MAKING YOUR WAY PROSPEROUS
(week 41/09)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Joshua 1:8 MKJV: This book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it by day and by night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall act wisely.
Now, all that is written in the Word is summarized in the love of God:
Galatians 5:14 MKJV: For all the Law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Isaiah 48:17 MKJV: So says Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah your God who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go.
Here, the scripture tells us that God will teach us to profit and lead us in the way that we should go, but it is our responsibility to make our way prosperous.
As we do not let the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus depart from our mouths and hearts, but meditate therein day and night, God will release unto us great divine direction, wisdom and ability that will cause us to prosper and act wisely.
Now, the reason God wants us to prosper is so that we can be free to have the time and resources to serve God and disciple the nations: every tribe, tongue and kindred.
Deuteronomy 8:18 AMP: But you shall [earnestly] remember the Lord your God, for it is He Who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
Hebrews 8:10-11 MKJV For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My Laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 And they shall not each man teach his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest.
God gives us the power or ability to get wealth so we can use that wealth to establish His covenant upon the earth: have His law of life and love written on the hearts of men from every tribe, tongue and kindred.
Matthew 28:19-20 ESV: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (20) teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
It will take trillions of dollars to get the necessary human and material resources to do this: this is why God wants us to prosper.
Furthermore, when you have financial independence you can go to anywhere you want, when you want to do the will of the God to disciples the ‘ethnos’: every tribe and tongue, especially those who have not yet been reached with modern education and civilization.
How then do you make your way prosperous?
Psalms 1:1-3 ESV: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; (2) but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. (3) He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
3 John 1:2 MKJV: Beloved, in regard to all things I pray that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.
We prosper by meditating in the Word day and night so causing our souls: mind, will and emotions to prosper. In fact, it is the degree to which our soul: will is humble, our mind is enlightened with revelation knowledge and our emotions controlled by the fruit of the Spirit; that we will prosper.
The more prosperous our souls are, the more we will prosper financially and materially, because our desires will be the same as God’s desires and so He will be able to trust with great wealth that will not be misused on the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes and the pride of life.
Psalms 37:4 ESV: Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Many Christians do not get what they pray for, because their souls are not prosperous to that degree and they would misuse the blessing.
James 4:3 MKJV: You ask and receive not, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it upon your lusts.
As we meditate on the Word and pray day and night to prosper our souls, God will water the ‘garden’ of our lives with the rivers of prosperity, like He did in the Garden of Eden:
Genesis 2:10-14 MKJV: And a river went out of Eden to water the garden. And from there it was divided and became four heads. (11) The name of the first is Pishon; that is it which surrounds all the land of Havilah, where there is gold. (12) And the gold of that land is good. There is bdellium and the onyx stone. (13) And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that surrounds the whole land of Cush. (14) And the name of the third river is Tigris; it is that which goes toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
These names of these 4 four rivers have a present day prophetic application to our lives:
1. Tigris or Hiddekel – -this means ‘rapid’— a river that flows rapidly or constantly: this speaks of having some trade or profession that brings in a regular income into your life.
God wants us to be gainfully employed and He prospers us through our work:
2 Thessalonians 3:10 MKJV: for even when we were with you, we commanded you this, that if anyone would not work, neither should he eat.
Titus 3:14 AMP: And let our own [people really] learn to apply themselves to good deeds (to honest labor and honorable employment), so that they may be able to meet necessary demands whenever the occasion may require and not be living idle and uncultivated and unfruitful lives.
2. Pishon – this means ‘increase”a river that brings increase into our lives. This speaks of having investments that bring financial and material increase into your life over and above what your regular income gives. It is instructive to note the scripture promises us a 100fold return in this life of houses and lands (Mark 10:30): this tells us we should invest in real estate. We can also invest in stocks of companies involved in honest, honourable and productive ventures (Tit.3:14).
3. Gihon – this means ‘bursting forth’ a river that bursts forth into your life. This speaks of gifts God causes men to give to you (Lk. 6:38). Now, you do not live on other people’s charity, but God will on occasion cause men to give to you to bless and prosper you.
4. Euphrates -this means ‘fruitfulness’ a river of the life of God that causes you to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit, especially, humility, self-control and patience that will cause you to prosper.
As you meditate on the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, day and night, praying without ceasing, God will cause these four rivers to flow into your life and make your way prosperous!
