PASTOR ADEBO TOMOMEWO

Psalm 118 vs 25 – Save now I, I pray (beseech thee), O Lord; O Lord, I pray (beseech thee), send now prosperity. (NKJV)

The Law of Supply and Prosperity requires that you make a demand. The verse says “SAVE NOW” so prosperity always saves. Prosperity can save your house from being taken. This prosperity can change your home. This prosperity can save your children. This prosperity can save your face. Inside this prosperity there is an ability to SAVE NOW.

“I beseech thee, send now prosperity” The words “I beseech” mean “I plead with you” so there is a prayer dimension to it – particularly when you are doing everything you should do, particularly when you are a tither and you are tithing correctly,and not negotiating with God. The tithe should be the first thing you take away – it should be the “forbidden fruit” of your income.

It is the blessing of God that maketh rich. You can never earn wages that will equal wealth. You can never work for the best paying company and earn enough to be wealthy. Every wealthy man got a leap into a dimention in his mentality. Something shifted in his head that went beyond salary. That is why there is a difference between “I have money” and “I have wealth”. Wealth is “How long can you stay at home and there is still money?” That is wealth. The bible says it is he that gives us power to get wealth. He doesn’t give you wealth. He gives you POWER to get wealth so it takes the Holy Spirit to escort you into it. The Lord will escort you into it by insight. That is why Psalm 118 vs 26 says “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord ,vs 27 God is the Lord and He has given us light; Blind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the alter.” In other words it is by light, the light of God’s word – understanding. This is what will bring you to that realm where prosperity begins to answer for you. Jesus said “Ask and it shall be given unto you …” and he said when you pray, pray this way, “Give us our daily bread..” so concerning the children of Israel the bible says that the people asked for bread then they said, ‘we are tired of this thing, we want flesh’. Moses told the Lord that the people are crying out for flesh – Number 11vs 13.Then the Lord told him that he had enough to feed the people with then in vs 31 it says “Now a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought them quails from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp.” A wind blew from heaven and carried quails to fall in to the camp of the Israelites. Every time your financial and economic status changes, a wind must blow. For you to be a slave on Sunday and on Monday you are a millionaire, something went in to the air – its not natural. For you to be a prisoner then you are a prime minister, a wind blew, something shifted and it is God who does all these things. The only thing God is not permitted to give you is what you have not asked for. He said “ Ask until your joy is full”.

You will never walk in covenant wealth beyond the light you have. Job, the richest man in the east said “And when by his light I walked through darkness…” Job 29 vs 3-4. When by his light – I walked through darkness of poverty, darkness of scarcity, when others were crying I walked through so it takes light to have a breakthrough and it took light Job to become the wealthiest man in the east Job 1 vs 3.

Why do we preach prosperity? So that you can reach it. Why do we proclaim it? So that you can claim it. What you don’t preach, you can’t reach. What you don’t declare you can’t clear. That is why we are teaching – so that light can enter. Light can penetrate the mental region. The light of God can be the guiding light over your decisions. If you don’t understand it you will be under it. You cannot be under what you  understand. Success in any adventure of life is purely based on “how?” How can I get this work done? Concerning everyone who wants success – its not, “what?”. Everybody knows what they want. The “how” is always the real question. There are fundamental things we have to understand, for example education in the secular world begins with a,b,c,e before you can speak. In mathematics we begin with 1,2,3,4,5 before you start talking about algebra and calculus so every high level thing always has a beginning, the basics, the fundamentals that make everything else work.

There are a lot of truths that are largely ignored in the School of Prosperity. Many think prosperity is limited to giving and receiving so they give and give and give and when they see no harvest they get frustrated and say this is not working. They get frustrated because they did not start from the basic foundation. Many cannot survive in the school of prosperity because they lack foundation. We need to have a solid foundation in the school of prosperity and the practice to match.

What is this basic foundation?

