Wealth Transfer... The Kingdom Suffers No Lack
Posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2008
by Eve Juurik
The Spring of Life
"The blessing of the Lord - it makes [truly] rich, and He adds no sorrow with it [neither does toiling increase it]." (Proverbs 10:22)
God is a GOOD Father Who desires to bless His children. No, we can't earn His goodness. We can't earn His blessings. He is the God of the whole universe Who has said to us that His blessing makes us rich. His wealth is different from the world's wealth because it does not bring any sorrow with it.
If we are listening to the news of the world, sure, we have reasons to sweat and threat... but if we choose to, instead, listen to the Good News of the Gospel, I promise You, we have no reason to worry. We simply need to understand what is happening, what is our part in it, and how to stay safe within the storm.
God promised us in His Word that He will let us know what He is doing ahead of time. He has been preparing the present financial situation for a long time and He is explaining it to us in Proverbs 13:22, "The wealth of the sinner [finds its way eventually] into the hands of the righteous, for whom it was laid up."
We are living, yet again, the time of the transfer of the wealth of the world. For the past 2 weeks God has mightily been speaking to me about the present wealth transfer. There are some things we need to know about the move of God in order to move right along with Him. There are quite a few wealth transfers in the Bible to prepare us.
Supernatural wealth transfer no 1 happened during the time of Abram. God had told Abram to leave his home and go to the land that He was going to show him. It is interesting that the Amplified Bible brings out the fact that "the Lord said to Abram, Go for yourself [for your own advantage] away from your own country, from your relatives and your father's house, to the land that I will show you." (Gen.12:1)
Sometimes God needs to move us away from the midst of the people who surround us in order to bless us. Whatever God says to us is always for our own advantage - for our own good... even if we do not see it right away, which is often the case. Abram's family worshipped other gods and God could not prosper Abram where he was. So, Abram obeyed and traveled to the South (the Negeb). Verse 10 lets us know the situation of the land, "Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down into Egypt to live temporarily, for the famine in the land was oppressive (intense and grievous)."
The famine in the land where the Lord led Abram to was oppressive, intense and grievous. Abram was obedient to the Lord and the Lord blessed him and "he acquired sheep, oxen, he-donkeys, menservants, she-donkeys, and camels." (vs..16)
Would we humanly think about moving away from the safety of steady income and warm home, plenty of food, and other perks? Probably not. But if God tells us to do something, it is always in order to bring us to a blessed place. He prospered Abram right in the midst of an oppressive, intense and grievous famine. God knows how to bless a soul obedient to Him.
The next transfer of wealth from the sinner to the righteous is possibly my very favorite. It is found in Genesis chapter 26: "And there was a famine in the land, other than the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I will tell you. Dwell temporarily in this land, and I will be with you and will favor you with blessings; for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father... for Abraham listened to and obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commands, My statutes, and My laws, so Isaac stayed in Gerar." (vs..1-3,5-6)
Isaac, just like his father, was obedient to the Lord. To him the voice of the Lord was more real than all the voices of the world. He was not led by people's opinions nor human logic but by the voice of the Lord. Everyone else left for Egypt because at the time there was plenty. Everyone else looked to the world for their supply. They might have got their needs met but that was all. Isaac obeyed the leading of the Lord and got blessed super abundantly... right in the midst of famine.
Verse 12 tells us the way Isaac got blessed. It is the same way we get blessed - by sowing a seed... and yes, right in the midst of lack. "Then Isaac sowed seed in that land and received in the SAME year a HUNDRED TIMES as much as he had planted, and the Lord favored him with blessings. And the man became great and gained more and more until he became VERY WEALTHY and distinguished; he owned flocks, herds, and a great supply of servants, and the Philistines envied him."
Isaac sowed a seed during an economic turmoil and reaped 100 times more the very same year... IN the famine. But this was not all. The Lord lets us know that He also - on top of the 100 times return - favored him with all other blessings too, until he became VERY rich!
The third wealth transfer from the sinner to the righteous is found in Genesis chapter 30. Jacob had served his extremely crooked and unrighteous father-in-law faithfully for many years and now he was ready to leave. But Laban did not want to let Jacob go for he knew that the Lord's blessing had been upon his household due to Jacob. "And Laban said to him, if I have found favor in your sight, I pray you [do not go]: for I have learned by experience and from the omens in divination that the Lord has favored me with blessings on your account."
