God wants His glory to shine and flow through you. It is your ability to prosper in the blessing of the Lord, that is the manifestation of God’s glory in your life. As the Apostle Paul puts it; “Christ in you is the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
The glory of God is in the life of every believer in Christ Jesus. But unfortunately many are not glorifying God on a daily basis in their lives. This is why the power of God to prosper is clogged up in their lives. They will rather complain about the troubles and trials of their lives, instead of glorifying God by rejoicing in them.
These people however do not realize that, by complaining about their troubles and trials, they are empowering the enemy to work against them. This is what gives glory to the enemy in their lives, instead of them being joyful in the Lord, so as to give the glory to God.
When you are rejoicing in the face of troubles and trials, you are actually giving glory to God (James 1:2-4). God has done many things before in your life, this is why you give Him the glory.
When a Christian grumbles and fusses about the trials of his faith; he is empowering the Devil in his life. Being able to express gratitude and thanksgiving to God for the miracles and blessings of yesterday, opens the gates of heaven into your life for more blessing, even in the midst of what you are going through right now.
There are many people of God today, who are just like a clogged up pipe, with all kinds of little bitty dirts; which are preventing the flow of God’s glory through them. Their lack of gratitude to God for the blessings of yesterday, has opened the gates of hell against them. When you are not thankful to God daily, you are actually not giving Him the glory that He deserves in your life.
It is therefore possible to have a sincere love and zeal for the Kingdom’s work; but still lack the resources to do it, because of the lack of gratitude to God for the things, that He had done before in your life. People who are thankful for yesterday, will always receive more. These are the people who are continually blessed. They will receive more from God, because they always remember to say “Thank you” for yesterday’s blessing.
Prosperity is the will of God for you; but if you are not being careful, these little blockages in your life can prevent you from prospering more. They will prevent you from becoming successful, not only in your personal life; but also in the work of the Kingdom of God.
The “little foxes” can hinder your ability to prosper
King Solomon in the Song of Songs painted a picture that highlights this, in the romantic relationship between Christ (The Bridegroom) and His Church (The Bride). In the Song of Songs 2:14-17 we see the Bridegroom (Christ) referring to His Bride (Church) as His dove.
Solomon wrote:
“My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom. My beloved is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies. Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the rugged hills.”
Song of Songs 2:14-17 NIV
This picture of the dove hiding in the clefts of the Rock (which is Christ), is a picture of the people of God hiding away from Christ (their Loved One). They are saved from the world, but the glory of their Lover is not being seen in them.
When you are not expressing thanks to Christ, who you do love on a daily basis; then His glory will become hidden in your life (see Matthew 5:13-16). Such Christians have decided to go into hiding, like the “dove in the clefts of the rock”, due to the problems of their lives which are affecting their romantic relationship with their Lover (Christ).
The dove in this writing of Solomon is the body of Christ, who is arrayed with beauty and elegance, but yet filled with shame. Christ here is expressing a yearning within Him, for His Bride (the Church) to show the beauty within her (the glory of her prosperity), for the unsaved world to see. This is the yearning in Jesus today for the manifestation of the glory, which belongs to the Church.
Christ sees the Church glorious and beautiful always. And irrespective of what Christians may look like to you, they are still the beautiful Bride of Jesus Christ. He has promised to come back again for her. You will never be able to see the beauty in Christians, if you are examining them in the flesh, instead of doing so in the spirit and by the Spirit. The heart desire of Christ is to live eternally together with His Bride (the Church). How eager are you (as a Christian) to be eternally reunited with your Savior in heaven?
In response to the appeal from the Bridegroom (Christ) in the above text, the Bride finally revealed to the groom, the issues that She had been struggling with. These are the things which hinders her, from showing her face to her Beloved. She called them – “the little foxes”. Today the ability of the believer in Christ to be prosperous, are being hindered by these “little foxes”.
It is possible for a Christian to be anointed of God, but still have these little foxes that spoils the vineyards, blocking the flow of God’s glory in his life. Many have lost the glory of God in their lives, because of these things. They once had the anointing of God in their lives, but they had failed to pay particular attention to these little things, which they had been struggling with for a long time.
Solomon once said that:
“Whoever loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich.”
Proverbs 21:17 NIV
These people do love to indulge in the sinful patterns of their flesh. And as a result of this, the lust for the pleasures of their flesh, has eaten deep into their ability to be prosperous, as the children of God. Instead of being prosperous more and more in God’s Kingdom, they are getting poorer and poorer. There is a hungry desire in them for the things of the world, rather than for the things of God’s Kingdom.
Oftentimes the Holy Spirit had been giving them inner nods within their hearts, to deal with these issues in their lives; but they had failed to yield to His voice. It is not everything that the world around you agrees with, that are necessarily acceptable before God as a Christian. Be very watchful and prayerful.
So if the Holy Spirit is leading and guiding you to deal with an issue in your life; you’d better stop doing every other things now, to take care of that particular thing first. If care is not being taken, “the little foxes” in your life will destroy the work of God in you. These things can eventually lead to your self-destruction.
