We cannot just live our lives anyhow and expect to be successful at the end. Success and wealth are for disciplined and spiritual men, as such we must be ready to embrace the challenges of personal discipline; this is how royalties and champions emerge.

To be champions in all areas of our lives, we must be disciplined. This will in turn enhance our physical and spiritual productivity.

As we proceed towards our forth coming ‘Celebration of Talents’, here at the Citizens Family Church, Nigeria, our resolve at the Royalty Home Church is to go back to our Source and what we stand for, in order to dominate our world.

Our inspiration for this discussion on the power of personal discipline came  from the Exodus 13:17. How far we travel in life is dependent on how we accept challenges,  and on the chances we are willing to take to discipline ourselves,  rather than, for instance, using God as an excuse for reckless spending.

During our Home Church bible discussion, I pointed out that genuine royalty is for those who know how to value little things. Maximising the little you have, is the key to multiplication; it’s the key to plug financial leakages.

This discussion was so personalised that each one of was really touched. Consequently, we extended it to go on for the next two weeks, in order to work on ourselves.  Feedbacks on individual experiences will be discussed, as we fellowship each week.

Pastoring the Excellence Home church for me is such a privilege and enormous responsibility. It is like being a Mother. Jesus enjoined Apostle Peter in John 21:15-17 to ‘feed my lambs’. Our lord Jesus did such a good job of it when He was on earth and He now says to us, ‘as the father has sent me so I send you’. I hope to do a great job of it.  Hearing the words “well done good and faithful servant” from God at the end of time is my lifelong dream.

In this week’s meeting at Excellence Home church, we were enveloped by God’s presence as we made the most of music in worshipping the Lord. It was awe-inspiring.

We looked at a thought provoking topic during our bible discussion on love and giving.

One of us pointed out that achieving our goals and making a difference in our world, is made easier by wealth. The rest of us concurred that wealth should be a mere tool to enable us make a difference in people’s lives and not for self aggrandizement. Apostle Peter warned that those who use the things of this world should not be unduly attached to them.

Sometimes, love is denied full expression by lack.

A man’s highest happiness is found in the bestowal of benefits on those he loves. Love finds its most natural and spontaneous expression in giving. It is in the use of material things that a man finds full life for his body, develops his mind, and unfolds his soul.

We reminisced over our past personal experiences where we would have given much more if we’d had ‘more’. Yes, sometimes, love is denied full expression by lack.

Almost immediately, one of us chipped in that it should not be an excuse to wait for perfect conditions. The value of giving, even in the sight of God is hinged on the personal cost and sacrifice to the giver. This is exemplified in Jesus’ praise of the widow who gave her mite. It said that a tree cannot make a forest but as Pastor WD Favour says ‘a tree with time can make a forest’.

I’ll draw the curtain here in this week’s edition. Next week, we will examine an intriguing statement by our Lord Jesus: “if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” (Luke16:11).

God bless you!

God has given you the power to create your own prosperity, wealth, and success.
This sermon article contains 5 very powerful spiritual laws of wealth plus several keys to divine prosperity.

We had a truly beautiful service yesterday in Church.  A lot of friends from other places visited and participated in the service, and we had a great time in the presence of the Lord.

My sermon was geared towards inspiring God’s children to diligently develop their power to create their own prosperity, wealth, and success.  I began by underscoring the importance of the prosperity of God’s Children to our heavenly Father.

Please take note of all the Scriptures quoted in this Sermon Summary and meditate thoroughly on them until your heart becomes established in them.

“Your prosperity and wealth is important to God.

I’ll say that again. Your prosperity and wealth is important to God.

Carefully examine the following verse; note my emphasis.

“Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.” (Psalm 35:27)

So, God has pleasure in your prosperity. In other words, when you are prosperous, He is happy.

Think about that.

Actually, one reason I want to prosper, and enjoy divine prosperity and wealth is because it brings pleasure to God.

Here’s another verse showing God’s attitude towards the prosperity of His children. Again, carefully note my emphasis:

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” (3 John 1:2)

I always paraphrase the above verse thus, “Beloved, there are so many things that I wish for you, but above them all I wish that you prosper and be in health.”

It matters to God that you, as His child, be prosperous. Your groveling in the dust, worried about how to pay the bills, barely managing to get by, and feeding from hand to mouth does not pleasure God at all.

Your prosperity and wealth is important to God.”

The next thing I pointed out during the sermon is that a major objective of God’s anointing on Jesus Christ was to destroy the yoke of poverty in people’s lives.

“The anointing of God that came on Jesus Christ is a poverty-killer

Did you know that the first category of people targeted by the Messiah’s anointing were the poor?