1.COVENANT RELATIONSHIP

Christianity is about relationship. At creation, what God was looking for was relationship “Let us create man in our own image, in our likeness…” God was looking for fellowship. What is fellowship? Fellowship means fellows in the same ship. God was looking for whom to relate with. That is why God did not call the animals. They are not in his image neither are they in his likeness, that is why animals don’t go to heaven. When they die Solomon said they go to the pit. Our spirits go up because we are the only ones who have the image of God. We don’t go to the same place as animals because we have the image and likeness of God. When Adam named the animals, he was operating on the same mental frequency as God so this means that God was looking for someone who could operate in his class. We see that relationship was the basic thing that brought man into existence and that the devil was very much aware of this, that is why it says in Psalm 8 vs 4,”What is man that You are mindful of him, son of man that You visit him…” The praise of angels is not the same as the praise of the saints because angels do not have the same image as God. Angels can never thank God for forgiveness of sins because they have never committed sin. God was missing certain levels of praise until he created us. God was looking for relationship. That was the first basic thing that brought us to God and even when Jesus was teaching he said “ When you pray, say, ‘OUR FATHER who art in heaven’”. When Jesus talked he said “ my Father and I….” Jesus never called God, “God”; he only said it once on the cross when he said “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me. He always called God “Father”, that talks of relationship. Jesus wants us to walk in that same relationship. God brought us into covenant relationship. We see this in the Old Testament. God saw that Abraham’s father had died at Haran and he called Abraham in Genesis 12 vs 1-3 and said,  “Get out of your country from your family and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”. God called Abraham and told him that he wanted to have a relationship, which would culminate in abundance. He said, “ I will bless you and you shall be a blessing” The Amplified bible says, “ I will make you a dispenser of goods”. God’s blessing is in your ability to distribute. It is not in accumulation – it is in distribution. If you accumulate, you are not blessed so you can have money and you are not blessed. Every blessing is always bread and seed. The word says, “thou givest seed to the sower and bread to the eater. Inside every blessing there is what to eat and what to plant. God gave Abraham a covenant of abundance and blessing.

In Genesis 17 vs 1 the Lord said to Abraham “ ‘…walk before me and blameless and I will make my covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.’ And Abraham fell on his face….”. Here God was talking about relationship. God struck a blood covenant with Abraham and moved it to a higher level – circumcision. Abraham did this the same day. The relationship between God and Abraham grew to love. From the beginning, God never used the word, “give”, with Abraham. Giving was not the beginning but was almost the end – Genesis 22 vs 1, “ Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and he said to him ‘Abraham!’ and he said ‘Here I am’. Then He said ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” Before God said, “Take now”, the relationship had begun from chapter 12. The journey began with relationship, not giving. Giving is only one of the characteristics of somebody in a relationship. You cannot be in a relationship and not give. The Lord said to Abraham, “Take now you son. Your only son, Isaac, whom you love………..” It will get to a point in your walk with God that you will write the test of love and God will want to find out whether you have any other idol – something that takes your attention from God. The devil will never tell you to give. Love is the force that was in the relationship between God and Abraham. You can’t love God and your walk with him will not cost you something. God will make demands on you if you love him.

The journey to prosperity does not start with giving; it starts with a love-motivated relationship. Abraham gave tithe out of love not out of commandment because there was no teaching on tithe before he gave. The teaching on tithe came with the law. Before the law, Abraham gave. That is why Abraham became the friend of God. God tested Abraham. In the school of prosperity there are exams you write.

