THE DESIRABLE PROSPERITY OF THE RIGHTEOUS

Minister PASTOR W.F. KUMUYI

TEXT: PSALM 73:1-5; 35:27

Psalms 35:27

• 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.

Abraham was prospered by the Lord and instead of envying the wicked, Abimelech and other Gentiles envied him. It was the same with Isaac, God was good to him, when he planted every year, God gave him bountiful increase. He would not be envious of the wicked, rather, they were envious of him.

Look at the time of Moses in Israel, he would not envy the wicked because water came out of the rock for him and his people. Joshua would not envy the Canaanites, rather, it was they who envied Joshua and the Israelites and they proved this when five confederate kings came together to fight against them because of their prosperity.

In the New Testament, the thief comes not but to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came that we may have life more abundantly. Peter asked what they would get after forsaking all to follow the Lord, He responded that all who forsook houses, lands, brothers and sisters will inherit an hundred folds in this life and in the life to come. Apostle Paul said that God will supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

What I am saying is that as you look at the scriptures from the Old Testament to the New, you will see that God created everything for man and the believers to enjoy. After He created the land, seas, plants, and animals, He created man and commanded them to multiply, replenish the earth and have dominion, as well as enjoy everything in and outside the garden. So, we see that it is the will of God that we will enjoy all the things He has created. They are not only for sinners in the world.

THE DESIRABLE PROSPERITY OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS (Psalm 35:37) The righteous should shout and rejoice, not complain at the prosperity of the wicked. The Lord has delight, joy, pleasure in and has made provision for the prosperity of His servants.

A. BELIEVING AND OBEYING THE LAWS OF PROMISED PROSPERITY
(Deuteronomy 28:1-2,8,12; Job 22:22,27-28; Psalm 37:3-5; John 10:10; Romans 8:32)

There are laws which govern everything. When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them a law to toil and care for the garden. He wanted them to do something, so He gave them what to do. You will understand, believe and obey the laws of prosperity from today and prosperity will be your portion in Jesus name.

Deuteronomy 28:1 “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:”
It seems the man in Psalm 73 had forgotten this promise and provision of the Lord, and instead of the nations of the earth being envious of him, he was the one envying them. God promised that if we keep His commandments, He will set us high above all the nations of the earth.
vs 2. “And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God”.

i. DESIRE
You need to desire all the good things which God has provided. When things are not going right with you, don’t say you are alright, you accept your situation and when you get to heaven, you will be alright. If you keep depending on well-meaning brethren who are helping you to pay your rent and children’s school fees and you are okay with that, nothing else and better will happen in your life.

ii. ENQUIRE
You need to enquire: What are the laws of prosperity? What are the promises the Lord has given to His children? How can you come into the flow of the success and prosperity which He has provided for you?

iii. ACQUIRE
You need to acquire the necessary skills. In the world in which we are in today, you need to know how to use the computer to get information from the internet. Students these days are not like the students of twenty years ago who can only get information from the library books. But on the internet, every information is available on every subject, to learn and to teach. If you don’t acquire the skills of how things are done in this modern life, you will be left behind. What I am saying is that the promises of God are there, but you will not be looking at unbelievers while they make use of all these provision and prospering in every aspect of life, while you are there, satisfied with nothing. You must desire to be the head, and not the tail.

iv. ADMIRE
If you are able to have a personal car, build a house, pay your children’s school fees every time, put food on the table, won’t it be good? It is important that you desire such from the heart because the one who is lagging behind, not doing, producing or achieving anything is also from the heart. You set a goal and admire yourself prospering, succeeding in it and helping others.

v. REQUIRE
It is going to take some effort but you have to speak to yourself to get up in the morning and get started in all the things you have to do. You will require of yourself to do the right thing. If you finish primary and secondary school, nobody is going to run after you, if you are in the university and you don’t go to class, no one will penalize you. It is your choice. If you get to higher institution and you join bad gangs, no lecturer will shout on or scold you.

