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PROSPERITY SCHOOL 101
Part Six - The Requirement of Resisting the Prosperity Thief

  Beloved I pray above all things that you might PROSPER - 3 John 2

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 By: Dr. Bill Miller                                                 Volume XV Number 45                                              November 11, 2012

 

Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!

 

Welcome back to our series on the subject of RE-learning the ideas we've acquired in the past about PROSPERITY in the Kingdom of God that don't AGREE with His Word. So far we've made several key points that are worth summarizing before going into tonight's topic:

 

1) The word PROSPERITY or some direct derivation of it is mentioned more than 90 times in the Bible, not as something to be avoided but as a featured characteristic of life in the Kingdom of God. It's mentioned that way in both the Old and New Testaments. Therefore, the Body of Christ needs to embrace all that God has for us, STOP attaching negative connotation to this particular part of our inheritance and then find out what His purposes are for having mentioned it so many times in a POSITIVE context.

 

2) There's a big difference between bible-based PROSPERITY and world-based MATERIALISM. For centuries the Body of Christ has tended to associate ALL forms of prosperity, success and wealth with materialism but friend that perspective is NOT biblical. No, God wants us to be PROSPEROUS but have the knowledge of how to use it according to biblical principles of STEWARDSHIP so we can successfully stay out of materialism. In short, insufficiency, lack and poverty are NOT the correct ways to overcome the world's MATERIALISM.

 

3) Indeed God wants us to PROSPER and He's given us both the power (Deuteronomy 8:18) and the New Testament opportunity (GRACE) to obtain wealth:

 

"For we know the GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9).

 

Nevertheless He's not usually going to just drop PROSPERITY in our laps. We have to study the Word so we can learn how to be good STEWARDS who can attract and use it properly.

 

4) And then we've also discussed that God's not the One who blocks our PROSPERITY during times when we're not as PROSPEROUS as we think we should be. He sent Jesus to die on a Cross so we can have GRACE for PROSPERITY and surely He's not going to go against what Jesus accomplished. No, it's the influence of our enemy the devil and of the world he's still the god over that leads us through our Flesh to make the wrong decisions and choices that actually block our PROSPERITY.

 

A Lightly Regarded Enemy

 

This week I believe the Lord wants us to look more closely at recognizing that the devil is working overtime to separate us from our PROSPERITY. The truth is many Believers these days are disregarding/ignoring/overlooking/forgetting that according to our Bibles an important part of Christian life is supposed to be about RESISTING an enemy that's determined to cause us to be weak and defeated in as many areas of life as possible (John 10:10) which CERTAINLY includes our PROSPERITY. Indeed, the Word of God clearly tells us to be on the ALERT for this enemy so that when he DOES come around we can be quick to RESIST him (1 Peter 5:8-9) and make him FLEE (James 4:7). If this instruction is there in our Bibles, shouldn't we TRUST that it's in there for a really good reason?

 

Now I'm aware that in today's Body of Christ there're all kinds of teachings and theologies on this subject. Frankly, that's part of the problem and what I like to do in the face of a bunch of contradiction on a particular biblical subject is find out for myself what the Bible actually says about it and then go by that instead of what people are saying. Yes, Jesus DID defeat Satan when he finished stripping him of his authority by resurrecting on the third day (Colossians 2:15). And yes all authority was given to Jesus in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). But it doesn't say anywhere that Satan was removed from the earth. On the contrary, a number of years after the Resurrection we have the Apostle Paul writing that the "god of this world" is still on the earth and that he's "blinding the minds of the unbelieving" (2 Corinthians 4:4). And we have the Apostle James (the brother of Jesus) and the Apostle Peter writing that we should RESIST this Adversary whenever he comes around. Has anything changed for the Body of Christ since those instructions were written? No, the devil still hasn't been removed from the earth and we know from the Word that his removal is STILL to happen in the future (Revelation 20:2, 10).

 

You might ask: if Jesus DEFEATED this enemy, why then is he still allowed to operate on the earth all these years later? The reason he's still on the earth is so that ALL people will have an opportunity to consider the two alternatives: life or death. Indeed, the Word says the Lord isn't willing that any should perish but that all should (have an opportunity to) come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Their sins have ALREADY been paid for (John 3:16, Hebrews 10:12, 17, 18, and 1 John 2:2) so now we're waiting for ALL people to finally either accept or reject Christ. In the meantime, the devil is still on the earth and we who believe are supposed to exercise our FAITH in the Word and RESIST him when he comes around trying to influence our lives. Yes he's been stripped of his authority but now we have to RESIST him with the higher authority we've been given in Christ.  

