Prosperity

And the LORD was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. (Genesis 39:2)

The Bible never seeks to amaze, many times by turning our long-held beliefs and supposations on their head.

How can a slave be prosperous? How is someone owned by somebody else called prosperous?

How does this all tie with what we call prosperity? And how correct are we to associate prosperity with materialism?

Joseph’s prosperity is the actual definition of prosperity because it comes from God’s word.

What is the first interpretation of that?

The first thing we notice is that prosperity in God’s eyes has nothing to do with what one has. Because Joseph had nothing. He did not even own himself.

Prosperity is a state of the heart. It is the product of a healthy relationship with God as we see when we continue reading Joseph’s story.

That is what Potiphar saw to make Joseph head of his household.

It is the same thing the jailor saw to make him overseer in prison because we also see him being called prosperous there.

What am I saying?

Things do not define prosperity, at least the prosperity God’s people should be talking about.

A prisoner has no capacity to be prosperous. Yet Joseph was called prosperous even in prison.

We see the same with Jacob.

And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have found favour in thine eyes, tarry: for I have learned by experience that the LORD hath blessed me for thy sake. (Genesis 30:27)

This man came with a staff as he said. But we see his boss and father-in-law confessing that he owed his wealth to him yet he had things and Jacob had come with nothing.

That is why we see pharaoh coming for a blessing from this refugee; because he saw in him something that his kingdom did not have.

It is the same thing we see with Daniel a refugee eunuch.

In fact, any study of Bible characters will demonstrate that prosperity has very little to do with what someone has.

It is some fruit of prosperity that we confuse with prosperity

Joseph did not become prosperous when he was made prime minister. He was made prime minister because he was prosperous. And he was as prosperous even when he was a slave and prisoner.

It is that prosperity that people saw in him that left them no chance but hand over everything to him. Because bossing over him could have messed with it. Like motivational brokers say, he had an anointing bigger or higher than theirs.

And it was the same with Jacob.

How can someone running away from his brother be prosperous yet he had even left his father’s wealth.

But that is what Laban saw.

Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. (Daniel 6:3)

I hope you understand what I mean.

That excellent spirit is the clearest indication of a prosperous heart, since that is where prosperity springs from.

Laban was scared of letting Jacob go because he was not sure he could manage or sustain the increase Jacob’s prosperous spirit had brought.

That is the same reason Daniel served in three different kingdoms. None of those kingdoms wanted to have him far from the centre of things.

How then should we pursue prosperity?

We simply pursue what these Biblical prosperous pursued; a healthy relationship with God.

Our growth in the spiritual realm is what attracts prosperity to our spirits.

And with Joseph, we see it very clearly when he is offered what most people call the offer of a lifetime, the bosom of his boss’s wife. And you can bet that she was attractive.

How can I sin against God?

He did not live by situational ethics since it is very possible that even Potiphar wouldn’t have minded having the seed of that prosperity in his posterity, only that he couldn’t have blatantly ordered the same. I am sure that is why he did not have him killed or taken to a normal jail.

To Joseph what God said was final, irrespective of the order or consequences.

And we see the same with Daniel.

I am sure there was nothing inherently defiling in the king’s food since most of his other brothers gladly ate it. But Daniel took no chances.

What if? was an enough deterrent for him.

What I am saying is that obedience is the source of prosperity.

And I have quoted a few Biblical examples. Though that is the running thread as we read the Bible.

Guilty Innocence (or is it Innocent Guilt?)

And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. (Genesis 35:4)

Allow me to give a background that you will find in the previous verses.

God instructs Jacob to create a worship event (make an altar), probably as a sign of what He had for him and also to remember where the whole affair started.

It is apparent that Bethel was the place Jacob had his first real encounter with the God of his fathers and so it was very important for his forebears to have that sign.

Jacob then orders his people to prepare for that by getting rid of any foreign gods amongst them since God does not share worship with others.

They of course do that.

But what I find interesting is that they also got rid of the earrings in their ears and both the idols and earrings were trashed.

