Okay so last week, we looked at the ways of health and success in Proverbs 3, today we are going to make a very specific examination of another verse dealing with wealth, because I know that in these hard financial times there are many people looking for provision and my friends, God is well able to provide.
Furthermore He is willing to provide, and it is here where I believe that most people are missing it. They believe that God is able, but they have great difficulty in believing that He is willing to provide.
If you need a manifestation of God’s provision in your life, this message is for you today.
The first thing that we need to understand about the provision of God in dealing with finances is found in Deuteronomy 8:18, let’s read it now:
“But you will remember the LORD your God: for it is he that gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware to your fathers, as it is this day.”
There are three things of note in this verse… First is that we are to always remember the LORD – our Covenant Keeping God. This means remembering the finished work of Jesus Christ for us and all of the promises which this unlocks the door for us to have. Since we learned about this last week, we will not be spending much time on it again this week, it is sufficient for now to know that remembering the LORD is the foundation on which every blessing and promise is always based.
Secondly of note is that it is the LORD who gives us the power to get wealth. He does not usually rain down money directly from the Heavens for us… although many of us want Him to! And there are special circumstances where He does cause money to miraculously appear for us, and when this happens it is usually to remind us that He is still there and to strengthen our faith, however this is not the normal way in which wealth is manifested for us.
He gives us the power to get wealth, and in the original Hebrew, the word “get” is also the word for “create” and “generate”. So we can learn from this that the LORD gives us the power to create and generate wealth. Keep this in mind as we move forward.
The third thing from this verse in Deuteronomy is the reason for which we can be assured of this: that the LORD may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers. Now the promise to Abraham and to his future seed was that he would be an heir of the world, and it is impossible to be an heir of the world if you are in poverty just barely scraping by. Furthermore one of the first things that God did for Abraham was to make him rich.
For us here, everyone who is in Christ Jesus today is counted as the seed of Abraham. Let’s quickly take a look at the verse stating this in Galatians 3:29:
“And if you be Christ’s, then are you Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
So the promise to Abraham and to his seed, that we would be heirs of the world, is indeed for us!
And as previously stated, it is impossible to be an heir of the world while at the same time being poor, or sick for that matter.
So these verses in Deuteronomy and Galatians lay the foundation of why we can expect the LORD to bless us. Now we come to the part where I believe most Christians today are having difficulty; believing that God is not only able to but also willing to bless them.
Most believers which I have talked to have been more than ready to freely admit that God is able to bless them financially, after all, if He were unable to then His deity would come into question. Yet when asked if they think He is wiling, most hesitate and then answer “well, probably not.”
You see my friends, most believers still think that they need to earn the blessings of God and this is simply not the case. Most have been disqualifying themselves thinking that because they have done wrong that God has withdrawn His blessing, and in doing this, they are actually failing to “remember the LORD”, as we first saw in our verse in Deuteronomy. However when we actually remember what Jesus has done for us and how we are not under the Old Covenant law anymore, but under grace today, we suddenly realize that it no longer rests on our performance, but instead it all rests on Jesus and His (perfect) performance.
Romans 4:13 and the verses that follow after it, make it clear that the performance is not ours, but simply by our faith in Jesus Christ is the promise manifested in us. Let’s read Romans 4:13 now:
“For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.”
This tells us that for those who still believe that their performance of Old Testament laws are what qualifies or disqualifies them; they have missed the point of what Jesus Christ has done. The blessings and promises of Abraham come not through the Old Testament laws, but through faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work. This is the reason why God is willing to bless us. Because today we are not being judged based on our own performance, but by Jesus Christ’s performance in our place, and the fact which He has totally and completely cleansed us from all sin and unrighteousness.
God no longer sees you, He sees Jesus in you, and how absolutely clean you are.
So now my friends, we see what we are to expect, we see why we should expect it, and we now know why it is sure for us. Now there is one final thing for us to learn today. And it has to do with the power to get wealth. It is vital to understand this final point. For each and every person, the power is different and unique. Because God has made each of us unique and valuable in our own special way.
The world today will try to tell you that you are not special, that you are not valuable, that you are just a number, a face amongst a crowd; but this is not what the Bible says; this is not the way that God sees you. Consider Luke 12:6-7:
“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows.”
God desires a very personal and individual relationship with each of us, and He likewise has a very personal and individual plan and purpose for each of us as well. God does not treat life casually, nor does He let any detail escape His attention.
Now here’s how this is relevant to our discussion of wealth today. I stated before that each power to create wealth is different for every person, this is true. I can not tell you what yours is, you need to spend some alone time with God in prayer and let Him tell you what it is. I can tell you this however, two words of wisdom and caution:
First, do not try to copy someone else. Just because you see one person prospering and being blessed one way, does not mean that it will be the same for you. Remember that each blessing is unique to each person. You need to have God confirm to you personally which wealth-giving power He has given you. Also do not let anyone condemn you for not choosing what they do, or what they want you to do. They are not your God.
Second, while I cannot tell you specifically what your power is, I can tell you what it is not… God will never give you a power which betrays His Word. God will never give you a power that leads into sinful or wrong behaviors, nor will He give you a power that causes you to abuse or degrade yourself or others. Whatever He does give you will bring honor to Himself and to you both simultaneously.
Take your time, and listen to His voice. Do not let situations or people pressure you into something that is not His will, that will bring nothing but stress and destruction.
Above all, be certain that the LORD love you deeply, more so than you can even comprehend with your natural mind. Whichever power that He has give to you is perfect for you, and uniquely for you as well, because you are special to God.
Give Jesus the praise, He has opened the floodgates f God’s love and mercy upon all of us; His blessings can flow freely upon us now. Amen.