THE APPEARING OF OUR PROFITING TO ALL
(week 46/17)
DEOYE OBE, OLUBI JOHNSON AND GBOYEGA ADESIYAN
1Timothy 4:15 KJV: Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
Meditate on what things? Becoming like God in character and in power or ability.
Godliness is profitable unto all things having the promise of the life that now is and that which is to come (1Tim. 4:8) and God wants our profiting as Christians to appear to all men, both Christians and unbelievers in this season of favour.
Isaiah 66:5 KJV: Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
Psalms 102:6 KJV: The set time to favour her (Zion, the perfect Church) has come.
Profiting is not material and financial prosperity alone. The profiting referred to in the passage of scripture above refers to all round prosperity in spirit, soul body, healing and health, material and financial; prosperity in every area of life!
3 John 1:2 KJV: Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
The incentive to profit is divinely given to man by God and all creativity and innovation that leads to profit is inspired and led by God.
Isaiah 48:17 KJV: Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.
Isaiah 45:19 AMP: I did not call the defendants of Jacob (to a fruitless service) saying, seek Me for nothing (but I promised them a just reward…)
Material prosperity is having the ability to use God’s power, wisdom and skill to tap into, and where necessary, create physical resources to meet your physical needs.
The profiting of the Church and individual saint is advertising for the gospel. The Church of the end time is destined to become the richest, most powerful financial and material entity in this end time (Is. 60:5; Hag. 2:7-9).
However, our words in the Church have been stout against God because we see and envy the prosperity of the wicked and we have said in our hearts and by our actions that it is vain to serve God!
Malachi 3:13-16 KJV: Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee? (14) Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts? (15) And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered. (16) Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
Furthermore, our envying of the wicked has affected our service in the house of God.
Psalms 73:3 KJV: For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
This condition of covetousness in the hearts of many in the present day Church is rather unfortunate and not pleasing God. It should not be Christians envying the wicked; it should be they who are envious of us, because of divine prosperity visible in the Church. The Philistines envied the child of promise, Isaac.
Genesis 26:12-14 KJV: Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. (13) And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: (14) For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.
Sadly, many Christians to their detriment, lose their joy in Christian service because of this envying of the wicked.
Deuteronomy 28:47-48 KJV: Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; (48) Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies (the carnal mind (Rom. 8:7)) which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
God wants our profiting to appear before all in this season of remembrance for a witness, and most importantly to finance the preaching of the gospel to all nations.
Psalms 67:7 KJV: God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.
Isaiah 45:14 KJV: Thus saith the LORD, The labour of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto thee, and they shall be thine: they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make supplication unto thee, saying, Surely God is in thee; and there is none else, there is no God. (Isa. 60:1-7).
Matthew 24:14 KJV: And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
How will our profiting appear to all?
By our becoming an Isaac, a child of promise through:
- Obedience and submission to God and spiritual fathers in the unquestioning manner that young Isaac submitted wholly to his father Abraham, and the will of God.
Genesis 22:9-10: And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. (10) And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
- Meditating on divine promises. This brings us to the place of being fully persuaded like Abraham.
Genesis 24:63 KJV: And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming.
Romans 4:20-21 KJV: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; (21) And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
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.
- Being moderate and having self-control: Isaac married only one wife.
Genesis 24:67 KJV: And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
Deuteronomy 17:17 KJV: Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
Philippians 4:5 KJV: Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.
- Abraham gave all, a type of the Spirit without measure, or, the inheritance to Isaac.
Genesis 25:5-6 KJV: And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. (6) But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.
And his profiting appeared to all.
Genesis 26:12-14 KJV: Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. (13) And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: (14) For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.
We too should give ourselves wholly unto being godly, by perfecting the love of God using the Blood (Heb. 13:20-12), the Word (1Jn. 2:5; 2Pet. 1:4-10) and the Spirit (IJn.4:12-13; Rom. 8:10-11) which will cause our profiting to appear.
Having and perfecting divine love, the character of Christ is what brings profit to our lives.
1Corinthians 13:3 KJV….and have not love, it profiteth me nothing…;
(1Tim. 4:8; 1Tim. 6:6).
Mark 12:30 KJV: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mark 10:29-30 KJV: And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, (30) But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
The scripture cannot be broken (Jn. 10:35-36)! We must give ourselves wholly to these things in this season of the appearing of the Christ in us, that our profiting in all areas, spiritual, material and financial, may appear to all.
