Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Prosperity and The Pursuit of Money !!!

The Bible has given us the key to life in all its ramifications including the Role and Spirit of Money: The just shall live by his faith. —Habakkuk 2:4, KJV

1. Financial stress comes to everyone at one stage or the other in life, recession or not. For many, life is a trend of feast and famine, with the feasts being short lived and not too extraordinary and the famine lasting for years at a time for many. Money (or the False god) is in the center of life or God (The True God) is the center of life. There is no other alternative or middle ground.

2. Sometimes prayer cannot cut through the issues of money. One can pray every day during the week and yet may never experience God's blessing or see Him answer their prayers concerning certain needs or things driving one to desperation. What then? In such circumstance, is it time to play lottery, try one's chances of making money at Casinos or at Las Vegas, gamble or resort to all the gimmicks of making money? Or is it time to heed to the very Word of God, "It is required in stewards [that is, those who have been given a trust], that a man [or woman] be found faithful" (1 Cor. 4:2, KJV).

3. Anybody can be faithful when prayer is being answered, when the wind is at one's back, and everything is going well. But what is one to do when God suddenly hides His face? What are we to do when the center can no longer hold as things are falling apart? Until you have experienced the hiding of His face and come out on the other side, you won't really come to know God as a friend.

This was Habakkuk's experience. Habakkuk 2:4 is a famous verse that is quoted three times in the New Testament.

4. There is an intentional ambiguity here. The faithfulness can be God's faithfulness to us or our faithfulness to God: the verse can be read either way, and it means both. But it can equally describe the faithfulness of the individual himself, who doesn't give up hope. The person who trusts God and lives by His promise to bless is declared righteous in the sight of God. It applies to the future—to the fact that God will accept us in heaven—but it also applies to the present that our God is meeting us at the points of our need. God is saying that we are declared righteous now - complete in Him with nothing lacking, broken or missing.

5. If we could only see and understand this, it would set us afire. If, in the moment when we don't see answered prayer, we could just look up to heaven and say, "God, I love You anyway," God would declare us righteous just because our faith pleases Him. That kind of faith has a cleansing result. We feel clean. We don't understand why God lets things happen, but we trust Him anyway. Guess what? He will cause ALL things to work together for our own good even the ugly, the very ugly. (Romans 8:28)

7. By Dictionary definition: Gambling is the act of playing for stakes in the hope of winning (including the payment of a price for a chance to win a prize); then I want to succinctly point out again that the god of Money is Mammon and the Spirit that controls or give money the controlling power it has over humans makes money and the desire (love) for money a very deep spiritual issue. Therefore money is a Spirit, an Influence and Captivating Force. Once it is loved or becomes the center of one's life, it takes over the one's life - deforming the character, contributes to life's shapelessness (out of order in godliness) and
communicates the wrong message of prosperity and godly establishment.

8. Lottery Visa for immigration purposes and School Admission Lottery or such are the Government's systematic ways of giving opportunities to everyone to attain a position which can only be available to a very few people. In these type of government program, one may only pay to procure the application form and nothing else apart from meeting certain qualifications for that position. Such a lottery is a means of elimination of the many unlike Money Lottery promoted by States and various Agencies/Institutions including Casinos which sells lottery tickets based on calculated actuarial Law of Large Numbers. They designed to make a Profit - to help them raise and acquire money for their own ends. While doing so, they pass on the spirit of gambling and greed to the masses and never reckoning on the consequences of their actions on the poor. Of course the rich, most educated people and wise folks are never caught on this vicious circular trap that feeds on the greed and desperation of the poor.

9. But here are few words of Wisdom on the pursuit of Lottery and such like that shows that it way it comes is the way it goes. Watch out for the lives of the many who won Money Lottery even in the Millions - see how they ended up in Seven Years (the number of life cycle for regeneration) - very wretched, divorced, broken, misery, full of regrets and many other woes in diverse degrees. All of them and none spared. Listen to the Word of God:

Proverbs 13:11 - Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labor shall increase.

Proverbs 23:5 - Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 - He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. 11 When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? 12 The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

1 Timothy 6:10 - For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Hebrews 13:5 - Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Luke 16:1 - And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. 2 And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.

Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

10. Gambling including Lottery for monetary gains, by its nature, is selfish and self-seeking. The gambler seeks personal gain and profit by taking other people's possessions without requiting them. Such is completely contrary to love and the law of sowing and reaping which assures us that God's way is surely to multiply what we sow - no guess work or leaving it up to Luck, namely to Satan, the god of Luck. While Chance can happen to all, Luck does not happen to all because it is rooted in evil for those it targets to destroy.

Matthew 7:16 - Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

If gambling produces many forms of evil, which it does, this confirms the conclusion that gambling is evil of itself.