The easiest question to ask is

What do earrings and idols have in common?

Why did they not bury the clothes yet they also changed them?

I am posing this to myself as I do it to you because the connection is not clear to me.

Incidentally, centuries later, Aaron was asked to make gods when Moses stayed too long on the mountain.

Remember what he requested for? Earrings.

Does the Bible have more to say about earrings and idols?

That is what I want to know.

Any answers out there?

Delayed Obedience, the Cost

Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. (Deuteronomy 1: 21, 22)

I want us to look at something we are wont to do so many times in our Christian lives, something we think is fine with God and especially beneficial to our lives.

Or it is only me who has that cautious response to God’s orders?

Is it only me who wants to first dip my foot into the water to know how cold or deep it is before diving in as per the commandment?

I am normally called radical in my responses to God’s orders and so know that I am many times more responsive to those orders than others yet I know that I am rarely quick to respond.

But let me get us to the message.

Do you know that Israel lost more than time when they decided to gauge the depth of the water before taking the plunge God had ordered.

Forty years was probably the least of the cost they paid for that delay.

Probably the greatest cost was in the loss of a whole generation, yet even that was not as monumental.

Do you realise that the book of Deuteronomy was written as a response to that delay? Do you also realise that the bulk of the book of Numbers was the product of that delay as was the book of Judges? Can you imagine the amount of drama that could have been avoided had Israel just plunged in as commanded?

What am I saying?

The dynamic of delay brings about much unwanted baggage to the persons involved. But it goes farther to affect many others who are in no way connected to that order.

The drama we see in the book of Numbers could never have occurred had Israel not delayed, whatever excuse they had used.

But it goes beyond that.

The consequences of that delay become devastating to more than the guilty parties.

That delay costed Moses the ticket to cross over. It costed whole families, like the families of the ones who were swallowed by the ground. And do not tell me that the fiery serpents bit only the rebellious. Or that only the guilty perished in the plague brought about by the superabundance of meat. Or the Baal Peor debacle.

Even brothers paid dearly for that delay.

Moab and Midian were condemned due to that delay.

Balaam the prophet morphed into a soothsayer as a result of that delay.

Delay in obedience is therefore not just any delay. It is actually akin to rebellion, probably worse than it because it feigns obedience.

It deceives itself that it is cautious because it is pursuing obedience.

But the truth is that it wants the obedience to suit them instead of the issuer of the order.

It is the clearest we see the reality of walking by sight as opposed to walking by faith that the ‘blind’ plunge indicates.

Yet that plunge can never be blind because it indicates faith in the person issuing the order or command.

Delayed obedience is disobedience because it wants to obey on our terms. It transfers God’s order to our order. It translates the order to fit our convenience.

And it does that by seeking to align all the beacons before setting off.

But what is faith?

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the sign that the things not seen are true. (Hebrews 11:1 BBE)

I hope you are getting my drift.

Wanting to have the complete map before setting out on the journey God orders actually means that it is not God you are following. Because, why trust God when you have all things set up?

How can it be faith if I have all the requirements for the journey before starting it? How can it be obedience if the budget for obeying that order is fully supplied? How can it be faith if the task I am taking is fully insured?

Faith is trust; trust in God’s nature.

A child demonstrates faith clearest. Let me give a simple illustration.

A teacher orders a child to come with the parent to school.

The parent tells them to go back to school as he will soon be on his way.

The child does not question whether, when or how sure they are that the parent will come.

They just go. And no harassment from the teacher will be able to make the child doubt the parent’s word.

‘My father said he is coming so he is coming’, is his response whatever doubt is thrown his way.

But delayed obedience plays by different rules because it starts with doubt. It looks for a confirmation before launching into the command. It seeks assurance that the command is worth obeying.

That is what I want us to understand today.

Seek to know God through His word.

Then seek to establish the validity of the command.

Then dive, whether it is to a shallow well or a vast ocean.

Avoid looking for dipsticks to establish the depth of the waterbody you have been ordered to dive into.

The One who has issued the order knows how He will take care of the shallowness or otherwise of that basin.

