TEEN TREE OF LIFE
THE DOCTRINE OF PROSPERITY
Part 4
December 2, 2018

Before you begin, ask yourself a very important question: Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins? If you answered yes, you will need to be sure that you are filled with The Holy Spirit. How do you do this? You name your sins to God The Father in His Son’s Name. This is called rebound. As a Christian, you must rebound any time you sin. This is taught in 1JOHN 1:9: If we confess our sins [directly to God], He [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if you have never believed that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins, all you have to do is say to yourself that you believe in Him and you are saved! The Bible verse which teaches us this is ACTS 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

The next question that needs to be answered at this point in our study is: “Are you going to be a doer of the Word or just a hearer?” The apostle James didn’t believe in Jesus, at first. He actually even challenged Him and totally misunderstood His mission. But later, he became very prominent in the church. The interesting thing about James is – he was Jesus’ brother. He wrote: Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! (JAM 1:22 The Message Bible) Just learning Bible doctrine is simply not enough. You have to do something with it. You have to apply it to your life. If you don’t, you will never have true prosperity.

The Greek word for knowledge is gnosis. Gnosis is doctrinal information which a person has learned but not believed or metabolized. Metabolized doctrine is the work of God The Holy Spirit and is a result of a believer mixing accurate doctrine with faith. Bible doctrine perceived is made understandable by means of the Filling of The Holy Spirit. You have to be Filled with The Spirit when you’re learning God’s Word or it won’t be usable. God The Holy Spirit metabolizes the doctrine by cycling it from the left lobe of the soul (the mind) to the right lobe (the heart) where it becomes spiritual energy. This spiritual energy is epignosis which is ready for application.

Our Lord placed great emphasis on the importance of doing what God’s Word tells us to do. Look at MAT 7:24-27 (The Message Bible): “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.”

The Lord is saying in this passage that when the storms of life hit, you won’t fall if you have laid a strong foundation built with Bible doctrine. In this analogy, the rain represents the continual problems that life will inevitably bring. The floods represent the opposition that seems to come out of nowhere. The wind represents the adversity we face. Do you know that as Christians, we’re in a war? Our warfare in the Christian life is invisible and spiritual. You have to use the tools God has prospered you with like Bible doctrine and the Filling of The Spirit or you’ll lose the war! His Word resident in your soul is the only weapon capable of withstanding the barrage of attacks from our great adversary the devil: So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you. Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So, keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are! —will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does. (1PE 5:6-11 The Message Bible) Amen!

Part of being a doer of the Word involves controlling what you say. If you have God’s Word resident in your soul, no attack will be too great. If Bible doctrine fills our hearts, it will be revealed by the words we speak. If we don’t keep our tongues under control, we’ll be in danger of becoming spiritually ineffective and we’ll lose any chance of receiving God’s Prosperity. Look at JAM 1:26: If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. When the going gets tough, we’ll be in a better position to control what we say if we have consistently studied and metabolized God’s Word. The best person to emulate in a time of crisis is the Lord Jesus Christ and He quoted Bible doctrine: Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it. Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger, which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: “Since you are God’s Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread.” Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.” For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said, “Since you are God’s Son, jump.” The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: “He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone.” Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: “Don’t you dare test the Lord your God.” For the third test, the Devil took him to the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth’s kingdoms, how glorious they all were. Then he said, “They’re yours—lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they’re yours.” Jesus’ refusal was curt: “Beat it, Satan!” He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.” The Test was over. The Devil left. And in his place, angels! Angels came and took care of Jesus’ needs. (MAT 4:1-11 The Message Bible)

Many Christians fail to receive prosperity from God because they fail to step out in faith and obey His Word. If you expect to prosper, it won’t happen without learning God’s Word and having strong, unwavering faith. Remember this principle: the thoughts that we have and the words that we speak will determine, whether or not, we are ready to receive prosperity from God.

ROM 12:2 states: And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. An immediate result of consistent Bible study is that your mind will be renewed. This will enable you to look at the world with Divine Viewpoint. Divine Viewpoint is the very thinking of Christ. Once a believer accepts the finished work of Christ on The Cross, his goal should be to acquire the Mind of Christ through daily intake of Bible doctrine, For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1CO 2:16)

We need to renew our minds in order to unlearn the world’s idea of prosperity. We live in a world filled with lies and satanic deceit. Our only chance to really see what’s going on is with Divine viewpoint! The apostle Paul wrote: But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you. (EPH 4:20-24 The Message Bible) The Greek word for renew is anakainosis. It means to make new, to receive new strength, vigor and energy; and to be completely changed to a new kind of life. Your mind is like a computer and for years you’ve been filling it with information from the cosmic system. It’s time to reprogram your computer and replace the cosmic data with Divine data! It’s the only way to learn and apply God’s Principles of prosperity.
{to be continued}