I BRING YOU GREETINGS FROM COTONOU, BENIN REPUBLIC, WHERE WE HAD THE MOST DRASTIC AND EXCITING CRUSADE
IT IS MADE ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THROUGHOUT SCRIPTURES THAT GOD IS INTERESTED IN THE FINANCIAL WELFARE AND SUCCESS OF HIS PEOPLE
IF WE OBEY AND SERVE GOD, WE ARE TO SPEND OUR DAYS IN PROSPERITY, AND OUR YEARS IN PLEASURE
YOU’RE ABLE TO FULFILL PERSONAL GOALS, VISIONS AND ASPIRATIONS WITH THE AVAILABILITY OF ADEQUATE RESOURCES
WHERE THERE’S NO VISION, THE PEOPLE PERISH, BUT WHERE THERE’S NO PROVISION, THE VISION PERISHES
YOU’RE ABLE TO FULFILL KINGDOM VISION AND GLOBAL GOSPEL SATURATION WITH ADEQUATE RESOURCES
HOW SOMEBODY OFFERED TO COVER THE COSTS OF OUR GHANA CRUSADE
BEFORE BISHOP DAVID OYEDEPO COULD BREAK THROUGH SCARCITY, HE RESEARCHED SCRIPTURE ON FINANCIAL ABUNDANCE
….WHEN HE SHOUTED, “I CAN NEVER BE POOR”, ONE NAIRA HAD NOT ENTERED HIS POCKET YET BUT HE SAW LIGHT THAT MADE POVERTY IMPOSSIBLE
YOU’RE ABLE TO BE A BLESSING TO YOUR GENERATION AND IMPACT THE LIVES OF THE LESS PRIVILEGED WITH ADEQUATE RESOURCES
LACK AND SCARCITY IS A DISTRACTION IN SERVING AND WORSHIPING GOD
WHEN YOU’RE IN POSSESSION OF ADEQUATE RESOURCES, YOUR LIFE BRINGS GLORY TO GOD
WHEN PEOPLE LOOK AT YOU AND YOU LOOK LIKE A SYMBOL OF SCARCITY, IT MAY BRING DISRESPECT TO GOD
KEYS TO BREAKING FINANCIAL LIMITATIONS
EVERY REALM OF GLORY WITH ACCOMPANYING WEALTH IS ATTRACTED BY LIGHT
MATTER OF FINANCES IS A MATTER OF MINDSET. WHAT DOES NOT CROSS YOUR MIND CANNOT CROSS YOUR LIFE
DON’T AIM FOR THE ROOF, OTHERWISE, YOU REMAIN AT THE FLOOR; AIM FOR THE STARS SO THAT EVEN IF YOU DIDN’T REACH THE STARS, YOU WENT FAR ABOVE THE ROOF
YOU ARE SHOWING THAT YOU HAVE A SMALL MIND WHEN YOU LIVE ABOVE YOUR MEANS
STOP LOOKING FOR WHAT TO EAT, START LOOKING FOR WHAT TO INVEST!
AT THE POINT OF THE TITHE, PROMISES ARE CONVERTIBLE TO BLESSINGS. PROMISE IS LIKE THE CHEQUE, THE BLESSING IS LIKE THE CASH
YOU BREAK HARD GROUNDS AND GENERATE HARVEST THROUGH SEEDS AND SACRIFICE
THE TITHE OPENS THE HEAVEN, THE SEED BREAKS THE GROUND TO GENERATE THE HARVEST
IF FINANCIAL LIMITATIONS MUST BE LIFTED, YOU MUST CHANGE YOUR FINANCIAL ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE
I PROPHESY TO SOMEBODY HERE, IN THE NAME OF JESUS, ANYWHERE YOUR RESOURCES ARE, GOD SHALL CAUSE YOU TO SEE THEM IN THE NAME OF JESUS!
DIVINE DIRECTION ESPECIALLY IN TIMES OF SCARCITY IS KEY TO LIBERTY
DON’T STRUGGLE TO DO WHAT EVERYBODY IS DOING, FIND OUT FROM GOD WHAT HE WANTS YOU TO DO PARTICULARLY AS A PERSON
WHEN YOU’RE A STAR, YOU DON’T STRUGGLE TO SHINE WHEN YOU FIND YOUR SPOT
YOUR PROSPERITY IS TIED AND CONNECTED TO THE ASSIGNMENT OF YOUR PROPHET
– Dr. Pastor Paul Enenche on “DEALING WITH FINANCIAL LIMITATIONS” || Sunday First Service || Glory Dome – Abuja.
