MADE GREAT BY GRACE
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. – Ecc. 9: 1
The title of this chapter could as well have rea“dM, ade Rich by Grace.” When we talk about prosperity, it is in degrees.
The Poor – those who live in lack. In case you are still here, you will never be one of them again, in Jesus’ name.
The Comfortable – before the secret is out, the next salary is paid.
The Rich – after they are done with their needs (eating and buying cloth, etc.), they still have some to put up as savings.
The Wealthy – they have enough for all their needs and they have a big chunk left in the bank as fixed deposit.
The Flourishing – these ones lend to nations. They have opulence. In the name of Jesus, you will get to this category!
Prosperity requires hard work. You have to be ready to work hard to prosper. Proverbs 22:29 says it all:
Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.
However, one requires much more than hard work to succeed. 1 Samuel 2:9 reveals that no one prevails by strength.
He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.
It does not matter how hard you work; that does not determine how wealthy you become. The key text above reveals that the race is not to the swift neither is the battle to the strong. It is important, and we all know that we should sow seeds to prosper. Galatians 6:7 reiterates it:
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
This means that when you sow nothing, you reap nothing. It is important also to sow bountifully. 2 Corinthians 9:6 says,
But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
When you sow bountifully, you reap bountifully. This can only happen when you sow on a good soil. Mathew 13:3-9 says:
And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
The result of sowing is determined to a large extent by how good the soil is. This means that no matter how much you sow on a bad soil, stone, or rocky ground, you cannot get any harvest. Even if you get any harvest, it will be diminished.
However, when all is said and done, only God causes people to prosper. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 states clearly;
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
When you add this to the fact that God controls seasons, you will be convinced that truly, it is God who prospers.
Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding. – Daniel 2 : 20 – 21
God changes seasons; He decides what the season will be. If you sow the best of seeds in the best of soils, and rain refuses to fall, there will be a problem. Amos 4:7 says that God can choose to send the rain upon in one city and withhold it
from another:
And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
God decides it all. He gives the increase. He decides when the rain will fall and where it will fall. I pray for you that from today, you will never labour in vain again, in the name of Jesus. That is why the Bible says in Proverbs 10:22 that
The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.
If you read Genesis 14:1-14 you will see something spectacular:
And there was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. And the LORD appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of: Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father; And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. And Isaac dwelt in Gerar: And the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, She is my sister: for he feared to say, She is my wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon. And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.
And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die for her. And Abimelech said, Whatis this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us. And Abimelech charged all his people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death. Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied
him.
There was famine in the land, but Isaac sowed in the same season and reaped a hundred fold. He kept prospering until the Philistines envied him. The question is; “Why would the Philistines envy him?” The answer is simple: He was not the only one sowing. They were also sowing, but he was the one prospering. Others were dying of famine and he was busy getting richer. God singled him out. The favour of God made him wealthy. The favour of God was so much that the whole nation envied him.
You do not know the meaning of prosperity until the nation begins to envy you– Until people begin to say, “ Are you the only one serving God? Are we not also serving Him ” ? “We also pay our tithes and offerings; how come yours is as good as this”? when you get to that stage, when a whole nation begins to talk about you, then you know you have arrived. I prophesy upon you as you read this book that the favour of God will come upon you and nations will envy you, in the name of Jesus.
It is this understanding that it is not your effort alone that makes the difference that causes those who have wisdom to befriend God. That is why when it comes to worshiping God, they do it more than others. In 2 Samuel 6:12-17, David worshipped God with dancing; he danced so much that the whole nation noticed, including his wife. He was the king; he could have danced“majestically” (merely moving) like many Christians do. He could have applied kingly decorum, as a“big shot”. But he danced so much in worship to God that his wife complained that it was too much. He recognised where God took him from. Remember where God picked you from, because you have a very rough idea of where He is taking you. If you are assured that you are heading to the top, shout “Hallelujah!”
