God's Recipe for Prosperity & Success!

In the modern world that we live in, these two words – prosperity and success – can grip every one’s attention. Who does not want to prosper or be successful? I guess that we all do! Yet, we want to prosper and be successful on our own terms. We assume that we have the ability, aptitude, know-how, intelligence, vision and insight to basically bring ourselves to be both prosperous and successful. When we allow ourselves to think in this fashion, we remove God from His rightful place in our lives and we replace God with ourselves. We then become our own ‘idol.’ I also need to make this point at this time. Some one who thinks in this fashion may achieve prosperity and success, but that will be short-lived. That prosperity and success may only last for the life-time of that person. God on the other hand is giving us advice that will sustain us far beyond the grace, into the endless space of eternity. From His vantage point, being the One who sees the end from the beginning, He certainly has the best view and knowledge of what prosperity and success are. We should be keen to listen to Him!

 Our Scripture Text for this Morning is: Joshua 1:8 “Study this Book of instruction continually, Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.”

 The problem arises because we as human beings look at things from a natural perspective. Our understanding of prosperity and success are very different from God’s Understanding of these. We look at things from a limited perspective, while God looks at them from an overarching view of eternity. Everything that seems huge and enormous to us are but little specs before Him. Therefore, for us to fully appreciate what both prosperity and success are, we need to understand what God’s Word tells us about both these words. According to the Scriptures, both prosperity and success must begin within our souls. This means that when our relationship with God is right, our direction in life is also right. It may never be about money, materialism, the best job or being the most popular person, but it is certainly places a balance on our values and perspectives according to who God has created us to be. How we relate to God first and then to those around us, is reflective of the prosperity and success of our lives in the long run.

 What we need to keep in mind is that “obedience” to God is better than all our “sacrifices” to Him. If we choose to live according to His instructions for our lives, everything we do will be blessed. Our actions, words and thoughts will bring grace to those we interact with. In so many ways our character and personalities will make this world a better place to live in, simply because we have chosen to be obedient to the will of God for our lives. The short-sighted view of humanity however, places our understanding of prosperity and success in what we have – wealth, materialism, status, popularity, riches. These define who we are and how we fit into our society, whereas we leave all these things behind us when we die. We cannot take any of them with us to show how well we have fared on earth. However, the obedience and willingness to serve God and to listen to Him will remain with us even after we leave this earth. They are our credentials or passport into all that God has prepared for those who love Him.

 Watch what this Scripture Text has to say to us about what God has prepared for them who love Him. “But it is written, ‘Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.'” [1 Corinthians 2:9]. This goes to show that God has prepared so much for us that we in our limited capacity cannot really understand or appreciate. If we choose to live according to the worldly standards, we forfeit the heavenly expectation. The choice regarding how we choose to live is ours! We can choose to live to ourselves but we also need to understand that it will end at the grave. However, if we choose to live in a way that pleases God, we invest into our eternity, and that proceeds well past the grave. The concept of eternity is what evades most people. We don’t seem to fathom what eternity means. It simply means forever… There will be no end! Can we truly gamble our “forever” for all that ceases to exist at the grave? That is a question we all need to answer honestly and seriously because it impacts on our eternity!

 If you have a PRAYER REQUEST, please contact Pastor Rickey by email – [email protected]

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Pastor Rickey Naidoo

Ekklesia Family Church

Contact: 083 960 5026