HOW TO LIVE A PROSPEROUS LIFE.

A)THE TRUE WORSHIP THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

John 4:24 NLT

If a day old royal child is kidnapped and kept away from the kingdom until the child grows up. The person would not know his/her identity until it is revealed. The coming of Jesus was not only to free us from our captors but also to reveal to us the Fatherhood of God, " to open the eyes of the blind".( Lk 4:18)

John 17:26 says "I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

The Greek word for " made known" as used in our text is " gnorizo" which means to gain thorough knowledge of.

So, we can see from the verse that the Spirit of Jesus in us will continue to give us thorough knowledge of God. So we can give God the true worship He seeks. This is why we have to stay in fellowship with the Spirit through word meditation. Amos 3:3 says. "Can two walk together if they don't agree"

For this reason Jesus spent his time teaching, He told the disciples who believed in him “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31‭-‬32

Just as the day old kidnapped royal child, we have stayed too long away from our Heavenly Father and our kingdom that we don't know who we are and who our Father is. Jesus revealed to us our identity; "When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.- (John 14:20)

Let's build on this revelation, and nothing shall be impossible for us. That is the life Jesus lived on earth. The life of " the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.”(Jn 10:38) "The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me" (Jn 14:10)

Remember, God is Spirit, his children are spirit beings and we live and function in the spirit. It doesn't matter what we do for a living we will always be a success because the Spirit of our Father who lives in us does his own work. That is why the Lord said "‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, (Zech 4:6 )

B) KNOW YOUR NEW ENVIRONMENT

Every child of God should learn how to live in our new environment, that is to live in spirit so as to be fruitful and give God the worship He seeks. Remember, we live in Christ and Christ is Spirit, so living in Christ is living in spirit. In Christ, everything is carried out by the Spirit not by our power or might. That is why Zechariah 4:6 tells us that " it is neither by might nor by power but the Spirit of Jesus in us.

Let's not spend time trying to figure out "how" it will happen because it is done by the Spirit's own mechanism and no one can predict the things of the Spirit. Remember when virgin Mary asked the Angel "How will this be,” “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, Lk1:34‭-‬35 . So whenever the thought of "how" comes, only answer "the Spirit will do if"

It is the same mechanism that pulled down the mighty walls of Jericho with songs and trumpets, the same mechanism that feeds the birds, that also fed 5000 people with 5 loaves of bread and two fish. It is the same today, for the Spirit of God does not change.Good understanding of our new environment places us above our needs,lacks and worries, so we can give God the worship He seeks.

The things of the Spirit are beyond human reasoning. That is why the Lord said "the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. .(John 14:17) The world lives by sight, but we live by faith. We don't feel him sometimes because He is in our spirit and not in our senses. Romans 8:16 says "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children."

C) KEEP SABBATH DAY

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Exodus 20:8 NIV

We all enjoy our days off or vacation days, we don't want it disrespected. The Lord created this great world, both seen and unseen in 6 days and set only one day apart for himself to rest. It's his day. He wants us to honor it with him. Remember, that was our first day with the Lord after we were created.

Look out what He promised us if we honor his holy day:

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord ’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord , and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” The mouth of the Lord has spoken.- Isaiah 58:13‭-‬14

Let's honor the Lord' s special day, it is really a great gift for us to honor it with him. Let's make it ceremonious, and thank him for all the good things He did for us in Jesus.

D) GUARD YOUR HEART

A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

Ezekiel 36:26

Proverbs 4:23 says Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life." From our opening verse, through baptism, We have received a new heart and a new Spirit to sustain it. The course of our lives depends on us. That is why David said "Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me."

Psalms 51:10

Do we want to live in the course of guilt, fear, worries, failure and sickness or in the course of good health, excellence and wellbeing? "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he."

(Prov 23:7) Are we going to feed it with junk , human reasoning and sci-fi or guard it with the word of God?

E) LIVE BY GRACE

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:14

I Corinthians 15:48. says "As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly."

The first man enjoyed the grace of God, governed the entire earth with grace until he lost the glory of God. The second and last Adam, Jesus, gave us his kind of life full of grace and truth.

In this new life, all we need to govern the world is grace just as it was in the beginning before the fall. We govern our health, finances, marriage and every circumstance of our lives with grace.Luke 12:15 says "Life is not measured by how much we own". Rather it is measured by abundance of grace.

Romans 5:17 says "For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

Remember, we are no longer under the law but under grace. Through grace, we are dead to sin and alive in righteousness, we have crossed from death to life, we are no longer under the law of sin and death but under the law of Spirit of life.

.F) UNSHAKABLE LIFE

DO YOU WANT TO LIVE A LIFE OF EXCELLENCE, GLORY, PROSPERITY AND UNSHAKABLE? PONDER AND PRACTICE THESE PROCEEDING VERSES.

Lord , who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart;

whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbor, and casts no slur on others; who despises a vile person but honors those who fear the Lord ;

who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; who lends money to the poor without interest;

who does not accept a bribe against the innocent. Whoever does these things will never be shaken.

(Psalms 15:1‭-‬5 NIV)

ITim 4:15 says " Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all.