Fruits of gambling: Poverty, neglect of families, quarreling, and divorce because gamblers often gamble with money the family needs.

Drinking and drugs, alcoholism and addiction. Lying because gamblers seek to hide their habit and their losses.

One out of every five homeless people admit that gambling contributed to their poverty. Among the fifty states Nevada, long known for gambling, has the highest rate of divorce and the highest rate of high school dropouts.

Proverbs 14:21 He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.

CONCLUSION: Gambling preys on the desperation of the poor. The National Gambling Impact Study Commission found that those with incomes less than $10,000 spend more on lottery tickets than any other income group. High school dropouts spend four times as much as college graduates. Scripture exhorts us to look out for the poor and disadvantaged, and issues strong warnings against taking advantage of their plight.

Some have argued that lottery like gambling can be played responsibly and that a good strategy is to give yourself an upper bound and a lower bound for when to quit. As we have seen, these types of human indulgence can quickly become an addiction or obsession. When it becomes either, it starts to seriously hurt you financially, then you've got a problem you need to fix. Love of money should never dictate your life.

In all, Romans 14:5b should be your final guide.

Friday, September 4, 2009

FOUR MONTHS TO END YEAR 2009

TIME TO RECIEVE FULFILLMENT OF VISION AND DESTINY IN THIS SEASON OF GOD !!!!

READ NEHIMIAH 1 & 2.


SEPTEMBER 2009: The Month that Ends All Confusions and Doubts that God will Do it For You.

Jesus, The Christ (Messiah) of God, was sent because Father loved the world enough to redeem us from the power and captivity of sin. We had all fallen short of His glory, so He sent His Son to be His perfect reflection to show mankind how to live in triumphant overcoming victory.

Jesus was God and man. He showed man the power of submission that would lead to victory. He fulfilled all requirements of righteousness. He made sure that He had done everything required from one season before He crossed into the next season. When reading through the Book of Matthew, we find John the Baptist as the defining voice in the beginning of the book. John would call people to "repent" and then require them to come out to the wilderness to be baptized. Jesus went out to be baptized.

John and his disciples had developed an order in the way they were paving the way for the Messiah to come. After giving a call to the people of the land, they led them out into a wilderness place. This place near the Jordan River would become "the place of the scapegoat." John would preach repentance and turning from sins. He used language like, "You vipers, you snakes, turn now!" As they named their sins in the wilderness, then they would be baptized. This was the way of salvation for the time leading up to Jesus.

Jesus had no sin, but knew He needed to be baptized to fulfill all righteousness. However, after Jesus was initiated into ministry through John's baptism, He spent 40 days in the desert wilderness receiving a new baptism. He was led into the wilderness by the Spirit and came out with power. He had to move from one message of change into another type of message of grace. In the wilderness, He met the devil. He resisted every temptation that would be known to man. For 40 days, His love for you and me withstood any attempt of the enemy to distract His purpose. You can move into a new grace during this time of shifting.

Nothing you are going through today can overtake you if you submit to the power of Christ in you, the hope of glory. He has overcome on your behalf. For 40 days, the onslaught of the devil was the most severe that would ever be known to man. He came out of His 40 days of resisting with overcoming power to transform the world. He triumphed over the trials of presumption and the enticements of pride. He offers a great power to you to overcome and triumph again in whatever you are facing today and the next few weeks. He has already overcome! You can overcome!

Do not give in to the pride of life or the offer to compromise. If you have been facing great temptations, shout "Go, in Yeshua's Name!" Close the door to satan's temptations. Resist the tempter. Speak the right word at the right time. Declare your assigned wilderness is creating a new power within you to stand. You can resist!





OCTOBER 2009: The Month that ends all Past Vestiges and Brings New Passions into Your Life

Leaving one season and going into the next is not always the easiest thing to do. John the Baptist had many disciples, but only Andrew left John in the wilderness and followed Jesus into the cities to eat with publicans and sinners. Our soul ties with the past structure, as well as people who are unwilling to change, can prevent us from advancing. The emotional tie that we need to cut with the old can be painful. Therefore, we resist the pain of change and choose to remain in what we are familiar with.

John did not seem excited about the changes that were coming to Israel through Jesus, the One for whom he had prayed, interceded, and paved the way. The message of repentance and the method of how to do it were both changing. Jesus went to the people instead of the people having to come out to the wilderness. Jesus loved the previous structure and all the people in that structure. However, He knew a Kingdom was calling and that He had to move forward to demonstrate the will of Father for the NOW! John eventually lost momentum and the passion to advance.

