and He is saying, “If I give this my child fifty million
naira, will he not backslide?” If God sees that anger, greed, dishonesty,
lying, are still in your life, He will not give you His prosperity. Get the
kingdom first; submit the whole of your life to God and then you will never be
forsaken. The Bible says that God never forsakes the righteous but you have to
be righteous to have that privilege. There are many people now who are very
serious with the Lord because they are poor. But when money comes, they would
become irregular. God can see. Many are praying, “O Lord, promote my husband,” and
God is saying, “When I have not promoted the man, he is running after strange
women, when he is promoted, he will now build castles for them and abandon you
completely. Why don’t you let us get him saved first?”
There
are people who were working and praying hard when they did not have a fan in
their house and at night mosquitoes came and by the time they slapped
themselves thrice, they would stand up to pray. But now they got the fan and
split air conditioner, they over sleep. God does not want that. Many forget the
household of God immediately they obtain contracts. They would not be seen
again in the church until the money is gone. Before then when you call a prayer
point like: “Let every contract be released now, in the name of Jesus, they
would pray and shake their heads. But when they get it, the next place you
would see them is the VIP lounge at the airport with very starched clothes,
sitting down and eating meat pie and drinking tea as early as 6.30 am. But when
they were looking for it, it was dry fast everyday.
Many
who used to come early to church when they had no cars now come late to church
in spite of the fact that God has blessed them with cars and drivers. And when
you ask them why they come late to church, they would say, “That foolish driver
did not wake up on time to bring me to church.” But when there was no car and
driver, they got to church before everybody, swept the floor, joined the prayer
warriors, and then settled down before service. God sees all these.
Some
people were praying very well when they had no job. But now that they have a
job, they forget their spiritual duties because of over- time. Some prayed and
fasted to get a job and by 5.00 am., they have arrived at the office. But when
it is service days, you see them strolling in one hour late. God normally
allows that which keeps a man from Him to be withdrawn so that He can get his
attention. God has had to withdraw cars, houses and comfort from people in
order to save their souls. So, check your life today. Are you broken to the
level where God can commit the riches of the Gentiles into your hands? Do you
have clean hands, a kind of hand that God will place this sort of riches on?
This is the first headache of the Almighty when it comes to prosperity.
2.
Proverbs 11: 24 says, “There is that scattereth, and yet
increaseth and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to
poverty. The liberal soul shall be made fat. And he that watereth shall be
watered also himself.” And Luke 6: 38 says, “Give, and it shall be given unto
you, good measure, pressed down, and shaken together and running over, shall
men give into your bosom.” This is an area where the devil has blinded
the eyes of many believers. Many pray that they want prosperity, but how is the
prosperity going to come when they have sown no seed. It is like a student
praying to pass his examination when he has read nothing. It is like a woman
praying to get pregnant without a husband or without a man. You must sow a
seed. It is that seed that the Lord will multiply for you. Someone who wants
prosperity should do more than tithing. Some people have been writing me
letters asking: “What should we tithe? Is it the gross pay or the net pay?” It
is better for you to over pay than to under pay. If God is asking you for a
tithe and you say, “O God, take 20 per cent or 15 per cent, it is better for
you to owe me than for me to owe you.” You must not treat God as a beggar. You
treat God as a beggar when you give Him the extra that you don’t need. If you
cannot be generous with the Almighty when things are hard for you, you would
not be able to give when there is abundance. Sowing in the time of famine
attracts abundant blessings and prosperity. Remember the story of the woman in
Mark chapter 12, who just threw in some coins and God said, “This one has
contributed more money than every other person.” So, if you find it hard to
give a tenth unto God, of the money that belongs to you, you are inviting
poverty. If you completely forget to pay your tithe and your offerings, you are
inviting poverty. If you feel or believe that the tithe and offerings you give
are too much, you are inviting poverty. If God gives you 20,000 naira and you
find it difficult to pay 2,000 as tithe, you are writing to poverty. Wise
believers double the tithe. Also, they sow a big seed and challenge the Lord.
Giving to God is sacrifice. You have not started giving to God until you feel
the pinch. Many are so tight-fisted when it comes to financing God’s work.
Tithe borrowers are looking for trouble too. It is foolish to borrow your tithe
because the repercussion can be grievous and it is also an insult to God.
3. Psalm
78:41 says, “Yea they turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy one of
Israel.” The third reason is that many of us limit God. Many limit God
by the way they talk and act. Many do not believe that God can do something
outside their normal salary or income. So, anytime they pray, they focus their
attention on what appears to be obvious. They are not on the look out for the
miraculous or supernatural. They limit God completely. That is why sometimes
when you ask some people, “How are you?” They would answer “rough.” Negative
and inferior thinking invites poverty. You should not limit God. The Bible says
that with God, nothing shall be impossible. It is only in our dictionary we
find the word impossible or difficult.
WAY OUT
When
you check your life and you find out that the spirit of poverty is in control,
then you need to resist it. Think now about your finances. If you have cheated
God, ask for forgiveness. Take a positive stand on what you will do in God’s
house. If you have things that you have
stored up somewhere and you know that you don’t really need them. Sell them off
and put the money into God’s work. The last step to take is an aggressive
one. It is to pray poverty destroying prayers. You must pray against the spirit
of poverty with holy aggression. Some sicknesses are not ordinary. They are
just ladders of poverty and you need to break them to pieces.
PRAYER POINTS
1.
You heaven that has become brass, break open and bring rain, in the name of
Jesus.
2.
Every poverty, I break your control, in the name of Jesus.
3.
Lay your hands on your eyes and pray like this: O Lord, anoint my eyes to see
the hidden riches of the world, in the name of Jesus.
4.
Lay hand on your head and pray this: O Lord, advertise your prosperity in my
life, in Jesus’ name.
5.Yoke of poverty upon my life.die by fire
