Month: January 2019

How do we continue into the prosperity that the previous generation tapped into?  Many times, prosperity passes over a generation because people become complacent and don’t follow the model that God has put in place for them to become prosperous.  I can personally relate to this.  I have had every opportunity to step into what God has called me to, but I was scared of what it would require, and that has caused me to run.  I am telling you that today is the day to stop running from what God is calling you into and continue into the promise that He has in store for you!

Joshua 1:7-8 says, “Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.  This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.  For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

When the Israelites were meant to go into the Promised Land, Joshua and Caleb were the only ones that were willing to step into the prosperity that God had planned for His people.  The rest of the Israelites were whining and complaining about how God had treated them wrong (even though He had just delivered them from slavery).  Yes, God made Joshua and Caleb wait to move into their prosperity, but they are wonderful examples of how God makes the next generation wait to become prosperous.

Read Joshua 1-5.  Ask God to give you the patience to understand when it is time to take your next step.  Ask Him to “encourage” you to meditate on His word day and night, and that it does not depart from you.  Have faith that following His word and His will for your life will lead your way to be prosperous.

God has different methods He uses to make us understand prosperity.  He wants us to prosper all the days of our life, but sometimes we are stubborn and get content being in our present state and place.  God never desires for us to live settled in complacency and familiarity leading to comfort and leanness of soul. He desires for us to always be moving forward in what He has called and destined to accomplish.   In Egypt the children of Israel had become content being in captivity which led to them becoming complacent and ultimately being ruled over by the Egyptians.  God doesn’t call for us to be complacent.  The complacency and contentment that the Israelites lived in led them into a place of poverty.  God has no desire for us to live in poverty.  He wants us to break any spirits of contentment, complacency, and poverty that are on our lives, in order for us to move into the prosperity that He has destined for us.

Exodus 3:21-22 says, “And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed.  But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters.  So, you shall plunder the Egyptians.”  The Israelites had let themselves live in a place of poverty and be ruled over and mistreated for hundreds of years, until they finally decided it was time to cry out to God for their deliverance.  When they finally cried out, the Lord promised them that they would plunder those who had been oppressing them and would become prosperous!

Read Exodus 1-6.  Pray for the Lord to deliver you from the oppression you have been under and CRY OUT for the prosperity and promise that is waiting for you and yours!

Convincing ourselves that God wants us to be prosperous in every situation is difficult to do.  Many times we want to prosper at what we are doing, but feel selfish expecting to prosper.  That isn’t how God wants us to think.  The covenant that He made with Abraham calls for us to be prosperous.  There is no harm in thinking that everything that your hands touch should prosper, and, as a matter of fact, God wants us to think that way.

The story of Joseph is a perfect picture of how the Lord wants us to prosper and what He desires for us to become.  Genesis 39:3-4 says, “And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand.  So, Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him.  The he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority.”  Joseph was a prisoner.  He had been betrayed by his brothers.  He was left to die because his brothers were jealous of what he was capable of.  However, Joseph didn’t lose hope in the Lord.  He knew that God had favored him, and he continued pressing into the purpose, expectations, and desires that God wanted for him until he was entrusted to oversee all that his master owned.  That is a perfect picture of prosperity.  Was Joseph rich at that time in his life?  No, he wasn’t, but by trusting in the purpose and plan that God had for him he ended up ruling and becoming one of the wealthiest men in Egypt.  That is what God wants us to understand about prosperity.  My desire for these 21 days is to see each and every one of us understand prosperity and how God has designed us to prosper.

Read Genesis 39-45.  This gives us one of the best examples of how God wants us to prosper.  No, we may not always be faced with the easiest of situations (I know Joseph wasn’t), but God created us in such a way that we are capable of persevering through anything we are going through in order to be prosperous, no matter where we are.  Choose to hope in the Lord as you wait for your mantle of favor to manifest.

Prosperity comes in many different ways.  So many times, people only associate being prosperous with being wealthy.  Wealth is only one aspect of prosperity.  Prosperity can easily be related to getting what you desire, as well.  Desire, again, is a strong feeling, worthy or unworthy, that impels us toward the attainment or possession of something within reach.  A great example of that is with Jacob desiring to have Rachel as his wife.  When Jacob is asked by Laban, “What should your wages be?” Genesis 29:18 says, “Now Jacob loved Rachel; so, he said, ‘I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.’”  That, to me, seems like some pretty serious dedication just to get someone or something that you desire.  Jacob’s desire for Rachel led him to become the father of the 12 tribes of Israel.  That in itself is something that he could be very proud of.  Family is another form of prosperity and one that is often overlooked.

