Many years ago, I had a supernatural encounter with the Lord Jesus while in Sacramento, California. The Lord spoke to me supernaturally about going to Sacramento. It didn’t fit into my schedule, but whether my schedule is lined up or not, I want to get God’s schedule lined up. I wasn’t going based on my schedule, but based on God’s schedule. This concept works for everybody. Line your schedule up with God’s schedule.
The Lord directed me to go to Dr. Hagin’s Holy Ghost meeting in Sacramento, Ca. During this time God removed me from the office and ministry environment and I was able to pray out some things in the spirit. You have to be led by the inward witness. During this time of prayer, I prayed in English and also in tongues.
If you are going to experience any great degree of success in receiving from God, you need to receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. This is how you pray out the mysteries of God. When you are praying the known will of God you have chapter and verse from the Bible. There are certain instances which we don’t have chapter and verse. During these instances you need to pray and find out the will of God in your circumstances. While praying, I realized I was affecting some things in the spirit realm. I asked God for the interpretation and He told me some things about that time that are still relevant for us today.
I was instructed to remind people of the Character of God and the fruit of the Spirit. You can’t have one without the other. Financial wealth, to someone without the Character of God, will wind up being their ruination and damnation instead of their salvation. There is a balance.
I look at prosperity, from a general overview perspective, as all the blessings of God. And that is really what prosperity is. Often we think of financial prosperity, which is one view, but it is my opinion that to be prosperous financially in God you need to be prosperous spiritually, physically, educationally, financially: every realm of life. Folks want all the money, but not the character. People in our generation have gotten into trouble.
God is trying to speak a Word to the Body; He speaks these things to more than one person. Any time there has been an outpouring of God or a move of God, there was always an outpouring of financial prosperity. The children of Israel came out from Egypt with signs, wonders, and miracles; but they also came out with the wealth of the Egyptians. The wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just. In Acts 2, the Holy Ghost was poured out and 3,000 people were saved with Peter’s first message. Acts 4:33 states there was not one among them that lacked. God still works the same today as He did then.
We hear the message of prosperity over and over because faith comes by hearing. God knows that what you hear, you will believe and receive. He sends the message over and over so we will grasp what He is saying. The money is not in Heaven, it is here in this realm. It’s here on the Earth. The only way you are going to get the money is to command and demand that the money come to you. You must also practice good business principles to keep the money once you get it.
Deuteronomy 8 holds insight into what God wants to do for us today. There are principles found in Deuteronomy 8 that will work for you today just as they did then. In verse 6, God is bringing a reverent respect for Him back into the church. He is pouring out His power and Spirit. Verse 7 revealed He was bringing them into a land abundant with water. They came out from Egypt: a dry, thirsty land where much work went into bringing a planted seed to harvest. In the promised land they will not have to labor as hard for the harvest.
Water is a type of the Holy Ghost. God has brought us into a land where we can plant a seed and immediately see the harvest thanks to the abundance of water He is pouring out. The Word is the seed. God is watering His Word and we are going to see the harvest more quickly than before. Why? Because the time is short and there is an outpouring of God’s Spirit in this land which belongs to you and me. Deuteronomy 11:10 – “watered it with your foot,” means there was a lot of work to get it to grow. This a type of the promise land that He has promised to the Body of Christ.
The wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just. God is taking us into that place of blessing. The world is blessed because you and I are here; we are the salt of the earth. It is time we get a payday. I have been developing the character of God in my life. God told me that the power of God will take us places in ministry where one cannot stay if this character is not developed. We must get our life in order; when the power comes – and it will come – you will be an open target to the enemy. We must remove sin from our lives and get the fruit of the Spirit in. The devil will destroy you, your ministry, your calling and everything you have if you don’t remove sin from your life.
God is looking for people on whom He can pour out the wealth of the world. Believe God for this, but at the same time believe God that He will develop His character and the fruit of the Spirit in your life. Don’t be like some ministers in our generation who started with nothing, began to believe God for financial prosperity and did not do the same for the character of God. They lost everything they had and hurt millions of people. We aren’t knocking them, but we must learn from them. This one thing brought them down – they lacked the character of God. It wasn’t the devil. The devil can’t make you do anything. Flip Wilson made the statement popular, “the devil made me do it!” That’s not a scripture; it is a saying from a comedy skit.
You must develop the character of God in your life. Develop the fruit of the Spirit in your life. We are only fooling ourselves if we think that God is going to give us something which would destroy us. No daddy in their right mind would do that.
God is not going to put something in your hands you don’t have the character to handle. You will never go in GOD further than you have the character of God to go. God is never going to take anyone in the Body of Christ further than they have the character to go. They may climb up some other way, but they come tumbling down. God doesn’t expect you to do it yourself. Throw yourself on the mercies of God. Obey the Bible. To act on 1 John 1:9 is to obey the Bible. God has never shown me anything in my life to change that He didn’t give me the power to change. We can get right with God immediately. God will bless you on credit. Just tell Him you are going to develop the character of God and He will bless you now.
