Matt 5:14

The sure-fire way to wealth & prosperity.

A contentious topic, yet something very close to people's hearts.

Firstly, let’s establish a major truth concerning wealth & prosperity.

Truth is, God desires that His people prosper in all things and be in health, just as their souls prosper (3 John 1:12).

The Bible declares in 2 Corinthians 8:9,
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes He became poor,
so that you through His poverty might become rich.

To preach (or believe) otherwise is to undermine (or more bluntly put, insult) the grace & goodness of God & the divine nature of Scripture (as the infallible revelation of God).


The Lord opened my eyes to four compelling reasons why He has earmarked (tremendous) wealth & riches for His people in these last days:


1. So that His people may bear witness to His goodness (which is in super-abundance, the Bible says) for others to come to know & recieve Him.

Then it shall be to Me a name of joy,
a praise, and an honour before all nations of the earth,
who shall hear all the good that I do to them;
they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.
- Jeremiah 33:9


2. So that the promise - that His people would be ‘heirs of the world’ (Romans 4:13), be fulfilled. With money (as well as other material possessions) life can certainly be made much more pleasurable for all the right reasons.

For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. - Luke 12:30

And the Bible goes on to say in Matthew 6:33, but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. - 1 Timothy 6:17

As you may infer from above, God is our only guarantee & certainty (of wealth & riches).


3. To finance the gospel of Jesus Christ, because ‘time is short’ (1 Corinthians 7:29).

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. - Matthew 24:14


4. So that His people are blessed to be a blessing to others.

So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. - 2 Corinthians 9:7

Wouldn't it be much easier for wealthy people to give cheerfully; to honour their loved ones with their substance? Selah (pause & ponder that)!


That said & done, I’m thoroughly convinced that God’s prosperity for us is Prosperity with a Purpose.


The question remains - why are some not flowing with God’s prosperity plan?

The answer lies in Scripture, as do all answers.

Malachi 3:8 onwards:
8: Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.

9: You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.

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 it.

11: 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,

12: And all nations will call you blessed,
For you will be a delightful land,
Says the LORD of hosts.

The answer in a nutshell. And very powerful words indeed.

Posted on Skanque, 23rd August 2005

Faith...

Faith is not a product the senses.

It is not a product of the intellectual faculties.

Faith is born of the human spirit.

His word is the only source of strength for the recreated human spirit; the only source of true faith. Faith cannot be built by abstract reasoning. It is only built by my acting on the word of god, letting the word live in me as it lived in jesus.

By my doing the word, i fellowship with the word, and hence build faith in my spirit. I become a doer of the word, a practioner of the word. The word becomes a part of me, and it builds into me the very faith of God.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for and the certainty of things unseen" - Heb 11:1.
Hope is not faith. Faith is always now. Hope is in the future. Heb 11:3. "By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear." God said "let there be", and the sun, moon and stars came into being. He said "let there be light" and there was light.

Faith is the mightiest force in the universe. It the creative ability of God. And the creative ability of man. Man was created in the image and likeness of God - in the image of faith. Many fail to realise that man's entire life, from the time he becomes conscious as a baby, to the time he breathes his last, is faith life; the only question is to where his faith lie. One has faith is his sense, the other has faith in God.

When man loses faith, life loses its purpose for him.
Faith is the thing that brings success.
Doubt only brings failure.
Ford had faith in an automobile.
Edison had faith in electricity.
Great men live by faith.

The bolder the faith, the greater the success. When faith dies, success fades with it.
Matt 19:26, "But with God all things are possible"
Mark 9:23, "All things are possible to him that believes"
1John 4:4, "Greater is He that is in you, than is he that is in the world."
It is God that is in you. And since God is in you, all things are possible. If you give God within you the liberty, nothing shall by any means be impossible for you.

Believing is acting on the Word. Faith is the result of acting. Jesus acted on the Word of His Father. John 14:10, "The words that i speak to you are not mine but my Father's." All His works were a result of His words. Matt 8:5-13, gives us the account of the centurion. Matt8:8, "But only say the word and my servant shall be healed" Jesus spoke the word. The healer of the leper, the healing of the woman with the issue of blood, and the healing of the man mentioned in Mark 2:3-12 are miracles of His word. Matt 14:23-33, is the story of Peter walking on the waves. Jesus simply said on word, "come." When he did, the waters sustained the weight of Peter. As you can see, Jesus faith was in His word.

