With great delight I welcome you to the month of April, Our Month of Prosperity.  I see you moving from rags to riches, lack to sufficiency, borrowing to lending and penury to prosperity, “This is what the Lord says: This dry valley will be filled with pools of water! 17 You will see neither wind nor rain, says the Lord, but this valley will be filled with water. You will have plenty for yourselves and your cattle and other animals. But this is only a simple thing for the Lord, for he will make you victorious over the army of Moab” 2 King 3: 17-18. What Elisha was telling Jehoshaphat and the other kings is that God will do supernatural things. God will bypass protocol to make things happen for you. I know that to prosper you need more than prayers, prophetic declarations and confessions, you need to work hard and smart, you need to be diligent, focused and disciplined, but I also know that if you do all these things and God‘s supernatural blessing is not made available it will still be an exercise in futility. For the bible says” Except the Lord build the house they labour in vain that build it.” This month your struggles will be crowned with success in Jesus’ name. The Prophetic, timely, connecting, informative, creative and unsolicited helpers you need shall help you in Jesus’ name.

What is Prosperity?

The Bible teaches that when you live a life of general welfare, where God meets your needs, that you are being fulfilled and enjoying the blessings of God, that is prosperity. There are types of prosperity, spiritual, physical, financial, academic prosperity and so on. There are Godly/biblical prosperity and worldly prosperity. There are temporary and permanent prosperity. There are earthly prosperity and eternal prosperity. The mistake many people make when they talk about prosperity is that they think it’s all about money and financial wealth. Those are mere subsets of prosperity. “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers.” 3 Jn 1:2. I think what God is saying here is that you ensure your soul prospers, you’re born again, Spirit filled, before you go to other dimensions of prosperity. The danger is if you’re rich finanacially without knowing Christ and end up in hell, you’ve lost everything.

Is prosperity in God’s plan?

God is interested in your being prosperous. The bible says that God takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants. That is God is pleased when you're prosperous. One of the most unqualified promises in all of the bible is found in Psalms, Chapter 1. The bible speaks of a righteous man who's ''like a tree planted by the rivers of water'' And the bible says, concerning that type of man; “whatever he does shall prosper”! Psalm 30:6” And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved”.

What each follower of Jesus Christ must pursue is spiritual prosperity. We must desire to go on with God. We must have a longing to ''grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.'' We must be willing to pay the price to go on to spiritual maturity. Someone has wisely said, ''Conversion is only five percent of the Christian life. Ninety-five percent is going on with God.'' I can't really speak for anyone here but myself, but I must confess to you that I need to go on with God.

How to prosper.

There are many ways to prosper. There are many ways to remain poor. We were all born naked, but we were all born with content. Life is about discovering the content to achieve what you are designed to be. You don’t create purpose, you discover purpose, it is part of you. You may be born into a poor family, that does not mean you are born poor. There are many things you can choose in life, not where you are born, who gives birth to you, your sex and your colour. However, the world has become a global village, you’re no more limited to a geographical location, you are free to make moves and investments to make your life count. Everybody can be wealthy, some by crooked means and some by godly means. If you make wealth by crooked means the world will hail you, help you to spend it and abandon you to go to hell. How do you make money by godly means and end up in heaven?

For anyone to prosper there are processes, practices, and principles to follow. There many people from scripture and contemporary life that moved from penury to prosperity. Abraham was one of them. He left from Bethel to Egypt due to famine but became prosperous. “And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold” Gen 13:2 Isaac was poor despite the riches of his father, he was on his way to Egypt when God warned him to remain in Gerar. He did and became prosperous. “Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him.13 And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great” Gen 26:12-13. Jacob was exceedingly rich. “And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.” Gen 30:43. The grass to grace, zero to hero pattern of the lives of these individuals shows that you can prosper.

Let us share some principles from the story of the woman of 2 King 4. “Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen.2 And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil.3 Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few.4 And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.5 So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out.6 And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.7 Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest. 2King 4:1-7

1. Don’t blame your situation. Act on your situation.  Have the right attitude: Use that seemingly  frustrating situation to propel yourself forward-“My parent were poor,” “they did not send me to school,” “my spouse treated me badly and left me,”, “my uncle defiled me,”, “my boss treated me badly,” etc There is a great difference between reading the scripture and facing reality. When God says you will not be tail, you will be the head does not mean you will do nothing. Action is the bridge between problems and testimonies. Jabez did not blame the mother –he went to do something about his destiny- The woman in 2 Kings did not go to complain/protest to Elisha how bad he treated her husband who was a junior prophet under him., or how poor the husband was- she was interested in solution. Acknowledge your situation but don’t let it limit you. Expect more of yourself- The woman did not see her end, she saw a great future. Express yourself. See it when others don’t see it. You believe it when others don’t believe in you.

Develop the right attitude. You are renting houses now, you will have estates in Canada, in the name of Jesus Christ.