Jacob said to his father-in-law, "For you had little before I came and it has increased and multiplied abundantly; and the Lord has favored you with blessings wherever I turned. But now, when shall I provide for my own house also?" (vs..30) Jacob was ready to leave and the Lord gave him ideas how to multiply what Laban was ready to give him as his pay. The result was, "Thus the man increased and became exceedingly rich, and had many sheep and goats and maidservants, menservants, camels, and donkeys." (vs..43)
So, the Lord prospered Jacob by giving him ideas how to do business, so much so that, "Jacob heard Laban's sons complaining, Jacob has taken away all that was our father's; he has acquired all this wealth and honor from what belonged to our father." (31:1)
Laban had dealt dishonestly and unfairly with Jacob, exploiting him and now the bad seed that he had sown was coming up. The Lord transferred Laban's dishonest gain to whom it truly belonged - to Jacob... multiplying it exceedingly greatly. Jacob, in turn, had been faithfully serving his father-in-law and now his great reward was coming in. God did it in ways that humanly we could not even conceive... but He is the creator of the heaven and earth. All creative, awesome ideas come from Him. He is ready to prosper business people through ideas that they could humanly not conceive.
The fourth wealth transfer in found in Genesis 41 and 42. It is yet again a story of a man completely obedient to the Lord. Joseph had unrighteously suffered due to the lies of others. He was now in prison. The world had doomed him but the Lord knew the faithfulness of His servant and made a way for him to be lifted from a dungeon to great honor and wealth.
God looks at our obedience and faithfulness. The world might forget us... even the church might forget us, but He never ever forgets the righteous acts and faithfulness of His servants. Never. He is the God Who can, with no great difficulty, bring His people out of dungeons and put them into palaces. He can do it when we allow Him to... through our obedience and waiting for His vengeance, instead of "setting the scores ourselves."
So, He gave a dream to a Pharaoh that he could not understand. None of his "wise" men could understand nor interpret the Lord's dream. Suddenly Joseph was remembered, as someone who had interpreted dreams correctly before, and brought out of the dungeon in order to translate the dream... which he did in a way that so impressed the ruler and all the people that, "Pharaoh said to Joseph, Forasmuch as [your] God has shown you all this, there is nobody as intelligent and discreet and understanding and wise as you are. You shall have charge over my house, and all my people shall be governed according to your word [with reverence, submission, and obedience]. ONLY in the matters of the throne will I be greater that you are. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his [signet] ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in [official] vestments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck; he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had, and [officials] cried before him, Bow the knee! And he set him over all the land of Egypt." (vs..39-43)
God never ever forgets our faithfulness. Even when everyone else forgets about it, be encouraged, God does not forget. He will indeed multiply the seeds we sow. He will indeed bless abundantly our obedience. When we honor Him by doing what He tells us through His Word and personally, He will honor us. What a testimony is Joseph's life! Had he given up on faithfulness during the time he suffered in the dungeon, thinking that God too had forgotten him, he would have missed the abundant, amazing, supernatural blessings that God had put ready for him.
The fifth wealth transfer took place when God delivered his people from slavery in Egypt (where they had been taken as prisoners because of their disobedience to God). Now, when His people were crying out to God to save them, He sent them a deliverer. But God made sure that His people would get paid for their hard labor. Israelites only wanted to be delivered from the midst of the darkness of the world... but oh, how the Lord's heart rejoiced when He heard His people crying out to Him, surrendering their hearts and lives to Him... He immediately began to move on their behalf in ways they could not even have dreamt in their most beautiful and wild dreams.
Exodus 12 tells the story. "The Israelites did according to the word of Moses; and they [urgently] asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver and of gold, and clothing. The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they gave them what they asked, And they stripped the Egyptians [of those things]."
Think about this: if a slave would go to his master and ask him/her for all their jewels and gold and silver and all their best clothes, would they hope to receive anything more than a real good beating? Yet, this was exactly God's way. He does not do things the way we would. He said just go and ask them and you will receive an abundance. God knows HOW to get the money to us that we need. He has ways... but we have to listen to Him and then obey.
God knows no lack. God's Kingdom does not suffer famine. Can You picture God sitting and wringing His hands, thinking, where on earth can I get the money to provide for My people!? Never! He knows no lack! And neither should we. The Word tells us that we do not live in this world but in His kingdom. Colossians 1:12-14 promises, "Father has qualified and made us fit to share the portion which is the inheritance of the saints (God's holy people) in the Light. [The Father] has delivered and drawn us to Himself out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have our redemption through His blood, [which means] the forgiveness of our sins."
God has delivered us out of the control and the dominion of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His Love. God has drawn us out of this world's system and into the abundant supply of His Kingdom. Why do we keep stepping back into this world's systems? They are crumbling all over the world! The ONLY system and the only kingdom that does not and will not ever suffer any lack, is God's kingdom.
Doesn't it make sense to finally step into the ways of His kingdom? Why is the Body of Christ holding on to the ways of the world? We will only go down with them!