I bring you greetings from Cotonou, Benin Republic, where we had the most drastic and exciting crusade and God was absolutely glorified.
We have a very important subject to deal with this morning, it is “Dealing with Financial Limitations – Part 1”. 3 John 1:2. Church Gist. Our objective in this study is to understand the necessity of financial liberation or freedom. Our second objective is understanding what it takes to deal with financial limitations or hardship.
Before I go there, on Wednesday we looked at Covenant Details for Divine Abundance and I think that that message was a foundation for this. Church Gist. If you were not in that service, it’s important that you look at the message. When we say “the covenant”, the first thing that comes to the minds of most people is “giving and receiving” but there are many more to it. The details we saw were;
1. Seek first the Kingdom of God
2. Set your love on God
3. Look up to God alone
4. Be committed to the covenant practice of giving
5. Be faithful; have integrity and character in financial matters
6. Be diligent; God does not bless the lazy, He blesses the work of our hands
7. Avoid indebtedness
8. Avoid wastefulness
It was a very explosive message, people commented on it from all over the world. Church Gist. I will like you to pick it up and listen to it, go through it as a foundation for this (today’s message).
By way of understanding today, it is made abundantly clear throughout Scriptures that God is interested in the financial welfare and success of His people. 3 John 1:2. Job 36:11. Church Gist. If we obey and serve God, we are to spend our days in prosperity, not adversity; our years in pleasure, not under financial pressure. The important thing to note is; there’s no earthly father or parent who is excited or interested in the struggle or the hardship of their children, not one. Church Gist. Our Heavenly Father is far better than any earthly father. So, God made the provision for the success, financially and freedom, financially, for His children.
I want to ask a question and answer. That is, what is the importance of financial liberation? Why should we be financially free? Why should money not be a struggle? What is the importance or necessity of financial liberation and success?
1. You’re able to fulfill personal goals, visions and aspirations with the availability of adequate resources. Proverbs 29:18. Church Gist. It is true that where there’s no vision, the people perish, it is equally true that where there’s no provision, the vision perishes. You have a vision to employ 1,000 people by setting up a manufacturing industry or whatever it is, that vision is only fulfillable with provision. You have a vision to take your family somewhere, spend time and seek the face of God, maybe outside the country, it’s fulfillable with provision. Church Gist. You’re able to fulfill personal goals, visions and aspirations with the availability of adequate resources. You just end in frustration, you have good intentions, there are things you want to do, you can’t do because you’re limited by resources.
2. You’re able to fulfill Kingdom vision and global Gospel saturation with adequate resources. We just came back from a crusade in Benin Republic. Church Gist. That crusade cost very massively. At the end of our crusade in Ghana, we had already gone and come back and somebody said, “you know what? Can you calculate for me the whole bill of that crusade? I want to take care of the bill – every camera man, everybody who traveled, their airfare and their hotel and everything”, one person. That is, fulfilling Kingdom vision and global Gospel saturation with adequate resources. Zechariah 1:17. I use resources to spread the Kingdom, build the Churches, to do the crusades across the nations of the world – you’re able to fulfill Kingdom vision. Many things you will like to do, most of us are unable to do them because money is not there.
3. You’re able to be a blessing to your generation and impact the lives of the less privileged with adequate resources. Genesis 12:2-3. That is, you need to have the blessing to be a blessing. Church Gist. A young man met the other day, a well-to-do young man already now, he told me, he said he was on my scholarship when he was in the university and he has returned back to see how he can return to the extent to which he has been impacted. Church Gist. You’re able to bless your generation and impact the lives of the less privileged with adequate resources.
4. You’re able to serve God freely and worship Him powerfully without the distraction of lack and scarcity. Lack is a distraction, scarcity is a distraction. Church Gist. You’re not able to serve God freely, you’re not able to worship God excitedly if lack is distracting you. Joel 2:26. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, then you praise the name of the Lord. There’s a condition that makes you effortlessly praise the name of the Lord. Church Gist. When our children were young, there was a particular child, once food arrives, the song is automatic, singing is automatic. It’s one particular song, there’s no meditation, it just arrives. It’s just a response to this Scripture.