Faith then, is acting and speaking the word of God. Faith is standing up to believe that what the Word says about you is the Truth, even when the facts obvious don't agree. You see, The Truth, and The Fact, are not the same things. Romans 4:19 , on Abraham, the Father of Faith, explains this. "And without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead (he being about a hundred years old), and the deadness of sarah's womb; yet, looking unto the promise of God, he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform." It was a fact that Abraham and Sarah were no longer able to have a son. But it wasnt the Truth. The Truth was that God had promised the couple that they would have a son. And Abraham saw that. And He chose to believe the truth. Abraham counted that Sarah was able to give birth to a child when she was 90 years of age, and she became the mother of Isaac. Abraham believed that his body would be rejuvenated, and it was. All because God promised. It was good enough for them. The truth was good enough for them even though they could not have any physical signs or evidence to back it up. Sense knowledge can never understand that.

Faith comes by daring to act upon the word. Your fear to act upon the word is unbelief gaining the ascendency. John 14:12-13, "He that believeth on me, the works that i do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because i go unto the Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will i do, that the Father may be glorified in the son". The word "Ask" here in the Greek means "to demand." You are not demanding it of jesus, but you are demanding it of the situation at hand. You are demanding as Peter demanded the man at the beautiful gate to rise and walk. You are demanding sickness and pain to leave in the Name Of Jesus. When you say "In the name of jesus, diseases depart from this body", you have confidence in Jesus' words in your lips as Jesus had confidence in the Father's words in His lips. And the healing is complete.

John 15:7, "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you." If you are sick, you simply insist that the thing is not for you. You will not stand for defeat any longer. Let that word abide in your lips and contend with your sickness and you become the master again. It is a fact that you are sick, but remember, in Jesus name, it isn't the truth. You can look the adversary in the face and say with quiet assurance, "In jesus name, i demand my rights, Devil you have been defeated on the cross on Calvary 2000 years ago, and today you still remain defeated!"

John 16:24, "Up till now, you have asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, and your joy shall be made full." What then are you waiting for people? Go and take what belongs to you in that Beautiful Name!


(With Reference to E.W.Kenyon - In His presence)

Do you believe in 'saving for a rainy day'? Click here to watch.

We are Love Beings.

Everyday we are growing in love. We mature in our walk believing in love. We believe that love is the solution to every problem in our life. We believe that love is better than force, better than going to the law, better than using the whip, better than argument, better than fighting.

We believe in the love way. The only sure way.

When Jesus said, "I am the way", He meant that He was the love way. The best way!

If we could learn to walk in love and make it the business of our lives, we would solve many problems of human relationships which we thought were impossible.

Jesus lived in love. He lived in the realm of love. He spoke love. His words were love-filled. His acts and deeds were all out of love. He could not help healing the sick. Love drove Him. Love compelled Him.

Christianity is love in our daily contact with people. It is my acting as Jesus did when he walked this earth. 1John 4:7-8, "Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love." Jesus brought a new kind of love. He demonstrated it in His daily walk. If He has control of one, Love would dominate in all that he said or did. It would be the Father actually living His life through us.

Right now, i can almost hear you saying..."Andrew, what you're saying is good, but how do i start to love like that? It's hard, i don't know how to love the way jesus loved"

For years, this bothered me too. And then God showed me this. John 15:5, "I am the vine, and ye are the branches." It was then i started to understand that my inability was in trying. I was always trying to love. Trying to love God, trying to bring that Jesus-kind of love to the lost world out there. Trying, trying. Therein was my failure.

You see, The Holy Spirit's real ministry is building the Father's nature into us. We are the fruit bearing part of the Vine. Jesus does not bear fruit. The Holy Spirit does not bear fruit. The branches are the ones that bear the fruit, enabled by the Holy Spirit. Now we see Gal 5:22, "But the fruit of the spirit is Love". The fruit here, is not referring to the fruit of the Holy Spirit, but the fruit of the recreated spirit in every child of God, borned again - the love fruit of the one with Eternal Life. Romans 5:5, tells us this, "For the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit." That means that the love of God comes with the New Birth to the recreated Human Spirit - called the Heart.