God's blessings and provision belong to each and every one of His children. They do... but they are not automatic. There are certain laws that govern God's financial system. The first is trust... for it sure does take trust to always bring the best, the first to His priests in the form of a tithe. This is the law that even many worldly businessmen have adopted, reaping its rewards... and yet, so many of the Body of Christ do not obey, thus also reaping the negative results.
We are still arguing whether we should bring the 10th out of our gross income or the 10th out of our net income to the Lord, when the Word is very clear about it! Proverbs 3:9-10 says, "Honor the Lord with your capital and sufficiency [from righteous labors] and with the firstfruits of all your income; so shall your storage places be filled with plenty, and your vats shall be overflowing with new wine."
We bring the secondary to the Lord and then wonder how come our storage places are not filled with plenty and our vats are not overflowing with new wine. The answer is - we do not honor the Lord with our FIRST-FRUITS. We dishonor Him with the tithe off of our net income. This does not honor the Lord. How could He honor us back? He can't. Just like we, He too is bound by the spiritual laws. If we dishonor Him, He can't but dishonor us. Oh, goodness, HOW He desires to overflow us with His abundant blessings. But He is limited through our lack of faith. It sure is not faith when we are scared to give the Lord the 10% off of our gross income.
It is interesting that just a few verses before He says, "Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding." ...I guess He knew how hard it is for us to understand some of His ways... if we do not know His heart... His heart that so desires to bless us, to do good to us, to shower us with His loving-kindness.
There are spiritual laws that work whether we know them or believe in them or not. Tithing is one of those immovable spiritual laws. One of the reasons we bring our WHOLE tithe to Him is that it shows what is in our hearts - do we trust His ways or do we believe in the ways of the world? He said in Matthew 6:21 and Luke 12:34 say that where our heart is, there is also our treasure. Our tithing shows very much about where our trust is. If our trust is in ourselves, how can He come and help us?
His heart's desire is to overflow us with His blessings. From the above examples we can see that He has no problem at all in getting the necessary finances into our hands... but He can only do it when our trust and hope is in Him and not in the world or in ourselves. He is practically begging us to put His faithfulness to test. Malachi 3:10-11 says, "Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer [insects and plagues] for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine drop its fruit before the time in the field, says the Lord of hosts."
Sometimes we wonder how on earth does our money manage to disappear so fast... even though we bring in quite a good pay. Here is the answer: it is devoured by all kinds of extra needs that we have not foreseen. Why? Because we are stealing from God and He cannot protect nor bless our finances. Malachi 3:8-9 says, "Will a man rob or defraud God? Yet you rob and defraud Me. But you say, In what way do we rob or defraud You? [You have withheld your] tithes and offerings. You are cursed with the curse, for you are robbing Me."
No, God does not curse us. The curse comes automatically upon those who defraud God, withholding the whole tithe, the 10 % off of our gross income. It belongs to the house of God, to provide for God's priests, for God's work. God is calling us out of the curse and into the blessing. Do we trust Him enough? Shall we put His faithfulness to test as He is asking us to? Are we ready to step out of the crumbling and shaking systems of this world and into the forever standing and forever prospering kingdom of God. He is calling us to leave the ways of the world and step into the ways of His forever unshakable Kingdom... what is our answer?
The second step towards financial security, and especially at this time the great transfer of the wealth of the world, is our attitude towards our spiritual leaders and those Who the Lord sends to us to minister the Word. If someone shares the Word with us and then an offering is taken or when a TV preacher - who we joyfully listen to - says that we can send an offering to their ministry, what is our attitude? Do we think, gosh, again they are asking for money! They keep asking for our money! Well, I didn't like them that much, really!
Did You ever think that our attitudes rob us of our blessings? They do! The Word teaches us that. Remember when Jesus' listeners thought negative, condemning thoughts - only in their hearts - about Jesus? Mark 2:8 says, "And at once Jesus, becoming fully aware in His spirit that they thus debated within themselves." Jesus hears our condemning, critical, fault-finding and other negative thoughts towards those whom the Lord has sent to share His Word with us, and this robs us of our blessings.
John Bevere said something that cut straight into my heart. He said that many men and women of God who see humongous miracles happening in African and South American countries through their ministry, come to America and Europe and only some people get healed. Why? Because they are greatly honored in Africa and South America... but are not respected by western believers. And hey, we send even more disrespect towards them when we are unable to receive what we desired. But what about the attitudes of our hearts?
"Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house." (Matt.13:57) ...and the result of not honoring God's prophets, teachers, preachers and others He sends to minister to us is: NO results for us. Even the Son of God Himself could "not do many works of power there, because of their unbelief (their lack of faith in the divine mission of Jesus)." (vs..58)
God honors His chosen servants and priests. 1 Corinthians 9:14 says, "[On the same principle] the Lord directed that those who publish the Good News (the Gospel) should live (get their maintenance) by the Gospel." If we think in our hearts, they only want my money! Again they are asking for money, do they have no shame! ...we are casting away our own blessings. We are dishonoring God by dishonoring those God sent to us, perhaps even simply because they were not dressed the way we imagined they should have been.