To embrace the new, you must let go of and quit clinging to the familiar. As a matter of fact, if you hold on to the last structure, you will be limited in how you can grow, mature, and efficiently operate in time in your place of stewardship. Here are some of the areas in which we cling to the old:

• Our Thought Processes–we need a new way of thinking.
• Old Methods–some are good, some are bad.
• Yesterday's Message–great revelation but not relevant today.
• A Narrow Form–one that was pliable in the past season but is now becoming rigid.
• Established Markets–creative products for a time, but now new innovation is required.
• A Great Glory Manifestation–this created belief and reorganized your life; however, now God is moving in a new way that is stretching you again.
• A Lesser Power and Demonstration–He has more to show us.

You can let go and follow! Take your new assignments! You will gain confidence as you go!

But in this Month of October, you have to watch your passion level! When we start losing vision for our future, we start losing passion and energy to advance. It is not too late to receive all that the Lord has for you. We are a people with passions and emotions like Elijah. Here are some questions to cause you to think critically:

• Are you emotionally drained and expended from the last season?
• Do you feel you have given your best and not seen the results you expected to see manifest?
• What is the "The Word" you are warring with?
• Do you need a new word for the next battle?
• Are you being confronted by a strongman that makes you want to run for your life?
• Have you come out of your abiding place?
• Do you feel vulnerable?
• Have you established your place at the gate of entry that the Lord has for your future?
• Do you know where your "GATE" or position is?
• Do you feel confident in your present assignment, position and role?

Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Cry out for new vision and allow the Lord to lead you from an old, familiar place. Sometimes our familiar surroundings tend to blind us. Jesus led the blind man out of town to heal him. The first time He touched his eyes, vision formed but was not clear. Cry out for clear vision! Notice the process of vision. Do not grow weary in the Lord's process or method. Allow Him to touch you again! Allow clarity to come into your vision!





NOVEMEBER 2009: The Month that Ends all Past Burdens With Prospecting Assignments.

The Book of Nehemiah is a wonderful example and model of project development, endurance, and completion. Most likely, where you are presently positioned is a major factor in qualifying you for the future. Nehemiah was the cup bearer in the king's palace in Shushan in Persia. His assignment gave him an advantage for his future call and positioning. Therefore, when he received a report of the brokenness of his beloved city of Jerusalem, he was already positioned to make a request to be positioned anew to accomplish God's Kingdom purpose.

Many times we do not realize that our current job, vocation, or assignment is our place of training for God's call. The mundane duties of the day and the seemingly routine tasks can hinder us from practicing His Presence and receiving His burden. The burden of the Lord can find you if you are available to go "where you presently are," not where you are "longing to go."

Because Nehemiah was performing his duties at the court where he was assigned, he had access to information and could be sent properly into his next assignment. This is very similar to Moses, who grew up in Pharaoh's court. Because he submitted during those years, Moses understood the structure and system that God was sending him into to bring change for His covenant purpose 40 years later. David had to serve in Saul's court before he could rule in the Kingdom 17 years later.

Nehemiah's relationship with the king would allow him to be sent to serve the Lord and his country. Because he had become trustworthy in his assignment in the king's court, he could now receive the higher calling of the KING!

In reading Nehemiah 1 we find that burden can be a good indication that God is about to visit us and to use us. In Matthew 25:21, we find that if we discharge that burden faithfully, we will receive the same recompense that say thus: His lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord."

For the Month of November God says: "Let Me redefine your burden. This is not the burden you would choose. I will wash away the anxiety of your last burden and redefine your burden. I am ready to give you a new target and assignment. You have been so determined to stay spiritually focused in the way that you are going that you are missing My new assignment. I am giving new assignments and giving new burdens and raising up new intercessory calls. This will stop some of the warfare that you are experiencing. This is a time when you must listen and must quickly enter into your pause (selah).

"If not, you will be determined to correct when I am not correcting. You will misrepresent Me in the moment. I must have a people who represent Me in the moment, for moments are getting shorter. Your pause will lead you to your field. In a moment, you will be in your new field. Meet Me in the new field that I am calling you to. I am waiting for you. This is a field you have not known how to harvest. You must glean for a season once you enter the field, and then you will be favored to reap the reward of your labor from the last season. Reaping will be an indicator that you have secured your footing in the new field."

We are in a season in history where the Church is moving from one realm of the prophetic into another. We are moving from "the sons of thunder" realm into "the Sons of Issachar" realm. The tribe of Issachar was the Torah Tribe. They knew the Word and could interpret times from the Word so Israel would know what to do. This anointing is so important this hour. We are learning to discern God's perfect timing. Timing is not easy to learn. Great discipline defines your gift. Your gift makes room for you. Your maturing is a process! We all make mistakes by getting ahead of God's timing or lagging behind God's timing. There must be discipline so we learn from our missed opportunities and past passivity where we should have exercised our gift, but did not.