It is like the military are supposed to be with their commanding officers.

When you are told to march, it is the command to halt that should make you stop, even if you are marching to a solid wall.

Or you have not seen how they fall on parades, especially in those passing out parades. They simply fall like a log because the order for attention has not been cancelled.

Yet we think it is caution when we treat the Lord of lords with less seriousness than that parade commander!

What am I saying?

We really have no option when we have received a command from Christ. It is not a suggestion.

Seeking to establish the logistics and provisions before launching out will cost you big.

The story of Israel could have been very different had they done as Caleb was saying.

Imagine crossing over with God speaking as He had been with Moses! Imagine the people who had witnessed the rescue from Egypt all crossing over! Imagine crossing over with no brother enemies like Edom, Moab and Midian!

The Gibeonites could not have played that ruse to Moses because Moses would always seek God’s take even on very obvious matters.

It is impossible to imagine Israel under Moses fearing to completely destroy the Canaanites for this or the other reason.

I am sure the story of redemption could have unfolded much earlier had Israel taken the plunge without delay.

Judges happened because all the elders died.

That means that the history of God’s dealings prior to Exodus died with them.

The elders remaining were children when the drama occurred, meaning that their memories were hazy for the most part. Their instruction was therefore more of folklore than witness history.

And that happens when we delay obedience all the time, only that it doesn’t always appear that bad, especially immediately.

Think of the times you delayed obedience; when you delayed sharing the Gospel with a neighbour or colleague, when you delayed going for that mission, when you delayed confronting that friend, when you delayed affirming a child, when you delayed calling or visiting someone.

I pray that we may seek God to see some of the consequences of those delays. I know some are evident almost immediately like when delaying the push to share the Gospel to someone then they have an accident shortly after.

Think beyond guilt to the consequences of that delay. Think of the cost of that delay.

Like I have always said, Manasseh could have been avoided had Hezekiah taken the plunge instead of delaying it through his tearful pleas.

Is God telling you something? Is God ordering you to do something, to say something, to run away or avoid something?

Then do not wait. Do it immediately the order becomes clear.

The cost of delay cuts across everything, disastrously.

Will you take the plunge when God commands?

Or must you still do that survey?

 

Scattered Moves of God

The other day I had a very interesting dream.

I was investigating a move of God in the eighties. And the investigation was so complete in the dream that on waking up I realised that some questions I had been having were fully answered.

It is interesting that I was not even thinking of what was disturbing me as a move of God. I had been wondering about two ministers whose commitment to the straight and narrow had waned over the years as their ‘success’ in ministry had soared.

I was able to trace the move beyond those two characters to a whole generation in a particular area of influence which could also be traced to a particular radical young minister from across the globe.

This radical influenced some young people who then crossed the seas to impact their agemates, probably not as radically, but radically all the same.

The good thing is that this radicalisation was in the discipleship context and so was very solid as it changed the whole person.

These young missionaries were connected to a church, which meant that most of those discipled settled in that church. Even the ones who did not move to the church never disconnected from it.

In that church, there were two distinct youth groups; the discipled and the undiscipled, though the age difference was minimal.

And the difference was evident even to a casual observer.

These radicals were mature and responsible and sold out to ministry. The other was all fun and games.

It goes without say that these radicals were given responsibilities and positions in church without reservations. Some were made elders in their twenties, even before becoming husbands.

The church thrived due to that discipleship and passion for ministry.

As the church was blossoming, other churches in the city of course noticed.

They then came for those radicals, one by one, and made them pastors without requiring them to even go to Bible school. And they were all up to task. Some were called to lead Christian NGOs and ministries. Some became pastors outside the country.

The ones who remained were the ones who had already been offered solid positions in the church, some very senior.

What then happened?

The group dispersed.

The ones remaining were less than a handful but they held very senior positions in the church.

They could not disciple much in those big offices since managing the structure became more urgent.

Though the structure is now a mammoth, it has lost its connection to what made it what it is; discipleship and passion for missions and ministry.