Some of these works of the flesh were listed by Paul in his letter to the Galatians. He wrote to warn them:
“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
Galatians 5:19-21 NIV
There are many great Preachers of the gospel, who had died before their time; because they had failed to pay attention to what the Holy Spirit was telling them to do, in dealing with certain issues of their lives. Therefore so as not to bring shame to the body of Christ, God had to take them home before their times, and prevent the enemy from taking their souls into hell fire with him. There are many in the scriptures who actually died in situations like this. God will never allow the enemy to take the glory in the lives of His people.
The enemy uses the “little foxes” as his weapons of destruction
Foxes are jackals with enormous ability for destructions and ruins. The scriptures mentioned a moment when Samson used them, in destroying the vineyards of the Philistines.
The scriptures says:
“Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.”
Judges 15:3-5 NIV
The Philistines hated Samson so much because of this. They started looking for ways to revenge on him, for what he did with these jackals.
As part of the body of Christ your vineyards are the places, that God has given to you for your prosperity. You are blessed of God. But your ability to prosper more, to increase and to multiply may become hindered, because of these big issues of your life which are confronting you right now.
Note that Jesus said:
“The thief comes but to steal, to kill and to destroy…”
John 10:10a NIV
That has always been the devils’ plan. Your prosperous vineyard can be spoilt by the little foxes in your life. The enemy wants you to procrastinate about, dealing with these works of the flesh in your life. Why do you have to postpone what you can do today until another time? The enemy wants you to postpone doing what God told you to do, because he wants those “little foxes” to destroy, everything that you had ever worked for.
There are also lifestyle habits, which may not be necessarily sinful to you before. But due to the fact that, proper attention had not been given to dealing with them, you have gotten unintentionally addicted to them. These habits may eventually become sinful patterns, if they are preventing your ability to daily give glory to God in your life. You need to be careful in dealing with them now. They can spread so fast, with the potential of destroying, even the very lives of the people that you come in contact with on a daily basis.
Paul addressed issues like these among the believers at Ephesus, when he wrote to them saying:
“So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed…
..You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
Ephesians 4:17-19, 22-32 NIV
These habits among these believers were really getting out of hand, until Paul had to intervene by writing to them, in order to fix the problems within the Church. As a Christian your life does affect the people around you, in ways that you don’t even know. God is the One who is allowing His light, to shine through you in affecting others around you. That’s why you need to be careful, even as you are enjoying the prosperity of the Lord, not to give space to the Devil into those prosperous “vineyards”. You were not called to enjoy prosperity like the unbelievers, but in righteousness you are supposed to be using it to prosper others around you.
God wants you to be rich; but He doesn’t want you to become greedy for money or material things. You brought nothing into this world, and you will surely take nothing out of it. Everything that has been given to you by God on earth, is meant for you to use on the earth in spreading the gospel. When your life becomes a blessing into other believers’ lives, you are helping to increase the Kingdom of God.
A life without shame brings glory and honor to God with your prosperity
Solomon again gave his advice about things like these, when he wrote:
“Dead flies make the oil of the perfumer give off a foul odor; so a little foolishness [in one who is esteemed] outweighs wisdom and honor.”
ECCLESIASTES 10:1 AMP
Will you trade the glory of God in your life for a moment of pleasure with the world? Yet there are many Christians who are doing this today to their own shame. Just as the Bride of Christ in the above quote, from the Song of Songs is ashamed of her beauty; there are people who are ashamed to call themselves Christians, among the unbelievers in the world today. Their testimonies about Christ has become without power, because of these lifestyle habits that are blocking God’s glory in them.
Paul said:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”
Romans 1:16 NIV
Jesus took away your shame. That’s what He sacrificed His life on the cross for. He went into hell with your shame, without any sin of His own; but your sins were laid on Him. And by raising Him from the dead, God took the shames of your life away from you, when you accepted Christ into your life. Christ in doing this became the first man, to be born of the Spirit of God, the Father and without any shame or guilt of sin.
Paul told the Romans:
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Romans 8:1-4 NIV
That’s why you can go boldly before God today, as if you had never sinned before. The joy of salvation flows through your life, because of who you are now in Christ Jesus. You are now without shame. And that’s why you are not condemning yourself, for the dead works in your old life. Christ did a perfect and complete job on your behalf. You carry no more shame again everywhere you go.
Turn it around now
These little foxes can prevent you from experiencing the fullness of Gods’ glory. What are the “little foxes” in your life today? Ask the Holy Spirit to show them to you today. Repent of such things, calling on the name of Jesus to deliver you today.
The scriptures says:
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame…
..for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Romans 10:9-11, 13 NIV
Surely, God can help you, only if you are truly open for Him to help you. You are free in Jesus’ name! Amen! Follow this link to turn the shame in your life for the glory of God today, by saying a short prayer.
I love you.
