ARTICLES ON LIFESTYLE

DATE:  15 June 2003

SPEAKER:  Pastor Tayo Adeyemi

TITLE:  Living life the way it's meant to be.

TEXT: Psalm 35:27, 3 John 2

 
Last week, we initiated a prophetic assault against the spirit that seeks to keep God's people in bondage. We learnt that we will never rise above our thinking in any area of life.
If the devil can get you to agree with him in any area of your life - he's had you I that area. We also learnt that our life changes when our thinking changes.
Therefore, the greatest spiritual battles that we have to fight will occur in our minds. What you believe about prosperity will either attract it to you or repel it from you.
We learnt that prosperity is more than just having money - it is an all encompassing package. To prosper means to behave oneself wisely, to break out and make progress, to enjoy well being, completeness and soundness in body and mind, to be granted an expeditious journey. God wants us to prosper and He has empowered accordingly.
Psalm 35:27 It is God's delight, it is His pleasure when we prosper. The trouble is we have become so used to not prospering, to not having enough, that we find it strange when someone comes along to introduce God's prosperity to us.
We get nervous about having things - we are even reluctant to talk about things, for fear of being labelled unspiritual. God is not against your having things, He is against things having you.
Matthew 6:25-33 God knows that you need things to survive in a physical world. In fact, He goes to great lengths to show us that it is His desire for us to enjoy the good things of life.
Abundance and prosperity were not strange to Adam, that's the life he was used to Genesis 2:7-15 The life of prosperity was not the abnormal life to Adam - it was all normal to him. The abnormality came when he lost it all. Genesis 3:17-19
After this, mankind became so used to getting things the hard way, that prosperity became the exception rather than the rule. No wonder it was so difficult for the children of Israel to accept all the good things that God had prepared for them in the promised land. Matthew 15:6 - our traditions render God's word ineffective.
Let us now deal with some of the traditional beliefs about prosperity.
1. Some people are destined to be poor.
Acts 10:34 - God is not partial. If He destined some to be poor, He could no longer be a righteous and just God. It is the devil that tries to keep us poor by keeping us in sin and ignorance.
2. Money is evil.
1 Timothy 6:10 - Money, in and of itself, is not evil. It is the love of money that is the root of all evil. Money itself is a neutral activity. It assumes the personality of the person who has it. When the Israelites left Egypt, they took all the wealth of the Egyptians with them. From that store of wealth, they took their jewellery, built a golden calf and worshipped it. That money became evil. But from the same store, they took stuff and built a tabernacle to God. That money became good money. Money is simply a tool - like a knife or an axe. You can use it for good or for evil.
3. Prosperity is not a spiritual matter.
20% of the bible has to d with wealth, possession or money. Jesus told 38 parables during His earthly ministry, 16 of which related to wealth and possessions. Jesus spoke more about prosperity than He did about heaven. In the bible, there are 500 verses on prayer, less than 500 verses on faith and 2350 verses on prosperity. God cares about money and possessions - and your attitude to it. Matthew 6:21 - your treasure and your heart are connected. Mark 10:17-23. The problem was not that this young ruler was prosperous, the problem was that instead of his having money, the money had him.
4. There's not enough to go round.
This kind of thinking is what makes people feel guilty for wanting more than they already have. They look at people suffering in Africa, India etc and think "what right do I have to ask God for more, when some people can't even get by"
To start with, if you don't have enough, you can't do anything about the condition of others who don't have enough. Furthermore, the fact that you fail to receive God's blessings does not mean those people will suddenly come out of their condition. Studies have shown that there is enough wealth in the world for each person to have between £7 and £10 million.
If the devil can convince you that you're not supposed to have more than you currently do, then he can keep you in check. He can limit your capacity to help advance God's kingdom. There is a widespread belief that there is something wrong with asking for personal blessing
In some Christian circles, it is considered a sign of being selfish, greedy, irreverent or at best impolite. I once ministered in a church, where a lady walked up to me at the end of the service and said "I wanted to come out for prayer, but I didn't want to be greedy. I thought it would be fair to let you pray for those who really needed it".
Out of ignorance, people pray things like "Lord, I'm not asking for anything for myself". And somehow, that is considered really deep. No, that's not really deep - it's only really stupid. Even though we don't admit it, some of us still have inhibitions in asking God to bless us more than we're already blessed. Somehow, we feel more comfortable asking God to remove the negative, than asking him to increase the positive. Psalm 71:21, Psalm 115:12-15
Somehow in our subconscious arithmetic, we figure that it's not fair to ask God for more when others haven't been blessed yet. There is nothing noble about that kind of thinking - it is based on ignorance. When you think like that, you're limiting God. You're saying God's blessings are not enough to go round.

THERE IS NO QUOTA ON THE BLESSINGS OF GOD

There is no blessing shortage or blessing crisis in heaven. Psalm 145:16 God's name is El-Shaddai - the God who is more than enough. During the war, food was rationed - not because there was no money, but because there was no food to buy it with. NOT WITH GOD! God is not running low on blessings - that's why you never have to be jealous or nervous if God is blessing some else.
In fact, your attitude should be: "God has just blessed someone around me, it will soon be my turn!" Settle it in your heart now - There is enough to go round!
No one else can claim your blessing - it has your name on it. But guess what - if you don't claim it, no one else can. The fact that God blessed you yesterday doesn't mean He can't or won't bless you today.
The limitation is not on God's ability to give, it's usually on our ability to receive. What would happen if you found out that God had always wanted to bless you with more than you have ever received from Him? Look at everything you have today - everything that represents the blessing of God in your life ………
What if God were to tell you that at the time you got that blessing, He intended to give you more? How would that affect your thinking? How would it affect your prayer? 1 Corinthians 2:9, Ephesians 3:20
Change your prayer, change your thinking! What if you discovered that God wanted to give you 24 blessings today; and all you received was one?
What do you imagine would happen to the 23 unclaimed blessings? Do you think God would recycle them? No! Picture yourself in heaven - in a warehouse that contained all the unclaimed blessings you could have received on earth. How would you feel when you find out what you could have claimed?
The River Thames flows past my office window. As I look out and see the water flowing by I think of the fact that yesterday's supply is gone - forever. If I needed water from the river, I could go with a cup, I could go with a bucket, I could go with a tanker…….and in each case I would come back with a full container. God's blessings in your life are limited only by your willingness to receive.
Not by His power, not by His resources, not by His willingness to give, but by your willingness to ask. If you do not want to claim your blessing - that's okay; as long as you can acknowledge that it is your choice - not because God does not want to prosper you.
It's time to start living life the way it's meant to be!
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