Your relationship with God is more important than your giving to God. God is not hungry; neither is he looking for money. When you give, it is the attitude behind it, the love behind it and the relationship behind it that God receives. God loves a cheerful giver. Solomon loved the Lord and he gave a thousand. The goats did not go to heaven. What God received was the love. Jesus is the chairman of tithing in the Kingdom of God Hebrews 11:7. God keeps a record of your giving. Your giving is the way to prove the sincerity of your love. No amount is too small. Do you love         God? That is where the foundation is. Is your life benefiting God? We depend on God. Can God depend on you? Can God depend on you to will carry out his mandate? Your giving is your final endorsement in your relationship with God. Your giving validates your walk with God. Genesis 12:1 – God called you into the covenant of blessing. Genesis 17 vs 1-2. God entered a blood covenant with Abraham. Genesis 22 vs 1-2 God proved whether Abraham was ready for the blessing by asking him to sacrifice his son. When you are in true relationship with God, you will never have a problem with giving. By virtue of his relationship with God, Abraham built with God, what would never end with his generation. The prosperity message is not a money message. It’s a love and obedience message. Its not about what you give – its about where your heart is. There is no proof that your heart is with God if you do not have a record of giving. Keep a record of your giving. If you are not accountable, you cannot be a good tither. What man gives to you will finish but what God gives to you will last in your hand, and it is not the substance, it is the blessing. The bible says, Melchizedeck blessed Abraham and Abraham gave the tithe, so there are two things, you have the tithe in one hand and the blessing in the other. When he gave the tithe, he gave it in exchange for the blessing. The blessing is not physical. If you are blessed with money, that is not the blessing. It is the result of the blessing. Blessing is not measured by possessions. Blessing is measured by treasure. Treasure is spiritual. When you feel reluctant to give to God during times of giving – this shows that there is a problem in your relationship with God. There is no fear in relationship. Everything is transparent. Genesis 22 vs 5, “And Abraham said to his young men, ‘stay here with the donkey: the Lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.’”

If you are in a relationship with God, you will be a worshipper. Abraham knew that by virtue of his relationship with God, God would not ask him to give without giving him a replacement. Those who are in relationship with God give and they never think of losing what they are giving. They know that when they give it will come back. Abraham said, “ Me and the lad will come back to you….” When you are in relationship with God you don’t lose.

There is no proof you are a worshipper if you are not a giver. It is your walk with God, which culminates in your giving. It is your faith in the covenant. You do not understand prosperity except if you have this covenant root. Prosperity starts with ‘does God know you?’.

Two things about giving:

1. Don’t ever give under duress.
2. Every seed you give – plant it expecting God to visit you. There is a difference between dumping your seed and sowing your seed. You sow a seed by giving that seed an assignment. Wrap your faith around it. That is why the word SOW stands for Secret Of Wealth. There is nothing your giving cannot get in the world of the spirit – “thy seed shall possess the gates of your enemy..” so your seed can release on you the anointing for dominion. “ The seed of the woman will bruise the head of the devil” so you can use your seed to destroy sickness. If you do not name your seed, when the harvest comes you will not know it. 2^nd Corinthians 4 vs 13 “ ….we also believed therefore speak”. God does not respond to needs. He responds to seeds.

Prosperity is the seal and evidence of the covenant we have with God.

Prosperity is not defined by how much you have, but how much you can give. You can be prosperous and not be generous. You can never be generous and not end your journey prosperous. Many people have mistaken prosperity for material things. Prosperity is – how much of what you have will help put a smile on someone’s face? Anything you have can be given. It is the anointing you sow into that will multiply upon your life. Anything you cannot give is an idol.

How do I connect to this covenant?

1. By faith

Galatians 3 vs 13-14 says “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written ‘ cursed is every man who hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith,” so you connect yourself to this covenant by coming to Jesus.

How does it work?

1.You need to change your mentality. Stop thinking like a slave. Poverty is a product of a slave mentality. It shows in the way you think, the way you speak and the way you give. Not everyone who has money is prosperous. Prosperity is not measured by accumulation of possessions; it is rather measured by the ability to give. Prosperity is measured by generosity. You can be rich and not prosperous.

2.Maintain a righteous walk with God, Genesis 17 vs 1-2 “Walk before me and be blameless” Psalm 112 vs 3 says, “Wealth and riches be in his house and his righteousness endures forever”. You can have money and have integrity like Job – Job 1 vs 3 “Also his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.

Obey the law of giving – Deuteronomy 28 vs 1-14 “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God to observe all his commandments which I command you today, That the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth………” Job 36 vs 11, “If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures.