I once had a discussion with my cousin some years back who had just recently graduated at that time and whom I consider extremely intelligent. Turned out that he never saw the need to get the degree he just had and minutes into the discussion, I found out that somehow, he believes that being wealthy has little or nothing to do with having a degree. He gave me strong examples of wealthy and influential men who were school drop outs and men who could not even construct a single straight sentence in English without making mistakes. That got me really thinking but I still DO NOT agree with him because Education has a way of expanding your mind and wealth is basically an internal journey. I just believe these men received some form of education, formal or informal, at some point, because you cannot create wealth in a vacuum and any form of exposure to information is education.
Back to our topic, my discussion with him reminded me of a question that came up a while ago in my mind. It had to do with all the wealthy men I saw around that were not Christians and the journey to wealth of some Christian brethren which seemed to be taking a whole lot of time. First of all, we are Christians and that should make things easy right? Wrong. So I asked, how did they do it without God? Comparison was subtly creeping in when God came to my rescue and proceeded to give me a life changing lesson. One I will not forget in a hurry and one I’d like to share with you so join me if you will.
Before we start, let’s give a name to that wealthy man you know who isn’t a Christian. Let’s call him Fred. Fred has it all together. The money. The looks. The blings. The houses. The cars. The trips Sometimes he even does women and parties. And of course, he does give to charity. Sometimes he gives really big. Yet his money doesn’t seem to finish. If anything, it multiplies.
Another guy, John is that Christian who lives in a rented apartment a stone throw away from where Fred lives. He watches Fred every day. You see, John is a devout Christian. He pays his tithes regularly, sows seeds and gives. He prays over his offering and in the midst of all these. He is still encouraged not to be ‘weary in doing good because he will reap if he faints not’. Trouble is, john is almost ‘fainting’ because he’s seeing a picture in front of him that suggests he doesn’t need to work all that hard to be wealthy
So this is what I learnt;
It is totally useless comparing John with Fred. The thing is, we are in different systems, operating different life principles. One is a threat to the kingdom of darkness; the other isn’t so much of a threat. The enemy doesn’t mind Fred having money so long as he doesn’t threaten his kingdom agenda with it. And devil’s kingdom agenda is to take as many people with him to hell as he can. So Fred can give as much money to charity as he wants, so long as the ‘charity subjects’ do not receive Jesus, devil is just a little fine. He doesn’t want them comfortable but if he can’t get the Fred to stop giving, he’ll comfort himself that souls are not being lost. Now when it has to do with John, the ball game is entirely different. Money in John’s hand not only means more comfort for the world, it means more souls for Jesus. And devil is going to fight him. He will fight John very hard because John is a big time threat to him. So a door that opens easily to Fred might not open easily to John because devil is on the look out for John to ensure John doesn’t succeed in life or have any money
Since the world began, devil has been trying to paint God as a liar. That was what he used to get Eve. And he is still using that method a whole lot today. And even though he is the actual liar, he still pulls strings that can convince you, if you are not careful. So what does he do? He manipulates circumstances and tells you so much lies, pushing you to believe them and think them to be true. And because as a man thinketh in his heart so he becomes…you begin to see some of those lies you believed, play out in your life and they begin to look like truth. And of course the devil uses that one stone to kill 2 birds because he succeeds in convincing you, at that point in time, that what God said wasn’t true and he succeeds in convincing the unbeliever close to you that Christianity is not worth it because the guy can see you are not getting results.
But you see, God’s Word is the greatest truth you can ever come across. God means what He says and says what He means. It is useless comparing yourself with the Freds of this world because your terrain is different and if you can stand on the infallible Word of God, you’ll be amazed at your results. It will surely exceed that of Fred. We have examples – Bishop Oyedepo, Kenneth Copeland, Mrs Ibukun Awosika, Mrs Jumoke Adenowo, Rev Biodun Fatoyinbo, and the list goes on and on. Some of these successful conglomerates we see today are run by true Christians who are just quiet and live very simple lives. Don’t let the noisy lifestyle of the rich guys you see deceive you. We do have a whole lot of them in our camp and they are doing well for Christ. You can be a wealthy Christian too because Psa112:3 says that wealth and riches will be in his house and his righteousness endures forever. The guy is both righteous and rich. You just need to stand on the Word of God and get to work.
So what is the work all about? Sometimes, Christians want God to do all the work for them while they put their brains to sleep. No. life will not work that way. You have to get up and use the brain God gave you. Even the Fred you see today uses his brain. You use your own and route your results through God. Get to work. In addition to the tithes, seeds and gifts, Study money. Study the lives of wealthy men. Value your time, because time is a valuable resource for wealth creation. Get information. Allow your mind to catch that picture of you as a wealthy person because if your mind doesn’t go there first, you will never get there at all. Study financial management, learn how to make your money work for you , study investments. And as you study, put them into practice. Be careful though to sieve the information you receive through the standards of God’s Word. Do your homework and add the God-Factor. And route it through God. When your work begins to bring forth fruit, your results will make you wonder why you envied Fred in the first place. You have Christ, you have money and plenty of it for that matter.
Do have an amazing week ahead. God bless you
AijayUfomadu