It is you who will decide to be a policeman after yourself and wake up and go out to do something. If you finish university education, and you decide to sleep till 10am in the morning, no one will say anything to you, it is your choice and pattern of life. You are the one who will require of yourself to get the blessing which God has provided. You will require to leave the back of the queue and move to the front.

vi. PERSPIRE
You are now ready to work and perspire. In the sweat of your face you will eat. Therefore, you are not afraid of your sweat, of getting tired or going out in the morning to work and perspire on the field. Task your brain! If you leave it for too long without tasking it, it will grow dull, dormant, and dead. Look at my right arm which is healthy now, if I hang it with a bandage and refuse to bring it out for three months, by the time I remove the bandage, and stretch it, it will not be straight because it has become used to that dormant and useless position. This applies to your brain. Put it to work, task it. Perspire.

vii. INSPIRE
When people look at you as a goal-getter, a visionary, you are up and running spiritually, materially, professionally, you are up. In every area of your life, no bone in your body is weak or dead, and your life is what it ought to be, your life will inspire other people to aspire and make it.

Deuteronomy 28:8 “The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee”.

You must set your hand on something to do (vs 12) The Lord shall open unto you His good treasure and to bless all the work of your hand. The believer must have the work he or she does. Even if it is small, or not what you are expecting, start there, even as a graduate. The Lord will bless all the works of your hands and you will lend to many nations, and not borrow in Jesus name.

Job 22:22. God created the earth and gave laws for it to run. This is why the earth rotates and you have day and night, that is how you have many days, weeks and months of the year, January and the other months regularly, the different seasons (dry and rainy) regularly in their successions. To sow and reap, He has given the law. He has given us the brain to regulate the way our brains, eyes, ears, and hands operate. When you buy a car and you don’t bother to read the manual, you will not be able to operate the car well. In no time, you will wear the car out.

As for our bodies, God has given us laws on how to use it: the time to sleep, rest, walk, concentrate on how to make progress. If you don’t mark and apply the laws, you will wonder why unbelievers prosper and you don’t. From now on, things will change in your life. You will work and He will prosper you.
vs 27-28. You will make your prayers to God and He will hear you. There are people who go through life saying they are alright when things are not okay with them. Things are not okay with you. Why don’t you decree good, why not set a target, a goal, have a destination and time limit for yourself? Just leaving it open will be too loose. Be determined and because you are a believer, whatever you ask, the Lord will give you. Whatever you decree shall come to pass.

Psalm 37:3. Trust in the Lord and do good, don’t say your brain will not work. God created you as a masterpiece, trust in Him. You will be established and no one will shift you away from the land and your position in Jesus name. No one will unseat, destroy you or the provision which God has made for you in Jesus name. You will dwell in the land and you will be fed. You will not die of hunger, famine, verily, surely, and definitely, you will be fed.
vs 4. Do you have any desire? Some people don’t have desires, they only want to get to heaven, they are only expecting the coming of the Lord, so they see no need to go to school, have a profession, look for job, marry and have children. Yes, the Lord is coming but He has not given us the date! He might come in ten or thirty years time, we don’t know. But you have to desire so that while you are waiting for the coming of the Lord, you put your hands to work so that you can be a symbol of progress to others around you, and your family and unbelievers around you can come to the Lord and the kingdom through you.
vs 5. Commit your ways to God, and He will bring your desires to pass. You will have everything the Lord has provided for you.

John 10:10. Though the thief came and stole, God is restoring to you all in Jesus name. The thief came to kill, but the Lord is rebuking the spirit of death in your life. The thief came to destroy, but God has regenerated, reformed and restored everything, and has given you a better and abundant life.

Romans 8:32. God did not spare, but delivered Jesus for us all, so, He will freely give us all things. There is a fulfillment of all promises in your life in Jesus name.

B. BUILDING IN OBSCURITY WHILE LABOURING FOR PERISHABLE PROSPERITY. Psalms 37:7-9

There are unbelievers who understand the law of prosperity and the law works for everyone. For example, every object thrown up by anyone will come down, whether he is a Christian or an unbeliever. If a wicked man throws up something, it will come down, not because of his wickedness but because of the law of gravity. If you know how to fly an aeroplane, and you get to the cockpit, and apply the laws of aviation, you will fly the aircraft, not because you are born again, but because you did the right thing. If you acquire acres of land, and sow appropriately and at the right season, the seed will grow well and you will have a bumper harvest and you will sell and be prosperous, not because you are born again but because you followed the law of sowing and reaping.

The unbelievers know and follow the laws of having vision, taking risks, working hard, and having a destination. They wake up early in the morning and pursue these and it works for them, and they are prosperous, but unfortunately, it is a perishable prosperity. As for you, you will prosper and in your prosperity, you will not abandon God but serve Him and do good more all the days of your life.

