WALKING IN ABUANDANCE
…. a life changing book
By
Rev. David Aremu
First print February, 2000
All scriptural quotations are from the Authorized
King James Version of the Bible, unless otherwise
Stated.
A Publication of:
Christian Publishing International (CPI)
Box 387, Jebba, Kwara State, Nigeria.
Tel: +2348036121781, +2348051109976
Email: christianpubint@yahoo.com,
Cpi2009@live.co
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication………………………..
Acknowledgement………………...
Foreword…………………………...
Introduction……………………….
CHAPTER 1: Wealth And Eternal Life
CHAPTER 2: When The Brook Runs Dry
CHAPTER 3: Zarephath Experience
CHAPTER 4: Hope For You To Live In Abundance
CHAPTER 5: Managing God’s Abundant Blessings
Dedication
This book is dedicated to the entire members of the United Missionary Church of Africa, (UMCA) Nigeria, and especially to the UMCA Ibadan City Churches. Through them, the inspiration to write this book came when I was invited for a 5-day Revival programme in December 1998 during which I spoke on the theme: “Walking In Abundance”.
Acknowledgement
I sincerely acknowledge the Spiritual and fatherly guidance of Rev. E. T. Adekeye
Of Jesus Revolution Ministry Ilorin, whose counsel and prayers has met great needs
in my ministerial calling.
The entire members of the UMCA Light of Life Chapel, Jebba are also commended
for their understanding and financial support towards the resuscitation of the UMCA Light
of Life programme with publication work in the year 1996.
Finally, I express my appreciation to you as a buyer / reader of this book.
God bless you.
Rev. David Aremu
Foreword
From my journey of a few days, I have seen that a person can be anointed and yet poor. Of
course, Peter and John, the leading Prophets of Acts Chapter three at the Temple’s Beautiful Gate have confirmed that: Silver and Gold have I none. A dry start later gave way to the same Peter sitting at the head of accumulated treasures and superintending over the distribution of same to the needy saints. To him a vessel carrying all sorts descended much later. That is the will of God. Most believers do not understand this. For this purpose this book is written to open us up.
In the “end of time” struggle to make a point on this issue, a number of ministers and ministries have veered off the narrow way preaching mainly prosperity and nothing seriously more, claiming to have a call just in that area, writing, preaching, singing JUST THAT and nothing more in a kingdom that is so vast. Thousands are moving along this reckless path of wealth. And wealth, any wealth has its own troubles. By the time you go through our rural areas, see poverty and unbelief, sin, idol, whoredom, all mixed among the rural people who constitute 60% of the Nigerian population, you will sit down and wonder what it is all about: An African preacher amassing so much wealth. There is a tilt to the other extreme. Any attempt to teach a balance is seen as either antagonistic or what else would you say since you don’t have money?
For this purpose this book is written to provide us”middle”. I recommend it to your reading. May the Lord bless you as you do so, Amen.
Pastor Isaac Omolehin
Word Commission Assembly, Ilorin, Nigeria
Introduction
T
his is a time when “Prosperity” is a popular theme of sermons on many pulpits. Prosperity refers to a state of flourishing or a successful financial situation. It has to do with easy cash flow into hands, home, business etc. Prosperity ensures a condition that makes living easy and comfortable. The Bible has said it all: “Money is the answer for everything” - Eccl. 10:19 NIV. It is not the writer’s intention to preach earthly prosperity at the expense of the everlasting reward of heaven for “a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” – Luke 12:15 NIV. It is the life of a man in Christ that brings him abundant blessing. Wealth without Christ leads to everlasting destruction in hell: the one that lays up treasure for himself and is not rich towards God. The wealth that comes through Christ, as we keep seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness, shall surely make us walk here on earth in abundance of God’s blessings, and at the same time make us lay up in store a good foundation against the time to come, that we may lay hold on eternal life (1 Tim. 6: 19).
This book is to assure us and bring us to the realm of God’s blessing here on earth, and at the same time prepare us for eternal life.
Chapter One
WEALTH AND ETERNAL LIFE
“And behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? Jesus said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then said Jesus unto his disciples, verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven” – Matt. 19:16, 21-23.
Of all people that came to have dialogue with Jesus, only the rich young man was reported of going back in sorrow “for he had great possessions”. It would have been better to say great possessions had him. A possession that cannot be done away with, even for the sake of the gospel has had a hold on the possessor’s life. It is such a man that Christ calls a rich man who shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
God’s design is for us to have and enjoy all things: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy” – 1 Tim. 6:17.
Romans 8:32 also affirms: “He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”
God made ready for us, provisions that we met on our getting into this world. He richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Just as God gave us his only son to die for our sins without any condition to be met by us, so also he will not deny us access to all other things, as we require for our comfort. He made a way for us of entering eternal life by believing in Christ’s death and resurrection through faith: “by this also we have access (entrance, introduction) by faith into the grace – state of God’s favour in which we (firmly and safely) stand” – Rom 5:2 (AMP).
God wants us to be blessed in this world and to have eternal life at the end.
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”- Mark. 8:36. God placed the soul of a man on one side of a balance, and placed the whole riches of the world on the other side; but behold, the soul of man outweigh the riches of the world. It is the soul of a man that has eternal value and not possessions of that soul. The possessions of men shall pass away but the man “that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” – John 5:17. Even though that man should die out of this world, yet shall he live with Christ in eternity. To love one’s life here and now (i.e. to concentrate on one’s own success) is to loose what matters most - the eternal life.
At the time Peter and Andrew were called by Christ, they were busy fishing. The Bible recorded that as soon as the two of them heard Christ’s request (“follow me, and I will make you fishers of men”), they immediately “left their nets and followed him” – Matt. 4: 19-20. They left their ship and their father, and followed Christ. Therefore he put forth the question: “…behold we have forsake all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?” Matt. 19:27. The answer that Christ gave was that, “…no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (…and with them persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life” – Mark. 10:29-30 NIV.
Jesus made it clear that all that a man think he is losing by following him shall be rewarded back to such a man a hundred fold NOW IN THIS PRESENT AGE with persecutions, and in the age to come, eternal life. Our reward for following Christ and denying ourselves of earthly pleasures is not only to be acceptable in heaven but also to be loved by God here on earth. By following Christ we are given an entrance into living in abundance of God’s blessings here on earth, and (after death) in eternity.
A good man can easily give up his lust for Christ as to secure his job, family, land etc since he must also love them. It is not suffering but its CAUSE that makes a Martyr. The advantages in serving Christ are abundantly enough to balance the discouragement that may come in the way – hundred folds of comforts sufficient to make up all the loses.
Christ added “With persecutions” to the hundred fold blessings we are to receive. Why that? Persecution makes us draw closer to God. There can be no persecution if there is no blessing or success: When the church was growing in the early time of the Apostles, persecution was at its peak, yet the church grew and it is still growing at present in the face of persecution. Promotion brings about persecution: without promotion, there is no enemy. After David’s promotion came Saul who was determined to take his life just because David was assisted by God to win a battle. The blessing of God, according to King David, is to overflow in the presence of our enemies (Psalm 23:5). If God must promote you financially and in all areas of your life, there will arise enemies; but surely the Lord who brought about the blessings will lift up your head above your enemies round about you (Psalm 27:6) Halleluyah!
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” – Matt. 6:33. The one thing that is needful is for you to seek first, the kingdom of God: this is the surer way to obtain the necessities of this life. Take no thought for the life of your body (wealth) but rather the life of your soul – your eternal happiness. We make nothing of our wealth (or religion) if we do not make heaven at the end. Let God that is the first have the first and the very best – your soul – and after which you can have the earthly riches.
Let me close this chapter by reminding you of the destinies of that rich man and Lazarus in Luke 19:19-31. The rich man enjoyed the things of this world to the fullest but he was not rich towards God. He received all good things of this world, including a befitting burial but ended in hell, eternal damnation and second death. He die and died. But the Angels took Lazarus, who could not enjoy this world’s riches, and who was buried just like a dog, to Abraham’s bosom. He obtained eternal life. He died out of this world but lives forever in eternal happiness. The fact Jesus wants us to know in concluding that parable is that, people who could not listen to the scriptures will not be convinced even if someone rises from the death. Those who live in open and blatant defiance of the law of God are not going to change their ways given some special revelation even if that revelation is someone rising from the dead.
The writer of the Proverbs writes: “Two things have I required of thee: deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, who is the LORD? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain” - Prov. 30:7-9.
We are not to seek after prosperity at the detriment of our eternal life. It is better to be poor and get to heaven than to be rich in this world and end up in hell.
God bless you as you prayerfully consider your spiritual position before God presently, before you read further.
Chapter Two
WHEN THE BROOK RUNS DRY
“And Elijah the Tisbite, … said unto Ahab, as the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. And the word of the LORD came unto him saying, get thee hence and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there… And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.”- 1 kings 17:1-7.
Nobody has all he needs; no one has the resources to meet the need of the hour. Circumstances may change, but God’s aim concerning us will never change. That is, to bring us to an expected end (Jeremiah 29:11) of walking in the realm of God’s abundance. Staying where God wants you to be will lead to your enjoying God’s blessing. Elijah went out of the city when famine had just began, to stay by the brook cherith where the ravens brought him food. The first thing is for you to know where God wants you to stay, and then your obeying God’s instruction without querying.
It was into a wilderness God led Elijah. Remember, God sustained the Israelites for 40 years with water, food and protection in the wilderness. This is a proof of God’s provision during man’s worst situation. Lack of rain or dew in Elijah’s time was a sign, or the beginning of famine yea of sorrow. Yet he was to stay outside the city as to enjoy God’s sustenance. He enjoyed staying at the brook while others in the city were starving. As long as the brook kept supplying water, and ravens bringing food, all was well until the brook dried up!
Your flowing brook might have being your place of work, your business, your parents, wife, husband or friends. Any of these (or any other) might have been supplying you with God’s blessings even while some other people are lacking. Just let the month runs to an end or let the business deal be done, you are rest assured that the pressing financial need shall be met. That your flowing brook may run dry one day: retrenchment, business collapse, debt accumulation to the detriment of the business, death of parent, wife, husband or friend, etc. It is the ongoing of the world that makes it sad. If the world stood still at a happy moment there would be no sadness in it. The Sun and Moon that stood still at Aijalon was not a catastrophe for Israel, but a type of paradise. Yet even a stationary heaven and earth would become dull at last. Your source of brook cannot always satisfy.
Why should the brook be allowed to run dry since God originally gave it? If you hang on your brook too much, you may forget God who gave it. The brook can make you forget that you are a stranger in this world. This world is not your home no matter your enjoyment of the brook. You have to keep your confidence in depending on resources outside yourself, and that is on God. Though you may miss your brook, you will not miss God – the source of all blessings. A brook and birds don’t show you as much as a mother and child can do. That means God has a better plan ahead of you by allowing your flowing brook to run dry. There is something better to come your way. You need not to cry over it. The next thing for you to do is to ask God for the next step you are to take; or what next you should do.
“And the word of the LORD came unto him saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee” – 1 King17: 8-9.
Elijah received further instruction from God before he stepped out of the brook area. As your brook runs dry, you need to pray and receive directions or idea of what you should do from God. A man of God once said, “Nobody has a money problem: it is always an idea problem”. You are to ask God for an idea, his leading or what to be done in line with prayer requests. You don’t need to pray and sit down. Be sure you receive a direction from God before you step out to act upon the revelation or instruction of God.
“And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” – Luke 11:9.
Your asking is praying. Praying for what? I think for an idea or direction or solution to what you are praying about. God gives idea, but he doesn’t give small ones. His big plans for us can start in a small way, but he will not give a stationary small idea. Don’t throw back God’s big idea and plan for your life when you think they are impossible. That brings failure. In fact that is unbelief. “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” – James 1:6-8. God is setting you up for the greatest miracle of your life by giving you big ideas. “Make your thinking big enough for God to fit in,” says a preacher. Have a dream that will shape your future. Your dream will decide how far you can go and how big you can become for God and his glory.
Seeking is acting on God’s idea that comes your mind while praying. Always get in tune with God’s spirit and be obedient to God’s leading. Do the actual thing he wants you to do at any time. Do not stay when you are supposed to move or act, and do not act when you are to stay. God guided the Israelites in their wilderness wandering by the cloud, covering the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud settled, the Israelites had to settle, and when it moved even at midnight, they had to take off (Numb. 9:15-23). A minute delay may disorganize God’s plan for your life, and a minute of haste may bring you a set back.
I started to teach in a new secondary school in the year 1992. I was also serving as the Vice Principal of the school. In 1995, God spoke to me to quit the job for “to every thing there is a season.” I had been called into the pastoral ministry by then; and the work of the Master was occupying my mind daily. As soon as I heard God’s instruction, I obeyed by putting forth a month’s resignation notice. Unknown to a group of inspectors on WAEC recognition inspection a week after dropping my letter, they reshuffled the administrative staff posting and dropped me out as an ordinary teacher from the post of a V.P. They tried to console me why the reshuffling must be done. I only told them, I did not get to that school by my own will: my time has already expired, and I had put forth my letter of resignation!
Knocking is your persistency in prayer when the seeking (acting) seems not to yield the desired fruit. God’s special miracle of intervention is needed. A man of God said, “When you think you have exhausted all possibilities remember this: you haven’t! Because you can still pray!” Is there any idea or plan coming into your mind in line with your business, job, and education or marital, etc? Arise and act in line if you know you had really prayed. If your brook has run or is running dry, look unto God from whom comes your help.
Chapter Three
THE ZAREPHATH EXPERIENCE
“And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her and said, Bring me I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son that we may eat it, and die. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after, make for thee and for they son. For thus said the LORD God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Elijah.” – 1 Kings 17:7-16.
A widow woman was prepared by God to sustain the man of God with the little she had – “an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse”. While was Elijah not led to a wealthy man or woman or to the king at such a time of famine? This is to allow trust in God for sustenance rather than trust in man. It is to look on God rather than man as the source of blessing. That faith will not be shifted from God to man or on all other possibilities outside God. Elijah did not doubt God’s ability. His was just to obey. The complaints of the widow of Zarephath were enough to make Elijah pity her and go back to report her situation to God or disbelief God’s leading. In line of God’s leading can be mountains of doubt. Circumstances will present themselves as to make you doubt God – only believe, for all things are possible to him / her who believes (Mark 9:23).
On the other hand, the widow did not doubt the saying of the prophet. She did not allow her complaints to prevail but acted on the word of God spoken by the prophet. Yes she ought to be pitied by God and by the man of God. A widow having a son and without food sincerely deserves God’s mercy. But before she could be helped, her obedience to the word of God was put to test. It was confirmed that obedience to God’s word is the key to God’s abundance. Before you can walk in abundance of God’s bounty, you have to obey God’s word to the letter. It is natural to complain; or let me say the natural man will complain on all God’s instructions but a spiritual man will comply. God would not pity a man / woman who also is not ready to put to practice the instructions in the scriptures:
“Do not let this Book of the law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” - Joshua 1:8.NIV.
Your acting on God’s word will enable you to succeed. Let me explain the King James Version of Joshua 1:8 …to do according to all that is written there in: for then (after you have done it) thou shalt make thy way (by yourself) prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success (not only a success but a good one).
Let us consider some other scriptural examples of people that did according to the instruction given and saw the result.
In Luke 5:4-6, Jesus spoke to peter to “launch out into the deep, and let dawn your net for a draught” He complained in verse 5 but concluded: “Nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.” Verse 6 gave the verdict: “when they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break”- NIV.
Naaman the leper made several complaints to the instruction of God given to him by prophet Elisha. After a while, he humbled himself to obey those instructions. The result was that: “…his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean” –I kings 5:14.
It is natural for you to complain about your load of debt, unsettle bills, financial problems, business failure, etc. rather than obeying God’s instructions. Your complaint and your failure to put into practice God’s instruction will not make you walk in the abundance of God’s blessings. Abundant miracle comes when you ACT upon your HEARING (OR READING), and believing the word of God. The acting is obedience that leads to blessings. Remember the instruction given by the mother of Jesus to the servants at the wedding feast: “whatsoever he saith unto you, do it” – John 2:5.
What are you instructed to do in the scriptures and which the failing to do them brings, not only failure but also curses? Firstly, your Tithes: Malachi 3: 8-12. Read that passage and examine yourself. Are you faithful? If you are not, then you are already under a curse. Such a person should not think that he would receive any good thing from God because devourers have been poured out to devour the blessing that might come his way. But as soon as you repent and put all the one – tenth of your income / blessings into the church (not that you share it to different places), God promised to rebuke devourers (sickness thieves, etc) because of you. Your tithe is your insurance against losses; but as soon as tithing fails, the wall of your insurance is broken and a snake may bite (Eccl. 10:9). God said you could put him to a test and see whether he “will not open unto you windows of heaven and pour you out blessings that there shall not be room enough to receive it”.
Secondly, your offering: Gal. 7-9; II Corinthians 9:7: I was paying tithe on the whole of income and yet the expected result did not come. I persistently prayed for a breakthrough and God said to me one day: “Be not deceive, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap”. You cannot reap more than you have sown. If you want to reap more bountifully, you have to sow bountifully. But our problem is that we always want to revert order: to sow sparingly and reap bountifully. “…God will not allow himself to be sneered at- scorned, disdained or mocked (by mere pretensions or professions or His precepts being set aside). He inevitably deludes himself who attempt to delude God. For whatever a man sows that and that only is what he will reap.” Galatians 6:7 Amp. You know how to give bountifully to a friend who is involved in an occasion so that he would speak well of you? How much do you spend on your child going to school every week? But when it comes to offering, you know what you throw into the offering plate. Offering is a key to blessing, learn to give bountiful offerings not only on harvest Sunday, Christmas or new Year but at all time: “in the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good”- Eccl. 11:6.
Thirdly, Offering for special works of God: Exodus 35:4-5, 20-22; Haggai 1:5-11.
“…. Whosoever is of a willing heart let him bring it, an offering of the Lord”. Special offerings, the type that are usually requested for in what we call “launching”. No launching was done in the scripture. The only place we read about “launch” and not “Launching” is when peter was instructed to “launch into the deep… for a draught”. That is saying you should draw out your money from where you keep it (your deep): “launch out into the deep… for a draught”. Allow your savings to be brought out for the work of God – Church building, Evangelism equipment, Tract printing, and such other that will draw or win men to God not just for the sake of giving. The type of ground into which you sow your seed matters. Sow into good fertile ground – soul saving ground. An unwilling heart will not give this type of offering. In Haggai’s time, the people refused to give this kind of special offering for the work of the LORD; hence the judgement of God on them: “…you have sown much and bring in little… he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes… Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified… ye looked for much, and lo it came little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? Saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste and ye run every man unto his own house…”- Haggai 1:5-11. God did not allow them to walk in abundance because they loved their own things more than that of God. They did not take care of God’s work first. As a result, they could not have God’s blessings. Give specially from your store or savings (your deep) for a special work of God, and it would redound unto blessing for you.
I started publishing tracts for free distribution with my tithes in the year 1987. Later, God spoke to me to use my personal resources for the publication work: The Hope of Glory Publications. In the year 1995 God made me realize that I was not doing his business, as I ought to. Immediately I decided to use the cash meant for our family domestic fridge to publish Tracts. My wife agreed, and we did the publishing. Nearly two months latter, God told me to go open a Frozen fish retailing shop in one of the popular market location in Jebba. I normally don’t keep money in the Bank for I believe God to always supply all that I need according to his riches in glory, exactly as I need and at the time of my need. Since God had spoken that I should start off the shop, I held unto him for all that I needed – a Deepfreeze, weigh balance, a shop and cash. I got a shop that has no electrification system and the building was located far away from any source of electricity. “God, you gave this very shop at the very location you fixed in my mind: you are to arise and provide me electricity meter, Deep-freezer etc that I need”, I kept praying. A man who was tired of the use of a Meter agreed to transfer it to me. That solved the electrification problem. A long Deep-freezer was miraculously purchased while the shop owner sold the shop building to me at last. A very big Domestic fridge, which we desired at first and for the sake of God’s work we gave off the idea, was later purchased at a reasonable price and in excellently good condition. Giving our resources for the work of God will surely bring physical and eternal rewards.
Fourthly, caring for God’s Ministers: I Corinthians 9:9-11: Rom15: 27.
“If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your canal things? …for if the gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in canal thing”. These are Paul’s summary in the text above. Paul was establishing the fact that the ministers of God are to be cared for by the church members. For their spiritual services, they in turn are to receive physical (canal) rewards from the members. Good deeds to men of God bring abundant blessings to the giver. The woman of Shunem and Sarah were rewarded with male children after their caring for God’s representatives of their time. The Zarephath woman took care of Elijah before she found herself in abundance of God's blessings.
In July 1998, I was invited by one of our churches for a three-day revival programme. During the revival, I took time to correct the Church’s failure to care adequately for the man of God working with them. The pastorium was not put up finely and the man of God was managing a single room apartment. That church was busy spending on Church building while the minister was left to suffer for it. By December of that same year, their minister came to express the gratitude of the church elders to me. The church heeded God’s instruction passed to them: they stopped the church work for the renovation of the pastorium. As soon as the minister’s house was put in good condition, a cash gift of N30, 000.00 come in for the Church from someone visiting the country form abroad. They had to continue the church project. The church was grateful for their eyes opening to what they were supposed to have done. Their simple obedience brought unto them abundance of blessing. Even if you have not received a blessing through the prayer of a man of God, as long as he comes your way, care for him. He is God’s representative. This is a key for you to walk in abundance of God’s blessing. God might have prepared you for meeting the need of the man. Abigail’s care for David and his men saved her husband from David’s brutality and at last brought her blessing in becoming one of David’s wives.
The fifth aspect of Biblical injunction for us to follow, and which shall be discussed lastly is GIVING: “Give and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete without it shall be measured to you again. -Luke 6:38.
Giving is parting with or sharing of what we have with those in need without the expectation of getting it back from the receiver. “Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days”- Eccl. 11:1. That is, throw out your goods that are very important to you into places (or person) where you least expect to get it back. Let the water carry it away from you. The thought of man is far from that of God. To walk in abundance, God’s instruction bids you to throw off what you think you have. Let it go from you. But man’s understanding of abundance is to keep pilling things up. You have to launch into your deep (your bank account, your business etc and pull out something you will have to throw off) for a catch! “One man gives freely, yet gains even more: another withholds, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper, he who refreshes other will himself be refreshed” - Proverbs 11:24-25. NIV. Generosity is a key to prosperity. As you open your hands to give, so shall men (other people that you may not think of) give back to you, good measure of hundred folds of blessings.
As the brook is drying up, ask for your Zarephath: a place of Gods abundance where no dryness is experienced until the day that God will send rain upon the earth (1Kings 17:14). Zarephath is a place where Gods abundance is regularly experienced everyday throughout the year even when there is no rain. When the rain is yet to fall, the blessing will be uninterrupted. With your total obedience, you enjoy staying in your Zarephath to eat the fruit of the land (Isaiah.1: 19).
The scripture records that when the widow woman “did according to the saying of Elijah, she and he, and her house did eat many days”. Not only was the woman, her son and Elijah been fed, but also other members of her household. People living with her in that house which we did not know of initially or let me say her relatives that went to live with her when they heard of her blessings. The widow’s obedience brought her abundant blessing.
The sending down of blessing by God is always depicted as rainfall: “be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten,
…And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed”- Joel 2:23-26. From Zarephath to rainfall situation. From blessing to abundance of blessing. Heaven opening throughout the year accomplishing God’s promises. Abundant miracle when you Act upon your HEARING or READING, and BELIEVING the word of God.
Chapter Four
HOPE FOR YOU TO LIVE IN GOD’S ABUNDANCE
“Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; thus saith the LORD, Tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measure of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria”- II Kings 7:1
No time is too short for God to bring about your blessing. Unbelief only brings failure, loss of hope, living without miracles, and even death. “…For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord”. - James 1:6-7.
The children of Israel got into sin, and curses were flowing upon their lives. There was oppression by the enemies. There was famine to the extent of their eating forbidden things – the head of Donkey, an unclean animal. Not only that, there was the killing and eating of their children. “And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat” - Lev. 26:29 (Read also Deut. 28:53,57). The curses of God came to fulfillment. Their enemies distressed them. At this particular time of moral decadence, the word of God came by the mouth of Prophet Elijah who prophesied plentifully for the Israelites. Not a month to come, not days but TOMORROW! No time is too short for God to change your situation. You can begin to walk in abundance of God’s blessing NOW! Your miracle may come tomorrow. Do not give up. God is in control. But your salvation may be too late by tomorrow; therefore do not delay.
Since the word of God must be fulfilled, there was the urgency for the heavenly hosts to act positively in line with the accomplishment of that which God had spoken. A heavenly computer is to take off as to direct the affairs of men in line with what God had spoken: “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”Isaiah55: 11.
The heavenly hosts produced a noise to the hearing of the Syrians, the enemies of Israel. “For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host…wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their lives”- II Kings 7:6-7. The enemies believed that the Israelites had hired more warriors, and so they fled for safety. Your enemies shall hear the noise of heavenly hosts and be scattered in Jesus name, Amen. It was this noise of war produced from heaven that opens the channel of blessing. All that brings about a noise – persecution, transfer, retrenchment, unpaid salary, etc – can bring about your blessing. You don’t have to grumble or cry at such circumstances. Believe that “all things work together for good to them that love God”- Rom. 8:28. The dryness of the brook took Elijah to a fresh source of blessing – Zarephath.
God can use anybody to bring about the fulfillment of his promises concerning you: “Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of Kings; …ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves” - Isaiah 60:16, 61:6. God can use the unbelievers to bless you. The rejected people in Israel, the lepers, were used at that time to bring about the accomplishment of that which God had spoken. The spirit of God worked in their hearts to quit the famished city of Samaria and go towards the camp of the enemies believing that if they perish it would be okay. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure” – Phil. 2:13.
God was working in them to bring about His purpose. The lepers became agents of blessing. They satisfied themselves and went to report to the king. Search was made and behold, “…a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD”- II Kings 7:16.
God’s word concerning you, “to give you an expected end” (Jer. 29:11) must come to pass no matter the delay. God will wake up those people to be used for your blessing. Many a times when our faith runs down to zero level, God keep perfecting His will. Sarah could no longer cope in faith and she laughed in disbelief at the promise of God to give her a son within a season. She said, “Will I really have a child, now that I am old?” God’s response was, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?”
Zechariah also could not believe his having a son at old age despite the angelic proclamation. Ezekiel could not believe the coming alive again of dry bones that “were very dry” when God asked him, “can these bones live?” He simply returned it back to God by saying, “O Lord God, thou knowest”. God told him to prophesy to the dry bones, the word of God. When your faith runs down to zero level, prophesy to the situation. God did not ask Ezekiel to pray now, but to prophesy. To speak forth the word of God (life) into the very dry bones. Prayer and prophecy work together for good; but when your faith can no longer carry you forward, prophesy the word of God to the situation. Open your mouth and pronounce life unto dead situations, unto weak business, unto sick body, etc. Such prophecies shall cause a noise and a shaking to bring about your blessings.
“So I prophesied as I was commanded; and there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and bone came together, bone to his bone” - Ezekiel 37:7. This is not a noise of war but a noise of joy. A life imparting noise, a noise of resurrection from your dead financial situation, your static business and your body etc. And a shaking off of all that brings debts, strangulation, stagnancy, etc. “Bone to his bone”: freshness of blessings coming to you will results in noise of joy and thanksgiving.
Chapter Five
MANAGING GOD’S ABUNDANT BLESSINGS
Jesus told us of a man who could not manage God’s abundant provision for him. We were told that the man said to himself: “…You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry” – Luke 12:19 NIV. That man was called a fool because he concluded that a man’s possession is an indication of his life. That is, as much as a man has, so also is his life. He was like the other rich ruler that came to Jesus and went back sorrowful when told: “sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” – Luke 18:22. The bible says he went back sorrowful because “he was very rich”. Or as we said earlier, because riches had him: since he cannot give off what he had.
Jesus gave this warning: “Guard yourselves and keep free from all covetousness – the immoderate desire for wealth, the greedy longing to have more; for a man’s life does not consist and is not derived from possessing overflowing abundance, or that which is over and above his needs” – Luke 12:15 Amp.
A man’s life is not justified by what he has, but it is only in the riches of the grace of God through Christ Jesus that a man’s life can be of great value.
Many cannot manage effectively God’s blessings. They see themselves as one that, through knowledge, wisdom or power have accumulated such wealth. And so are uplifted in their minds. This leads to pride. Some, who by special privilege occupies important positions in the society, becomes occupied with thoughts of their high positions to the extent of not associating with people they left in their former lower positions. Wealth can lead to pride if not handled with the fear of God. “Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly; but the proud he knoweth afar off” – Psalms 138:6. God looks upon the lowly with more favour, but recognises the proud from a great distance for what they are, and so does not let them see his face: He removes his favour from them. That is why it becomes so hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The bible admonishes us to “charge them that rich in this world, that they be not high minded nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy” – 1 Tim. 6:17.
Effective management of God’s abundant blessing is not to trust in uncertain riches, which God provided. “Uncertain” because it may not be permanent. Nothing is more uncertain than the wealth of this world. Many have had much of it one day and been stripped of all the next. Many have riches, but enjoy them poorly, not having a heart to use them. Put not your trust in God’s provision, but on God who gave it. It can be easy for you to gain the whole world, but find it difficult to enter the kingdom of God. Do not trust in “uncertain riches”.
Managing God’s blessings effectively also involves having a ready mind to give out to the needy as well as for the work of the Gospel. Those are truly rich who are rich in good works, and preparing for eternity by works of charity. The willingness to give away charitably determines to what extent the heart of the owner is attached to the wealth. Remember Jesus said to that man “sell all … and follow me”. That is for the cause of the gospel: caring for the poor and following Christ.
Your joy on God’s provision should not be in your earthly investments but let it be in the heavenly investments you can make. For if you take pleasure in earthly investments, do you know who will manage it when you die? “… A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it; this is vanity, and it is an evil disease” – Eccl. 6:2. It is only what you do for the cause of God’s work that will indicate your effective management of God’s abundant resources.
As a church, how much do we spend on Evangelism and how much is spent on Church renovation and Electronic gadgets? The man of God in charge of the church should know that God would require him to give an account of how His resources were used. Good management of God’s resources is to let it have impact of salvation on the unsaved that abounds within and outside the cities. Getting to the unsaved at all cost and getting them for Christ is the soul of Evangelism. A thousand naira spend on a single soul to conversion, worth more than thousands of naira spent on church renovation and gadgets. It is only the recovering of lost souls that bring joy to heaven not how much that is spent on church renovation and equipments.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
YOU CAN BE SELF - EMPLOYED
YOU
CAN BE
SELF - EMPLOYED
By
Rev. David Aremu
Third Edition Co-authored with COS Fawenu
First Print 1989
Second Print 2005
Third Print 2011
All scriptural quotations are from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible, unless otherwise stated.
Published by:
Christian Publishing International
P. O. Box 387, Jebba, Kwara State, Nigeria.
Tell: (+234)8036121781; (+234)8051109976
Email: christianpubint@yahoo.com,cpi2009@live.com
Blog: www.cpi-cpi.blogspot.com
FOREWORD You can be self-employed is a book I had the opportunity of reading the first edition once, the second edition twice and as a pastor, I had convincing reasons to invite the author to teach on the subject to my congregation. My testimony is that the book is a good blend of spirituality and practicality. It has blessed me; it has blessed my congregation and countless other people. Books on this subject under different titles are many, but this one is unique in the sense that the spiritual / faith dimension is well emphasized. Dwelling on philosophical or scientific principle of men to run business is good but it is not strong enough to build a businessman / woman who can’t handle eventualities that goes with business. With this book you are guaranteed a clean business that will not only pay your bills but make you an employer of labour. Happy reading! State Secretary, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kwara State and Presiding Shepherd, Oasis of Wisdom Bible Church, Ilorin, Nigeria TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgement ……………………………………………………… Foreword………………………………………………………………….. Introduction: You can Make It! ……………………………………… Chapter One: The Just Shall Live by Faith ……………………….. Chapter Two: Living by Faith ………………………………………… Chapter Three: Answer to Prayers ………………………………….. Chapter Four: The Vision ……………………………………………… Chapter Five: Financial Matters ……………………………………… Chapter Six: Becoming the Manager of Your Own Business…… Chapter Seven: Be Innovative ad Heavenly Conscious………….. Learn from the Children of Issachar………………………………… INTRODUCTION. YOU CAN MAKE IT! This book is the third edition of those published in the years 1989 and 2005 with this same title. Although situation, especially economic factors have completely changed in the country since that time, yet the unemployment rate is more on the increase. We have also entered the computer age when work to be done by a number of men is being taken over by a single computer. Recently in a state, there was a call on Teachers to apply for employment opportunities. Only a small number were said to be needed but Teachers came out in their thousands to apply. The few that were employed were those that had “high political” influence. The Government has no plan to provide gainful employment for citizens. The few vacancies brought about by death or retirements of officers are occupied by those that have high connective political power that no one will be able to query. People graduate every year but there is no employment for them. Youths get into marriages without gainful employment when they are of mature ages. Federal Government Industrial set ups are being privatized without any reasonable change in the employment sector of the Nation. God inspired my heart to re-write this book based on the principle of old: “The just shall live by his faith”- Habakkuk 2:4. Situation in the Country may change but the principle of the word of God never changes. These principles are what are being discussed in this edition with the expectation that readers, whether engaged in one business or the other, or not employed at all will rise to start off a business venture with little or no capital investment. YOU CAN MAKE IT. What most people lack is initiative or ideas, not really capital or money. The two main problems to getting started are those of IDEA and FAITH. Ideas and faith are what you need. Several examples are written in this book to teach God’s people how they can also start off with little or nothing by acting on what (idea) they believe would work for them. Remember, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without work is dead also” - James 2:26. THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH THE JUST: “Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” - Romans 5: 1-2. A just person is one that has been justified (declared to be personally righteous in Christ by God) through faith in Christ. Without that, all that man call “works of righteousness” are as filthy rags before God and are the more separated from God. Righteousness is imputed on a man / woman after being justified by faith in Christ Jesus. Justification is a declarative act by which a sinner is declared to be freed from guilt and the repercussions of sin since all these consequence have been satisfied in Christ. Justification is more than a pardon from sin. It is a declaration by God that the sinner, though guilty, has had his guilt remitted in Christ. The person therefore receives a favour from God as being personally righteous in Christ, and therefore accepted as being in Christ’s righteousness. You cannot be justified without faith. You need to hold unto the Scriptures by faith before you can have access into peace with God: the forgiveness of sin. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God”. Justification takes away enmity between us and God. There is now friendship and loving kindness between us and God. We therefore “have access by faith into this grace where in we stand.” The grace of being a just person that has access to God by faith in Christ is not accessible on our own. Christ leads us into it through faith. There is nothing in man to deserve such a favour; it is through the redemption that is in Christ. FAITH: The Bible defines faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” -Heb. 11:1. Faith is an assurance that enters the heart by believing the word of God. It becomes real and manifest physically. God framed the world by his word through faith, “so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear “ (Heb. 11:3). That is, all the things we can see physically now were not created by physical things. All were created or called into existence by God through faith. God “Calls things that are not as though they were”- Rom. 4:17(NIV). “As if they {already} existed”- AMP. The Scripture then says without this kind of God-faith, we cannot please God (Heb.11: 6). We must exercise God’s type of faith – calling things that are not as though they are and surely they will be, Amen. Man‘s problem is to see and feel before believing. That is, things, which should appear, should be made from things that are seeing. That is not faith. It is of the world: “seeing is believing ”, they say. Jesus said, “Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say... and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” - Mark 11:22-23.How does that kind of faith come? “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”- Rom. 10:17. The beginning, progress and strength of faith are by hearing the word of God. The word of God is the instrument or rather the platform on which faith is built. It is not hearing the enticing words of man’s wisdom, but hearing and reading to keep in heart, the word of God. You need to be acquainted with the word of God before you can stand on it. Your believing leads to your Confession. You must need to ACT on what you believe. FAITH is more than Confession; it is acting on what you believe. You can believe the whole scripture but it is your acting (taking actions about what you believe) that brings results. Jesus said unto Simon, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught”. Peter gave the natural human complain of how it had not been possible to catch any fish at that location even throughout the night when it was usually easy to do so. But then he concluded: “nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net“. Result: “And when they had this done, they enclose a great multitude of fishes; and their net brake” - Luke 5:4 – 6. Result came after ACTING on the word of Jesus (the instruction) not when that word was doubted or confessed. Naaman the leper doubted the word of God spoken by Elisha. He was persuaded by a servant girl. He went down reluctantly. But after he ACTED on the word he heard, “his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean”- 2 kings 5:14. Simon Peter did not walk on physical water, but on the invisible platform created by the word of Christ on the water. The word was “Come”. Peter believed that word and stepped into the water. Since it is the word of God mixed with faith (believing) that brings result by action, Peter began to sink when he put off faith by considering the circumstances that surrounded him. The word was still there, and he was acting but there was no more faith. Jesus reprimanded him for his lack of faith: “You of little faith, ... why did you doubt?”- Matt. 14:25-31 NIV. God’s word is creative; when you believe and act on it, result comes. But the natural man complaints at the word, while the spiritual (Justified) man complies and see results. The Just man does not live by bread (things that are physical) only, “but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” - Deut. 8:3 NIV. Remember, for faith to bring result, there must be a word of God to be acted upon after your believing it. HOPE AND PATIENCE: There are two other elements that act along with true faith in order to receive the fruit of faith. These are HOPE and PATIENCE. “For we are Saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it” -Rom. 8:24-25. Faith respects the promise and hope for the thing promised. Faith is the evidence, and hope is the expectation of things not seen. Faith is the mother of hope. In hoping for a thing that seems to tarry, we need patience. The bible testifies of Abraham as one, ”who against hope believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be” - Rom. 4:18. When there was no hope of having a child, due to his old age and the barrenness of Sarah's womb, Abraham kept on believing the promise made unto him of God and he staggered not at the promise through unbelief. He was strong in faith, giving glory to God. He was fully persuaded that what God had promised, he was able also to perform (Rom. 4:19-20). God’s word unto him, the promise, sprang the faith and this was backed up by hope. He waited with patience for 25 years and obtained the promised child. “But let patience have her perfect work that, ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” - James 1:4. If patience is not exercised, there would be nothing to hope for. And if hope, which is expectation, is absent, there would be no evidence, which is faith. The bible admonishes us to be “follower of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises” - Heb. 6:12. CHAPTER TWO LIVING BY FAITH “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith” - Rom. 1:17. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith in the life of a justified person. Men become justified by faith in the Lord Jesus. He starts off new life by faith: “… from faith to faith.” He then Continue living his life by faith. From faith engrafting him unto Christ, to faith deriving virtue for him from Christ: “... as it is written, the just shall live by faith” - Rom. 1:17. From faith that justifies to faith that maintains. Faith is all both in the beginning and progress of a Christian life. The faith increases, continues and preserves. In times of affliction, the justified man would be able to live by faith. Faith puts life and vigor in him. We are not to live a day of our lives without faith. As you have started your Christian life by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, you are expected by God to live all the days of your life by that same faith. That is to trust in God daily for all that is needed in life for sustenance. Whatever that is gotten by you is accredited to the grace of God and not to your own understanding, power or wisdom. It shows a complete dependent on God (by faith) for sustenance. A NATURAL EXAMPLE: Of all creatures, I considered the chameleon to be an animal that is living by faith. “Rome was not built in a day” they say. Whatever to be done by faith requires a step - by - step progress. If you are to build a house, you have to start from somewhere and keep on the vision by moving forward gradually. Only be sure that you don’t stop to function. As sluggish as the chameleon is, I have never seen one crushed to death on the high way. Ilorin – Jebba – Kaduna road is a Federal busy road I am familiar with. I have not seen a dead chameleon but several of Snakes, Lizards, Rats, Dogs and Goats. “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy”(Rom. 8:16 ).. Not of snakes and Dogs that can swiftly run to escape from accident, but of God that shows mercy on faith movement of the chameleon. With lots of trailers, buses and small cars passing with high speed on this major road, the chameleon (an animal of faith) will look right and left and say, “I will cross over this road; no matter how these vehicles are speeding, I will pass through”. Then the Chameleon will step unto the high way by faith, swinging sideways and forging on. His faith confession will be adhered to: “I will cross over... I will cross over”. And when any driver sees the chameleon moving with such a rigor across the road, the faith action of that animal will strike the driver's mind and he will swerve to left or right to avoid the small animal crossing by faith. The animal continues his swinging movement and confession of “I will cross ... I will cross”. At last, the chameleon is safely at the other side of the road. Living by faith is a daily phenomenon. From one faith to another by grace. It is the faith action that would trigger off a positive response somewhere and rightly directed by God (unknown to the one living by faith) to bring to pass the required action. At the on set of the MTN in Jebba, I told my wife that the telephone business would be incorporated into our business and that its Kiosk would be erected in front of our shop. I got the vision clear in my mind, and I constructed the type of Kiosk I wanted in my mind. I fixed it in front of the shop in my mind by faith. Then I went to the carpenters to bargain for the price of its construction even though I had not as much as a kobo to pay for it. The bargain was settled and I told them I would come back again for the construction. The vision was real to me and I had started seen it functioning with my eyes of faith. Suddenly, somebody sent me a cheque of N10, 000. 00 apart from his regular donation for the publication work we are handling. The tithe was deducted and the remaining cash went for the Kiosk. Before long, the land phone was set in place and the telephone business commenced. Now how do we get a handset for the business? At this stage, my father died. Then I told my wife that after the burial ceremony I would buy one handset to mark the occasion even though we were yet to have cash for the ceremony. “But the just shall live by his faith”. After the occasion and every other expenses including tithing, a sum of N8, 500.00 was left on me. Before any event crept in, I went for a Nokia 5110 handset that cost N7000 by then. To live daily by faith in all areas of life: 1. Get your vision clear. Not a night vision, but the picture of what you want to do in your mind. 2. Write down the vision if possible on paper but sincerely get the picture in your mind; yea be pregnant with it: For “What things so ever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive then, and ye shall have then “- Mark 11:24. Whatsoever ye desire: whatever you load your heart with, whatever that impregnate your mind, whatsoever you settle your heart unto, believe that you have already received them, and it shall be so unto you. 3. Pray about it and expect your miracle 4. Let nothing blur your vision 5. Do not give up or diversify from what you started with. Hold tightly on to your initial vision and don’t divert. 6. When “patience have her perfect work”, you shall be entire, wanting nothings (James 1: 4). 7. Take steps forward; move and do not be static. TRIALS OF FAITH: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than that of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory” - I peter 1:7. Faith that is not tried is no faith at all. “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac; and he that had received the promise offered up his only begotten son” - Heb. 11:19. All the heroes of faith were tried in one way or the other and were found strong. They justified their faith by their actions. People who are serious in their faith are liable to afflictions designed for the trial of their faith. Gold is the most valuable and durable of all metals. When gold is tried in fire, It glitters and diminishes, and at last, it perished: “Gold that periseth”. Among the Christian Virtues, faith is also valuable but its trials lead to its growth. It increases after a trial had been overcome, and lasts till it brings the soul to heaven. The trial of faith is much more precious than that of gold, and at last might be found unto praise, honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Trial of faith will definitely come. When it comes, God is always on the side of the just person to comfort and strengthen. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivereth him out of them all” - Psalm 34:19. Whenever any trial (or what we at times call affliction) comes our way, it will only be for a moment to work out for us, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17). The afflictions or trials of Job were for a moment and worked out for him multiple blessings. Job answered his friends during the trial period that, even if the Lord slay him, he would yet trust in him and maintain his righteous way before the LORD (Job 13:15). He did not faint, complain or give up; he withstood the trials. “If thou faint in the day to adversity, thy strength is small “- Prov, 24:10. If a man cannot stand adversity, which is likely to be met in any kind of enterprise, he cannot stand prosperity. Why then do you, a son or daughter of God, have to faint during trials when your faith is already the victory that overcomes the world (1 John. 5: 4). One thing is certain; God will not tempt us above that which we are able to bear, but will with that trial make a way for us to bear it (1 Cor. 10:13). Trials (or what the scripture calls weeping) may endure for a period of time (a night), but joy comes afterwards – Psalm 30:5. Trials or afflictions, if accepted by faith, make one to learn more of God and his ways (Psalm 119:71). Remember, Abraham believed in hope. He neither considered the bareness of Sarah’s womb nor of his own body. He had still, the strong faith of receiving what God had promised him. When it looks dark in the realm of faith, you have to presume that the apparent darkness is, indeed, the beginning of light. The trial of your faith will start at that point when the Lord gives the go ahead. It is one thing to know the will of God; it is another thing to keep firmly unto it. The trial will come like a monster: “Will I be able to do it? Does God really mean that? Finance!” A just person will receive leading from God according to the measure of his faith. If you have not the faith to receive and hold unto that which you believe God has spoken, it is better you don’t venture into the business. The cost you should count is the consideration of your level of faith in the vision you already have. If after you have taken off, and unable to achieve a tangible result by your sinking in faith when you should float, those that heard your initial confession of faith in line with the venture will mock you. It is your own faith (not of any brother, sister or pastor) that will make you pass through “the sea as by dry land.” This, the unregenerate will not be able to do. The unjust persons would not be able to walk by faith because they have no faith in God’s word. They cannot even exercise faith. They will walk by sight: complaints about bad economic situation, pursuance of unforthcoming employment and preparation of their minds to receive one help or the other from one highly placed political man. All these can pull one down from the realm of faith. Such a one will always consider the wind (surrounding circumstances). Unto him / her that does not believe, all things become impossible and difficult. “...All things are possible to him that believeth” - Mark 9:23. But an unregenerate person would consider circumstances and whatever that will enable him / her think more negatively: “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regarded the clouds shall not reap” - Eccl – 11:4. The first edition of this book was loaded with practical testimonies of faith actions and trials that I passed through at the beginning of my business life. Such would not be repeated in this book for other trials have taken place. But I could not forget how the very first whole cow meat was thrown away on the second day of slaughter due to spoilage inside the freezer at my settling down to do frozen meat business in Jebba in 1989. From the frozen / livestock business along with teaching in a secondary school, the call of God came to me to “feed my lambs” in 1994. I knew this is a call unto higher ground by the way of preaching the Gospel. God told me to go to the seminary instead of the postgraduate programme to which I was admitted in the same year. I was led of God to resign from the Government teaching job in which I had spent only 4 years (1995). In 1996 my wife‘s nursing employment stopped due to the collapse of the Nigeria Paper Mill LTD. My livestock business venture could not be carried out as when I was not called to preach the gospel: or should a pastor carry about a cage of 4 - week old cockerels for sales on a motorcycle? Sitting down to measure and sell frozen fish / meat became odd. That means that the business began to diminish and yet, I had resigned from the teaching job. The pastoral work I got engaged in is being done without any salary package, While at the same time I was led of God to resuscitate a dead programme of my denomination by trusting him for support because “the denomination could not sponsor that vision, and the work must be done” says the Lord. I have children, younger ones, and parents and in - laws to cater for as other people. The Christian Publishing Ministry committed into my hand since 1987 continues to grow through divine providence. I remembered I prayed to God at a time that I should not beg for a lift from colleagues I left in the Govt. work. God granted that request and I got a car miraculously by faith before those colleagues. How? We shall read about that later. Hymns became more real to me. Truly “all that will live godly (and do God’s will ) in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution”- 2 Tim. 2:12. Persecution from co – ministers and from children of God. But all these were used by God to strengthen and built me up. They became stepping-stones unto higher spiritual and ministerial grounds. Similar trials can be faced in business as in the ministry. Remember always how you got in line: What was God‘s word given and how you were led. ANSWER TO PRAYERS Getting along with God and talking to him in prayer is not the only thing we have to do. It is good as well to be quiet before him and let him talk to us. It is this two-way communication that can be termed a complete prayer. A justified person belongs to the fold of Christ’s sheep. Christ is his shepherd and therefore he needs to hear the voice of his master. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” - (John 10:27). Hearing from God is through the Holy Ghost who “shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak (John 16:13). It may be by the exposition of God’s word into our inner man, or the message may be as a turbulence in our spirit directing us to move in a particular line of action, or be direct and audible in a gentle, still, small voice: “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying: This is the way, walk ye in it...” (Isa. 30:21). This depends on how much we are being strengthened with might by the spirit of God in the inner man. The devil is a liar and he is always at stake to give his own deceitful directives. He drops his subtle messages hurriedly for us to act almost immediately. The Holy Ghost would speak to us in a loving and gentle way and would allow us the grace to exercise patience in line of action. To be certain that God is leading you on any issue, 1. You will get the message very clear. God is not the author of confusion. He will make the message clear to you by saying it in the way you can understand it. 2. There will be “the peace of God that passeth all” human understanding, which shall keep your heart and mind (Phil. 4:7). You will no more be disturbed in thought. 3. The grace of patience will come upon you. You will relax in God’s hand waiting for him. 4. The grace of faith will also come upon you that will lead you to take steps of faith and expect the result with eyes of faith. “O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD; and he delighteth in his way” (Jer. 10:23; Psalm 37:23). Since man’s going are of the LORD, we only need to pray for the perfect will of God for our lives. We cannot know that will, until we are led of God. Before we know it, we have to ask. “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will he heareth us”- (I John 5:14). When we are seeking God’s will in any area of our lives, God wants us to exercise our faith to the fullest. He takes delight in our petitions. This he does to try our faith, for us to exercise patience and for us to give him more glory when at last the answer comes at the most appropriate time of need. Our faith would thus be built up and the more we shall trust in him. Thank God for the Spirit makes intercession for us, the saints, according to the will of God (Rom. 8:27). Much of prayers is needed to fully know where God is leading or what He is saying. Man need not faint but be strong in prayer. Prayer is not listed as one of the gifts of the Spirit. It is a task we ought to give all diligence in order to fulfill. The more we do it, the more we grow in it. It is prayer that draws man closer to God and farther away from sin. It is an act that takes the whole of man. By it, cloud of uncertainties are cast away, mountains removed, strong holds of enemies destroyed, gates and the everlasting doors become lifted up for the children of the king of glory to pass through into the throne of grace, to obtain mercy at any time of need. Prayer gives us that boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Christ and by the living way, which has been consecrated for us through the flesh of Christ (Heb. 10:19-20). There need be constancy and perseverance in prayer so as not to seek God’s face in vain. It was made known to Daniel that God heard and sent forth answers to his petitions on the first day he set his heart to understand and to chasten himself before God; but that the messenger was withstood along the way for twenty-one days (Dan. 10:12-13). Had Daniel fainted in his petitions, the message wouldn’t have got through. Jacob, “by his strength he had power with God; yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication unto him” - (Hosea 12: 3-4). Jacob persevered, and wrestled and prevailed. His faith was not shaken. He refused to let the angel go without obtaining a blessing. It was not in his own strength that he wrestled, nor by his own strength that he prevailed, but rather by the strength derived from Heaven. We can not prevail with God unless he strengthens us. It is the Spirit that intercedes in us, and helps us against our infirmities. God wants His people to pray until they hear from Heaven. Elijah went up on the mountain, began to pray, and sent his servant out to look toward the sea. And again he got down and wrestled and sent his servant the second time to look and nothing was in sight. He was not discouraged. He prayed with greater faith than ever with his face between his knees, till at the seventh time the servant said, ”There ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand.” That was enough for this man of God that his prayers for rain has been answered. He sent to the King that the rain was coming. It rained and rained (I King 18:42-45). God wants us to pray, for it is prayer that moves mountains away. Those mountains of doubt will surely be removed if you pray unceasingly. THE VISION: “… Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it: because it will surely come, it will not tarry” - Habakkuk 2:2-3. The word “vision” is very well connected with seeing. A line of demarcation is not very easy to draw between dreams and visions. But generally, visions belong to individuals and are not usually apprehended by other people. In the Bible, vision comes to the men of God under various circumstances like in the night (Gen. 46:2), in the day (Acts 10:3) and in men’s walking hours (Acts 9:7). God can as well give men the vision without the element of physical sight. It can be said in words when one is in contact with God through prayer or through a prophet whom the Lord might have given the vision either by sight or in words. In whichever way it comes, it may not be for that particular time but for an appointed time. It shall definitely come to pass for “God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent; hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? - Num. 23:19. God has an appointed time for his appointed work, and will be sure to do the work when the time comes; it is not for us to anticipate his appointment but to wait his time. God knows about the area of our learning. He would not give a carpenter the vision of motorcycle repairer, or a farmer the vision to open a clinic. The vision would always be in the line of your training or available opportunity in your location. When the vision comes, there would always be the special understanding of what would follow in succession. The understanding would make possible the putting down of the vision in writing thus, making the feasibility study: “Write the vision and make it plain upon tables.” Let the feasibility study be easily understandable and legible. This would definitely include the estimated sum of money for capital investment. Do not let the financial aspect trouble your mind. Our Father is in control of money; he will surely provide for us. Only that “the just shall live by his faith”- Hab. 2:4. If God has really given the vision, it shall surely come to pass for “faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it” - (1 Thess. 5:24). God can lead you to start off with something in line with your course of study or outside of it. No matter how small that might be, be sure you are in tune with God for his leading. A list of possible small-scale businesses that may come into your mind as a child of God when thinking about self – employment includes: Crop production during the raining season and Vegetables in the dry season; Meat retailing; Restaurant; Poultry keeping; Rabbit rearing; Operating Nursery for children or Evening lessons for primary school pupils; Cloth designing; Raising Pets; Pig farming; Purchasing and reselling of raw food items; Sign writing; Writing Books for publication; Portrait painting; Raising flowers for sale; Taxi driving; Typing institute; Photocopying; Sewing institute; Medical practice; Making of Cake and the likes; Refuse disposal; Photography; Car washing; Decorative pots making; Music lessons; Consultancies; Fast foods; Veterinary services; Operating Computer training; Phone call and credit card business; Firewood supply; Pre – nursery services; Laundry services; Pure water packaging; Charcoal making; Designing and making of children dresses; Raising of seedlings and seeds; Making Brooms, Baskets and Cages from palm fronds; Supply of logs to sawmills; Supplying bone meals and rice husks to poultry feed millers; Organizing tractor hiring services; Training workshop for various groups of people; Language lessons; Publishers representative; Operating Crating and grinding machines; Operating groundnut and melon shelling machines; Operating barbing Saloon; Hair wearing; Operating a Daily Contribution opportunity for people; Tailoring; Bricklaying; Block making; Plumbing; Furniture making; Making various materials from tin; Rearing of day old chicks to four weeks; Making products from cassava; Hunting; keeping a fish pond; Fishing; knitting children’s sweaters, socks and caps; Electrical installations; Weaving .tradition clothes; Production and packaging of fruit juices and Yoghurt; Raising and breeding of Alsatian dogs; Production of bar soap & detergent; Video coverage; Selling of Christian music records, Video and VCDs; Ice-block production and selling, Snail production, Bee rearing, Buying and selling of Honey, Computer training and services, etc etc. Numerous small-scale businesses are possible and there are lots of books written by experts to guide in starting off and managing a particular business. It is very possible to start with little or no capital investment. You don’t have to start with the accumulation of a large sum of money. As you start with the little money you have, progress is bound to happen. Your starting off has proved your faith by your work. “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead being alone” - James 2:17. No matter how small you can start with, go ahead for “though thy beginning was small, thy later end should greatly increase” - Job 8:7. If you are a full time Government worker or working in a company where by you have adequate leisure to lay hand on a small scale business as a way of making both ends meet, you can proceed as long as you are persuaded that the hand of the Lord is there. If the Lord is opening your eyes and mind towards a particular line of business, tarry not. Arise and do exploit for whatsoever you do, the Lord shall make you to prosper. ACTING ON THE VISION: Acting on the vision involves doing something about what you believe should be done. Be sure you take a step of faith. Do not consider how much to be spent; you only need to start from somewhere. Your beginning may be small, do not despise it for your latter end shall surely be increased. Faith is acting on what you believe. You can believe and refuse to act. That is the problem of most people. Only few people act. Faith is acting, not believing and confessing. One acting by faith will arise and step out. Peter believed Jesus’ word unto him to walk on water. It is not on the natural water that Peter walked upon; he walked upon the word spoken of Christ – “come”. That word produced a supernatural platform that the human eye could not see but only by faith action can one walk on it.. Peter was able to take a few steps and then he considered the physical environmental condition, and he sank. The vision you have gotten from God has spiritual pathways, which you cannot understand by your physical senses. But if you step out by faith, heaven will open up for you. “When Jesus saw their faith …“- Matt. 9:2. Heaven looks down to see our faith. Is your faith acting? The woman with the issue of blood acted on what she believed:“For she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole” - Matt. 9:44. With all hindrances of hefty men here and there in the crowd, she made her way straight to Jesus and touched his garment. She only thought of touching the garment, she did not even confess it. she thought about it and acted. Peter could not believe the Master when Jesus asked, “Who touched my clothes?” For the scripture recorded: “virtue had gone out of him” -Mark 5:30. Virtue comes out automatically from heaven to assist or answer actions of faith. Remember our God is a God of faith for without faith, no one can receive from him or please him (Heb. 11:6). And “He that wavereth, is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think he shall receive anything of the Lord”- James 1:6-7. As Christians, we must see God’s word or leading as a wise step for us to undertake even if we could not just understand what we are doing or what the outcome would be - that is faith in God. Planning on what we see physically is not faith. For example planning your pursuit on the basis of the forth coming salary or loan or cooperative money to be taken is no faith: “if we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently”-Rom. 8:24. Faith respects the promise and hope for the thing promised. Faith is the evidence, and hope is the expectation of things not seen. Faith is the mother of hope. In hoping for a thing that seems to tarry, we need patience. Faith in God makes man rely on God and His promises no matter the circumstances that abounds. Abraham’s faith in God was credited to him for righteousness (Rom. 4:3). Since God’s word says “all things are possible to him that believes” and that “the just shall live by his faith”, I do take steps of faith no matter the “voice” of the surrounding circumstances. I had water problem in my domain and sinking a Well proved abortive after several attempts (six times on different locations). I resolved to drill a Bore-hole even though I had no cash on ground or loan to be obtained for the project. A company was invited to undertake the project. The charge was put at N350, 000 (in the year 2008). I agreed and I started paying into the company’s account bit by bit- steps of faith pursuing the target. Faith is not stagnant; it must continue to move no matter the level of its acceleration. My persistency in visiting the company with prayer support for their activities moved the Director to send his staff to drill for me when my payment amounted to N150,000 in 2009. I was only charged for the cost of Submersible pump besides the drilling charges. Faith opens doors in diver ways that man cannot comprehend. God wants us to live by faith in Him and not by physical things we see. Let me share another testimony in line with taking steps of faith. I desired to have a change of Car and decided to take steps of faith that men may term risk. Unless I throw away the one in hand, another may not come in, I concluded. So, I sold off the Car in use at a giveaway price. I told God what I needed and trusted Him for the fund. Six months later, a better Car was purchased – the one God intended for me that worth N600,000.00. Faith action opens doors remember. You shall be motivated to take steps of faith if you consider what God did for you in the past. Ask yourself, “Has God did such thing before?” if your answer is yes, then be rest assured that He can as well accomplish the present issue. I concluded that If in the year 2001 I was able to purchase a N230,000.00 worth ‘Tokunbo’ Car with only N10,000 I had as my first and only personal deposit for the Car, and not finding myself in debt after the purchase, then in the year 2011, I can as well get a sounding spaced - bus Car that I desired. Taking those steps of faith opened to me doors of mercy and the new semi-spaced Car came in. How much do I need to say; it would take too long to recount stories of house purchase, children birth and schooling, running of the publication ministry, etc all by taking steps of faith on God’s promises. God’s word not understood but acted upon brings results. What can God not do? “To him that believeth, all things are possible.” That faith action to purchase the car had affected several other people to get their cars, and a particular lady to purchase her set of computer for her business center by my helping them to come up and walk along by faith. A man of God once said, “Nobody has money problem: it is always an idea problem”. You are to ask God for an idea, His leading or what to be done in line with your prayer requests. You don’t need to pray and sit down. Be sure you receive a direction from God before you step out to act upon the revelation or instruction of God. “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” - Luke 11:9. Your asking is praying. Praying for what? I think for an idea or direction or solution to what you are praying about. God gives idea, but he doesn’t give small ones. His big plans for us can start in a small way, but he will not give a stationary small idea. Don’t throw back God’s big idea and plan for your life when you think they are impossible. That brings failure; that is unbelief. “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways”- James 1:6-8. God is setting you up with big ideas. Make your thinking big enough for God to fit in. Have a dream that will shape your future. Your dream will decide how far you can go and how big you can become for God and his glory. Seeking is acting on God’s idea that comes to your mind while praying. Always get in tune with God’s Spirit and be obedient to God’s leading. Do not stay when you are supposed to move or act, and do not act when you are to stay. God guided the Israelites in their wilderness wandering by the cloud, covering the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud settled, the Israelites had to settle, and when it moved even at midnight, they had to continue their journey (Num. 9:15-23). A minute delay may disorganize God’s plan for your life, and a minute of haste may bring you a set back. Knocking is your persistence in prayer when the seeking (acting) seems not to yield the desired fruit. God’s special miracle of intervention is needed. A man of God said, “when you think you have exhausted all possibilities remember this: you haven’t! Because you can still pray!” Is there any idea or plan coming into your mind in line with your business, job, education or marriage, profession, etc? Arise and act (in line) if you know you had really prayed. Many people think about money before a business set up. Since money is not always easy to come by, such people never come close to doing any business. It is God that gives viable ideas and He will also give support to bring the idea to fruition. What most people lack is initiative (ideas) and not capital. Remember “Nobody has money problem; it is always an idea problem.” If you already have some capital, better. But by the grace of God, this book will set you up to examine and be assured that you can take off your business venture with little or no capital investment. Everyone has one source of income or the other. The usual complaint is that the money may not be enough particularly when responsibilities increase faster than income. The next logical step to take is to find out what other things one can do to earn a little more income. There are quite a lot of small-scale businesses that one can embark upon. Some of these may grow so big that one may find it necessary to give up a regular job to face them fully. It is believed that one cannot be well-off working for other people; but note that most of the rich people we know around us today are those working for themselves. That is, those who are self-employed. From such people, the salary earners go to borrow when condition becomes hard. You have something; but you don’t believe that the little you have can make good. The widow woman at the time of Elisha could never think she had much until the prophet told her to “Go, borrow the vessels… borrow not a few. And... thou shut the door upon thee and… shall pour out into all those vessels, and thou shall set aside that which is full”- II King 4:1-6. The one pot of oil she had was breathed upon by God for multiplication just as that lad’s five barley loaves and two small fishes were multiplied for thousands in the time of Jesus. The woman borrowed and set up pots according to the level of her faith. No one could rise higher than the level of his / her faith. She poured until the last pot she borrowed got filled up. The man of God said to her, “Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest”. You have something! I pray God to open your eyes to that which you have. I started livestock business in 1987 with two female and a male rabbits that I had before as a student. The farm grew to the point of my supplying the Animal production Dept. of the University of Ilorin with weaned rabbits. From there, by faith, I ventured into opening a meat shop in Jebba along with production of broiler fowls and four - week old cockerels for sale. It was in the year 1991 that I got married. To God be the glory, I was able to pay all the wedding expenses without obtaining any loan. Faith to take off from nowhere was what God used in me to resuscitate an arm of my denomination. When the Jebba economy changes and computer businesses came up, I wasted no time to float by faith in putting up a computer business center without a co-operative or Bank loan. It was by faith. You can make it as well. You were not born into the world along with money. What you need is already provided before you were born. Being born-again does not mean getting into the realm of silver and gold. It is just a birth into a realm of getting all that you want from God through Christ Jesus, only by walking along by faith. Your needs are already provided through the death of Christ on the Cross. You only need to identify yourself with the Cross and tap all that you want by faith. Let me say here again that when you are requesting from God by unshaken faith, heaven will arise. God says “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness shall cover the people. BUT THE LORD SHALL ARISE UPON THEE, AND HIS GLORY SHALL BE SEEN UPON THEE” - Isaiah 60:1-2. God designed that people who believe in Christ can have the light shining in them to make them different from those that have been engulfed by sin. “Christ in you the hope of glory”- Col. 1:27. He then commanded you to Arise and shine. Let no darkness of unemployment cover you; let no lack of money overshadow you. ARISE my brother, my sister and SHINE by faith. You can make it! At any time I was about to take off new idea, I just pray and expect a leading from God. I had never considered how much I would need. When meat and fish retailing was no longer viable because of Jebba economic condition, I looked unto Baba’s face. We were praying for a computer set for publication work when God said unto me, “You can set up the first computer as a business center” Then I went about pricing at different locations. A brother of mine took me to a computer seller. The man asked me: “How many set up do you want?” I replied “Two Computer Systems” when actually I had no money for one. He asked again “what do you need the two for?” I said one shall be used for the normal daily typing work while the second shall be used for training programme. At that time, I did not even know how to switch on and off a computer and I had never held the mouse to work with; yet I looked ahead to train up people at the center. The man said I should go and bring any amount I have on ground and that I can balance up later. I went and brought about 1/4 of the whole cash. I was also given a printer to pay for later. I went and took off the “Halleluyah Business Center” with two computer systems and a printer on the 5th July 2002. People said that was not a small beginning. Later on, somebody wanted to buy a car and kept part of the cash with me. He ordered me to get a photocopy machine from his money since it was not enough for the purchase of his car. The copier again came in after about six months we took off. All the debts were settled from the business itself. How do we know how to operate? We employed an expert from whom we learnt the work and have since being training people as well. “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse 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. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruit of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts“-Mal. 3:10-11. Whatever comes your way in terms of money is God’s own doing rather than yours. Remember that, “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein.”-Psalm 24:1. God requires you’re the regular payment of tithe to your church. It therefore stands as your INSURANCE against any attack in your business, home, etc. God said “Prove me now” and see “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” Your tithing must go along with offering for the work of God. Tithing serves as your insurance while offering opens the door for your blessing to pour in according to how you also give the offering: “Be not deceived, God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap...He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully “- Gal. 6:7; II Cor. 9:6. To crown it all is your giving out of special offering for a specific work of God. God is watching you in all and will reward you accordingly. Your refusal to take these steps will not make you have progress no matter how many economic investments you are able to have. Another spiritual work of abundance is giving out to the needy or as God puts it in your mind towards another person. “Give, and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom…”- Luke 6:38 Whenever you see a person testifying what God did, know for sure that person has given out something in the secret. God is only rewarding him or her openly. Men also will give back to you through various means: your making it in business is men giving back to your bosom through buying from you or patronizing your business. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal”- Matt. 6:19-20. Your spiritual investment is a way of laying up for yourself treasures in heaven. Most people are concerned with earthly investment. Putting up one thing or the other here and there is not a sin but when you do not consider investing in the things of God on a regular basis, you deprive yourself of heavenly investment. No matter how much of the earthly you have, there will be the need for you one day to look unto God genuinely for support. That which you have invested heavenly will answer for you at that time. Remember the prodigal son. Are you in a financial or salary position today? Invest in the work of God; for a time will come when you shall be out of that regular flow of income. You will then be able to fall back upon the heavenly investments you had made. BECOMING THE MANAGER OF YOUR OWN BUSINESS (COS Fawenu) To start a business of your own, these three questions among several others are very important: a. How do I conclude on a profitable business idea? b. How can I raise the start-up capital? c. How will I market my product / service? The answer you are able to provide to these important questions will go a very long way to determine whether you conclusion on self-employment will lead to success or failure. To answer the questions, the following simple and workable solution will provide tremendous guidance. Consider the following analysis of job opportunities ranging from ancient agrarian-economy until the present day transformation economy whereby high level creativity is required to achieve optimum productivity and consequently profitability. CRITICAL RESEARCH ANALYSIS OF JOB OPPORTUNITIES IN THE 21ST CENTURY For reasons of varying and constantly changing economic indices, each dispensational season throws up peculiar challenges that must be accurately interpreted to keep afloat. For instance at the dawn of the internet / GSM revolution in Nigeria, some people capitalizing on the ignorant of others were helping to: - Send e-mail by making them to pay exorbitant rate on "gigabyte" basis - Producing pamphlets for sale on how to use the handset - Opening of cybercafé was then highly lucrative unlike now when you can launch unto the internet using your mobile phone. New and different opportunities always surface depending on the direction of the economic trend, change of social values, technological development and political policies. Hence, it is essential to know the prevailing and profitable opportunities for you to be able to exploit the available possibilities advantageously. It is however very easy to lazily conclude that certain things are impossible because you are blinded to available opportunities that may make them be of economic advantage. Such opportunities include: 1. Your inherent potential 2. Your skill 3. Training / certificate 4. Your intuition, vision, revelation 5. The problems of your immediate environment among others. This being the case, you require a critical analysis of all available opportunities at your disposal without which you may end up doing the right thing at the wrong time and in the wrong place. In that case you win not get the right result. Parts of the essential analysis you need to do on the available opportunities also include a determination of the average life-span of such opportunities that are available for exploitation. Certain opportunities if not most, are transient. Some surface with highly profitable potential but a higher degree of brevity; where if you don’t know how to quickly diversify, you may run into irredeemable trouble waters. Below is a critical analysis of job opportunities since ancient agrarian economy up to the 21st century. The projection will certainly help you to draw inferences from the past to provide a guide on how to have a firm control over the constantly changing economic trend. It is my belief that the clue it provided will help you on how to properly locate yourself in the complicated market of job creation and job security. The First Wave Economy (Agriculture): For instance in the U.S. 80% of the National workforce was employed on farms in the 18th century. It is therefore essential to discover which sector of the economy in your locality and generation has room for greater and better employment. Then, less skill was required to be relevant it was an era not so much of brain but brawn. That is no longer the case today. The Second Wave Economy: (Manufacturing): Findings have revealed that the same number of people occupying production jobs in 1950(20 million) was required to serve in such capacities at the end of last decade although they produced more goods. An indication that technology has advanced and many more people are being required in that sector at a ratio less than multitudes required for manual labour. The Third Wave Economy (Service): Almost 98% of the 19.5 million new jobs created in the U.S. between 1998 and 2008 were service jobs. What essential and uncommon service can I introduce to the Competitive Market? This is no doubt an intelligent question. The fourth Wave Economy (Experience): Gradually, the service economy is already getting overcrowded, for this reason experiences rather than services of goods will soon represent the largest percentage of our economic growth and are the element of the economy that are least sensitive to downward price pressure. What lesson of the past can I employ to edge my competitors out is equally a critical question that must be asked. The Fifth Wave Economy (Transformation): since experiences are not only memorable but also help to become a better person, yet a peak will be attained when this phase of economy either in the general business world 'or particular field will also be saturated. At that point it will take the creativity of a transformed mind, which is a natural extension of experience combined with supernatural dimension of inspiration to edge others out. Having God as your partner at this point, becomes the Hallmark of distinction. See Psalm 127: 1-2. Summarily, to decide on a profitable business venture always remember that, to be correct, you must be current and to be relevant you must be realistic in other words you must be current and at the same time realistic in your expectation and calculation. Don’t operate behind your time and don’t be too sophisticated for your season. DIAGRAMMATIC SKETCH Primitive Agrarian Economy Less skill was required, slave trade was lucrative Manufacturing Economy Still relevant today but computer & robot technology have reduced number of man-power. Less of raw skill is relevant in the 21st century manufacturing economy. Service Economy Goods produced by the manufacturing economy and even mechanized agricultural economy are higher bringing much competition. The marketing of these products throws up the challenges of creative services. Experience Economy None of the earlier trend is obsolete but through experience, some institutions have gained over the years they are better positioned for patronage and are therefore able to provide consultancy services Transformation Economy The world is unpredictably flexible such that the divine dimension is the only key for survival. Experience has the tendency of generating stagnating lock-in-thinking. Joseph sustained the ancient world through divine inspiration, because he has a transformed mind. See Romans 12:2 B. RAISING START-UP CAPITAL. The problem business beginner usually face include how to meet up bank condition to access credit facility. What the banks usually requested are not easily come by a beginner. Infact if he has the capacity to meet those conditions approaching the bank wouldn’t be necessary. But instead of being discouraged, a beginner should learn how to start small, appreciate gradual progress and grow from there unto greatness. When you are starting from zero the following ideas could be very helpful. · In that case it is not out of place to take a part-time job from where you are able to make little saving to kick-start your own business. Certain people, who have become industrial guru today, had stories of once being sales boys in their chosen business career. It takes humility, but it is a worthwhile adventure that provides opportunity to understudy experts on how business is practically done. · Should in case the kind of business you intend to do is a medium scale business dominated by uneducated people. Your being educated should assist you to bring improvement that will attract better patronage. The improvement could be in the form of better packaging, special delivery service and high level hygiene etiquettes, if your line of chosen business is hospitality and catering services. · The ignorance of your neighbours on how to solve personal, environmental or communal problem could be turned into a money making venture. That’s one area you can transform your education into a money making venture. One of the ways to get yourself gainfully employed is to make people pay for their ignorance. · For example, in this age of computer and advance electronic technology you can dispose off your manual typewriter and black, white Television and such other items that are not in vogue in order to get money to finance your business. · Gift items you receive during special ceremonies such as wedding, birthday, graduation etc could be disposed-off to raise money. There are lots of scrap materials such as unused vehicle, aluminum waste in your neighborhood; you can dispose off to get money. Sometimes the waste belongs to you, it may belong to your parent or neighbors who may be willing to give them to you because they constitute nuisance to them but for you they are assets to start your business. If you are a careful person there are many unexpected valuable resources in your environment, such as abandoned building, undeveloped plot of land etc. i. It may require selling your idea and get your pay-off once and for all. ii. You may contribute both idea and its management while the partner will produce the capital. In this kind of scenario, you will together decide the ratio of profit and liability sharing. When you are the one contributing idea and your partner is to contribute the capital, it is important you sit down to evaluate the cost of your idea and settle down for a concretized agreement. Don’t because you need money settle down for an agreement that is not realistic, unsustainable and unprofitable. To produce a product/service that is not appreciated by the consumer is a waste of energy and resources. What matter most is that, you should first and foremost carry out a research to be sure that your product is an essential need of the society. Another important issue here is that you should not introduce your product without educating your customers on the importance of your product. Your product should be presented as the best and unequal among other alternatives. Simply put don’t down-play the place of advertisement. Take advantage of the different means by which you can promote your product. Conclusion: Self-reliance is a status of living you cannot run away from. Even if you are gainfully employed by the government or in the private sector, retirement is an inevitable reality. If only to keep yourself busy and avoid the boringness associated with retirement, you must learn how to be self-reliant CHAPTER SEVEN BE INNOVATIVE: To be innovative is to be ready at any time to make changes by introducing new ideas. You must be ready to make changes when required. It is only in marriage that one must not change partner. In business, you can make changes and even change business if circumstances demand or when new technology comes along your way which you believe will yield better divided or add to your business / income. Do not be rigid with a particular business venture especially if such is turning out very slowly. To be innovative, one must be wise. One must be able to make correct decisions very quickly. A servant was commended in the scripture for his acting wisely even though he was referred to as an unjust steward who earlier wasted his Lord’s goods: (Luke 16:1-8). His master reproved him and wanted to take from him his stewardship; but he acted swiftly by changing bills of his master’s debtors so that at least one of them could receive him into his house if at last his master rejected him. That steward was at last commended by his master: “And his Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light” - Vs 8. Let us also, the children of light (the just) be wise in dealing with the situations of this life. We must not allow ourselves to be ridden upon by the circumstances of life. We must arise and shine at any particular point in time. Do not sit down to console yourself or allow people to console you when your take off business becomes out of place because of the economic situation or sanction or whatever. Arise and act swiftly. Be an innovator. Be ready to make positive changes. BE HEAVENLY CONSCIOUS: “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify”- I Cor. 10:23 NKJV. “All things are legitimate – permissible, and we are free to do anything we please; but not all things are helpful (expedient, profitable and wholesome). All things are legitimate, but not all things are constructive [to character] and edifying [to spiritual life]”-AMP All business brings in money but it is not lawful for a just person to be engaged in all kind of business. It is not all kinds of business that edifies spiritually. We should not be brought under the power of any business that is not spiritually helpful: “… not everything is good. We are allowed to do anything but not everything is helpful” - Good news. A child of God cannot be involved in a business that does not glorify God. You might have been engaged in one or planning to start off one, if actually you have the spirit of God guiding you, you will know what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God. No list will be given in this book as to which business is not particularly good. Be guided by the Holy Spirit and by elderly Christian brethren or leaders. We are not to do any business that heaven will not approve. “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange of his soul?”-Matt. 17:26. For the fact that other people are making it in a particular business that does not mean all of us must have to do it. It might be profitable but not expedient - not spiritually okay. Not all businesses are heavenly approved. Pray and seek for that which God will approve and bless and make such a channel of blessing to the work of God and to the church. “For God shall bring every work (every business) into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” Eccl. 12:14. Learn from the Children of Issachar A nd of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do…" -1Chr.12: 32. God looks for people that understand his plan and purpose for any age. The present time is the last age we might expect before the advent of Christ. This age should be the time of the greatest revival and awakening to anticipate and get prepared for the coming of the Lord. But as it were in those days of the Israelites, only few people were always found within the realm of God’s move. When David was made King over Israel at Hebron, the tribe of Issachar "understood the times and knew what Israel should do". They were "weather – wise". They understood public affairs, the temper of nation and the present events. The princes of Issachar were recorded in the book of Judges (5:15) that they knew how to rule because in them is great searching of heart. In the time of Gideon, only three hundred men that understood the time by not fearing to partake in the battle were used by God to gain victory for Israel. It was only Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron that understood the time when Israel sinned against God by committing adultery with the Midianite women (Num. 25). The understanding of the period of time made him zealous for the Lord to destroy the man of Israel who could not understand God’s mind or rather the time. It was lack of knowledge of time that made Gehazi leave Elisha as a leper when actually he could have received double portion of Elisha’s anointing also. If only we can realize that this is the time of greatest awakening, towards world evangelization and preparation for the advent of Christ, we would arise to prayerfully work towards the vision of awakening the body of Christ (the church) from spiritual lethargy. It is sad even for church leaders of this age not to understand the time or rather the move of the Spirit of God towards church awakening. Understanding this present time should awake your mind to be zealous for the Lord and to be a useful vessel for Him. (Copied from www.cpi.cpi.blogspot.com)
DEDICATION CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
FINANCIAL MATTERS:
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