Jacob’s desire to prosper was challenged even after he left Laban.  Genesis 32:26-29 says, “So He said to him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Jacob.’ And He said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked, saying, ‘Tell me Your name, I pray.’ And He said, ‘Why is it that you ask about My name?’ And He blessed him there.”  The persistency that Jacob showed that night is how God wants us to approach every situation — whether it be with our family, at our job, while we are praying, or whatever we are doing.  Jacob was persistent in his desire to gain his blessing, which he knew was promised to him, and was not going to give up until he got it.

Read Genesis 27-32.  See how Jacob gets blessed by his father, works night and day for the woman that he desires, becomes a very prosperous farmer, is blessed with a large family, and perseveres through his fight to step into the blessing that he knows God has for him.  Ask God to align and focus your desires so that you persist on your path to new levels of prosperity.

If we are called to prosper (which we all are) then how do we prosper in the place we exist or live?  Acts 17 talks about God predetermining our time and place.  Knowing that God can meet you at the place that you have been positioned is very key to understanding prosperity.  The promise and covenant that God established with Abraham says that we are all, who are part of that covenant, meant to be prosperous.  Again, what is prosperity?  Prosperity is a successful, flourishing, or thriving condition.  Does that only mean money or material things?  Absolutely not.  There are many ways that God calls us to be prosperous.  In Genesis 26:12-14 it says, “Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the Lord blessed him.  The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous; for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great number of servants.  So, the Philistines envied him.”  

There was a famine in the land where Isaac was living.  In the midst of any famine, there might be a requirement to move to gain your next level of prosperity. You must hear the Lord on where to go.  Instead of Egypt, God chose the Philistine portion of that world.  Now, of course, this doesn’t mean that Isaac did everything right.  He repeated the same mistakes that his father Abraham did in that same land.  Out of fear, Abraham had given Isaac’s mother, Sarah, to the Philistine king.  Isaac did the same thing with Rebekah.  He told the king that she was his sister instead of his wife.  Regardless of that, what he did do was heed the Word of the Lord when it came to where he was supposed to be and the word of God says he “Began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous.”  Your mistakes do not stop your prosperity. If you will listen carefully, God has a plan.

Read Genesis 26!  Verse 12 says, “Then Isaac sowed in the land and reaped 100-fold!”  The Lord blessed him.  I think you should stop and pray this.  See how God reestablishes His covenant with Isaac to see him prosper and become very prosperous. Ask the Lord how you are supposed to heed His Word in order to be in the proper place (even having to confront your enemies) to become prosperous. Isaac had to redig wells and let go of past levels of prosperity to enter into future levels of prosperity. He had to get past the well of anger, the well of contention, and the well of quarreling.  Isaac had to come into a new, broad space where he could prosper in a new way.  Isaac had to dig a new well!  He then had to find his place of worship.

Part of the covenant that God established with Abraham was to make us successful and thrive in whatever situation that He places us in.  We don’t need to be ashamed of being prosperous.  Too many times it seems like the church frowns upon prosperity.  Prosperity is a necessity in all of our lives, and it is our right, through the covenant that God made with Abraham, to be prosperous. Keep pressing into prosperity.

When you learn your purpose and how God wants you to prosper, what is the next step?  Do you walk straight from learning your purpose into your prosperity?  As amazing as that would be, that isn’t how God works.  More often than not we are faced with certain decisions and tests that God puts us through to see what level of faith we have.  Sadly, often times we fail many of those tests and don’t come into the full promise of prosperity that God has planned for our life.

Abraham had ten major tests in his life. You must remember he had already given up one son (Gen 21:8-21).  Now, the Lord was about to require him to lay down his future.  In Genesis 22:1-2 it says, “Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, ‘Abraham!’  And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’”  Wow!  Of all the tests that you could be put through, sacrificing a child that you had been promised, would have to be one of the most difficult things imaginable.  What happened though?  Abraham never faltered.  His faith was so firmly planted in the Lord that he followed everything the Lord instructed Him, without hesitation. In the midst of this tremendous test, Abraham had to stay true to worshipping the One True God.

What happened next?  God SAW the faith that Abraham exuded and stopped him from doing the unthinkable.  Instead He provided another sacrifice in place of Abraham’s “only son that he loves” so that he can complete the purpose and promise that He originally established with God, through Isaac.  Genesis 22:14 says, “And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide(Jehovah Jireh); as it is said to this day, ‘In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.’”  The faith that Abraham displayed is unbelievable, but it displayed the amount of trust that he had in the Lord and how determined he was to get to his promise of prosperity.

Read Genesis 22. Ask Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide) to let you hear your supply stirring in the midst of your test.  There is a substitute somewhere on your path, like the ram in the thicket, that will allow you to keep moving toward prosperity.