Contributor: Isekhua Evborokhai
INTRODUCTION
Last week we considered Supernatural Provision, Increase and Multiplication. We learnt that this unlimited, overwhelming supply, increase or multiplication comes from above as we see in James 1:17. We also learnt that God has unusual ways and unlimited avenues of provision that supersede all natural limitations and that it is faith that gives access to the supernatural.
Today we will be looking at two important assurances God has given us in relation to our wealth: Our Covenant of Wealth & God’s Favour and Wealth. God has made a covenant with us to be wealthy and it is by His favour!
1. OUR COVENANT OF WEALTH
The wealth we have is the fulfilment of a covenant God confirmed to our ancestors by oath! This means it is bilateral – both parties must be active. That is why Deuteronomy 8:18 (NLT) says: “Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfil the covenant He confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.”
(a) Prosperity is a sign of our covenant with God. Deuteronomy 8:18
(b) Zechariah 8:13 (NLT): “…I will rescue you and will make you both a symbol and a source of blessing.”
(c) Genesis 17:1-8: God covenanted with Abraham to make him rich.
(d) Galatians 3:13-14, 29 “. . . we are heirs of the covenant . . . And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
2 Chronicles 16:9 says: “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.”
What can we learn from this verse of scripture?
(a) The phrase “Show Himself strong” (HEB) means the following: to bestow, to grant, to extend His covenant wealth
(b) Our covenant with God is His total commitment to support, defend, protect and provide.
(c) God’s consuming passion and determination is to locate His covenant people and bless them.
(d) It is an undying covenant devotion that propels Him to extend Himself to us with everything He is and with everything He has.
(e) It is a covenant love that won’t give up or quit until the extension of that love is satisfied. In 2 Samuel 9:1-3: David was consumed with locating an heir of Jonathan to bestow covenant wealth upon. The eyes of David ran to and fro throughout the whole earth searching for an heir of his covenant brother to lavish covenant wealth upon. How much more is God searching for us!
(a) “Covenant of Wealth” Scriptures
1. Deuteronomy 28:2: “And all these [covenant] blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee….”
2. Deuteronomy 28:11: “And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods….”
3. Ecclesiastes 5:19 (NLT): “And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it.”
4. Genesis 15:1: “Fear not Abram: I am your shield and your exceeding great reward.”
5. Hebrews 10:35: “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.”
6. Psalm 68:19: “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits.”
7. Psalm 103:2 (AMP): “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not one of all His (covenant) benefits.”
(b) The Windows or Floodgates of Heaven
Malachi 3:10 says: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
Let’s picture the impact of opening the windows of heaven (or the floodgates of heaven). Read Genesis 7:11-12, 17-20 and replace the word waters with The Blessing (abundant, liberal, excessive prosperity)
We can believe for a constant, steady, nonstop outpouring of God’s abundant, liberal, and excessive prosperity.
(c) Showers of Blessing
Ezekiel 34:25-27 says: “I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord.”
We have mostly limited our definition of the word shower to a brief and usually light fall of rain, hail, sleet, or snow but there’s another definition of the word shower that this verse of scripture refers to:
“To give someone a great number of (things).”
Here are a few synonyms of this “shower”: deluge, flood, inundate, swamp, submerge, engulf, bury; overwhelm, saturate, overload. So when God says He will cause the shower to come down . . . and that there shall be showers of blessing our expectations should be that of a deluge of, a flood of, inundated with, swamped by, submerged in, engulfed by, buried in; overwhelmed with, saturated with, and overloaded with blessings!
(d) Covenant Tokens
Every covenant usually has a token. Tithing is one of the covenant tokens of wealth. So, when we tithe, we should be expecting a non-stop downpour and torrent of abundant, liberal, excessive prosperity and provision coming down violently in thick succession from the floodgates of heaven! Just like “Noah’s flood”!
The Effects of Tithing
• The tithe protects our money.
• Tithing places us under warranty.
• Tithing extends our warranty.
• Tithing places us in “flood stage.” “Not a trickle, not a stream, not a river but a flood.” —Oral Roberts
2. GOD’S FAVOUR AND WEALTH
Favour is a word that holds very similar meaning to grace—God’s kindness and help extended toward us. This includes promotion, restoration, honour, victory, recognition, preferential treatment and supernatural increase in assets and real estate.
• It is God personally acting on your behalf doing for you whatever it takes for you to prosper, thrive, flourish and be the success you were created to be. (Psalm 84:11, Psalm 44:3)
• It will cause people to go out of their way to bless you, provide for you, help you, assist you and make special concessions just for you. (Exodus 3:21)
• It will make a way where there is no way, open doors where there are no doors, provide where there is no provision and do the impossible in the midst of the most impossible situations. (Genesis 39:1-6)
• The favour of God surrounds us. (Psalm 5:12)
• The favour of God is among us. (Proverbs 14:9)
• The favour of God rests upon us. (Luke 2:14)
• God blesses us with an abundant increase of His favours. (Genesis 12:2)
The Blessing of the Lord Makes Rich
It is God’s blessings that makes one rich as we see in Proverbs 10:22—“The Blessing of the Lord, It Makes Rich, and He Adds No Sorrow with It”
We find this confirmation in Psalm 112:1; which says the man that fears God is blessed; in verse 3: “Wealth and riches shall be in his house”. And in vs 7: “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.”
Handling Riches
2 Corinthians 8:9 (NLT): “You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.”
1 Timothy 6:17-18 spells out the terms and conditions for the biblical rich.
(a) Don’t be high-minded.
(b) Don’t trust in riches, but in the living God.
(c) Do good and be rich in good works.
(d) Be ready to distribute, willing to give.
CONCLUSION
Our God is the One who promised to make us not only rich but extremely rich! Ezekiel 16:7 says: “I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments….” Proverbs 8:18 (AMP) says: “Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness (right standing with God). His promise is enduring wealth – not the one that takes up wings and fly! (Proverbs 23:5). And Proverbs 8:21 says: “That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth and true riches, and that I may fill their treasuries.”
Finally, Deuteronomy 8:18 (NLT) admonishes us to: “Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed with your ancestors with an oath.” Our wealth is a confirmation of the covenant God made with our ancestors and He is a God who honours His covenants. (Psalm 89:34)