Well, read it for yourself below:

“”The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. “” (Luke 4:18-19)

As you can see from my emphasis in the above verses, four people groups are listed as targets for emancipation by the anointing on Jesus Christ:

• The poor
• The prisoners
• The blind
• The oppressed

But observe also that the poor were listed first! The first enemy marked for destruction by that anointing was poverty. This is no coincidence.

If God delights in the prosperity of His servants, He must be grieved by their poverty.

God loves the poor, but He sure hates their poverty and wretchedness!

The anointing of God that came on Jesus Christ is a poverty-killer. If you are a child of God, if Jesus Christ is Saviour and Lord in your life, then you have absolutely no business with lack and wretchedness.”

One of the most vital things I taught during the sermon yesterday is the truth that within each of us lies the power to alter our realities.

“You have the power to create prosperity for yourself

The anointing of God within you – that is, the presence of the Holy Spirit of God in you – means that you have the POWER (potential and capacity) to break free from the yoke of poverty and soar to new heights of refreshing divine supernatural prosperity and wealth.

This is because an important result of the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life is POWER – that is, your ability to transform your circumstances!

“But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you…”" (Acts 1:8a)

When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you don’t receive religion, emotionalism, or empty gibberish. You receive POWER!!!

And one of the purposes of divine power is to get wealth.

“But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee POWER TO GET WEALTH…” (Deuteronomy 8:18)

God has deposited His power within you for many reasons, one of which is to GET WEALTH. Within you lies the POWER TO GET WEALTH, to create your own prosperity .

You have the POWER to transform your circumstances. That power is within your inner man. You are not a victim, so for God’s sake quit thinking and whining like one!

From the following verse, we note that prosperity is a cardinal function of the anointing.

“…You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (Psalms 23:5b)

Because my head is anointed with oil – a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the presence of God – my cup overflows.

An overflowing cup symbolizes abundant prosperity and wealth. It is the opposite of being in lack, wallowing in the despair and frustration of being continuously broke and in debt.

Yes, God wants your cup to overflow. He wants you to enjoy His prosperity and wealth in your life; that’s why He anoints your head with oil.

So, why are so many cups empty in the among God’s children?

Why do many of God’s children, who have the Holy Spirit, and thus the power to get wealth, live in abject poverty and wretchedness? Why is it that many whose heads have been anointed with oil have empty cups?

The answer is simply because of the violation of the following vital spiritual principles.”

And I went on to outline 5 of the most powerful spiritual keys to create your own prosperity and wealth.

“Spiritual Key #1: Submit to God

“Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.” (Job 22:21)

God is the absolute Ruler of this Universe. If you claim to be His child and yet consistently flout His natural and universal laws, you deceive yourself.

To submit to God has very little to do with the various rituals and ceremonies with which the religious masses deceive themselves into thinking they are worshipping God.

True submission to God can only happen when you learn, understand, and master His natural and spiritual laws. When you submit to divine laws, you are submitting to God, thereby ATTRACTING PROSPERITY AND WEALTH.

God is inseparable from His WORD (laws).

There are natural laws governing the creation and attraction of prosperity and wealth. You have the power to obey and apply these laws, but you must know what they are!

Spiritual Key #2: Delight yourself in the Lord

“Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalms 37:4)

TO delight yourself in the LORD refers to a love affair with Him! It means ‘fall in love with the Lord.’  This has to do with fellowship and intimacy with the Lord.

You see, when you are in love with the Lord, it will lead to intimacy with Him, then spiritual intercourse. And guess what?

Something beautiful happens…

He gives you the desires of your heart!

Actually, this doesn’t mean that He’ll give you the things that you desire, such as money and stuff. It rather means that He’ll place desires in your heart. He’ll plant dreams, goals, and visions in your heart!

When you delight yourself in the Lord, it means that you are in love with Him. This will ultimately lead to intimacy and intercourse wherein He plants divine sperm (dreams and visions) within you.

Wow!

But eventually, you will need the ‘know-how’ to translate these dreams and visions into realities, which is why you need the third spiritual key.

Spiritual Key #3: Tune into the inspiration of God within you

“But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” (Job 32:8)

The inspiration of God lies within you. You must learn to tune into it for guidance and breakthrough ideas.

Whereas many religious folks have mastered how to make their requests known to God through religious prayers and rituals, only very few have learnt how to hear God’s ideas (wisdom) within them.

This is not surprising as majority of human beings are too busy blindly and lazily following the manipulative ideas of others, that they have no room for the voice of God within their own spirits.

When you delight yourself in the Lord, he places dreams and visions in your heart. But you must learn to tune into His inspiration within you for ideas, plans and strategies to translate those dreams and visions into realities.