It is when we stop trying to bring forth the good fruit of love, but start learning to know in truth, the person of Love (for God Himself is love), and all that He has established for us by the perfect and finished work of Calvary, that our hearts may be consumed by that love shed abroad by the Holy spirit. And thereafter, unconsciously but beautifully become that walking vessel of love seen and felt by all that come into contact with us. You see, the redemptive work of Christ on the cross is a reality, and as we mediate upon this truth as revealed to us in the scriptures, it is the Holy Spirit in us that makes it a reality to our inner man, our spirit being. And this reality then becomes a fruit bore by our spirit - the "branch". It is not forced, it is not tried, it is beautiful truth being manifested in our conduct, becoming a physical reality for all to see and experience. We see in 1John 4:10, "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son {to be} the propitiation for our sins." Folks, it was never about us, our self-effort and our ability. It was simply because we were unable, that Jesus came, that through Him we would be able. (Phil 4:13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me) We know that the greatest expression of God - who is love - is in the finished work of Christ. It is in God the Father who made Him who knew no sin {to be} sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him - 2 Cor 5:21.

We are able to walk in love, because we know Love. We know God. And we know what Jesus has sacrificed to give to us on that cross 2000 years ago - the biggest expression of love.

We are the branches and we have no need to worry about the fruits. It is the vine that bears that responsibily.

And i say to you today, "We who are of Jesus are of a perfect Vine!"

Since there are many things that increase vanity, How is man the better? - Ecclesiastes 6:11

There was a man who had two sons.

The younger one said to his father, "Father, give me my share of the estate." So he divided his property between them.

Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.

After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

When he came to his senses, he said, "How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men."

So he got up and went to his father.

But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

The son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son."

But the father said to his servants, "Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." So they began to celebrate.

Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. "Your brother has come," he replied, "and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound."

The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, "Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!"

"My son," the father said, "you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found."

Luke 15:11-32

Posted on Skanque, 2oth April 2005

In 3 out of 4 Gospels of the Bible (Matthew 24:7, Mark 13:8, Luke 21:11), the signs of the end times are mentioned (for God to have mentioned these more than once, it must be of critical significance).


Taken from Matthew 24:6 - 9, 14:
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, see that ye be not troubled, for all (these things) must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these (are) the beginning of sorrows.

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

This passage of scripture in the Bible mentions,
01. wars
02. rumours of wars
03. nation shall rise against nation (translated from the original Greek, ethnic conflicts)
04. kingdom against kingdom
05. famines
06. pestilences (epidemic of disease: an epidemic of a highly contagious or infectious disease such as bubonic plague)
07. earthquakes, in divers places
08. martyrdom (the original 12 apostles were all martyred)
09. persecution of Christians
10. tremendous growth in the number of believers ( a worldwide phenomenon),

and much more if you read on, in the Bible.

Recent history (and you will not need to be a history buff to know this) will prove all the abovementioned.


So what are the odds that these prophecies were fulfilled by chance?

Let's do some math.

Let's consider only 10 prophecies.

There are 40 years to a bibilical generation. So there arer 50 generations from Christ till today.

Thus,
The odds are 1 in 50 of any of these prophecies occuring in our lifetime,

1 event = 1 x 50 (1 in 50 chance)
2 events = 50 x 50 (1 in 2,500)
3 events = 50 x 50 (3 times) (1 in 125,000)
4 events = 50 x 50 (4 times) (1 in 6.25 million)
5 events = 50 x 50 (5 times) (1 in 312.5 million)
6 events = 50 x 50 (6 times) (1 in 15.6 billion)
7 events = 50 x 50 (7 times) (1 in 780 billion)
8 events = 50 x 50 (8 times) (1 in 39 trillion)
9 events = 50 x 50 (9 times) (1 in 1,950 trillion)
10 events = 50 x 50 (10 times) (1 in 97,500 billion)

Amen! I thank God for divine revelation, that I might be blessed to be a blessing.

Posted on Skanque, 15th April 2005