And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obededom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness. And it was so, that when they that bare the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul’s daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart. And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in his
place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it: and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. –2 Samuel 6:12- 17
Those who realise that it takes God to prosper worship Him exuberantly; they worship God lavishly. In 2 Chronicles 1:6-15, Solomon came to offer a thousand offerings. He knew no one had ever done that before. The priests were astonished. He kept going until a thousand bullocks were offered. None of them knew why he worshipped God so lavishly. Solomon looked at the background of his father and mother. He realised that they had met in adultery before his birth. How can a child of these two people become king? He was not even qualified to be made a king above his elder brothers. But God favoured him.
If you look at the history of your mother and father, and your history before you met Christ, God has still remained too generous to you. If you do nothing but just sing and praise him for the whole day and night, it is not yet enough. When you see people worshiping God lavishly and exuberantly; spending money for God as if they are mad; they know what they are doing. Nobody is going to get to the level of lending to nations by treating God as a junior partner.
Prosperity is by grace and grace alone. It is God who will look down and say, “I will make this fellow great!” You have to learn to partner with God in a big way.
Many years ago when the highest denomination of the naira was twenty naira, God spoke to me one day and sa“idW, hat type of pastor do you want to be?” Being a mathematician, I do not answer a question until I understand it. So I aske“dW, hat do you mean, Lord?” He replied, “Do you want to be the best or worst; do you want to be the richest or poorest”? So, I answered affirmatively:“ I want to be the best and riche”stO.ne day when offerings were collected in service, the Lord said to m“eW, hat about giving the highest denomination as offering”? I answered,“Yes Lord”! So I began to give twenty naira. It was a lot of money. At another service the Lord said, “What about doubling the amount of offering?” My “Yes Lord” became lower in volume. But I doubled my offering.
After a short while he said again to me during an offering collection, “What about tripling the amount?” I could barely respond to Him. But I obeyed.
After a short while, the Lord responded with harvest. Every day, someone would come and give me money for personal use. It never failed; whether I needed money or not, someone would give me money daily. It was so much that one day when I went to Benin to minister at the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship; I knelt down beside the bed to pray after ministration. After thanking God for all
the souls won and mighty things he did that night, I told him, “Daddy, nobody gave me money today. I don’t know why. Maybe you should add it to the next day and pay doub”le .Before I could lie on the bed, at midnight, someone knocked on the door of my room. When I opened, he said“, The Lord said I should give you this money. I didn’t want to give you, but I couldn’t sleep. Here it is.” That was wonderful. What a faithful God we serve!
I am talking to you about what is happening in my life, and not theory. As far as I am concerned, all the honours have nothing to do to me, unless it has to do about God. Some years ago when the Nigerian Government wanted to honour a hundred people, they chose only one pastor to be on the list. That pastor was me. I then remembered God’s question many years ago; “ What kind of Pastor do you want to be? ” In the same vein, I ask you,
“What kind of child of God do you want to –be the least or the greatest; the worst or the best; the poorest of the richest?”
We are made great by grace; we are made wealthy by grace. But firstly, we are saved by grace. Receive the grace of God that gives unlimited greatness now, in the mighty name of Jesus.
Prayer Points
- Give God a great shout of Hallelujah!
- Father, because you control seasons and times, let my season of tremendous overflow in every area of life begin right now, in the name of Jesus.
- Father, let my season of unlimited greatness begin right now, in the name of Jesus.
- Father, I want to be the best; I want to be the greatest; I want to be the richest in my generation; so let it be, Daddy, in the name Jesus.
- Father, bless me so mightily that I will lend to nations, in the name of Jesus.
- Father, make me flourish so mightily, in the name of Jesus.
- Father, help me to get to the top, in the name of Jesus.
- Father, let today mark a new beginning for me, in the name of Jesus
- Father, I ask for grace today to serve you more than anyone else in my generation, in the name of Jesus.
- Father, make me a special gift to my generation all the days of my life, in the name of Jesus.
