Living Victoriously Over Indebtedness

“Living in the Prosperity of God”

Scripture: Deuteronomy 8:1-20; (18) “But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day…AMEN…

Introduction:

The goal is to live in victory, continually, without experiencing defeat in your life, ever again.

Remember the creed: “I will experience victory in every area of my life, because I choose to live victoriously!
This does not mean that your life won’t encounter challenges or that you won’t experience struggles that test your commitment to this concept and principle, but it does mean that you are victorious even before the test begins because of what you have decided through the Word of God, as you begin to understand what is supposed to happen in your life.

Secondly, in this series of messages, the goal is to establish victory in the places where believers are accustomed to experiencing defeat. Last week it was in our ability to live in righteousness and in the holiness that the Lord provides through forgiveness and restoration. Jesus says to the woman taken in adultery: “Go and sin no more.” The message taught us that sinless living is possible because, of our personal decision to live in the commandment of the Lord.

This week, God brings my life to a place of victory in the area of my personal finances so that I can experience real biblical prosperity. God seeks to bring closure to:

An incorrect interpretation of prosperity!
My struggles and difficulty with money!
My never ending debt!
The reasons as to why I am not fully experiencing the promises of God!

Statement of truth:

This message begins with a statement of truth: that much of our financial difficulty is rooted in our sin and disobedience against God.

Our disobedience against God keeps us living in the consequences of our actions, instead of the privilege of his promises that we are supposed to enjoy as his children.

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:20; “For all the promises in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”

Secondly, many of us are living at a loss because God is not the priority of our lives. Material prosperity is the priority of our lives, because we don’t see the fulfillment of life through relationship with God. We see the fulfillment of life through the abundance of possessions. This concept explains why we continue to get ourselves in tremendous debt. Because we feel that new things, large things, expensive things, and living beyond our means is suggestive of success. We believe that we owe it to ourselves to live this way. But the stress of having all of these things without having relationship with God is making believers miserable! And better, keeping your life enslaved to debt through the constant procurement of possessions is one of the greatest weapons of Satan.

Scripture: Matthew 6:33; “But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Spiritual Concept: If you make the Kingdom first, you can have what you want in life! If you make God the priority, and give into the work of the Kingdom, you can have what you want in life.

Finally, as it relates to having what you want in life, I want to be clear when I say that this message is not about money or creating and developing ways to secure money. It’s about living in the prosperity of God. However, I must also say that there is nothing sinful or wrong with having money. There is nothing sinful or wrong about having a career or establishing your own business and becoming successful in that enterprise. There is nothing wrong with using your money wisely or enjoying the fruit of wise investments. The danger in having money is in avoiding the “Hezekiah Complex” which is an arrogant attitude that says I am the power and the source behind all of my accomplishments.

The person who struggles with the “Hezekiah Complex” has difficulty making the distinction between their own intelligence and ability over and against the favor and providence of God. Verse eighteen of this eighth chapter says it best:

Scripture: “But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth.”

Explanation: The word “power” in verse eighteen means: capacity or the means. It represents the ways and opportunities that God opened for wealth to be produced through your life.

The knowledge of this verse is important because there is a tendency among some of our well to do believers that suggests that relationship and interaction with God is needed less because they live a life that is without want. This attitude explains why Moses in the book of Deuteronomy, says to the Israelites: “Beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.”

Believers who are experiencing financial success have to beware of the danger of “forgetting God.” You cannot move God from being the center and priority of your life to having only a supportive role in your life. You have to avoid the “Hezekiah Complex.” Because the same God who moved opportunity and favor in your direction can block the canals of blessing and favor that run into your life.

There are four spiritual concepts or laws in Deuteronomy 8:1-20 that we must embrace to experience both spiritual and biblical prosperity.

Disclaimer: While the book of Deuteronomy is the closing work of the life and leadership of Moses, it is written primarily, to the Children of Israel in their continuous movement toward the land of promise. However these biblical concepts, concerning wealth, prosperity, and the favor of God are timeless and will work for us as the adopted children of God.

Four spiritual concepts:

God is the single source of all blessing and prosperity both past, present and future.

Explanation: See verse eighteen: it says that “he giveth thee power to get wealth.” God provides the opportunity to experience prosperity.

Viewing God as the single source of blessing and prosperity cancels other concepts and methods that the world has established about procuring wealth because any other method for wealth and prosperity becomes unstable.

When you read chapter eight there is no mentioning of the name of any other god or any other person that could be considered as responsible for Israel’s deliverance out of Egypt. Moses says that it was God and God alone that: ·

• Orchestrated Israel’s movement out of Egypt with wealth from their enemies.
• Provided both “manna” and quail and water out of rocks in the wilderness.
• Who established a new land for Israel to live in as his people.

Viewing God as the single source of our blessings and prosperity keeps our perspective straight and helps us to avoid other ways and means to experience prosperity. Because prosperity:

Is not going to come through gambling!

Is not going to come through our investments!

Is not going to come through our employment!

It’s God who “gives” us the power to get wealth.

• Human ability comes from God
• Intellectual ability comes from God
• Opportunity to get wealth comes from God

Unless we view God and receive God as the single source of our blessings we might possible receive money, but we will never experience biblical wealth and prosperity. What is the difference?

First to understand this concept, remember that money is not mentioned in chapter eight. Wealth is the resources that come from God that are established through the biblical promises of God. Prosperity is having a never ending access to that supply of resources for the rest of your life.

Example: 1 Kings 17:8-16

Promise of wealth: 1 Kings 17:14; “For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruise of oil fail, unto the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.

Explanation: As soon as the Prophet Elijah makes this promise to the woman of Zarepath, she becomes wealthy. Notice that she is not promised money, but the promise of wealth that she receives aligns itself with what she needs.