5. You’re able to adequately represent God and bring Him glory with your result and impact when you have adequate resources. When you’re in possession of adequate resources, your life brings glory to God. Isaiah 61:9. Church Gist. You’re passing and people are saying, “what a faithful God, what a good God. This man is blessed, this woman is blessed of God”. Your life brings glory to God where there’s adequate resources and results than without. Where people are looking at you and you’re struggling to pay house rent, you’re struggling to eat and to send children to school, you’re just the symbol of scarcity, the only thing that that may bring to God may be disrespect, “what kind of God is this? Church Gist. This man goes to Church all the time, this woman is in Church yet she’s begging and borrowing”.
– that shall never be your portion!
Having said all of these, what are the keys to breaking financial limitations? Church Gist. I want you to bear this in mind, if you’re struggling financially, there’s something here for you to learn and if you have arrived financially, there’s still a realm for you to go, if you’ll learn some things here.
1. Possess relevant revelation or insight regarding God’s financial plans for His people. Isaiah 60:1-5. Listen, every realm of glory with accompanying wealth is attracted by light. Income answers to insight. Church Gist. Now, look at the example of Abraham; Abraham knew something that others did not know and that was responsible for his wealth. Genesis 14:22-23. “I am dealing with the owner of the universe, so, I cannot be poor” – that was Abraham’s revelation. What you know determines what you show. People behave according to their knowledge. “I am too connected to the wealthiest personality in the universe to look up to you” – that was passing through Abraham’s mind.
Before God’s servant, Bishop David Oyedepo could break through scarcity, he researched Scripture on financial abundance and all of a sudden, light broke and he said, “I have seen it, I can never poor”. Church Gist. When he shouted, “I can never be poor”, one naira had not entered his pocket yet but he saw light that made poverty impossible. I will like to challenge you to just commence on a search from this preaching and the Wednesday preaching, 21 keys to financial overflow and this kind of messages, embark on a search, “Father, show me something that will blast poverty from my mind forever” and I see God will show you something.
– if you’re that one, say a loud Amen!
2. Change your mindset on financial resources. It has been confirmed that the matter of finances is a matter of mindset. Church Gist. This is what I mean, for the sake of this service;
2a. Think beyond survival, think plenty, think abundance. Proverbs 21:5. Reason is, what does not cross your mind cannot cross your life. Stop thinking of car to drive, stop thinking of dress to wear, stop thinking of house to rent, think in terms of a generation to empower. Church Gist. Don’t aim for the roof, otherwise, you remain at the floor, aim for the stars so that even if you didn’t reach the stars, you went far above the roof. That was the thought mindset of our master Jesus. John 6:5-6. Church Gist. He’s not saying, “where would we get money to buy food for almost 20,000 people”, he’s not asking for where to get the money, he’s asking for where to get the food to buy because as far as he is concerned, money can’t be a problem. It’s not a matter of “where can I get money to build an estate”, it’s a matter of, “where can I get the land that is big enough for what I want to build”. Proverbs 23:7a. Church Gist. Begin to change your mind, change the way you think. The way you think affects the way you live. You have thought of house rent for too long, why didn’t you begin to think of building an estate? What is not in your mind, God will never put in your hands; if it will enter your hands, it must first be in your heart. John 6:5-7.
I used to deal with our officers in the office a lot when we want to buy something or want to make something available for Church and I say, “why haven’t we gotten it” and they say, ” because we are looking at the price and the price is too big” and I say, “okay. Is one of those things up to 1 billion?” They will say, “no, that is not what we are talking about”. I say, “okay. Move now and let’s get it done”. Church Gist. What will you do if money is not a problem? Begin to think about it.
– Look at somebody by your side, tell them, “What will you do if money is not a problem? because very soon, money shall not be the problem”.
This is one of the most explosive lessons you will learn, change your mindset on financial matters.