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it. “” (Isaiah 30:21)

Many have dreams and visions but are groping in the darkness of ignorance and foolishness, all in the name of trying to achieve their dreams. The result is disappointment and frustration. But when you learn to tune into the inspiration of God within your spirit, you discern the way to make your dreams happen.

I heard someone tell recently of how he took time to get quiet and listen to the inspiration within. “I got an idea that gave me four million dollars in just one hour,” he said.

Think about it. One breakthrough idea is more than enough to give you the life of your dreams.

However, every genuine inspiration from God will create the need to apply the fourth spiritual key.

Spiritual Key#4: Give!

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. “” (Luke 6:38)

The above instruction, of course, comes from Jesus Christ Himself. According to Jesus Christ, prosperity and wealth – the kind I’m writing about here – are not measured in terms of how much you possess, but rather in terms of how much you give.

The presence of Jesus Christ within you means that you have a lot to offer your world. Don’t expect to prosper if all you know to do is take and take and take, without giving anything in return.

If I may ask, what are your unique contributions and gifts to the human family? A lot of people are on welfare, living off the labour and sweat of other hardworking persons.

If you want to release your prosperity genius, you must switch from the mindset of consumption, to that of contribution.

When I say contributions, I mean the products and services that emerge from your talents and skills. These should be deployed towards the benefit of your fellow human beings if you must attract prosperity.

To give means to put your skills, talents, and abilities to work to create beneficial products and services for others.

Prosperity will ultimately come to you if and when you invest time and energy, plus other resources, to translate your talents and abilities into products and services for the welfare of the human family.

That’s how it works.

Whatever you use your talents, skills, etc. to do for others is a product.  However, you must be consistent and organized in the creating and delivering of your numerous products.

So, you already have products and services, but:

1. Are they organized?
2. Are they being delivered consistently and diligently?
3. Are you constantly improving the quality of the content and delivery of these products and services?

At the end of the day, you need the fifth spiritual key as the glue that binds them all together.

#5. Be thankful

Don’t become blind to your present blessings. You are already prosperous. There are so many blessings of God in your life for which you should be thankful.

“Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.” (John 6:11)

Jesus had only 5 loaves and two fishes to feed a crowd of over 5000 starving men, women, and children. Yet He didn’t complain about His meager resources. He rather looked up to heaven and gave thanks to God.

Thanksgiving is a great multiplier of resources. You will easily attract prosperity and wealth into your life if you maintain a constant attitude of genuine and sincere gratitude.

Give thanks to God for the life you have, for your family, and for the beauty of His creation that surrounds you. Give thanks to God for your job or business even if the income isn’t yet at the level you desire.

Beloved, the anointing of God within you – the presence of the Holy Spirit of God in you – means that you have the POWER (potential and capacity) to break free from the yoke of poverty and soar to new heights of refreshing divine supernatural prosperity and wealth.

I encourage you to carefully master and diligently apply the 5 spiritual keys I’ve shared here in order to create your own prosperity and wealth.

God bless you.

In this week’s blog series on giving, we’ve been studying the answers to the question, “Why do I give my offerings and sacrifices without receiving the promised supernatural rewards?”  I’ve already stated so far that the answers fall into any of the following two categories:

1. Problems associated with the giving side, and
2. Problems associated with the reaping side.

Read any of the topics of this week’s series by clicking the quick links below:

How To Sow And Reap Fast and Fabulous Harvests
Giving That Works 1
Giving That Works 2

Giving to God as an act of worship, is a sacred duty and must be in harmony, alignment, and perfect compliance with the instructions and nature of God.  In Tuesday’s post, I introduced the four elements of fruitful giving – unselfishness, a cheerful and generous attitude, consistency, and sacrifice.  I’ve already written  about the first three of these elements in the posts of the last two days. Today’s post is about  the fourth one – sacrifice.

Never offer to God any offering that cost you nothing…

Sacrifice is a very important element of the kind of giving that pleases God.  A lot of people offer to God out of their own convenience, yet they expect to reap massive rewards.  That’s foolishness.  If your giving costs you nothing, it will bring very little benefits and rewards to you. 

In fact, the true value of any gift is the cost of the gift to the giver.  Even as individuals, we feel so valued when we realize that a certain gift we received from someone cost them so much.  It’s not necessarily a matter of the content or quantity of the gift, as it is about what it cost the giver to give it.  Sometimes, a gift might be intrinsically worthless in terms of it’s dollar value, yet it becomes invaluable in the light of the sacrifice that went into the gift.

This same principle applies with regards to our gifts to God.

