Rivers of Prosperity
(week 44/02)
Olubi Johnson
The Garden of Eden shows us what God’s original plan for man was: to live in a place of breath-taking beauty with lack of nothing physically or materially. Indeed it was a beautiful place.
Genesis 2:8-15 (KJV) And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates. And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Here we are told that the river that went out of Eden to water the garden was parted into four heads.
These four rivers are symbolic of four major things God, by His Spirit, uses, as it were, to water our lives for our physical and material prosperity just like He did for Adam in the Garden of Eden before the fall.
It is vital to understand, know and appreciate that God’s will for our well being and prosperity has never changed: He still wishes above all things that we prosper and be in health even as our souls prosper (3 Jn. 2).
What then do these four rivers symbolize?
Eternal life: that brings the favour of God (Ps. 30: 5).
Income from regular labour or work (Eph. 4: 28, 1 Th. 4: 11, 12).
Investments: income from assets you have by the wisdom of God without being directly involved in the labour (Eccl. 2: 26).
Gifts: God moves men just to give to you (Luke 6: 38).
To enjoy the fullness of God’s blessings you need to have these 4 things operating in your life.
Notice Adam had responsibility to dress and keep the Garden. In the same way we have a responsibility to see to it that we use these 4 rivers of prosperity that God has made available to water as it were the ‘garden’ of our lives.
So pray and walk in the spirit daily to have a regular flow of eternal life and thus the favour of God in your life.
Be involved in some regular, honest business or work.
By the wisdom of God begin to invest in assets like real estate, shares, bonds that will give you income apart from your regular labour.
Be kind and generous in your giving, both to the work of God and men, and you will find that God will move people to give to you supernaturally.