 

It's amazing but there're whole groups in the Body of Christ teaching that Satan no longer exists or that he's no longer a factor we have to seriously contend with. A few others say he's still around but that it's wrong to acknowledge he's causing any problems because in doing that we somehow glorify him too much or give him too much credit or that it diminishes the victory of Christ. But friend, that's NOT what my Bible says. Are we going to go by what the Word of God says or by men's traditions and theologies? The Bible clearly says to confront the enemy when he comes around and RESIST him. Why do you think the Apostle Paul so eloquently taught us about all the armor BELIEVERS have been provided? The answer is so we'll confidently engage in the related battles of RESISTING the enemy knowing that we'll come out victorious (Ephesians 6:10-18). The TRUTH is we actually glorify Christ when we use our FAITH (part of the armor) to RESIST the devil FEARLESSLY with the authority and the Name we've been given precisely for that purpose. We're not glorifying the devil by agreeing with what the Word of God says we should do; that's quite frankly just absurd! No, it's our FAITH that pleases God (Hebrews 11:6); and if the Word says we need to RESIST the devil, then we need to TRUST that, be obedient to it and go on about doing what it says.

 

The Problem of Unbelief

 

For the last two thousand years though since he lost ALL his authority, the enemy has been hard at work convincing people that REALITY is related to the natural realm, i.e. to the things we can hear, see, smell, touch, and taste. But the Bible says that the things we can see are only temporary and that in our present condition we aren't able to see ETERNAL things (2 Corinthians 4:18). In other words REALITY for Believers is supposed to be based on those things we aren't presently able to assess with our five physical senses. Indeed, what the Bible clearly portrays is a SUPER-natural realm that at present we can only connect to by FAITH.

 

What's happened over the years is that the enemy has successfully convinced most people that he doesn't even exist and that the SUPER-natural is based on superstition instead of on an eternal reality. Therefore, if a person these days believes there're still demons around that we ought to contend with the same way Jesus had to, then that person will be mocked by the secular, non-believing community as well as by a large segment of the Body of Christ that has lost its biblical perspective on this subject.

 

So friend, there really IS a SUPER-natural realm: your Bible says so and God lives and operates in that realm. So does the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ. The Word itself is eternal (John 1:1-2) so it also comes from the SUPER-natural realm as does the Kingdom of God. There're NO scriptures that say that after Jesus was resurrected or when the last first-century Apostle died the SUPER-natural was changed somehow and the demonic part of it was phased out. On the contrary, the New Testament is full of warnings for Believers to be on guard and to be ready to take up our weapons and go to war to defend what belongs to the Kingdom of God.

 

If the Word of God says there's an enemy we have to contend with or he'll steal, kill and/or destroy EVERYTHING we have, then there IS such an enemy and he's doing exactly what your Bible said he would be doing. And he has a lot of demonic help; he's not operating alone. The problem is too many Believers don't take the Word seriously. In other words, there's a problem of UNBELIEF and so they passively allow this enemy to go about blocking their PROSPERITY while they blame God for all their financial problems. They ignorantly respond to the influence of this enemy and make financial decisions and choices according to the world's ways of doing things that actually rob us of our PROSPERITY instead of increasing it.

 

In sum, there definitely IS an enemy and he must be RESISTED if we want to unblock our PROSPERITY. The pathway to victory starts by DECIDING to believe that the Word of God is TRUTH and then by studying it to find out as much as you can about your enemy. Then we have to accept the fact that we have to RESIST this enemy or he will simply overpower us. How do we RESIST him? Jesus did it by quoting the Word right up in his face (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10) which is a really good example for us to follow. In addition, we have also been given the NAME of Jesus and all the authority that goes with it; so everything we do to RESIST the enemy we can do in the NAME of Jesus believing by FAITH that we're empowered (GRACE) to get the victory. If we start BELIEVING we're PROSPEROUS we WILL be PROSPEROUS because he's powerless to overcome our FAITH and all the other weapons we've been given, praise the Lord!

 

Thanks for stopping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again next Sunday night on November 18. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing and cause you to PROSPER in every area of life.

 

Sinners' Prayer

 

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:

 

Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.

 

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

 

And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:

 

Romans 10:9

2 Corinthians 5:17

Ephesians 2:8

 

Prayer Requests

 

If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx

 

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