I love the attitude of King David towards giving offerings to God, as expressed in his statement below:

“No, I insist on paying you for it.  I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” ~ King David, 2 Samuel 24:24

Think about your gifts to God – whether it’s in terms of time, money, talents, and so on; how much personal sacrifice is involved in the gifts that you give to your God?  Do not sacrifice to the LORD your God burnt offerings that cost you nothing.

In summary so far, the kind of giving that works, the kind of giving that is rewarded abundantly by the Almighty God, is giving that is:

1. Unselfish
2. Done with a cheerful and generous attitude
3. Consistent, and
4. Sacrificial.

Click here in order to receive all my postings on this series via your email…

Giving to God as an act of worship is a sacred duty and must be in harmony, alignment, and perfect compliance with the instructions and nature of God.  In yesterday’s post, I introduced the four elements of fruitful giving – unselfishness, a cheerful and generous attitude, consistency, and sacrifice.  I wrote about the first two of these elements yesterday. Today’s post is about  the next two.

This is actually a series and you can always look at the previous posts by clicking at the links below:

How To Sow And Reap Fast and Fabulous Harvests
Giving That Works 1

The next important element of fruitful giving is consistency.

You must be consistent in your giving…

Giving to God should never be done in an erratic manner.  Until giving becomes your lifestyle, it will not profit you at all.  You must understand one principle of life which is that whatever does not enter the habitual dimension within the framework of your personality, will not be able to profit you. 

A lot of people think that because they’ve given to God or others at one point or the other, then that makes them givers.  They then begin to freak out when they don’t see their imagined harvests and rewards.  These are merely foolish, selfish and deluded people

The fact that you’ve given money to God, or anyone for that matter, does not make you a giver.  You can only be accurately referred to as a giver when that act defines your personality. 

Does writing a single article and sticking it up on a blogspot or wordpress free site make you a blogger?  Of course not!  How about claiming to be a lawyer simply because you won an argument at a drugstore?  Or saying you are a medical doctor because your guess as to the drug for a particular ailment worked?  

The reality is that in order to be any of these professions, you must have mastered the principles that regulate those activities, gained adequate skills in them, and are practicing those skills, engaging in those activities on a consistent basis, and according to their guiding principles and disciplines.

It is in this same way that you’ll never be qualified as a giver except you’ve mastered the principles that regulate giving – whether you do this deliberately, or you are unconsciously aware of them is inconsequential.  The point is that if you want to reap abundant harvests from your giving, you must master the principles of giving, gain the necessary skills of giving, and give consistently according to those principles and disciplines.

Consistency in giving is a mult-dimensional concept…

It means that giving must permeate every aspect of your life.  In other words, your giving is not just about giving money in Church, but also involves giving your time, your words, and all else that you have, in order to glorify God and bless your fellow human beings.

Consistency also means that you give regularly in every dimension of your being.

Now think about these few questions:

1. Have you been faithful in giving to God and your fellow human beings?
2. Has your giving been consistent or generally erratic?
3. Do you give in every dimension of your life?  Or do you only give in one area and neglect other areas?

Then take time and determine how to move into the dimension of consistency in all areas of giving in your life.

We’ll continue tomorrow.
Remember you can receive a daily update of this and other series via email.  Just click here.

I began yesterday to address myself to providing answers to the question, “Why do I give my offerings and sacrifices without receiving the promised supernatural rewards?”  And as I wrote yesterday, I believe the reasons millions of religious people fail to reap abundant harvests from their offerings and sacrifices can be grouped into two categories:

1. Problems associated with the giving side, and
2. Problems associated with the reaping side.

Giving to God as an act of worship is a sacred duty and must be in harmony, alignment, and perfect compliance with the instructions and nature of God.

Four Elements of Fruitful Giving

In order for you to enjoy fast and abundant harvests from your giving, it must have the following elements: – Unselfishness, A cheerful and generous attitude, consistency, and sacrifice.  Let me deal with each of these elements separately.

First of all, Your motive must be right…

If you are giving just to get a harvest, then you’ve missed the entire point.  I’ve taught and continue to teach that many are so focused on getting the rewards of their giving and alms that they miss the blessings.  Forget about the harvest and reward part.  If you are focused on that part in your giving, your giving attitude would easily become corrupted with greed and selfishness. Rather, trust God to fulfil His own part of the deal!  Just enjoy doing your own part.

If you want to reap fast and abundant harvests from your offerings and sacrifices, as a religious person, please understand that you must be unselfish.  Your motive in performing alms should be to:

• Honour God, the Creator of all the ends of this universe, and
• To bless others.

As I taught my 8 year old daughter recently, if you sacrifice your own life to God, for the good of the greater portion of humanity, then and only then would you be truly blessed.  The ultimate joy is that of looking back over the course of your life and knowing that you’ve lived a life of value to God and your fellow men.  So the right reward to look forward to, really, and one which will preserve you from greed and selfishness, is to gladden the heart of the Father with your offerings, and also to positively impact other people.

Let your motive in giving be to glorify God, fill other people’s lives with pleasure, and pleasure yourself too.

Secondly, you must give cheerfully, and generously…

Our offerings and sacrifices must move beyond the point of mere ‘religious obligations’ and rituals. 
It must become a pleasure! 
As a Christian, I believe that my relationship with God is not a religion, but rather a love affair!

If your religion is a mere list of ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ then you are just another slave.  You must evolve into the state where it’s all a love affair between you and the Almighty God.  When this happens, your offerings and sacrifices become acts and expressions of love; pleasurable acts of spiritual worship.

God actually loves a cheerful giver!  Not the grumbling murmuring slavish type.

“…for God loves a cheerful giver.” ~ 2 Corinthians 9:7

Give cheerful, generously, with an unselfish motive, for that’s your surest path towards fabulous and abundant harvests.

I’ll continue with the other two elements of fruitful giving tomorrow.   And, remember that you can have my daily posts on the current series and others sent directly to you via email, just click here

There’s a mindset that locks people into lack inspite of their efforts to create wealth; that is the attitude that expects something for nothing.

If your attitude is to always expect something for nothing, there’s really no difference between you and a common beggar.

A close relative of this attitude is the mentality that measures wealth and success solely in monetary terms: to measure wealth and success solely in terms of cash is to be a very poor person and live a very miserable and frustrated life.

People who view wealth and success as matters of bank notes and material acquisitions tend to become penny-wise and pound-foolish. For instance:

• They’ll most likely sacrifice valuable relationships because of money.
• They’ll probably sacrifice integrity and a good name because of money.
• They may betray trust because of money.
• They may sacrifice quality because of money.
• They may sacrifice truth because of cash.

Components of genuine wealth

In reality, wealth is a long-term reward for serving the greatest number of people; it is not measured strictly in cash but in:

• The goodwill of your fellow human beings; networks of useful, helpful, supportive, and loyal relationships.
• A good and dependable name.
• The deep abiding inner joy, happiness, and fulfillment that comes from service.
• The power and motivation that comes from a sense of relevance, knowing that you have something that your world needs.
• Of course, monetary and material abundance too.

Some productivity questions

If you want to achieve genuine success and wealth, think and operate in terms of value creation and distribution – by finding your own personal answers to these productivity questions.

1. What value have you created for the benefit of your fellow human beings?
2. Are you a contributor (creator) of resources, or a consumer?
3. Of what use are you to your nation, community, church, neighborhood, school, and place of work? What are your contributions there?
4. How many people have you put smiles on their faces with your talents and abilities?
5. How many people’s profits have you increased with your services?
6. How many people’s quality of life have you enhanced with your skills and services?

Until you shift your focus from money and start thinking in terms of value creation and distribution, you will live a very miserable and frustrated life.

More productivity questions

1. What can you do?
2. What can you contribute?
3. How many people are benefiting from your substance?
4. What are you doing daily to improve the quality of your performance?
5. What are you doing daily to reach a wider group of people with your substance – products and services?

These are productivity questions; they are wealth creation questions.

Until you genuinely create wealth for others by adding more value to their lives, you have no right to expect wealth for yourself.

Most wealthy people today never set out to make money. They discovered something that they were genuinely interested in and good at. Then they sought and found ways to exploit those things for the greater good of others. Money was just a by-product of their efforts.

If you shift your focus from money to value creation and services, you’ll evolve into a truly wealthy person.

My contributions…

I continually ask myself, “What are my substances, values, contributions, and so on? What can I offer to my world for the greater benefit of humanity?” Below are the values and contributions that I strive daily to invest into the lives of others.

1. The inspiration to discover yourself and courageously express yourself to God’s glory and the benefit of mankind.
2. Hope for a better tomorrow.
3. Wisdom to live a struggle-free and suffering-free life.
4. An enhanced capacity to believe and receive more miracles from God.

I strive to make these contributions through:

1. Word of mouth: Speaking, teaching, preaching, personal counseling, even telephone conversations.
2. Inspirational products: audio and video cds, magazines, books, and booklets.
3. Online resources: blog posts and articles, podcasts.
4. Events and meetings: Metamorphosis (weekly teaching seminar at the Success Academy Nigeria), Ultimate Experience (Weekly worship service of the Citizens Family Nigeria), Leadership Classes and Seminars.
5. Media outreaches: Radio and Television broadcasts.

Some of my distribution formats or channels allow me to make my contributions one on one,that is to one person at a time- such as during personal counseling. Others allow me to make it to a group of people per time, such as during events and radio broadcasts. But others allow me to make those contributions to one person, groups, and diverse audiences repeatedly because they are now in permanent forms – such as my blog posts, audio and video cds, books, magazines, and so on.

