Contributor: Isekhua Evborokhai

Introduction
Last week we considered two important assurances God gave us in relation to our wealth. It was that our wealth was hinged on our covenant with Him and His favour to us! We learnt that our God is the One who promised to make us not only rich but extremely rich as we see in Ezekiel 16:7 “I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments.” Our wealth is a confirmation of the covenant God made with our ancestors and He is a God who honours His covenants. (Psalm 89:34). We also learnt what the Bible teaches about handling wealth and the terms and conditions for the biblical rich. In today’s study we will be considering the topic: “The Heart of Prosperity”.

A. Biblical Definitions of True Prosperity.
The most common Hebrew word for "prosper" is tsalach (tsaw-lakh') it means "to advance, make progress, succeed, be profitable. To bring to successful issue; to experience prosperity."

Prosperity is a blessing from the Lord when people follow his ways.
• Psalm 1:3[KJV] “and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
• Joshua 1:8 [KJV] “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”
• Prov.10:22 [KJV] “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” 
• Prov. 8:21[KJV] “Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver. I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment: That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures
• 3 John 2-3 [KJV]. “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.
The Greek word "prosper" in 3 John 1:3 is euodoo (yoo-od-o'-o) which means "to have a successful journey through life.” The Hebrew word shalom (shaw-lome') can be translated "prosperous" also (as we see in Zech. 8:12); which means "completeness, safety, health, soundness, and contentment."]
Another Hebrew word for "prosper" is sakal (saw-kal') [same word for "success"] which means "to be prudent, to consider, be circumspect.” See 1 Kings 2:3. In other words, to be cautious and good stewards of what God gives us. (1 Timothy 6:17-18)

B. True Prosperity as defined by Kenneth Copeland
1. True prosperity is the ability to use the power of God to meet the needs of mankind in every realm of life—spirit, soul, body, financially, socially.
2. True prosperity is when you make it your need to get salvation into the hands of people and when you make it your purpose to feed the gospel to the unsaved.
3. True prosperity is the ability to look a man in the eye in his moment of impossibility and take his needs on as your own.
4. True prosperity is walking with God to be able and equipped to do for others whatever He needs done, whenever He needs it done and with whatever He requires.
5. True prosperity is not for keeping your bills paid and your body well just so you can lie around and watch TV in comfort. God is not prospering us to get us out of debt so we can get into bigger debt. He is not prospering us so we can buy and buy and buy. He is prospering us so we can give and give and give.
Having defined prosperity, we will look at the “heart” of prosperity. “Heart” referred to here, implies the core - the part of something that is central to or the reason of its existence.

C. Giving Is at the Very Heart of Prosperity
Our Motivation (reason) for accumulation of wealth should be for distribution. It’s not for our selfish purposes. 1 Timothy 6:17-18 (LB) confirms this: “Tell those who are rich not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone, but their pride and trust should be in the living God who always richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and should give happily to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them.” Emphasis mine
Proverbs 11:24 says: “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.

We are God’s stewards on earth with the responsibility to distribute His wealth.
a) Genesis 12:2 (AMP): “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you [with abundant increase of favours] and make your name famous and distinguished, and you will be a blessing [dispensing good to others].”
b) Zechariah 8:13 (NLT): “…I will rescue you and will make you both a symbol and a source of blessing.”
c) Galatians 6:10: “Let us practice generosity to all while the opportunity is ours, and above all, to those who are one family with us in the household of faith.”
d) 1 Corinthians 10:24: “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth.”
e) Philippians 2:4: “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”
f) 2 Corinthians 9:6 - 11 (NIV): Emphasis on verse 11: “[As a result of your giving] you will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” Emphasis added.

Conclusion
We are a source of God’s blessings to the world. The prosperity He sends our way is not for us only but for others as well. Zechariah 8:13 (NLT) says: “…I will rescue you and will make you both a symbol and a source of blessing.” We have been prospered to be a source of blessing to others. We are God’s stewards on earth with the responsibility to distribute His wealth so we should seek ways to empower others to be rich as well and not be selfish. The very heart of prosperity is giving! So let’s give happily to those in need, and be always ready to share with others whatever God has given us!
 

Contributor: Isekhua Evborokhai

INTRODUCTION

Last week we considered Supernatural Provision, Increase and Multiplication. We learnt that this unlimited, overwhelming supply, increase or multiplication comes from above as we see in James 1:17. We also learnt that God has unusual ways and unlimited avenues of provision that supersede all natural limitations and that it is faith that gives access to the supernatural.
Today we will be looking at two important assurances God has given us in relation to our wealth: Our Covenant of Wealth & God’s Favour and Wealth. God has made a covenant with us to be wealthy and it is by His favour!

