SUPERNATURAL WISDOM
A Christian is tempted on every side, just like other people.
- Wisdom of God comes by Instructions
- Consistent application of given instruction results into Abundance
Introduction
As most Christians know, the Bible has a wealth of information and advice about handling money and the ability to build wealth. The book of Proverbs alone provides enough guidance to fill many personal finance books. The bible also doesn’t focus on becoming wealthy for wealth’s sake, but to bless others. That said, if you apply the principles in the Bible, you can’t help but become wealthy.
Towards the end of the message, I will share some of the simple, but powerful steps to creating wealth as a child of God. I have used these techniques, but will caution that we must back-them up with prayer. Especially in Nigeria and Africa, there are so many spiritual battles that could derail a good process without effective prayer. A wealth conscious christian must be prayer conscious and pray continually. I worked as a chartered Accountant and banker for years, so I am familiar with some of the income and wealth equations and mathematics.
Over the years, my knowledge of what the Bible says about money has grown. Somewhere along the way I realized that some of my actions mirrored what was in Scripture. We are called to be obedient to the word and instructions of the Lord. We are not immune from temptations and trials of life, but by faith and believe in the Lord, we are able to obey strict instructions of God to our blessing. This obedience is also referred to as Wisdom.
As most Christians know, the Bible has a wealth of information and advice about handling money and the ability to build wealth. The book of Proverbs alone provides enough guidance to fill many personal finance books. The bible also doesn’t focus on becoming wealthy for wealth’s sake, but to bless others. That said, if you apply the principles in the Bible, you can’t help but become wealthy.
Towards the end of the message, I will share some of the simple, but powerful steps to creating wealth as a child of God. I have used these techniques, but will caution that we must back-them up with prayer. Especially in Nigeria and Africa, there are so many spiritual battles that could derail a good process without effective prayer. A wealth conscious christian must be prayer conscious and pray continually. I worked as a chartered Accountant and banker for years, so I am familiar with some of the income and wealth equations and mathematics.
Over the years, my knowledge of what the Bible says about money has grown. Somewhere along the way I realized that some of my actions mirrored what was in Scripture. We are called to be obedient to the word and instructions of the Lord. We are not immune from temptations and trials of life, but by faith and believe in the Lord, we are able to obey strict instructions of God to our blessing. This obedience is also referred to as Wisdom.
People like the promises God made to us in the bible, but along those wonderful promises are strict instructions that will guarantee we receive the blessing promised. For instance, the bible advises us to honour the father and mother, so that our days may be, long on the earth. Whosoever ignores this instruction and abuse, fight and neglect our parents, it is obvious such a person may not live long.
In the area of receiving blessing from God, you must love the Lord, your God with all your heart, spirit, soul and body. You must also love your neighbour as yourself. You cannot claim to love God, when you are not talking to the neighbour living with you. You must also obey strict instructions from the bible meant for your blessing.
Instructions
A wise person received instructions and get wiser. A Wiseman seeks knowledge and then correctly applies the knowledge in helping himself and others. Knowledge correctly applied to solve a problem bring joy to the people concerned. For a person to be wise means that he has correct and valid information at his disposal and he can correctly use the information he has to solve a problem.
A wise person received instructions and get wiser. A Wiseman seeks knowledge and then correctly applies the knowledge in helping himself and others. Knowledge correctly applied to solve a problem bring joy to the people concerned. For a person to be wise means that he has correct and valid information at his disposal and he can correctly use the information he has to solve a problem.
Ecclesiastes 7:12 says that "Wisdom is a defense as money is a defense, But the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it. Wise people are usually honoured in all clime. Wisdom brings wealth, honour and for many prolonged life. The wise wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel.
Jeremiah 17:11 - A wise christian is neither greedy or in a haste to obtain anything. This is because he knows that anything obtained from fraud will never bring him glory. In Jeremiah 17:11 the bible says that you may not be around to enjoy riches obtained from fraud. It says:
"As a partridge that broods but does not hatch, So is he who gets riches, but not by right; It will leave him in the midst of his days, And at his end he will be a fool."
Proverbs 3:9 - Honour the Lord with your first fruit and He will bless the rest of your income in the year. Honor the Lord with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase. So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.
Malachai 3:8-12 Talks about paying Tithe. God Himself ordained Tithing, that we should return 10% of whatever blessing we receive into His House - The Church for the works of the kingdom, with a promise to bless us further and that He will stop the devourer from stealing from us. If a believer refuses to pay tithe, he is under a curse - for robbing God. It says:
Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say. 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me. Even this whole nation.
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," Says the Lord of hosts. "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
"And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, So that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field," Says the Lord of hosts; And all nations will call you blessed, For you will be a delightful land," Says the Lord of hosts.
Wise people are usually honoured in all climes. Wisdom brings wealth, honour and for much-prolonged life. The wise wise man will hear and increase learning, And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel.
It takes instructions to move fast in life. Search out more instructions - specific instructions from the Word and obey them and see the riches and wealth obedience brings. Wise people never ignores strict instructions!
