There is no Christian who is beyond being tempted into sinning against God by the Devil. But at the same time all the sins, of anyone born of the Spirit of God, had been washed away by the blood of Christ Jesus. A Christian may still be prone to face the challenges of temptation, like every other human being on earth; but just because the temptation comes doesn’t means that, you will need to accept it.
Even if you’d fallen into it already; you can still get back into fellowship and communion with the Father (see 1 John 1:8&9). This is a very important key in laying hold on to your prosperity, without ever allowing sin or failure to push you back away from it.
The scripture says:
“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”
Romans 6:22 NIV
God desires for you to enjoy prosperity in holy living. Prosperity is part of the benefit, that belongs to you as a child of God. And as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, the fruit of prosperity coming out of your life should always be in holiness. It should be revealing God to the world around you, as being Holy.
Being holy has nothing to do with your ability to follow some religious ordinances. You can’t codify holiness, as certain religious bigots will want you to believe. It is the word of God that “holifies” you or makes you holy (1 Peter 1:15-16).
Paul once told the Colossians:
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Colossians 3:16 NKJV
And again to the Ephesians he wrote:
“So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word,”
Ephesians 5:26 AMPC
In other words Apostle Paul is saying here that; “let the word of God (or of Christ) holify you”. Another religious word for holiness is sanctification. To be sanctified literally means to be holy. But it is actually when you are allowing the word of God to dwell richly in your spirit, soul and body; that God’s word will make you holy or “holify” you. Therefore the “washing of the Word” takes place, as it is being allowed to dwell richly in your spirit, soul and body.
God’s word that dwells richly in your body, will heal your body. It will saturate your spirit, soul and body; to the extent that you will stop feeling the pain. Or in some cases the presence of the symptoms in your body, just stops bordering you. You will begin to know that, what is seen at that moment is about to disappear.
That’s how the word of God that dwells richly in you, can holify or make you whole. God’s word will not only make you holy; but His word also becomes the medicine, for healing your physical body (Proverbs 4:20-22).
When your thoughts begins to fall in line with the word of God; then your life will start bringing forth Christ’s righteousness. If you are thinking about your troubles all the time, then you will surely remain in your status quo. Nothing will change in your Christian life with negative thoughts. Negative thinking makes you not different from others in the world around you. It will make your faith inactive. But God’s word will give you the thoughts of God.
You can’t choose to be blessed, and still be entertaining the thoughts of poverty in your mind. That’s what certain Christians are doing. And they wonder why the promises of prosperity are not being fulfilled in their lives?
Moses once said:
“No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.”
Deuteronomy 30:14 NIV
It is of no good to just have God’s word in the heart, without speaking it out of the mouth. It has to be confessed before it can start bearing fruit. It is the word of God which makes you holy, that will also prosper you.
Meditating on God’s word therefore will always provoke the thoughts of God, in your mind and in your heart. The word that’s in your heart will always come out of your mouth, to manifest either poverty or the prosperity of the Lord. It is that word which will either bring you the blessing or the curse.
When your thoughts are right, and in agreement with the promises of God for your life, then your faith will become right also. You will then be able to trust God more, not just based on what that word says alone; but based on the truth which is in the word, from your heart that has set you free.
A free heart in Christ Jesus will always be focused on the truth that brought that freedom. It is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus that brings real freedom:
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
2 Corinthians 3:17 NIV
That’s why your mind must constantly be renewed with the word of God. The constant renewal of your mind helps you to stand strong in freedom, so as not to give room to the Devil in working against you (Ephesians 4:27). A Christian who is constantly renewing his mind with God’s word, is the greatest nightmare of the Devil.
But the greatest hindrance to the ability of the believer to renew his mind, is the power of the curse, which sin has embedded in him. Sin is any act of disobedience to God’s written word. But if sin is removed out of the life of a believer; the only thing left in him is the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And as his righteousness shines brighter and brighter, so does his prosperity also.
Jesus said:
“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Matthew 13:43 NIV
It is the revelational light of the truth that sets you free, as you are meditating on God’s word; which will always keep you shining brighter and brighter in your prosperity.
Stop the perpetuation of the sin culture for the blessing
The scriptures tells us that the curse came upon Cain (for example); as he allowed his unrepented sin to make him loose the presence of God. When he lost the presence of God, Cain became spiritually dead, just like his parents (Adam and Eve) were spiritually dead before him.
The scripture said of him:
“Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and dwelt in the land of Nod on the east of Eden.”
Genesis 4:16 NKJV
Sin caused Cain to loose the presence of the Lord eternally, just as his parents were driven away from God’s presence in the garden of Eden. The sin of Cain marked him out as being cursed. His unrepentant heart after being confronted by God, for killing Abel (his brother) brought this upon him. Whenever a sinner rejects God’s offer of redemption for his sin; that sinner dies spiritually, through the absence of God’s presence in his life (Romans 3:23).
Satan tormented Cain, as he began roaming about the land of Nod; (or the land of wandering in Hebrew), until he eventually died physically. When Adam and Eve (his parents) sinned at Eden, they put him and the other descendants after them under a generational curse, which brought them spiritual death.