1. OUR COVENANT OF WEALTH
The wealth we have is the fulfilment of a covenant God confirmed to our ancestors by oath! This means it is bilateral – both parties must be active. That is why Deuteronomy 8:18 (NLT) says: “Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfil the covenant He confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.”
(a) Prosperity is a sign of our covenant with God. Deuteronomy 8:18
(b) Zechariah 8:13 (NLT): “…I will rescue you and will make you both a symbol and a source of blessing.”
(c) Genesis 17:1-8: God covenanted with Abraham to make him rich.
(d) Galatians 3:13-14, 29 “. . . we are heirs of the covenant . . . And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

2 Chronicles 16:9 says: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.”
What can we learn from this verse of scripture?
(a) The phrase “Show Himself strong” (HEB) means the following: to bestow, to grant, to extend His covenant wealth
(b) Our covenant with God is His total commitment to support, defend, protect and provide.
(c) God’s consuming passion and determination is to locate His covenant people and bless them.
(d) It is an undying covenant devotion that propels Him to extend Himself to us with everything He is and with everything He has.
(e) It is a covenant love that won’t give up or quit until the extension of that love is satisfied. In 2 Samuel 9:1-3: David was consumed with locating an heir of Jonathan to bestow covenant wealth upon. The eyes of David ran to and fro throughout the whole earth searching for an heir of his covenant brother to lavish covenant wealth upon. How much more is God searching for us!

(a) “Covenant of Wealth” Scriptures
1. Deuteronomy 28:2: “And all these [covenant] blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee….”
2. Deuteronomy 28:11: “And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods….”
3. Ecclesiastes 5:19 (NLT): “And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it.”
4. Genesis 15:1: “Fear not Abram: I am your shield and your exceeding great reward.”
5. Hebrews 10:35: “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.”
6. Psalm 68:19: “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits.”
7. Psalm 103:2 (AMP): “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not one of all His (covenant) benefits.”

(b) The Windows or Floodgates of Heaven
Malachi 3:10 says: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
Let’s picture the impact of opening the windows of heaven (or the floodgates of heaven). Read Genesis 7:11-12, 17-20 and replace the word waters with The Blessing (abundant, liberal, excessive prosperity)
We can believe for a constant, steady, nonstop outpouring of God’s abundant, liberal, and excessive prosperity.

(c) Showers of Blessing
Ezekiel 34:25-27 says: “I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord.”
We have mostly limited our definition of the word shower to a brief and usually light fall of rain, hail, sleet, or snow but there’s another definition of the word shower that this verse of scripture refers to:
“To give someone a great number of (things).”
Here are a few synonyms of this “shower”: deluge, flood, inundate, swamp, submerge, engulf, bury; overwhelm, saturate, overload. So when God says He will cause the shower to come down  . . . and that there shall be showers of blessing our expectations should be that of a deluge of, a flood of, inundated with, swamped by, submerged in, engulfed by, buried in; overwhelmed with, saturated with, and overloaded with blessings!

(d) Covenant Tokens
Every covenant usually has a token. Tithing is one of the covenant tokens of wealth. So, when we tithe, we should be expecting a non-stop downpour and torrent of abundant, liberal, excessive prosperity and provision coming down violently in thick succession from the floodgates of heaven! Just like “Noah’s flood”!
The Effects of Tithing
• The tithe protects our money.
• Tithing places us under warranty.
• Tithing extends our warranty.
• Tithing places us in “flood stage.” “Not a trickle, not a stream, not a river but a flood.” —Oral Roberts

2. GOD’S FAVOUR AND WEALTH
Favour is a word that holds very similar meaning to grace—God’s kindness and help extended toward us. This includes promotion, restoration, honour, victory, recognition, preferential treatment and supernatural increase in assets and real estate.
• It is God personally acting on your behalf doing for you whatever it takes for you to prosper, thrive, flourish and be the success you were created to be. (Psalm 84:11, Psalm 44:3)
• It will cause people to go out of their way to bless you, provide for you, help you, assist you and make special concessions just for you. (Exodus 3:21)
• It will make a way where there is no way, open doors where there are no doors, provide where there is no provision and do the impossible in the midst of the most impossible situations. (Genesis 39:1-6)
• The favour of God surrounds us. (Psalm 5:12)
• The favour of God is among us. (Proverbs 14:9)
• The favour of God rests upon us. (Luke 2:14)
• God blesses us with an abundant increase of His favours. (Genesis 12:2)

The Blessing of the Lord Makes Rich
It is God’s blessings that makes one rich as we see in Proverbs 10:22—“The Blessing of the Lord, It Makes Rich, and He Adds No Sorrow with It”
We find this confirmation in Psalm 112:1; which says the man that fears God is blessed; in verse 3: “Wealth and riches shall be in his house”. And in vs 7: “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.”

Handling Riches
2 Corinthians 8:9 (NLT): “You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.”
1 Timothy 6:17-18 spells out the terms and conditions for the biblical rich.
(a) Don’t be high-minded.
(b) Don’t trust in riches, but in the living God.
(c) Do good and be rich in good works.
(d) Be ready to distribute, willing to give.