We cannot be a people who are just seeing problems, but we must develop the strategies to overcome and triumph. Many of us have an inner intuitive knowing or discernment. We can point out what is wrong, but never know what to do with it. This is a season of new solutions. Nehemiah saw the rubble from the season of war and destruction. When he looked at the rubble, he could also see the wall rebuilt. God is taking us beyond the rubble into a new place of building. He is calling us forth and pressing us through to get the plan.

This is not just a season to prophesy, but to execute. We love to prophesy, but now we are learning how to carry the burden of the Lord. This was one of the characteristics of the Issachar tribe—they learned how to carry burdens. We are also learning how to gain insight on how to unlock provision before we move forward in fulfilling vision.





DECEMBER 2009: The Month that Ends All Travailing as We Birth and Bring Forth for the Next Season

Nehemiah, Hannah and Jesus are examples of those who travailed to bring forth the next season. Travail is defined as birthing, delivering, being disgusted, faint, grieved, weary, distressed or troubled. The old Latin word referred to an instrument of torture composed of three stakes to which a person was tied. To travail is to be troubled, sorrowful, in agony, in intense pain, or in distress. In other words, it is not a comfortable experience. Think about Jesus at Gethsemane. He travailed until He bled.

Oftentimes, a person will initially interpret travail emotionally and become introspective. One may even suspect that something is wrong with them. However, travail is not an emotion but the burden of the Lord! A burden occurs when the voice of the Lord comes to a person and draws them into partnering with Him to birth and/or to war. The only way this burden can be released is through intense prayer. When a burden comes, you may feel weighted down by the revealed situation until it is released through sustained intercessory prayer.

This is a Romans 8:22–26 time. The Holy Spirit within a person knows how to pray under this type of burden. As the person begins to pray, the Holy Spirit takes over and begins to travail within and through that person with groaning that cannot be expressed in English words.

Isaiah 42:13 says that God Himself "shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies." Verse 14 continues, "I have held My peace a long time, I have been still and restrained Myself. Now I will cry like a woman in labor (travail)."

Many times, in this narrow place, we are distressed because we are hung between two paradigms and identities. If we internalize this distress instead of straining every nerve to release what we are feeling, we go backwards into an emotional breakdown. Let the travail produce God's plan of fullness and bring you and others forth into a new atmosphere and triumphant testimony. You will know your new choice for the life processes of God. Death's grip will give up! You are warring out of death and into life. Once the new is coming forth you must not shrink back.

My children are now having children. In the past year, there were six children born to them. WOW—lots of additions in one year! This represents a great amount of travail in the past year, just with individuals in my immediate circle. Lots of anxiety, pain, rearrangement of duties, finances expended, rooms redone and houses expanded. However, the pain of the travail to bring forth is forgotten when you see the future has already been released and is maturing.

There is a repositioning this December 2009. Just like Nehemiah, for long many of us have been positioned in the king's palace and living a life of comfort and ease. But just like this position allowed Nehemiah to be sent to his next assignment, so we are being sent to our next assignment. Your present assignment is important. A friend came to him to communicate the real issue of his people and the state of Jerusalem. Nehemiah was living at ease, and all of a sudden this divine connection caused his emotions to be stirred, and really made his life turn upside down. This is the stirring anointing for December 2009. Receive it.

This is a time that we must look deep into every connection on our path. How is something new coming into your life? How will the new information you receive change your normal, comfortable life? When the Lord is ready to do something in your life that will benefit you and His Kingdom purposes, He knows what and who to send to create the un-nesting of your current surroundings.

I see that the Lord is ready to employ many new people in His service. He has His remnant in all places! For example, Obadiah was in the house of Ahab. In Rome, Caesar's household was filled with Saints. Naaman's wife's maid was employed in Syria to connect and change, not only his life, but two nations. Esther and Nehemiah were both in the palaces of kings. Pilate's wife played a major role in Jesus' life. Paul was the Sanhedrin's finest specimen of knowledge and religion. Moses was in Pharaoh's court for 40 years. You are somewhere for a time such as this!

Nehemiah could not forget that he was an Israelite. He could not get rid of the burden and the distress he felt deep in his spirit when he discussed his people with his friend. Like Moses and Paul, he was annoyed, distressed and agitated in his spirit (see Acts 7:23, Acts 16). He could not compartmentalize his emotions and alienate himself in his comfort. He had to go and visit the burdens of his people so his spirit could find relief. He had to gain favor for a massive change.

Your present place right now is very important. The people coming into your life right now are important. The information you are receiving is important. How you process new reports and opportunities is important. The divinely sent changes into your comfortable life are important for you to watch. How you release the emotions in your life is important. How you receive and exercise the favor that is being released to you is important. Your suggestions are important. You may seem to be hidden in the past season, but you are being found for "such a time as this." Do not let your emotions stop you from moving into your next level of destiny!