In the end, I get to make my contributions to my fellow human beings to God’s glory, using what He’s already deposited in me. This is why I can never be poor, but can only get wealthier.

If I may ask you again, what are your contributions?

Tags: wealth

What does this term signify to you?
What thoughts and pictures are evoked in your mind whenever the word ‘riches’ is mentioned?

When I asked this question to my audience during a recent session of the Success Academy here in Nigeria, I got several responses…

…wealth, health, estate and money, opportunities for personal advancement, prosperity, abundant supply, enough resources to fulfill one’s dreams…

The answers were quite varied, and that’s ok, because the term ‘riches’ is multi-dimensional and represents different things to different people. My personal list would include time, energy, talent, friends, information, and several spiritual qualities.

Regardless of our perspectives of the term riches, I believe that you and I share a common desire, that is, to enjoy riches in all of its dimensions and ramifications in this present life and the one to come. We also desire to see our present riches increase satisfactorily.

I wrote this post to show you some key principles that you would need to internalize in your consciousness in order to enjoy a rich life, and also experience increase in whatever riches you already possess.

Increase is natural…

The first commandment to the human race was not a moral one, it was rather an injunction to ‘increase and multiply.’

“God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it…”
~ Genesis 1:28

So humans are basically programmed to multiply, to increase, and to become more.
Lack and stagnation are therefore alien to the essence of your being.
The moment you become established in the awareness that abundance is natural, and lack is unnatural, you move into the dimension of effortless riches.

Riches spring forth from the same source as life…

Life is a gift.
You didn’t earn or purchase your life, it was given to you.
By inference, therefore, every other thing you acquire in life is a gift from the One who gave you life – God.
Because God is the fountain of life, He is the source of all riches.
Riches come from God.

“…the LORD your God…is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth…” ~ Deuteronomy 8:18

A lot of people do not acknowledge the Source of all blessings. So many people today think that it’s their ingenuity and smartness that have gotten them their riches. Yet, men and women of high spiritual and inner awareness know that all blessings flow from the Author of life and they acknowledge this in their daily lives.

The moment you acknowledge the true Source of all riches and bow humbly in reverence and gratitude to Him, you open doors of favors and abundance that you never imagined to be in existence. It’s all a matter of attitude.

Give before you take…

When you understand that God is the giver of riches, you’ll appreciate the importance of ‘give before taking’ in the dynamics of divine provisions. When you provide the Giver of riches with enough incentives to bless you, abundance begins to flow effortlessly into your life.

In order to obtain anything effortlessly from anyone, you must understand and apply the wisdom of an ancient Chinese proverb, “Give before you take…” One of the smartest ways to gain the favors of any individual is to satisfy his or her interests. And God is really no exception to this rule. To increase your riches, find your own answer to this question: What does God gain, or lose, by increasing your riches?

Bear in mind that ‘riches’ include every good thing that you possess or desire to possess – it’s beyond cash and material possessions.

God’s interest…

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” ~ Matthew 6:33

“His kingdom…” does not mean some religious movement, institution, or establishment. It simply means His interests. The interest of God is not a complicated matter, its just this:

The salvation of mankind.

I believe I also need to point out the fact that ‘salvation’ does not refer to some weird religious experience that initiates you into any religious group. The term salvation means to be rescued from decay, destruction and death . It means to be set free from sin, sickness and diseases, poverty, and other forms of bondage.

So, to seek God’s kingdom simply means to pursue His interests – to use His gifts to you for the benefits of mankind. If you use your present riches to rescue your fellow man from sin, sickness and diseases, poverty, and other forms of bondage, you are seeking God’s kingdom, and ‘all these things will be given to you.’

“All these things will be given to you…” implies effortless abundance. It means that rather than your going after riches, they’ll come after you! Some people have to pursue wealth, while others attract it. It all depends on your understanding of the principle of usage and exchange – in other words, what you do with present riches.

When your use of present riches gladdens the heart of the Source, your flow will never run dry. This is common sense! Many people lose even the little riches that they have because of ingratitude, stinginess, and selfishness. They consume whatever they have solely on their own pleasures and lusts. So the Giver of riches sees no point in increasing their riches…He rather takes away whatever little they have.

One of life’s toughest tests…

“Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them.” ~ Psalm 62:10b

One of life’s toughest tests is what you do when riches begin to increase – your attitude towards God and towards His interests when the tide of fortune turns in your favor. What does God gain, or lose, by increasing your riches?

Unfortunately, a lot of us have not provided enough incentives for God to continue increasing our riches.

