|
STEPS TO PROSPERITY (Most of this has been taken from the book: Wealth, Riches and Money by Craig Hill and Earl Pitts)
God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need, be self sufficient, possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation. II Corinthians 9:8 AMP
The New Testament contains 215 verses pertaining to faith, 218 verses pertaining to salvation, and 2,084 verses dealing with the stewardship of and accountability for money and finance. Sixteen of Jesus' 38 parables deal with money. First, everything we have belongs to God, but he says we can decide what to do with 90% of it, but 10% (the tithe) is His and should be put into His Kingdom. Jesus is not after our money. He is after our hearts. Matthew 6;21 ...where your treasure is there shall your heart be also. Treasures in heaven (Kingdom of God) do not pay interest, they MULTIPLY 30, 60, or 100 fold. That would be 3,000%, 6,000% or 10,000%. That would drive the bankers wild. The Kingdom of God needs approximately 2-1/2 million of dollars right now to preach the gospel throughout the whole world before Jesus can return!!!
Matthew 6: 24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon (NKJV).
Two 'demonic spirits' are behind the poverty and want in the world today. One is the 'spirit of poverty', and the other is the 'Mammon spirit'. Both are generational spirits, (called iniquities in the Word), which are usually passed down through family lines. Jesus links Mammon to iniquities: Luke 16:11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon, who will commit to your trust the real riches? The word unrighteous is the Greek word adikia for iniquity. These spirits will hold you in bondage and keep you from prospering until dealt with through repentance and cleansing by the Blood of Jesus... and to stay delivered by aligning your financial budget with the Word of God. These spirits will also affect your attitude and giving. They make you think someone is always trying to take something away from you. You cannot help feeling this way because you need deliverance from these spirits.
The Mammon spirit drives the worldly money system. Mammon is a god of finance (demonic spirit) that was worshiped by the Canaanite people in Biblical times. But the same spirit is still operating today. It is impossible to trust in both God and Mammon. The spirit of mammon wants you to love, serve and be loyal to him by putting your trust in your money instead of putting your trust in God. The mammon spirit wants to control and have power and authority through buying and selling for the benefit of greedy worldly people. The mammon spirit causes one to love money more than God. It is a driving force which causes selfishness, greediness, cheating, lying, stealing, and even murder for those who never seem to have enough money. Repentance from dead works (the worldly system) and faith in the blood of Jesus and in His Provision will remove you from this cursed system. Then use your money to serve, not use God to get money. Depend on God as your source, instead of expecting money to be your source. God will supply your every need. Do not think of making a living, but think of making a 'giving'. You are a member of the Kingdom of God which operates through giving and receiving.
God's way is to prayerfully make a budget allowing only your obligations, needs and wants, which should not change without seeking God about changing them. Then leave the rest for an overflow, which God will begin to increase through miraculous means as you obediently pray and use it to place offerings into his Kingdom or to help someone He directs you to help. The important part is praying before spending or giving. Also, some of the overflow should be used to pay off debt because God does not want His people in financial bondage. In fact, if you do not begin or are not trying to pay off your debts God cannot bless you. You are considered wicked. Ps. 37:21 The wicked borrow and does not repay. It is not a sin to borrow, although usually unwise, as long as you repay it.
I. The first giving priority is the tithe to God, which belongs to Him
Malachi 3:10 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.
If you pay your tithes the windows of heaven will be opened and you will receive blessings. The tithe is a Holy thing -separated for God. That makes it an accursed thing. Anyone who touches it or uses it brings a curse upon him or her self and their household. God does not bring the curse, we bring a curse upon ourselves by placing ourselves at the mercy of the world system, which is under the control of Satan. And believe you me, Satan will see to it that you stay poor. God told the Israelites to destroy the spoil from Jericho and not to take it because it was the first city they conquered making it their tithe. When Achan took some of the spoil and hid it, it affected the whole nation. They lost their next battle against a small city, which should have been an easy win. The word tithe comes from the Hebrew word maser which means ten percent. It simply means to manage ten percent of your gross which already belongs to God. Do not touch it!!! Give it into the Kingdom of God (the church, the storehouse) where you receive your spiritual food. So go for the blessing, not the cursing.
II. The second giving priority is the offerings.
After we are delivered from the two spirits, we will be able to hear from God and follow his unction of when, where, why and how much to give. Then it goes into our heavenly account. We can ask for all kinds of needs from it, such as physical, financial, healing, etc. We are totally trusting God with it knowing that He will be faithful to supply our every need, whether large or small. It is a debit and credit account in giving and receiving.
III. The third giving priority is the First Fruits
To be continued ...
IV. The fourth giving priority is Sowing and Reaping
Matthew 2:26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
God gives us our needs and even prospers us as we are obedient with our money simply because He loves us. Our needs cannot be dependent on our works. We cannot nullify God's grace. However, sowing and reaping is biblical, but not for one's needs. We must trust God for our needs. Sowing comes from the overflow also. Sow into the Kingdom to get increase to sow more into His Kingdom. This is where multiplying comes in. Sowing multiplies 30, 60 and 100 fold.
Sometimes preachers have said 'If you give into this ministry, God will give you a great amount of money back' based on the sowing and reaping principle. Sowing and Reaping is Biblical, but when stated as above, it could be motivated by a Mammon spirit, instead of by the Spirit of God. Money should be a means by which we serve God, not making God as a means by which we can get money. That is why it works for some people and not for others. The ones it works for probably have the right heart attitude and right intention for the money (God's Kingdom). It is okay to want money to supply an urgent need because lack and poverty is not God's will, but our most important motive should be to want money to further the Kingdom of God. It is important to hear from God about giving because the devil can create needs, and we will be obeying him when giving. But we cannot hear from God if we have the Mammon and Poverty spirits operating in our lives. So many people are bound by the wrong spirits causing the Kingdom of God to suffer from lack of finances.
It is important to sow into good soil; then like a farmer watches over his fields for the harvest, it is necessary to work hard for your harvest. You pray, fast and do warfare for the ministry you have sown into, and when the praying has accomplished the purpose God intended when he inspired you to sow, your money will be multiplied (10, 30, 60, or 100 fold according to your faith) and restored back into your Overflow to be used in the Kingdom of God again, unless God gives you release to pay some of it against debt because He does not want his children owing anyone. This overflow is be used for 1) sowing, which takes work, 2)debt release, or 3) giving, which is fun. Without the intercession and faith it may not be returned. Some ground is not able to produce a high yield, and also how much prayer and warfare are you willing or able to input. God needs Sowers and Reapers to enrich his Kingdom to bring in the lost and prodigals into His Kingdom. Mark 4: 14-29
|
Stewardship