Wisdom - You are in Charge
You are ultimately responsible for working out your finances, but if you believe the Lord and walk in obedience, you will receive the wisdom to get wealth. The bible did not say God will give you wealth but He said He will give you "the ability" to make wealth. Don't be deceived or misled that the Lord gives wealth because if you still have that mindset you might end up being impoverished.
The Lord gives us the ability or power to make wealth and not wealth itself. So this is the secret of the power to make wealth ..."remember your GOD..." in all that you do and commit your ways into His hands. There are two powers that God give His children in order to prosper them. The first power is given to you when you receive Christ as Lord and Saviour. For the bible says to them that belief in His name, to them gave He the power to becomes sons of God.
Ask for Power
It is your duty to pray and ask for wealth after receiving Christ. You will do better asking for wisdom to get wealth, than asking for wealth. Remember that everything you need from God will require that you receive the power of grace to obtain it. If you are sick, you need power to get well - Healing. If you are jobless, you need the power to get job, a good job. You also need the power to get favour from people far and near.
Wait for this...You also need the power to connect to destiny helpers that will help you achieve your dreams. You cannot achieve much alone, especially if you have a big dream or big assignment which the Lord has asked you to do, you need destiny helpers that will stick to you until you get to your destination and remain committed and loyal.
Brethren, you also need power to manage people well. If you can manage money and cannot manage people, your money will soon finish and you are back to square one. I am going this far because I am looking at how to acquire divine wealth and how God releases the grace for wealth to people. Ask for power to manage your finances, different from the power to manage people, because you will need to know how to plan, budget and prioritize your expenses from day today. When you have made these requests, I want to assure you that God is ready to bless you, even more than you can even imagine, but you must have His Holy Spirit working in you.
Know the Holy Ghost
The gift of the Holy Spirit is indispensable in the life of a child of God, because He is the power of God to do all things here on earth. When you are born again, you receive a new Spirit inside you. But for the Holy Spirit to work maximally in your life, you will have to yield your life to Him, and He will start the work of cleansing and purifying you.
This is done through the way He will expose your sins to you for you to repent and desist from evil ways. The Holy Ghost will also rebuke you when you do or say wrong things so that you can correct your mistakes and avoid the same error in the future. The Holy Spirit will warn you of things you should not do and say, and if you will accept his rebuke, warning and prompting and change your way, your life will be transformed and when you ask for wealth, it will be easy for the Spirit to also guide you into wealth.
You must receive the power to be called the son of God before you seek power to get wealth. God is good and kind, so not only will He give you power if you request, He will, in addition, give you the Holy Ghost. To prosper under Christ or from Christ, you need the power to get wealth, and that power is released to you through the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the power of God working in you, that is able to make you do all things and achieve all things. Without the Holy Ghost guiding, advising and directing you, you are far from success, whether big or small.
Steps to Building Wealth
There’s no way to cover every money angle talked about in the Bible in one post. But I would like to share four important steps after receiving Christ, spiritual power and the Holy Ghost. These steps I know will help you build wealth — all of which are supported by Scripture.
Step 1: Earning
The first step to help you build wealth is earning money. And to no one’s surprise, the more you earn the faster your wealth can grow. Fortunately, there’s a path to doing this. There are many people who would want to give to help others, but they don't have to give. You have to make the money first before you can give. The Bible shares how to make the money from your work or career. It involves becoming competent in your work. The dictionary lists competence as “having the necessary ability, knowledge, or skill to do something successfully. Being efficient and capable.” “Do you see any truly competent workers? They will serve kings rather than working for ordinary people.” – Prov. 22:29 (NLT).
If you meet these criteria, you will “serve Kings.” In other words, you will rise to the upper levels of your chosen profession. As your responsibilities increase, so will your income. Simply by itself, your career is a multi-million dollar asset. If you don’t believe me, do the math. Look at what college students start out making these days, add in some annual growth (even if it’s small), and spread that out over a 45-year career. You’ll get at least two million dollars — maybe more depending on where you start and what growth rate you use.
That’s good news! Your career is a valuable asset! Even better news is that those who are competent in their work can literally earn millions of dollars more over the course of their working careers. Their competence results in a higher rate of annual income growth. Over 45 years, even a 1% increase can result in a massive amount of money.
So how do you become competent? The short answer is that you have to treat your career like the asset that it is — and work to grow it like you would any other asset. More specifically, there are seven steps to growing your career. If you do these, you will not only be competent in your job but others will recognize your competence. You will rise through the ranks until you serve Kings. And your income will rise with your abilities.
Step 2: Saving
“Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labour hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.” – Prov. 6:6-8 (NLT)
Even ants know that to build wealth you need to save a portion of what you earn for future uses. If we emulate them and save a bit from every dollar we earn, we are on the road to wealth.