Prosperity: 1 Kings 17:15-16; “And she and he, and her house did eat many days. 16). And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruise of oil fail, according to the Word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.

Explanation: When God gives the promise through his Word and we receive that word, we become wealthy, but prosperity is when we actually begin to live in and have direct access to the supply of resources that come from God for the rest of our lives.

Scripture: Psalms 1:3c; “his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

God has established a time and place of prosperity for every believer

Scripture: “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers.”

Spiritual Concept: That it is God’s desire to bring all of his people both into a time and place of prosperity. See verse one: “that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers.”

Explanation: examine the words: “that ye may live,” that the intention of God is that you permanently abide in a place and position of wealth and prosperity for the rest of your life.

Second, the word “multiply.” means increase, abundance, and enlargement. There are levels of wealth and prosperity in God. The word “multiply” suggests that God gives every believer the opportunity to experience other levels of blessing and favor in him, and in fact, encourages and expects that we will pursue those other levels of blessing.

Scripture: 3 John 1:2; “Beloved, I wish above all things, that thou mayest prosper.”

Third, “and go in and possess the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers.” You have a place of prosperity in God that belongs exclusively to you. In the text, Israel is traveling to the “promise land.” It’s described as a good land or “a land that is flowing with milk and honey.” However, Israel has never been to Canaan, but they have an understanding of it because God has described how it will look through the words of Moses:

Deuteronomy 8:7-9; “For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive and honey. A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land of whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.”

Explanation: Every believer has a place of prosperity in God. However, while you may not have ever been to Canaan, the name that represents your promise land, you can know what it is supposed to look like through the word of God so that when you arrive you will know that you are there.

God will give you things to look for, things that you can recognize as a sign and evidence that you have arrived in your place of prosperity. How does your promise land look? What has God shown you? Are you satisfied with where you are now, or are you still traveling through faith and obedience to the place and position of prosperity that God has for you?

This concept is important because we have been deceived by Satan to believe that where we are in life and whatever we experience in life is all that there is to life, but God has prepared a place of prosperity for you. You are supposed to live in and experience that place for the rest of your life.

Understand the connection between “covenant” and “blessing.”

Explanation: understand that the “covenant” of God is expressed in the commandments of God.

Verse 1: “All the commandments which I command thee this day.”

Verse 2: “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee.”

Verse 6: “Therefore, thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.”

Verse 11: Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day.”

See the blessing that comes out of obedience to God: Verse 7-9. The spiritual concept that is in this chapter concerning experiencing the blessing of God is: “obedience in the wilderness, will direct your life to the place of promise.”

See further what Moses is saying to Israel: “If you will keep the commandments of God,” this is what God will do for you as his people.

When you consider the connection between the “covenant” of God and the “blessing” of God, there is a reciprocal dynamic in which the covenant of God produces the blessing of God. It means that when we are obedient to God he releases the full force of wealth, blessing, prosperity, and favor to be experienced in our lives.

What does the Lord require?

Remember the Lord Walk in the ways of the Lord and fear him Praise the Lord Do not forget the Lord Do not disobey his commandments, regulations, and laws.

These are the commandments of God. Remember, that the wealth, blessing and prosperity of God are in the covenant of God, and the covenant of God is based on relationship with his people. If you want to experience what God has for you keep his commandments.

Understand the purpose of prosperity

Scripture: “But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.”

Explanation: See the purpose for God giving wealth and prosperity to his people. See the word “that” this simple word means: “in order that.” It suggests that God gives the power for wealth, in order that the wealth will be distributed and affect the lives of other people, who are apart of the covenant of God.

There are many reasons why God allows us to “get wealth,” but I want to suggest three of those reasons.

God gives us the power to get wealth to bless and affect the lives of other people. Explanation: God brings wealth through you because the “covenant” is larger than you. When God overflows your life with wealth, favor, and blessing you will experience it continually as long as you don’t allow it to consume you. Remember this concept: “God brings wealth to your life, to bring blessings through your life.” And that blessing is supposed to enhance and increase someone’s life outside of yours.

Usually when wealth and favor begin to come into our lives, we become closed and self contained. But in Deuteronomy chapter eight, God is not bringing one person or just a few of the twelve tribes into the promise land he is bringing the whole nation into the promise land. We have to begin to ensure that the whole body of Christ is experiencing wealth and prosperity by allowing God to give through our lives. Everything that God gives to you, he is going to use to impact the life of someone else. The greatest compliment that God can give is when he selects your life to use as a means of blessing and increasing the lives of other people.

It’s this concept that God speaks to Abram in Genesis 12:2

“And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.”

God has given you the power to get wealth so that you can be a blessing. Who are you sharing that wealth with? I am not supposed to just receive a blessing I am supposed to also be a blessing.

God gives us the power to get wealth to finance the work of the Kingdom.

Explanation: The purpose for God giving you the power to get wealth is to finance the work of the Kingdom. The wealth and favor God brings into your life is supposed to finance the promises of God and further the work of God. That’s why your financial mismanagement and poor stewardship is considered to be a sin by God because God has given you money to meet your needs, but also to finance the work of the Kingdom so that his cause will go forth in the world.

That’s why your tithe and offering is so important because God is using that money to do his work, and that work is expressed in the lives of people. Banks use your money and invest the money that you deposit. The government uses your money and invests your money to finance what the government believes is important. The concept comes from God however, in the secular world the money that banks and the government uses is your money, but in the spiritual realm, the money that God brings through your life to finance the Kingdom does not come from you, which is why he is a part of the decision concerning how that money is to be used.

Scripture: Psalms 24:1; “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein.”

God gives us the power to get wealth to prepare for the forth coming generation.