For instance, what would you do with a million dollars? Your first thoughts in response to this question are significant. They go a long way to reveal your innermost values and priorities; they reveal the state and location of your heart. Would you immediately think of acquiring the latest car for your own pleasures…or would you think of something that would bless more people than just you?

What does God gain, or lose by increasing your riches? What is your attitude towards God and His interests when the tide of fortune turns in your favor?

Little blessings are just tests to determine if you qualify for the real deal!

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will be dishonest with much.” ~ Luke 16:10

Many have forfeited the main dish because of mere crumbs!
Don’t let that be you.

Actions speak louder than words…

Give God some incentive to increase and multiply you.
How?
Definitely not by mere verbal promises!

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” ~ Mark 7:6

God is not impressed by religiosity, so stop making empty promises.
Songs and tears cannot deceive God.
Loud prayers and religious gibberish cannot deceive Him either.
Empty church rituals are ineffective in persuading the Father of all spirits to act in one’s favor.

Rather use your actions to demonstrate where your heart really is. Sincerely give him genuine incentives to increase and multiply your riches.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” ~ Matthew 6:21

What you do with your present riches reveal where your heart truly lies.
The use and investment of present riches show the true position of your heart – whether or not it is near to God, or far from Him.

Present and ‘little’ riches…

What are you doing with your present and ‘little’ riches – stuff like your time, money, talents, and so on?
Bear in mind that present little riches are just tests to determine whether or not you qualify for the real deal.

“Honor the Lord with your wealth (riches) – time, money, gifts, talents, etc – with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”
~ Proverbs 3:9,10

Be sure that you are using your present and little riches to demonstrate to God that you deserve greater blessings from Him.

Remember Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived. God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.”

Take full responsibility over your actions today so that you’ll not blame anyone for the harvests of tomorrow.

God bless you!

“Disgraced Billionaire”

So reads the CNN Today news headline reporting on the fraudulent activities of Allen Stanford, a Texas billionaire now accused of swindling investors of over 9 billion dollars.

Listening to this report from my hotel room here in PortHarcourt city, Nigeria, two thoughts flashed through my mind.

First of all, when will people stop placing their trust blindly on someone just because he or she popped up with the label ‘expert’ on their profile? Isn’t it time for individuals to take more responsibilities over what they do with their lives and resources? You have been equipped with a mind that can think, remember, analyze, reflect, and so on. Develop your mind and take full personal responsibility over your own life and resources.

Secondly, I once watched a CNN advertisement of the Stanford Financial Group. Now that ad was a superb testimony to the Stanford Financial Group’s ‘expert’, ‘highly skilled’, and ‘professional capacity’ to manage your money and investments. Shouldn’t media organizations take some responsibilities too for giving such publicity to fraudulent groups? When a trusted media house puts an organization with questionable practices up on such a highly visible pedestal, isn’t that some form of endorsement in the minds of less scrupulous watchers? It’s so easy to report on these scandals after they’ve occurred, yet these media institutions should also feel ashamed for their own parts in failing to conduct some background investigations into the activities of organizations before allowing their ads to air on their networks.

It all comes back to the question of personal responsibility, anyway.
Before you commit yourself and resources to anyone, or organization, it is your personal responsibility to ensure that they deserve such trust. It is important that you develop your mind and take full personal responsibility over your own life and resources.

Do you think that media houses should share the blame for the scandals of ‘reputable’ financial institutions that they promoted through ads on their networks?

Tags: Personal responsibility

[Because this post requires reflective reading, I'll encourage you to book mark it and probably read it when you are more relaxed and quiet.]

The concept expressed in this post – melting your money mountains – was distilled from a stage of the biblical account of Abraham’s journey to Mount Moriah to sacrifice his son Isaac.

Awareness of the lack of a principal resource

At a certain stage of the trip, just as they were about to ascend the mountain, Isaac spoke up:

“…where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” - Genesis 22:7

Isaac identified the lack of a principal resource for the fulfillment of their mission – the lamb.

Every family, individual life, mission, vision, or project will encounter this challenge at one or more stages of the journey – the lack of one or more principal resources. It is at these critical stages that dreams are aborted, projects abandoned, and missions ditched. This is the point of frustrations and disappointments. Many turn back at these points from pursuing the realization of their most cherished dreams. This is where achievers part ways with mere talkers; here’s where history makers separate from wishful thinkers.

