THE FOUNDATION FOR FINANCIAL PROSPERITY

“And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statues of David his father; only he sacrifices and burnt incense in high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place, a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer to the altar. In Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and God said, ‘Ask what I shall give thee” - (1 Kings 3:3-5).

The secret of Solomon’s fame and riches was his heart for God. The bible said that Solomon loved the Lord. The love you have for God determines how far He will go with you. You can’t love God and not be blessed. When God sees that you love Him, He will pour out His blessing on you. Some people love money more than God and they can go all out to get it. Until your love for God is tested, you have not started with Him.

Abraham loved God and God tested his love for Him. Look at this:

“And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, ‘Abraham’, and he said, ‘here I am’. And He said, ‘take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou loves and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early in  the morning and saddled his ass and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went unto the place of which God had told”  - (Genesis22:1-3).

He rose up the following morning without telling his wife to go and offer his only son out for sacrifice to God, why? Because he was sold out for God, he loves the lord with all his heart. When your heart is sold out for God to the extent that you can do anything He instructs you to do, then you are ready for his abundant blessings. Your love for God is the foundation for financial prosperity. Some people are praying for financial prosperity but their heart is not right with God. They don’t love God with all their heart. Jesus said in Matthew 6:33; But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. We are in the era of wealth transfer, God is transferring the wealth of this world to the church, but he will put it in the hand of the kingdom-minded people, people who will build house for God before building their own, not people who are building mansions while their church is on rent. Look at what God said in (Haggai 1:2-11).

Thus speaketh the lord of host, saying: this people say the time that the Lord’s house should be built, then come the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet saying:

“Is it time for you, o ye, to dwell in your ceiled house and his house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of host, consider your ways, ye have not enough, ye drink but ye are not filled with drink, ye clothe you, but there is none warm, and he that earneth wages to put it consider your ways, Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the house and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified saith the lord. Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little and when ye run, every man unto his own house, therefore, the heaven over you is stayed from  drew and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land and upon the mountains, and upon the oil and upon that which the ground bringeth forth and upon men, and upon cattle and upon all the labour of the hands”.

When you are after your own; only your house, your car, your business, your career, your furniture, that you don’t think of the welfare of the kingdom, you are not qualified for God’s wealth. God is looking for those who have the heart for the kingdom of God on earth which is the church. The level of your love for God determines the level of his blessings upon you. Heart is what provokes the release of God’s blessings upon your life. another way to show that we love God and serve him wholeheartedly is by being willing to give up whatever we need to give up in order to experience the fullness of God’s plan for our lives. There are people throughout the scripture who walked away from their families, friends, fortunes, and homes in order to obey God. Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Matthew, and Paul are all examples. Others like Esther, Daniel and the three children laid their lives on the line for God, not knowing if they would be spared. But that is what loving God is all about. Many people never receive the fulfillment of the desires and dreams God gives them, because, they won’t lay down what God asks them to lay down, or they won’t walk away from what he asks them to walk away from. Take for instance, the rich young ruler in Mark 10; we find him running up and bowing before Jesus asking Him what he must do to inherit eternal life, when Jesus reminded him of the Ten Commandments. The man said he had observed and not violated any of them since he was a boy. Then looking upon him in love, Jesus said to him: “you lack one thing, go and sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven and follow me”.

Let me stop here and say that I don’t believe that this means we have to go home and gather up all our cloths and possessions, and give them away to the poor, nor do I think we should run away to the bank, get all our money out and give it away. In this passage, Jesus was talking to a specific hindrance in His life. There is however a principle here for all of us to learn; whatever has hold on us, God will require of us. It is obvious that this man’s wealth had a hold on him, and it was keeping him from a deeper relationship with Jesus. God wants first place in our lives not last place or first-run-up. We are not going to have mainline blessings if God is a sideline in our lives. To love God is to obey him. Jesus said in the book of John 14:15: “If you love me, you will obey what I command”. You cannot be in disobedience and say you love God. If He tells you to release your car for the gospel, will you obey Him? Loving God is the foundation for financial prosperity, when God approves your love for Him, look at what God said concerning David in (Psalm 91:14-16); “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set him on high because, he shall call upon me and I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honour him, with long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation. Your love for God provokes the release of His blessings upon your life not your payers.

When you love God more than money, He will give you more opportunities to make money. It is not the love of money that brings money, it is the love of God that brings money. If we seek God the way we seek money, we will have more money. See you at the top, Peace!

-PATOR EKELE