3. Function under open Heavens through the tithe. Abraham, the symbol of the blessing in the Scripture, was the first one to tithe in the Bible. He didn’t tithe by law, he tithed by revelation. Church Gist. Because nobody gave him any law, he didn’t read it by Scripture or by anywhere, he tithed by revelation. Genesis 14:18-20. He tithed by revelation, and you know that revelation is superior to anything. Galatians 2:2. Revelation takes you up, Abraham went up, nobody taught him or preached to him, nobody wrote down any law, just in his relationship with God, it looked like God communicated with him, “you know what? What I want to do with your life, if it must explode, you must function under an open Heaven by the tithe”. Hebrews 7:6. Church Gist. Abraham had the promises. At the point of the tithe, promises are convertible to blessings. Promise is like the cheque, the blessing is like the cash. God said, “I have given you the cheque, go and cash it with the tithe”. What he (Abraham) had was the promises, what he connected was the blessing at the point of the tithe. Church Gist. Am I communicating? You tithe personally and tithe corporately like we do. Yourself as a tithe, your organization coming under an open Heaven as a whole.
4. Break hard grounds and generate harvest through seeds and sacrifice. Genesis 8:22. If there will be a harvest time, there will be a seedtime. You break hard grounds and generate harvest through seeds and sacrifice. Church Gist. Can I ask you a question? How many of you have seen plants, grass, growing out of rocky places? This is a rocky ground, yet, you see a plant coming out of it. What is that called? It is called “seed power”. Anywhere you see anything growing, seed was in it, and seed can break anything including grounds that are hard. I am talking to you from experience. If your ground in life is hard, if your life appears like hard ground, it can be broken by the power of seed and sacrifice. The tithe opens the Heaven, the seed breaks the ground to generate the harvest. Church Gist. What is more? Seeds and sacrifices have the capacity to break life curses – curses of limitations. Genesis 8:20-22. As soon as God smelled the sacrifice, He lifted up the curse.
– today, I announce, every curse that is upon the life of anyone here – a curse of limitation, from your house, your father’s house, from your lineage, I declare it lifted by the power of sacrifice!
– lift your right hand, say “in the name of Jesus, my hard grounds are breaking by the power of sacrifice!”
5. Change financial attitude and practice. If financial limitations must be lifted, you must change your financial attitude and practice. Church Gist. For financial limitations and hardship to be broken or lifted, there must be a change in financial attitude, there must be a change in financial practice.
Midweek, I taught on the avoidance of waste and we were traveling in the aircraft and they served food and some of our people said they’re not eating. I said, “no, you have to eat because the money that was paid, food is inside”. Church Gist. They said, “we have eaten before we came”. I said, “that was a wrong way to eat. You should have left the food at home and eat the one that has been paid for in the aircraft”. Don’t ever go away without receiving what you paid for, it’s waste. I said to them, “if you cannot eat the food, there’s something called ‘takeaway’, let them pack it for you”. What is due for you, pack it and take it home until it is time for you to eat. Church Gist. There are many people who just do a lot of waste and God is watching. He will say, “I can’t do so much in your life because you’re not careful”.
In those days, my father, his driver, drives him to the filling station, he steps out of Mercedes Benz, brand new, in those days, bought fuel and the balance of the fuel is 5 Naira and the filling station is behaving as if there’s no change. He will say, “okay. I will wait for you, just try and find the change”. That is, I can dash you the money if I want to but don’t behave as if there’s no change and collect my money. Church Gist. That is, there’s a lot of mindset change that must happen. What is the mindset? That is, there must be a shift from an expenditure mindset and lifestyle to an investment mindset and lifestyle. Proverbs 21:20. You know a fool by the fact that he’s always spending. You know a wise person who will have enough resources by the fact that he’s always putting something aside and investing something. Church Gist. The summary is, stop looking for what to eat, start looking for what to invest.