Money is a principal resource for mission accomplishment

In order to live a live of relevance and fulfillment, a lot of vital resources are needed, such as time, energy, friendships, wisdom, and so on. Few resources, however, are as significant, principal, and strategic to the fulfillment of any mission as money. The monetary resource is so vital that the wise man, King Solomon, wrote:

“…money answereth all things” – Ecclesiastes 10:19

Due to it’s strategic importance, the lack of money has effectively grounded innumerable promising and enthusiastically initiated enterprises. I know this through my observations and experiences as a Christian Pastor, but also from personal experiences stemming from living on a continent globally described as the poorest…(a description I do not subscribe to anyway.)
Consequently, your capacity to melt your money mountains is essential to mission accomplishment and personal fulfillment.

The negative visions of your closest companions

Observe that at this stage of their journey, one of them – Isaac – identified the lack of a principal resource. He saw a lack. Yet, we know in retrospect, and from deeper reflections, that it was a mere illusion.
In fact, when you go beyond the obvious, beyond the bounds of human fears, you discover that lack is a mere illusion. When you look into the atmosphere, you see ‘emptiness’, but that’s just because you can’t see the gases and other elements actively present there. The atmosphere seems empty, but is it?
Anyway, the fact remains that the perception of lack, though an illusion, presents a challenge to the individual who is pursuing a dream…so much that it can make you abandon your mission!

The intensity of the challenge of the illusion of lack, is further heightened by the negative visions of your close companions. So be wary!
By ‘negative vision’ I mean the acute awareness of the illusion of lack. This is a perverse form of faith.
Do not allow the negative visions of your close companions to incapacitate or derail your progress in life.
The worst thing to have around you are doubtful, fearful, negative, cynical, and small thinkers. They are attitude poisoners; they are dream killers.

Hence, your capacity to defeat the negative visions of your close companions is a key to melting your money mountains.

A high altitude awareness

You will never be able to counter and defeat the negative visions of those around you except you possess a high altitude awareness of the infinite possibilities of the divinity within you.
A high altitude awareness is a must for mission resourcefulness and accomplishment.

At this stage in their journey, at the point of their encounter with the illusion of lack, there were two individuals involved – Abraham, and Isaac. One of them, Abraham, was the primary determinant of the outcome of the journey, because he was the visioner and the leader. His judgment, decision, consciousness, awareness, choices, and courage, were critical to the success of the mission.
Fortunately, Abraham was functioning at a very high altitude of spiritual awareness:

• He told the servants to wait behind, adding that “We will go and we will come back.” This was a clear indication that he expected to return with Isaac! So he knew something!
• “…He reasoned that God could raise Isaac from the dead…” – Hebrews.11:17-19

It was this elevated spiritual consciousness that enabled Abraham triumph over the lack consciousness being projected to him by his less spiritually developed companion. As a result of this triumph, they moved on to the end of their mission and experienced a supernatural supply of the missing principal resource.

Because you are the primary determinant of the realization of your dreams, your decisions are vital, and your personal choices critical to your success. The decisions you make at your point of encounter with the illusion of lack is a make or break one!

The fact, however, is that the quality of decisions you make is only but the manifestation of the level of your inner awareness, consciousness, and spiritual development. If you have an elevated spiritual consciousness of the greatness of God within you, you will move beyond the illusion of any form of lack – such as lack of money – and ultimately experience a mysterious, if not supernatural supply of the missing resource.

A high altitude awareness of the infinite possibilities of the divinity within you is key to melting your money mountains.

A liberal soul

Money is a spiritual force that bows to the liberal soul.

“The liberal soul shall be made fat…” – Proverbs 11:25

A liberal soul is descriptive of the mind that possesses a very high altitude awareness and consciousness of the infinite possibilities of the divinity within.
Your assets for greatness are not extraneous to you, they lie within you. Wealth is only but a state of mind; so is lack. If you think wealth, you attract it; if you think lack, you attract it.

To make rapid and continous progress in destiny, you must replace lack-consciousness with an abundance-mentality.

Thus, a liberal soul is key to melting your money mountains.

A stingy soul

Conversely, a stingy soul is inimical to melting your money mountains.
How do you recognize them?

1. They don’t give. This is their most obvious quality.
2. They are subtly selfish.
3. They panic at the mention of money. Their knees buckle and bow when significant amounts of money are mentioned.
4. Because they are afraid of money, and stingy in their souls, they hate the subject, often hiding under the guise of religion to mask this stinginess and fear.

If you don’t tactically edge these souls out of your missions and projects, their negative attitudes will poison yours and ultimately mar your personal success.

Melting your money mountains

In summary, melting your money mountains demands that you:

1. Develop a high altitude awareness of the infinite possibilities of divinity within you.
2. Cultivate a liberal soul.
3. Defeat the negative visions of your close companions.
4. Tactically edge stingy souls out of your missions projects.

Tags: Money, resources, missions, vision, destiny, projects, consciousness, awareness, lack, wealth, accomplishments, success, principal resource, personal success