Looking at that structure today with that hindsight is painful because it now kills everything that made it what it is.

Where did the rain start beating it?

It scattered its core. It destroyed its nucleus.

In its search to transform the city through sending pastors to many churches, it forgot to maintain a solid base from which other leaders could be produced.

Yet look at what made the first church thrive.

And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. (Acts 8:1)

Whatever happened, the core remained untouched and unmoved.

They were then able to manage the growth.

When a revival breaks out in Samaria, they are able to send Peter and John to verify and validate it.

But not only that.

Many such centres cropped up as the church grew.

Antioch was one such for the outreach to the nations.

They in turn send out Barnabas and Saul who report back after a successful mission.

These are autonomous centres, but not independent ones.

When the gentile church has a conflict with some Jewish leaders, the Antioch centre sends some of their leaders to the source of the whole movement for consultation with the view of establishing some consensus.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee: (Titus 1:5)

It is impossible to manage growth without elders.

And I think God has waited this long to give me this message because he has launched me into the office of the elder as I have written elsewhere.

Elders are the insurance God has provided for any spiritual structure, be it a church or anything else with spiritual roots.

As I was writing this, I remembered something that has disturbed me for long, something I had gotten a completely different diagnoses for even in my writing.

I have written about these radical young men who must have contributed to my passion for missions in my childhood (the seventies).

They had a ministry targeting the unreached frontiers and produced a magazine that I avidly read.

I loved those young people and though I had never seen them in person, I knew them through their articles better than I knew our circuit minister (of the methodist church)

Then I came to Nairobi and was shocked when I started seeing them in person so that my desire to get close to them vanished.

Why?

They had all become pastors and bishops and there was nothing smelling of the unreached in them.

What happened to their passion for the unreached?

I think the same dynamic took over.

Churches love passion, especially young passion.

They were slowly invited to pastor churches due to their commitment to the mission of the same.

And because these young radicals saw this as an opportunity to expand their vision by bringing in organisational strength to their vision, they accepted the challenge.

But the organisation has its own dynamic, inertia and mass.

This means that the passion of an individual does not have the capacity to move the structure in the direction he desires.

He is therefore drawn back instead of pushing the structure in the direction they had probably called him to take them.

So these young radicals get scattered by being absorbed in churches that they could not take with them to the unreached, probably receiving a token of a missions office or something similar so that they remain.

Their nucleus of course was destroyed due to that scattering.

The team will then die because each now has his own pastorate, a pastorate they will not be able to guide to missions in a hundred years because of its inertia.

What then could have been the solution?

Forming a board of elders would for me have been the solution; elders who were not open for taking any positions anywhere else so that the vision is entrusted to them.

These elders could have been the ones in charge of ensuring that the vision is pursued wherever these radicals went.

These elders could have been holding those radicals accountable for pursuing the call they had pledged themselves to.

Those elders could have ensured that the radicals continue having regular meetings to ensure that they were still in pursuit of the passion that had united them.

And with those elders in place, it would have been possible for those radicals to know when they had drifted too far from their vision to consider running away from distractions.

Why am I writing this now yet we are told to stop crying over spilt milk?

The first reason is that God has told me to.

But even more important is that God has not stopped raising radicals for His purpose of reconciling the world to Himself.

I have only written about only two moves of God. But I know you can see this everywhere you look.

It is therefore instructive for us to pursue God’s solution.

Remember the first church and replicate it.

And the qualifications for the elders are clearly spelt out in the scriptures.

Allow me to add something I know some are wondering about.

Who are those elders? How does one go about getting them?

I am convinced that the elder does not have to be passionate about what the radical is passionate about. But he must be passionate about God and His call in whoever He calls.

This elder must be consistent in his relationship with God, sold out to serving God wherever he is.

He could be a businessman. He could be a civil servant. He could be farmer.

But he must be someone who has been a believer for long and whose walk of faith is admirable all over.

He is someone who is secure in his relationship with God so that he can accurately guide these radicals to a solid pursuit of their vision.