Let me tell you what happened to Isaac as an example. Genesis 26:1-3;12. This is the land where people were looking for what to eat, Isaac was not looking and struggling to see how far he can gather what to eat, he was gathering what to invest and he exploded. Church Gist. There are many people looking for how to buy a new suit, shoe, car, or how to change to a bigger house, no, that is the wrong way to live. I told you this story before, one of us here in this Church invited many years ago, maybe 10 or 15 years ago, to come and dedicate his estate, big storey buildings with many flats. After I finished dedicating the estate, I asked him, “where’s your house? Where do you live?” I was thinking he will tell me that he was living in Maitama or Asokoro because somebody who has such money should be living in those places, he said, he’s living in a 2-bedroom flat in Karu that he is renting for 120,000 naira. I said, “so, what’s happening?” Church Gist. He said, no. It’s more economical for him to live there and pay that meager amount and use the balance of the money to build and do more things and a time will come shortly where he would move to a house that he built for himself, not paying millions to another person in rent. Church Gist. That is how, people who will be big, think. Living in Maitama, Asokoro or any of those places, paying 5 million, 10 million, struggling for the house rent is not bigness, it’s smallness carried too far. You’re not showing that you’re big, you’re showing that the mind is small. Isaac was not looking for what (to eat), other people were struggling, “what do I eat now?” He was looking, “what do I invest now?” That mindset must change if you must break your limitations. Church Gist. Money is entering your hands, there’s a car to put on the road for Uber when you’re out of the office, or bolt or any of these services. So, it’s bringing you money to do many things, the car is servicing itself, fueling itself and all the things it needs, you’re not bringing fresh money to do those things. It must change.
– I see somebody’s mind changing this morning.
6. Connect and receive Divine direction. Divine direction especially in times of scarcity is key to liberty. That is, God telling what to do, where to invest in, where to divest, how to cut down on some costs, is key to liberty. Church Gist. The widow of Zarephath was an example. 1 Kings 17:13-15. Then, the valley of the ditches 2 Kings 3:16-17. Divine direction is key to financial liberation. Don’t struggle to do what everybody is doing, find out from God what he wants you to do particularly as a person. Church Gist. Your money is somewhere, it may not be everywhere. “Go to the sea and catch the fish”, that was the instruction to Peter; “open its mouth, you’ll find the money there”. If Peter went to River Jordan, he was on his own.
Many of us are living by trial and error. You don’t need to be a Prophet to hear that, one dream can settle you. Church Gist. God can show you a dream in the night and show you what you’re selling, or the area where your result is coming from and you wake up in the day and step there. But where you don’t have interest, there, you can’t have insight. Church Gist. Many are not interested in knowing what to do, they do not put themselves under the pressure of knowing from God what to do. So, God is just quiet. Hosea 6:3. If you want to know, you must press to know. When you’re a star, you don’t struggle to shine when you find your spot. Church Gist. God said, “go and sell pepper” and you’re going to import pepper from Maiduguri or from anywhere and you’re a billionaire in pepper, you’re not struggling at all because He showed you the wisdom and the revelation, that, in that realm, your resources are there.
– I prophesy to somebody here, in the name of Jesus, anywhere your resources are, God shall cause you to see them in the name of Jesus!
– I prophesy the spirit of wisdom, revelation, I decree Divine direction for the opening of your eyes, ears and your understanding to know where what is yours is located!
– shout the loudest Amen.
7. Confront any known limitation of your life and destiny by the power of God. There are 2 steps to this;
7a. Identify the limitations of your life and destiny and deal with them at the place of prayer through Scripture. Church Gist. That is, you have seen a pattern in your family, people rise to a level and they come down; you have seen a pattern in your own life that you move up to a certain level and all of a sudden, your journey is arrested. You can transact 10 million, 5 million, 15 million but it will never reach 20 million not to talk of 50 or 100million or a billion, it’s just around the same level. Even someone who can give you a job of up to a billion or something or a hundred million, he will still put you at that level because there seems to be something on your head. You identify it. Leviticus 26:13. Church Gist. They put something on your neck or your back, so that you’re not meant to walk upright. They limited your destiny, He said, “I am the Lord your God, I will partner with you to break the yoke and cause you to stand upright”.
– I stand here by the Apostolic and Prophetic mantle of God upon my life and I decree, everything they have done to limit your life and your destiny, that yoke is broken!
– lift your voice and say, ” I shall cross, I shall exceed the limits of my fathers! I shall go where others have not gone in the name of Jesus! I escape the limitations of my generation, I escape it now!”
Concerning this point, refer to last sunday’s message on dealing with this limitations.
7b. Connect with the ministry of your Prophet to break the limitations. That is why we are here this morning. 2 Chronicles 20:20. Church Gist. Your prosperity is tied and connected to the assignment of your Prophet.
– today, I declare the release of that prosperity!
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