Prosperity Through The Fear Of God
By : Pastor Jerry Panou
Scripture Reference: Psalm 128, 1 Corinthians 2, 2 Corinthians 6:9-20
Sunday, 27th, January, 2019
There’s a general worldly misrepresentation of prosperity. To the world, anytime prosperity is mentioned, what really comes to mind is abundance of material gains – houses, cars, wealth, etc. But the bitter truth, of which many Christians don’t want to understand, is, prosperity is not so much about the pursuit of money or any material gains, but the pursuit of God and His ways in your life. Prosperity is about God, about yourself, and about your relationship with Him.
Prosperity comes with humility before God in the fear of God. It comes with diligence and self-discipline. Prosperity comes when you guard your soul. It comes when you avoid the crooked ways of sin. It comes when you follow the straight ways of God. In our anchor scripture, bible makes us understand that blessed is everyone who fears the Lord; who walks in His ways. Walking in the ways of the Lord brings the indwelling of the Spirit of God in a man, and it is this spirit who reveals everything about life to man, even the mysteries of life. If you can take charge of the spirit by fearing the Lord and walking in His ways, the physical world will bow to you. The reason is that the spiritual rules over the physical, and what makes the spiritual more powerful is the Spirit of God. Yearn for this spirit. To fear the Lord is in two folds – first is, to turn away from everything and anything that’s wrong and sinful. Do everything possible to turn away from your sins. Living in your sins makes you a carnal person and a carnal person lives to satisfy the flesh instead of the spirit. Such a person can’t have the spirit of the Lord dwell in him which to a large extent robs him of the spiritual blessings in the Lord. No matter how spiritual you think you’re if you’re not living to please the Lord, everything you do will not prosper. Sin will deny you the prosperity the Lord has prepared for you. The second is, to revere or have respect for God. The fear of the Lord is not to scare you away from His presence but to help you to serve Him in spirit and in truth. The fear of the Lord is to encourage you to respect the things of the Lord.
8 Blessings That The Lord Will Give You if You Fear Him
- He will make you eat the labour of your hands. If you fear the Lord you will live to enjoy the fruits of your labour. You won’t work for others to enjoy. He’ll grant you the grace to live to see your labour materialise into bumper harvest.
- He will make you a happy person. When you fear the Lord He’ll grant you the grace to be a happy person regardless of the challenges or difficulties that come your way.
- It shall be well with you. The Lord prepares a good path for those who walk in His ways. Everything they lay their hands on shall do well. Even when they sow in the dry seasons their seeds will do well.
- Your wife shall be fruitful. She will take enough seed and reproduce. No matter the delay she will live to replenish the earth.
- Your children will be blessed and also fruitful. They’ll be great too.
- All the days of your life will be blessed.
- Long life will be your portion.
- You shall have peace all the days of your life.
The reward for humility and fear of the LORD is riches and honour and life (Prov. 22:4). God wants you to prosper. He will make you prosperous if you are willing to give up trying to achieve wealth your way. It isn’t something that you can do alone. Fortunately, God is willing to change your heart if you would be willing to forsake worldly prosperity for true prosperity that comes from having Jesus as your Master and Lord.