It’s so sad to hear of people who make tremendous incomes and yet throw it away by spending more than they earn. On the outside, they look wealthy and appear to have it all together. In reality, their bank accounts are on the brink of destruction. A person might make a great salary as we discussed in step one. But if he doesn’t learn from the ants and spends it all, he is no better off at the end of the day.
This is why spending less than you earn is so important. In fact, it’s vital. I call the difference between what someone earns and what he spends “the gap” and it’s the key to financial success. The larger your gap, the more you save, the more fuel you have to super-charge your net worth. So take a lesson from the ants and develop a plan to save a bit from everything you earn for the future. Because we all know that winter is coming and the wise store up for those times.
God will bless you through the power that is at work in you, but you must discover where your talent lies, what business or service, you can do better than others and establish. You should never be discouraged by the initial failure or suffering involved. Establish a service or business after hearing from God and follow-through have it started.
Then you need the Holy Ghost to guide your way, from what to do, how to do it etc. if you don't have the Holy Ghost, you have limited your Christian life as well as the kind and level of success you can achieve here on earth. Any Christian who is waiting for God to rain manna from heaven for them will end up disappointed. We are expected to use the wisdom, God gave us to create solutions that will bring the reward called wealth. Riches and wealth is a direct result of the solution we provide to the needs of people around us.
Wealth comes from a well-defined work path, it is not a transfer. A transfer cannot be sustained, but a well-defined process, business or trade will continue to bring financial inflow as long as you are doing the business. That is sustainable.
Step 4: Investing
Many times, we discuss investment without talking about how the money being invested was obtained. The bible says that “Dishonest money dwindles away, but whoever gathers money little by little makes it grow.” – Prov. 13:11 (NIV)
The investment that will grow and grow into wealth for a believer is money gotten from legitimate means, savings gathered over time, or any other income earned from a godly activity. From what has been saved, the wise person now takes each bit and invests it little by little. From there the “miracle” of compound interest begins to take hold.
It starts out small but gains momentum over time. The invested money begins to grow on itself. More is added a bit here and a bit there. That begins to grow as well. Over time the investments get to the point where they become the investor’s major wealth-generator. Simply by investing little by little over a long period of time – and time is key to investing success – the money grows to a large amount. Another issue of importance is where to invest.
The Bible gives guidance on this by encouraging us to diversify our investments to keep ourselves safe from any disaster (Ecclesiastes 11:2). From there the options are almost limitless. For me, I initially invested in low-cost shares on the Nigerian stock exchange, until the exchange collapsed, there was a transition to real estate. I notice that a well-reviewed investment in real properties could double in less than five years. N20 million invested in a quality property could worth N35million in three years.
What the bible says about Prosperity
1. Philippians 4:13 - I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
2. Psalm 37:4 - Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
3. Genesis 39:2-6 - The LORD was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favour in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned.
4. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome,
5. Psalm 1:1-3 - Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
6. Proverbs 16:3 - Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.
7. 1 Kings 2:3 - And observe what the LORD your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go.
8. Matthew 16:26-27 - What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
9. Luke 16:10-11 - “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
10. Deuteronomy 8:18 - But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
God's Purpose for blessing us:
As I said earlier, the purpose of becoming wealthy isn’t to just retire in style or live a good life. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the Lord’s blessings, but living comfortably on your wealth is not the only purpose for divine wealth. There is another dimension to it that every Christian should be interested in. That is helping others with the blessing God has given us. To give from our surplus so the needs of others can be met.
You have heard it said times without number that Givers do not lack, but there are more positive scriptures about giving to the poor neighbours around us. It is found in 19:17. It says "Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.”
Imagine “lending to the Lord”. How is that even possible? That we would lend Him something that He would then “owe” us. The Lord has given us so much and given so freely, the thought that he would be in debt to us seems impossible. And yet the verse says that when we are kind to the poor, we lend to the Lord. Of course “being kind” can include both monetary and non-monetary actions, but certainly giving money to help the poor would be considered kindness.
Who wants to be rewarded by the Lord? I guess everyone wants to be blessed. Let remember others when our prayers for divine wealth is answered.
As I said earlier, the purpose of becoming wealthy isn’t to just retire in style or live a good life. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the Lord’s blessings, but living comfortably on your wealth is not the only purpose for divine wealth. There is another dimension to it that every Christian should be interested in. That is helping others with the blessing God has given us. To give from our surplus so the needs of others can be met.
You have heard it said times without number that Givers do not lack, but there are more positive scriptures about giving to the poor neighbours around us. It is found in 19:17. It says "Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.”
Imagine “lending to the Lord”. How is that even possible? That we would lend Him something that He would then “owe” us. The Lord has given us so much and given so freely, the thought that he would be in debt to us seems impossible. And yet the verse says that when we are kind to the poor, we lend to the Lord. Of course “being kind” can include both monetary and non-monetary actions, but certainly giving money to help the poor would be considered kindness.
Who wants to be rewarded by the Lord? I guess everyone wants to be blessed. Let remember others when our prayers for divine wealth is answered.
FIRE...
Post a Comment