Jethro was not superior to Moses in spiritual stature. But he knew God enough to show Moses the way to effective leadership.

That is what I mean.

The elder is the sandpit to dip into when I am burning to stop me from burning up before accomplishing my assignment. He is the heat sink to regulate my temperature to manageable levels.

He is the person who is not scared to tell me to my face that I have changed the trajectory of my ministry.

He is the person I can listen to because I know he loves God enough to want to walk with me though he might not understand my passion. And this because he also has a passion for God’s work.

An elder is never a yes person. But he will love you enough to guide you to polish and sharpen your vision.

He does not need to be a financier of supporter in the material realm. But he is a giant in the spiritual realm.

He will pray with you and hold you accountable to your commitments because he is not awed by your accomplishments since he has enough of his own through his long walk with God.

Half-Baked Revivals

I was talking with a friend when a person from a neighbouring country joined us.

The topic was the whole aspect of pineapple theft since we border (are surrounded by) pineapple farms.

Incidentally, that theft is an industry, with whole families being proud of the fact that they are part of it.

You even hear of pupils saying that they would like to join it when they grow up.

This guy said something very emphatically, yet so matter-of-factly.

He said that in his country nobody steals anything. That people farm very far from where they live yet do not even secure the granaries they store their harvest before taking it either for consumption or to the market. And it many times is taken long after the harvest.

Do you know why?

Witchcraft.

Stealing brings about instant retribution. And it is so common that chances of picking on someone who has not ‘treated’ his property are almost non existent.

As a student of revival, I want to say in the clearest way that a similar thing happens when God visits an area.

Revival kills vice.

A similar thing happening in witchcraft ruled territories as happens in places with revival may confuse some to think that we are dealing with the same sources. Yet nothing could be farther from the truth.

One is guided by fear (dread is the actual word) of retribution while the other is guided by a realisation of God and the resulting contentment and peace.

Another analogy may explain it.

An electrician does not play with electricity because he literally feeds off it and has a perfect relationship with it. A person who has had an electric shock or heard sufficiently about it dreads electricity and will never want to come anywhere close to it.

Yet what happens when revival is allowed to cool off is the reason for this message.

When the fear of God wanes, everything else associated with revival wanes as well.

The joy of the Lord that reigned is replaced with discontent and greed.

This in effect brings about the arousal of lusts.

Over time, God and His standards are pushed slowly to the periphery, resulting in a spiritual vacuum of sorts, a vacuum very quickly filled with vice.

On the whole, however, God is very prominent in the mouths of the community, though He is slowly disappearing from its heart.

Evil will thus start growing, eventually thriving, because God has been removed from running the affairs of the community.

And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. (Judges 6:13)

He then remains in the history of the community, how He did. What He did etc.

Who He is is completely obliterated from the minds and hearts of His people.

And this happens within a generation as we see in Judges.

But it doesn’t have to happen.

Matthew 28: 19, 20 is the antidote to the waning that is bound to happen.

You see, after Joshua and his crowd left the scene, the spiritual dynamic of Israel changed because none of those remaining had had any experience with God and His power.

But that is not the only reason.

Joshua’s generation forgot what they had been ordered to do to forestall such and eventuality.

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates. (Deuteronomy 6: 6 – 9)

They did not teach their children effectively.

Have you ever wondered why taboos hold more sway over people than God’s commandments?

That simple reason.

Culture so effectively and powerfully ingrains its values to another generation.

But people of faith do not do it as effectively most times.

And that is the vacuum vices will very quickly fill.

We must disciple our generation and the one after us to maintain the tempo of any revival God sends our way.

When I go to the village I was born and raised, it is unimaginable how completely different it is spiritually from the village it was in my childhood. Yet the name of God is still proclaimed as loudly as it was then, now with loud sound systems and modern instruments.

This has happened because discipleship in whichever form was not a part of that revival.

We must see discipleship as foundational to our faith. We must invest in discipleship as the church of Christ.

Otherwise we will have our posterity posing the same question Gideon posed after an angelic visitation.

And I know I am speaking of many villages

God bless you