We cannot blame the people of the world because you have not told them about a better or a higher life, all they know is what they see because to them, seeing is believing and this is what they run after. Unfortunately for them, the perishable prosperity is all they see and have. By the way, Old Testament believers are different from New Testament believers.

Psalm 37:7. Fret not, if an unbeliever can prosper without prayer, grace, without being led and guided by the spirit, you can do more with all these available for you. So, you are not envying unbelievers because you are at a higher level. Whatever they get, you can get more (vs 8). Some people always envy others and are angry whenever they see them prosperous (vs 9) Old Testament says evil doers shall be cut off. Don’t say Amen because we don’t want them to be cut off, but to repent, glorify, honour God and enjoy all the good things He has provided. Remember, God made the sun to shine upon the good and the bad, and His rains fall upon the just and the unjust.

They that wait upon the Lord shall inherit the earth. Don’t depend on praying alone, and not be able to do practical things that bring prosperity, look for ways to balance things properly. If you wait in the right way, you will inherit the earth. You will be able to inherit all the provision of the Lord. You will keep on serving the Lord, you will be healthy, you will be happy, holy and righteous, your life will be fulfilling in Jesus name.

C. BEGINNING WITH THE OPPORTUNITIES ON THE LADDER OF PREFERABLE PROSPERITY
(III John 2; Job 8:6-7; II Chronicles 15:7; Psalm 104:23-24; Ecclesiastes 9:10; Romans 12:11; Psalm 1:1-3; 112:1-9)

You cannot get rich in one day. It is like a ladder which you start climbing from the base. You don’t jump to the end of the ladder, that will break your bones and smash your head on the ground. Gradually, as you put your feet step by step on the ladder, opportunities will open for you. Doors will open before you and you will go through one day at a time, without being lazy, indolent and faithless, when you ought to be working, one day, one step, one activity, earning, saving, spending and living reasonably, the preferable prosperity will be yours in Jesus name.

Preferable prosperity. What kind of prosperity is that? (III John 2) “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth”. That is all-round prosperity which is possible for every believer. If you are saved and sanctified, Holy and righteous, prospering financially does not stop spiritual prosperity. It is the desire of God that you prosper in health, what is the use of prosperity without good health? But as for you, your soul will prosper, your body will remain well, healthy and active. You will also have material prosperity and all the good things of life that will make life enjoyable and happy for you.

How does this happen? You will begin with possibilities on the ladder of success and prosperity. To climb a ladder, you are not in a hurry, you start from the lowest rung. Then you move on as opportunities open, then you climb higher as open doors come, you hold the ladder firmly as you move up until you get to the top. From there, looking down at the scarcity, poverty, sorrow and sickness of the past, you will be happy because they will not climb with you on the ladder.

Job 8:6-7

• 6 If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.
• 7 Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.

Even if your your beginning was small, don’t despise it, make do with it. Don’t compare yourself with the person who has been on it for the past 20 years, start small and you will grow big.

II Chronicles 15:7. Don’t be looking back and grumbling about your situation, do all you are doing seriously and don’t let your hands be weak. Your work shall be rewarded.

Psalm 104:23. As you have something to do, make sure that you are dutiful, no one is going to come to your door to wake you up, you are the one who will make up your mind that as you are climbing the ladder of prosperity, you will go to work on time and labour till closing time.
vs 24. The Lord will give you a portion of His riches as you work hard everyday in Jesus name.

Ecclesiastes 9:10. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest”.
Whatever you find to do, don’t say you don’t like it, develop a likeness for it, appreciate the fact that God has given you something to do. Even if you are sweeping the ground, typing, in research work, whatever it is in any area of work, do it willingly and better than anyone else can do it, do it with your might, skill, with all understanding you have. There is no work in the grave after life on earth. Between now and when you breathe your last, or when our Lord will come, get excited, joyful and happy, and the Lord will help you climb on the ladder of success and progress in Jesus name.

Romans 12:11. The business and work you have at hand, don’t sleep or doze on it, come to it with all your might, your brain, vision, light, focus and concentration. Don’t do it lackadaisically, don’t say, if they like, “let them fire me”. Are you asking to be fired? Get to the work and be your very best. Before you got there, unbelievers were there and have done same or similar work, producing results and making it, the business is moving for them, and they are getting awards and recognition. As a believer on the same work, don’t be slothful. Make your doing the work an expression of serving the Lord. He will prosper you in Jesus name.

Psalm 1:1-3