1. Search for solution. Search for who can help you, who can mentor you, who can teach you, who can guide you. You have started searching for solution by migrating to Canada, don’t stop. That you are in Canada, a land of opportunities does not make you prosperous automatically. There are people on welfare in the western world. There are people in the Shelter system. Majority of us are in the middle class. If we lose our jobs for three or six months without Employment Insurance we are in trouble. The woman searched out Elisha to mentor her. Search for education, business ideas, and destiny helpers. Don’t sit down in your house complaining. Go to the Internet, read books until you know what you want to do. There used to be two worlds the spiritual and the physical but now you have the third world: the Virtual- The social space where you can search for opportunities. There are six types of destiny helpers you need 1. Prophetic helper: 2Kings 4. 1. Elisha was a prophetic help that saw and unravelled the mystery of her future.  (Hoses 12:13,2). 2. Timely helper: The widow of Nain had a timely helper in Christ when he raised her dead child back to life. Lk 7:11-15. 3. Connecting helper: The young maid in Naaman’s house helped him to connect to Elisha who cured him of his leprosy. 2 King 5:1-2.4. Informative helper: A man helped Joseph to locate his brothers. 37:13-17; I pray God will help you locate your prosperous future.  5. Unsolicited helper: Moses helped the daughters of Jethro to fetch water.
2. Follow the instructions. Isaac followed God’s instruction to stay in Gerrar, he prospered. Jacob was told to make streaks before mating animals. God said to Dele Dada leave Warri, come to Canada to raise an eagle generation for me. That is what I am doing, and he is blessing me. Elisha said to the woman – Go and borrow vessels! What do you need to get to become prosperous? Many Christians like me don’t like to borrow money but I have repented. There are different purposes for borrowing money. Many of us need money to pay mortgage in Canada. My warning is don’t go and borrow money to do wedding, naming ceremonies, burial party. Borrow money to expand your business but be prudent don’t eat your capital. Borrow money to do Real Estate, you will reap it if you manage it well. Use the line of credits, the equity on your house to do profitable businesses. She borrowed vessels, she followed instructions and the little oil she had multiplied till there was no more vessel! She became an oil magnate. I see your business growing as you are becoming extremely prosperous. People like Mrs. Alakija , Dangote and many prosperous men and women borrowed money to start business in addition to what their family had.
3. Go and sell. Be productive- start a business that will find expression. Start a business that will add value to humanity. Before I used to practice engineering, now I’m practising Jesus' engineering, from refining oil to refining souls. There is nothing wrong with starting with 9-5 jobs, but don’t remain there. Eccl 11:6-“ In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.” Have many streams of income. Select your streams. In the garden of Eden there are four streams - Gihon means sweet river. Pison means free flow. Hiddekel means rapid like an arrow. Euphrates means breakthrough. God gave Adam and Eve four streams of river to show you how you should live your life. How do you know your streams? Your content, skills, endowments, talents and passion. You can also know your streams through praying and fasting. God revealed Jacob’s strategy to him in a dream. You know how to cook or bake, turn it to your stream. You know how to barb hair go for it. Scale that business. That is have many locations of the same system just as they have Wendy’s, McDonald’s and KFC. Have many streams of income, including but not limited to real estate, school and event centre. Act on this information and turn your situation around.  
4. Shut the door. Elisha said to the woman shut the door. What does it mean in your journey to prosperity to shut door? What door are you to shut?It means don’t allow distraction on your prosperous route. When Nehamiah was building the gates of Jerusalem some people came to disturb him. He shut the door against them. “Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and our other enemies learned that I had completely rebuilt the wall. All I lacked was hanging the doors in the gates. Then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message, asking me to meet with them in one of the villages in Ono Valley. I knew they were planning to harm me in some way. So I sent messengers to tell them, “My work is too important to stop now and go there. I can't afford to slow down the work just to visit with you.” Neh 6:1-3. Pride, arrogance, laziness and bad temper are the four legs of poverty, shut the door against them. Shut the door to, impulsive buying, living beyond your means, bad lifestyle- drugs and alcohol. Those who are wealthy and refuse to shut the door against the afore mentioned end up spending it to take care of themselves in the hospital or institutions like prison, courts or rehabs. Psalm 1: 1 Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. Shut the door against prayerlessness, not reading the bible, not fellowshipping. Stop wasting time listening to useless music.
5. When the money/wealth comes. Use it in four major areas. 1.Meet the need of your family. Send your children to school. That is not the time to divorce your spouse or call him/her names, witch/wizard. 2. Use the money to serve God- Tithe is the kindergarten level of giving. Give to advance God’s work. The money God gave to you is to ensure the propagation of the gospel is unstoppable. Donate to your church. Some people supported Billy Graham in his time they are still supporting the Library in Chalotte, North Carolina. One man gave a million dollars for Reinhard Bonnke’s crusade in Zimbabwe. 3.Touch your world- Donate to orphanages, charities, hospitals .4. Make your own life good. – Enjoy your money.

Conclusion. As minsters we must preach balanced messages. Don’t make all messages about prosperity or laying emphasis on giving alone as the only way to proper. At the same time don’t pretend as if preaching about prosperity is evil and all emphasis is on going to heaven as if the people don’t have earthly needs, shelter or clothing. It is my prayer that you will be a prosperous child of God and be a kingdom financier. I also pray that in your journey for wealth you will guard your soul against going to hell, enjoy God’s blessings on earth and also reign with Jesus in heaven.

Shallom

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