CONCLUSION
Our God is the One who promised to make us not only rich but extremely rich! Ezekiel 16:7 says: “I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments….” Proverbs 8:18 (AMP) says: “Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness (right standing with God). His promise is enduring wealth – not the one that takes up wings and fly! (Proverbs 23:5). And Proverbs 8:21 says: “That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth and true riches, and that I may fill their treasuries.”
Finally, Deuteronomy 8:18 (NLT) admonishes us to: “Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed with your ancestors with an oath.” Our wealth is a confirmation of the covenant God made with our ancestors and He is a God who honours His covenants. (Psalm 89:34)

Contributor: Alex Alajiki

INTRODUCTION:
Last two weeks, we considered the topic “Flourishing in the Household of Faith & Supernatural Wealth Transfer”. We were reminded that it is God’s desire, as a matter of fact, He’s always programmed into the “design specification” of Man, the power and ability to flourish. There is no doubt that it is God’s eternal plan for us to walk in absolute wealth for the main purpose of propagating His Kingdom.

Today we are looking at Supernatural Provision, Increase and Multiplication. Let us look at this word from the Lord through Kenneth Copeland.

“I have a great storehouse. Much more has been stored up in the storehouse of riches beyond your wildest dream that I laid up for you before the foundation of the world. Much more is stored up there than what the Church has ever called for. I never have held back on the Church,” saith The LORD and the God of plenty. “I’ve made it available to you. I put it in My WORD. I gave you promise and stood behind it with the blood—the precious blood of your Saviour.
“But there has been a backwardness in My people about laying hold of the things that I have provided for you.
“But I will say this: There is a people in the land. There is a people around the world. There is a people strong and mighty growing much stronger and much mightier and more bold to lay hold and put their claim of faith on the things that I have laid up for them and it thrills Me,” saith The LORD, “because it’s been theirs all the time.” By Kenneth Copeland Nov.10, 2011

1) What is “Super-natural”?

A) Super: - above, over, beyond, higher, surpassing; outside the natural realm.
B) Natural: - lower, below, limited to the earthly realm; conforming to the ordinary course of nature; something deduced by human reason alone rather than by divine revelation or inspiration.
C) Supernatural: - something that takes place outside the natural world; above, over, higher and beyond the ordinary course of nature. It is purely divine.

Supernatural Provision, increase and multiplication: - an unlimited, overwhelming supply, increase or multiplication that comes from above. James 1:17 (AMP): “Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light.”

 God has unusual ways and unlimited avenues of provision that supersede all natural limitations and faith gives access to the supernatural.

People try to increase themselves through toiling. There is a supernatural increase and a supernatural multiplication that we ought to operate in, in the Kingdom of God system. So, we are looking at the above and beyond the natural course of this world.

“Rejoice and renew your faith in the supernatural. For it is time for the words and the faith and the preaching that has gone on before us to come to pass and come to full maturity. We will stand up and say, ‘Surely the Glory has come down.” —Word from the Lord through Kenneth Copeland, Dec. 24, 2005

• If you are blessed with €10m today, what will you do with it?

“If you put things off in time and are looking through the natural progression of time, you can’t operate in the supernatural. The supernatural only operates by faith and faith is a higher law than time.”  By Bill Winston, the Supernatural Church.

2) Supernatural Provision; 1Kings 17:1-6, John 17:24-26

“After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?”  “From others,” Peter answered.

“Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. 27 “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”

3) Supernatural Increase; Psalm 115:12-16, Leviticus 26:4

“The Lord hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great. The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children. Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.”

“Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.”

We are not limited to or affected by the natural realm. Supernatural provision, increase and multiplication will un-fix a fixed income. The Lord will supernaturally provide in ways we have never considered.

4) Supernatural Multiplication; John 6:1-13, Leviticus 26:9 (AMP)

“For I will be leaning toward you with favour and regard for you, rendering you fruitful, multiplying you, and establishing and ratifying My covenant with you.”

“Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]—To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen (so be it).” Ep.3:20

• What is the difference between Increase and Multiplication?

5) Steps to Supernatural Provision, Increase and Multiplication

Our God has unlimited avenues and unusual ways of providing that extend beyond our natural limitations.

1) Our God is our source and only source; Gen.22:1-14: Jehovah Jireh—the Lord will provide

2) Be conscious of God’s blessing upon your life and all that is connected to you. Deu.28:8, 11-12

3) Be ready to obey the word and voice of God irrespective of the circumstances. John 2:5

Conclusion.
Philippians 4:19 (AMP/Greek paraphrase): My God will liberally supply, fill to the full, cram, furnish, satisfy, finish and complete all of your needs, employment, requirements, lack and business according to His riches, His wealth, His money and His possessions in glory by Christ Jesus.

Most parts of this outline are culled from the Book “40 DAYS OF PROSPERITY” by Pastor George Pearsons.