The Bible says after they’d sinned:
“And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”
Genesis 3:8 NKJV
When Adam and Eve heard God after sinning against Him, their first reaction was to run into hiding. Believers in Christ Jesus do not normally run into hiding, away from God when they hear His voice. Believers in Christ will always run towards God, when He speaks to them. It’s just like a child who will never run into hiding away from his loving earthly father. A child runs towards the father always, because he knows that he is secured and loved by him.
It was the presence and consciousness of sin in the lives of Adam and Eve, that prompted them to run away from God’s presence. And there are many people today, who are running away from God, because of the presence of sin in their lives. Like Cain they just keep on wandering away from God, even as they hear His voice warning them to flee from evil. The result of sin is the curse, and eventually spiritual death.
Spiritual death came upon Adam and Eve, as they began hiding away from the presence of God. When people do try to hide their sins in the presence of God, by refusing to acknowledge it and repent of it, when they hear the Word being preached or as they are reading or studying it; then they are setting themselves up for the curse.
The pattern of sin and death continued after Adam and Eve, and it gave birth to a generational sin culture upon their children and the descendants after them, even though God’s Spirit longed after them all.
The bible says:
“Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Genesis 6:5 NKJV
Your faith can turn the curse into the blessing
Cain later had a son (Enoch), who was able to temporarily break the circle of generational curse from Adam and Eve, and passed on the blessing to his children up to Noah (Genesis 4:17 and 5:21-32).
The Bible says of him:
“By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Hebrews 11:5-6 NIV
Enoch broke the ancestral curse by living before God with his faith. He was a diligent seeker of God. His life was so pleasing to God, that one day God just decided to take him out of the earth, to be with Him forever in Heaven. He became so faithful before God to the extent, that he actually evaded both spiritual and physical death, for the eternal blessing of the Lord.
When you are allowing God’s word to sanctify you, or to make you holy; then your heart will be set on fire for God. You can live on earth as Enoch did. God’s word was the source of his life. God’s word was what gave him the faith that pleases God. The Bible had not been written at the time of Enoch; but he was able to hear God’s voice (word) speaking into his heart. That was how he learnt to develop his faith, based on what he received in his heart from God. He later talked about what God told him with his children.
The heritage of God’s word was what Enoch also gave to his son (Methuselah), before God took him up to the skies alive. Methuselah remains the only man that, has ever lived longest on earth till now. God’s word gave him also long life.
The scriptures says of him:
“Altogether, Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.”
Genesis 5:27 NIV
The only man that ever lived longest on earth, lived close to a thousand years. And if you had ever have the time to study about the life of Methuselah by numerous Jewish writers, you will discover how God’s word became his greatest weapon in spiritual warfare. He never lost any war. He was the greatest spiritual and physical warrior of his time on earth. He often fought sicknesses and demons with the “holy words” from his mouth. Methuselah eventually died a natural death. He was not only the greatest warrior. He also became the richest man of his world. The sword that helped Methuselah, was the word from the mouth of God into his heart.
It is important to note that the heritage of prosperity, was passed down from him to (Noah) his grandson. Methuselah taught his children and grand children how to hear God’s word and obey Him. If God’s word prospered Methuselah, God’s word will also prosper you.
A change at heart will bring you a change in destiny
As we can see from the examples above, spiritual death is an element of the curse. When a human being is void of the presence of the living God, he is spiritually dead. He may be walking about looking for a way, to get rid of the curse in his own ways. Often a times such a man takes to the ways of his world, which are physically tangible to him, due to the consciousness of sin in him.
Instead of turning away from sin in repentance, such a man may choose to go into rehabilitation. There is no rehabilitation program that can ever take away sin. Cleansing by the blood of Jesus is the only solution for the remission of sin. God has offered all of mankind complete remission of sins by the blood of Christ Jesus. It is always available to every sinner on earth today.
When the unsaved world’s rehab programs does not help a man, in getting rid of his sins, he will then try something else. He may start taking to more alcohol, narcotic drugs, or get himself involved in other worldly activities; to try and fill up the void in his life.
These are what he will do, as a result of the curse of sin in his life. A run away sinner will refuse to turn to Christ, because he thinks Christianity is too dogmatic for him. His situation then begins to deteriorate, until Satan finally afflicts him with physical death.
Deaths (spiritual and physical) are both elements of the curse, and they originate from the Devil, as a direct consequence of sin in man. But a born again Christian does not really dies. He just translates from the life in his physical body, to live eternally with God out of the body (1 Corinthians 15:51).
Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians that:
“The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I Corinthians 15:56-57 NKJV
The consequence of sin is death; but the result of living a spiritual life in Christ Jesus, is to be blessed in this world and eternally with Him. A man who is determined to change his sinful way of life, will find Jesus waiting for him.
He said:
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.””
Revelation 3:20-22 NIV
Jesus is waiting on you now, to open the door of your heart, for him to come and “eat” with you. To eat with Christ Jesus here means to have fellowship and communion with Him.
You can never experience true prosperity with God, without Christ in your life. It is the first step of faith, that will position you for the blessing of God. Are you willing to give Jesus a chance to bring a change into your life? Please, click on this link to be directed to our website, in knowing more about how Jesus can help you.
And remember that:
“Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.””
II Timothy 2:19 NKJV
Amen!