If God asks us to do something, it is always, always, always, without an exception, for our good. He does ask us to give... for if we give, He is able to give more to us. We have to understand the main reason behind the transfer of the wealth at this time. It is to preach the Good News of the Gospel of Christ. This is God's Father's heart - to save the world... and besides what other news does the world need at this time of the collapse of economy? More bad news?
God loves every person in this world. He desires every person to hear the Good News and as a result put their trust in Him. His Kingdom is the ONLY kingdom that is not shaken during this economic turmoil. In His Kingdom there is NO lack, no want. Of course He longs for every person to come to this safe haven. This is what God is doing at this time - He is seeking for men and women who would be able to faithfully handle large sums of money, having been or being first faithful in little, in order to finance His work. This is God's Father's heart.
Paul understood that when he asked for support, he didn't do it for himself but for the givers. He taught, "Not that I seek or am eager for [your] gift, but I do seek and am eager for the fruit which increases to your credit [the harvest of blessing that is accumulating to your account." (Phil.4:17) And yet, when we hear the heralds of the Good News of the Gospel of Christ asking for an offering, in order for the fruit to increase to our credit, the harvest of blessing to begin to accumulate to our accounts, we think, again they are asking for money. No wonder there is nothing accumulating to our accounts!
God says to us, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways... For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Is.55:8-9)
It is time we renew our thoughts to God's thoughts. It is possible. That is why God gave us His Word - so we can learn to think like He thinks and act like He acts. He is the greatest Giver. He gave the very best He had in order to usher us into the safest and securest and most loving kingdom - His Kingdom. Now He wants to usher in those who are lost and scared. Are we going to be part of His work?
God is looking for receivers - those who He can trust with large sums of money to support His work. He has NO problem to bless us superabundantly with all good - no problem at all - but can He trust us? Will we be the faithful channels He is looking for to transfer the wealth of the sinner to? Of course it does not mean we have to give away everything. He wants us to have beautiful houses and good cars and fashionable clothes and even wonderful vacations! He is the Good Father. He desires to overflow us with His blessings... but will we know His heart? Will we care enough for those His heart is grieving for?
Besides, giving is exactly the way He is able to usher the wealth to us. God is calling us to think like He thinks and act like He acts. Giving is a way to unshakable wealth for the Word says, "There are those who [generously] scatter abroad, and yet increase more; there are those who withhold more than is fitting or what is justly due, but it results only in want. The liberal person SHALL be enriched, and he who waters others shall himself be watered." (Prov.11:24-25)
If You are thinking, I want to give but I have nothing to give. Don't worry. He is the provider of even the seed. Can You believe this?! He desires us to be blessed so much that He even tells us that HE will provide the seed for us to sow. "And [God] Who provides seed for the sower and bread for eating will also provide and multiply your [resources for] sowing and increase the fruits of your righteousness [which manifests itself in active goodness, kindness, and charity]." (2 Cor.9:10) ...all we have to do is ask for the seed... and then make sure we won't eat it all up along with the food He provides... for food we can consume but once... but seed will increase 30, 60, or 100 times according to His promise.
"Give, and [gifts] will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will they pour into [the pouch formed by] the bosom [of your robe and used as a bag]. For with the measure you deal out [with the measure you use when you confer benefits on others], it will be measured back to you." (Luke 6:38) ...we cannot outgive God.
I know some of You are in the place I was - the only seeds I had to sow were my prayers. So, I prayed. I really prayed for the blessings to be conferred over those who blessed me with the Word of God. This too was a precious seed. Now I do both, I sow my prayers and I sow finances. We all have something to sow... for sowing is the only way to reap. If we sow not, we reap not.
Just a few days ago the Lord told me to sow everything I had. Oh, boy! I did. I sowed absolutely every dollar I had... and the Lord told me that we are no longer living the times of only 30, 60, or 100 fold blessings... we are living 1000 fold blessing-time.
He promised that in Deuteronomy 1:11, "May the Lord, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you as He has promised you!"
When we increase in this world, it can easily dwindle away... but when we increase in the Lord - according to the laws of His Kingdom - it will be unshakable wealth and it will bring no sorrow with it. This is a promise! Are You ready to step out to a new level of blessings? Are You ready to step fully into the abundance of His Kingdom, trusting His ways above what You know and understand humanly? Are You ready?
I know I am ready. I hope You are too! We will never be the same.
Many, many blessings to You all,
Eve
Contributing writer of My Walk With Jesus newspaper & website
Body-mind-Spirit Health, Fitness & Beauty in a Biblical Way
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