ARTICLES ON FINANCE
DATE: 8 June 2003
SPEAKER: Pastor Tayo Adeyemi
TITLE: My prosperity is God's pleasure.
TEXT: Psalm 35:27, 3 John 2
Let me give you a background: over the decades - probably even centuries - the church in the UK has been notorious for it's small thinking. She has been under the grasp of the spirit of poverty.
This was especially made worse by the historical events of the early and middle parts of the 20th century - the great recession, the bubonic plague, the second world war. As a result of those crises, there was a season o flack - this nation entered a period when there just wasn't enough to go round. Food had to be rationed and people had to learn to make do with very little. You were taught to hold on very tightly to whatever you had.
People who were lavish or extravagant were looked down upon with scorn or disdain. Out of that era came books like Oliver Twist, where it was considered audacious, presumptuous and outrageous to ask for more. Worse than the physical effects of those crises is the trauma that was afflicted on the minds of the people.
The people of this nation were assaulted in their thinking and forced to shrink and shrivel on the inside. People in their 70's, 80's and 90's today were the adults of that era. Their thinking was shaped by the prevalent spirit of the day. They heard thousands of times as they grew up: "No you can't have that" "That's too much for you" "We can't afford it" "You've had plenty" "No you can't"
And this post-war generation has been responsible for shaping this nation over the post 30 or 50 years. Now in the midst of that, a message came especially from America in the 1970's and 1980's. it was a message of faith and hope. It said: "God wants to bless you - He has a lot a lot of good things in store for you. You can receive His promises. You can be more than you are, you can have more than you have. You can prosper"
This message was rejected as "Americanism" at best and as heresy as worst. The door was shut on the prophets who brought this word. Men of God like Kenneth Hagin, Oral Roberts, Kenneth Copeland were all labelled as heretics; and rejected in the UK. When you reject a prophet, you also reject the grace on his life - Matthew 10:41.
Now over the part 15 to 20 years, God re-introduced the message into this nation …in a different package. This time it came in African skin. From about the mid-1980's there came an influx of African Christians who brought their faith and frequency with them.
Initially, they were dismissed as a bunch of poor immigrants who needed a crutch - something to help them cope with their loneliness and misfortune. But eventually everyone had to sit up and take notice - because all of a sudden, it was obvious that what these people were preaching was working.
Their churches were growing - no exploding. They were changing their communities. It became difficult to ignore them. A few years ago it was found that 51% of people who attended church in London were black. Churches that had rejected this message started to embrace it - the fire of revival began to spread across the nation. I have been there and I have seen it.
Then the devil struck! Towards the end of 2002 two of the largest black majority churches in London came under the spotlight - for negative reasons. And guess what everybody blamed it on - the prosperity gospel! That spirit that has sought to keep this nation in bondage raised its head again and started to scream:
"No you can't have that" "That's too much for you" "We can't afford it" You've had plenty" "No you can't" And in addition ------ "How dare you?" "How dare you teach people that they can prosper?" "How dare you expect to rise above mediocrity?" "How dare you teach people to tithe?" And this is where I come in. God has sent me as a prophetic voice to judge that spirit. I have come to announce:
NO APOLOGY FOR MY PROSPERITY!
Proverbs 23:7 - You will never rise above your thinking. You set the boundaries of your life in every area by the way you think.Your thinking is your ceiling. Your thinking is the boundary marker of your life. It becomes the framework by which your realities are defined. You will never go higher, further, bigger than the way you think. Your thinking will permeate everything you do.
You cannot operate in mediocrity in your finances and then turn round and operate in excellence in worship or soul winning. Your thinking is like a mold into which the concrete of your life is poured. It will produce the same shape and size ten times out of ten.
So, if your life must change, the first thing that must change is your thinking. Now, if you understand that, you will realise that it doesn't take a long time for a person's life to change. It doesn't take a year, a month or even a whole day. Your life can be transformed in one split moment. How? Your life changes when your thinking changes.
Romans 12:2 You are transformed when your mind is renewed. The word renewed is the Greek word "Anakinosis" which is better translated exchange. The moment you change your mind, your life changes.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 The greatest bondage that hold people captive are not demonic forces, but the bondages in their own minds. No wonder the first message of the New Testament is "Repent" - change your thinking.
What you believe about anything will either attract it to you or repel it from you. Learn to ask yourself one simple question: "What do I believe about ……?" Hold your thinking and opinion to the test of God's word and see if it stands.
So the question today is "what do you believe about prosperity?" Deep down in your heart - what do you believe? Do you believe what people have told you? Or have you checked what the word of God says? Let's go and examine what the bible says about prosperity.
In the Old Testament, there are three key words that have been translated prosperity. The first two are found in Joshua 1:7-8 and the third is found in Psalm 35:27 Joshua 1:7-8 In verse 7 - the word "prosper" here is the Hebrew word "Sakal" which means to have good success, to behave oneself wisely or to have insight.
The same word is translated "good success" in Joshua 1:8. In verse 8 - the word "prosperous" is the Hebrew word "Tsalach" which means to break out, to be profitable, to push forward, to make progress, to succeed, to experience prosperity. The thing I want you to see about these verses is that God Himself gave us the prescription for prosperity. Question: would God show us how to achieve something if He did not really intend for us to achieve it? I think not.
Deuteronomy 29:9, Psalm 35:27. The word "prosperity" here is the Hebrew word "Shalom" which means peace, well being, completeness, soundness in body and mind, contentment, safety.
The bible says God has pleasure and delight in your prosperity. That's what He desires, that's what He enjoys. The word prosper occurs in the New Testament - in 3 John :2
The Greek word here is "Euodoo" which is a combination of two Greek words. "Eu" means good, well-being as in Euphoria or Evangelism. "Hodos" means road, route or progress.
"Prosper" in 3 John 2 means to have a good journey, to have help on the road, to be granted an expeditious journey, to be led by a direct and easy way, to succeed in business affairs, to succeed in reaching one's goal. The point I want to make with all these definitions is that prosperity is more than just having money.
To equate prosperity with having money is not incorrect, it is just incomplete. Prosperity is a total package. It is the abundant life, which Jesus came to give us. To reject prosperity is to reject your inheritance as a child of God.
There is no such thing as a "prosperity gospel" - no more than there is a "healing gospel" or a "protection gospel". Romans 10:13 - whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The Greek word for "saved" here is "sozo" which means to heal or restore to health, to preserve, to protect, to keep safe and sound, to ake whole, to rescue from danger.
That God wants you to prosper is splashed unapologetically through the entire bible. From the moment He cleared His throat and spoke to man for the first time in Genesis 1:28 to the time He said "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen" in Revelation 22:21, the message is consistent. God has pleasure in your prosperity.
Deuteronomy 8:18. When the devil attacks your desire or ability to prosper, he is really after something bigger. He is after the covenant - he wants to frustrate the advancement of God's kingdom on the earth. Psalm 84:11 Proverbs 4:18, Isaiah 48:17, Jeremiah 29:1
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