BALANCE PROSPERITY PREACHING - 30.11.23 Wisdom for Today

BALANCE PROSPERITY PREACHING

 (30.11.23-wisdom for today)  

Prov 30:7-9

Two things I request of You

(Deprive me not before I die): 

8 Remove falsehood and lies far from me;

Give me neither poverty nor riches — 

Feed me with the food allotted to me; 

9 Lest I be full and deny You,

And say, "Who is the Lord?"

Or lest I be poor and steal,

And profane the name of my God. NKJV

This is one of those good prayers God recorded for our learning in the Holy Scriptures. It is similar to Solomon’s prayer for wisdom to do what is expected of him. It is similar to the stanza in our Lord’s Prayer – give us our daily bread.

The person who prayed this was avoiding sin that lurks at both extremes. The poor is more tempted to steal. The rich is more likely to forget God. The Lord warned the Israelites not to eat to their full and forget Him (Deut 8:18). Jesus said in Luke 12:15, “life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Remember that we come with nothing and you shall leave with nothing .Do not mind the folly of those who bury the dead with money or other properties. Those buried like that in the Egyptian pyramids have not gained anything from the thing around them since they were buried. We are not here for things; we are here to invest in eternity. Whatever is not invested before you die is wasted. Agur knew that he could only manage talents given to him while he was alive.

Besides, men that are poor materially may be rich physically, mentally or spiritually. The poor Lazarus made it to Abraham’s bosom. Where are the accounts of the rich man in purple since the day of Christ? He is still thirsty as you are reading this. There is deceitfulness of riches (Mt 13:22; Mk 4:19). Try and escape it. Seneca, the famous Roman philosopher, declared, “it is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.” Proverbs 23:4-5 gives us a good advice, “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.”

I Became a Liar

When I first dropped all to serve God, we began to lack. I went to meet a big man who came for a weekend from our capital city, Abuja. I was looking for a contract job. My situation was desperate. My family was bitter. They keep asking, "Are you better than so-so and so man of God?” I had no answer for them. So my resolve to focus on serving God fizzled away. I will again and again come out of God's employment. 

I was with the man on this Saturday. He wanted me to agree that I needed government employment. He could help me with that but I only wanted a contract that I would do quickly and settle my family and then return to what God wanted me to be doing. And I wished I could get it without spending much time outside God's work.

As usual with him, he was serving everybody palm wine. There was the desire to please him by not looking like I am now a fanatic type of Christian. So I took the cup of palm wine and pretended to drink it. I did not drink it because I had grown to know God's will on taking wine. Why was I misbehaving? It was lack that made me a liar before the big man. That is what poverty can do. 

It was likely to be the force behind Gehazi’s running after Naaman and lying later. It was likely to be why Judas sold Jesus. It was likely to be why the rich young ruler did not follow Jesus. But you may say about that man, "He was rich." You are the one seeing him as rich. He was really poor. Only the poor want more and more.

Jesus was rich, though He appeared poor. He was not poor. Having God is wealth. That made Joseph rich, though a slave. God’s word described Joseph as a prosperous man in Gen. 39:2.

The kind of prosperity I want is like Jesus' who fed 5000 men, excluding women and children, without a store or a saving. Any time I think of that story, I wonder why He made them gather the remnants after the meals. Is that the balance to tell us that in spite of His ability to provide, He does not like wastes? 

The person praying here does not want too little and does not like too much. Too much of the worldly things are bad. They attract kidnappers, thieves, bank charges, risks, fraudsters, etc. The first thing God does for his children is to take their eyes off money and things. No father gives car keys to his two-year old. He can, instead, buy him a toy car. 

Adversity Has Benefits

The men of God in our time deliberately refuse to teach the whole counsel of God. What are the benefits?

You learn better in adversity.

Heb 5:8-9

though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. NKJV

    

You have understanding of the poor. Every Israelite is expected to be merciful to slaves because of their slavery in Egypt.

Deut 15:12-16

"If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; 14 you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord has blessed you with, you shall give to him. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. NKJV

3. You develop faith. More of the poor are saved. Jam. 2:5

    James 2:5

Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? NKJV

At your wits end, you attract God. Mt 5:1-4

    Matt 5:3-6

3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit,

For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

4 Blessed are those who mourn,

For they shall be comforted. 

5 Blessed are the meek,

For they shall inherit the earth. 

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

For they shall be filled. NKJV

These qualities are found more among those we consider materially poor.

5. You don't have too many things to look back to. Lot's wife looked back at things. The rich young ruler opted for money when Jesus offered him the way to eternal life.

6. There is little vanity in your life. We came with nothing and shall go with nothing. What is the use getting involved with things that have no future benefits? Let's handle only what will bring rewards in eternity. What do you gain if you come into world and so scoop things of value here and hold them in a way that you can't see where you are going?

1 Peter 5:2

Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; KJV

    You will discover you don't need much to keep living. Lack of resources make you know that there are things in the market cheap enough for the poor to buy or gather for free.

AsK for Balanced Life

The prayer here is a prayer for balance. May your life be balanced. God can balance it for you. He did it for Paul with that sickness. It helped know his level. As God to Balance 

Why?

You need God. That rich fool who had a wonderful harvest died. Those invited abut opted for things in Lk. 14 were no longer allowed to enter the feast. The rich man in the place of torment is still thirsty. Balaam missed it because he was greedy for things and was willing to trade the gifts of God for gifts of Balak. Judas missed it eternally. Demas missed it. Nobody bears that name. Demas as a name would have been popular like timothy’s name.

May our topmost Christian leaders help us get out of this confusion on prosperity preaching. We need money but not at the expense of our souls.

For further help, contact +234 806 579 2749 (WhatsApp); alexoguh@gmail.com

Alex Oguh, 

For the body of Christ