G) THE GARDEN

Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!

2 Corinthians 5:17 AMPC

In horticulture, grafting is done whereby the scion of the plant is ingrafted into the stock of another plant, to enhance growth, disease resistance and adapt to climatic conditions. This is how it is when we are in Jesus, we become one entity. The Lord becomes our stock ,our life source who supplies us the Sap [Holy Spirit] we need to bear fruit.

Just like in ingrafted plants, people see that the new breed is better than the old breed, and praise the horticulturist. Also, our lives should be different from others that are not in Christ. We should show some characters of the plant we are ingrafted in, by bearing fruit that glorify the Lord. People shall see these fruits and glorify God for the work, He has done for us in Christ Jesus.

So the scripture says "You will fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Even so, every healthy (sound) tree bears good fruit [worthy of admiration], but the sickly (decaying, worthless) tree bears bad (worthless) fruit - Matt 7:16‭-‬17

The only way the ingrafted scion can produce good fruits is if it stays attached to the stock, so it draws nutrients from the stock. Christ is our vine, and we are the branches. we have to remain in Jesus and his words so as to bear good fruits for the world to see and glorify God. (Jn 15:7)

So the bible says "The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord ; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, (Psalm 92:12‭-‬14 )

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H)OUR ROLES IN THE GARDEN

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are the branches - John 15:1‭-‬2,5

We can see from our text that there's a role for everyone. God the Father is our gardener, Jesus is the vine and we are the branches that bear the fruits. Holy Spirit is the life of the vine, the sap that supports us so we can bear fruit. John1:4 says "In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind"

This is the perfect unity Jesus prayed for us to experience, the branch in the Vine and the Sap in the branch, so that the world will know that God sent him.

-Jn17:21

We cannot leave our role of bearing fruit to become the vine or the gardener, neither can we bear fruit without attaching to the vine. It is only when we do our own part by bearing fruit that the gardener will clean us more so we can bear more fruit.

And we know we have a faithful gardener who does not sleep or slumber and we already have the Vine to supply us necessary sap needed to bear fruit. God has done everything for us by giving us Jesus, our duty is to remain in him so we can bear fruit.

The scripture says " all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.

(2 Cor 1:20 ) So we abide in Jesus bear fruits and God will add more to us. This is why every child of God conquers this world.

So, if God is our gardener, Christ our vine and Holy Spirit the sap, shall we be in lack? Or shall we always be fruitful? Ofcourse we shall always prosper in good health, financially and in our marriages. We are being fed by the Holy Spirit, and our Father is watching over us himself to see us prosper so He could have his glory. So the bible says "For you are the glory of their strength; by your favor our horn is exalted" Psalm 89:17

I)WE ARE NEW BREEDS

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him - Ps 34:8

If a researcher creates a new breed of fruit bearing crops, the success of his/her work depends on the fruit. In the same way, we are God's masterpiece, his chosen breed, we are recreated to bear fruit the world will taste and glorify our maker.

The only way the world will know the excellence of our Maker is through our fruits. We go through diverse trials in life just to prove the quality of work our creator did, that's why it is called trials. So, let's not fret at trials, instead trust our maker, knowing that He doesn't make bad choices.

We have to know that trials don't last because the endpoints are results. So let's stand strong in the Lord because our strength is from him. Remember, we are just the branches, the Lord is the vine. We draw our sap from the Lord not from us, branches don't have roots, they entirely depend on the vine for support.

The ability of the branch to bear good fruits, withstand disease and so on depends on the stem. The branch is just there to display the excellent work of the gardener. That's why the Lord said that the father's glory is shown on how much fruit we bear (Jn 15:8)

Remember the words of the Lord :

“A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad - Matt 12:33 We have the same sap as the Vine, do you think that we cannot bear good fruits ?

That is why St Peter said that we are called to display the excellence of God (1 Pet 2:9) So, from our opening text, the world should be able to taste the fruits we bear and glorify God and we are confident that we shall bear good fruits only if we stay attached to this great vine.

J) HALLOW BE THY NAME

And I will vindicate the holiness of My great name and separate it for its holy purpose from all that defiles it.- Ezekiel 36:23 AMPC

Today, the Lord has hallowed his name by giving us the Holy name of Jesus. The name Jesus is already set apart from everything that defiles it, such as sin and its distress.

That is why, when we encounter challenges that defile the name of God, such as sickness, wretchedness, untimely death, temptations etc, we pray in the name of Jesus, and they bow.

The sweetest thing about this is that we live in Jesus. Eph 1:4 tells us that "Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes." This means that even before this world and it's distress were made, God already set us apart from them, by ingrafting us in Jesus. This way, He already magnified us above every earthly circumstances we might face. GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO!

That is why 2 Cor 2:14 says "Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

Let's never complain about our earthly circumstances anymore, for God has magnified us above them , we existed before them and they don't define us. Therefore, because we are in Jesus, we are living a holy life all the days of our life, and are walking in the right paths of life, a path set apart from all that defiles it. That is why the scripture says "Righteousness will go before Him, And shall make His footsteps our pathway.- Ps 85:13