Dream to Destiny- Prosperity Test

**Fenny West** Fri 24 Jul 2009, 10:07 am

Prosperity Test

¹ Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. Potiphar, an Egyptian who was one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there.
² The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ When his master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, ⁴ Joseph found favour in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. ⁵ From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. ⁶ So he left in Joseph's care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.
God honours those who honour Him. His presence brings prosperity. Prosperity is His will for us. He delights in the prosperity of His servant. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate there in day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written there in for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. True prosperity is now a dirty word in some Christian circles because of the prosperity doctrine where one truth is ridden to death to the exclusion of the whole truth, that the baby of prosperity is now thrown away with the bath-water.
It is God who gives us the power to get wealth. Prosperity is not bad but it is the motive behind it that matters. Notice that if there is good success, there is also bad success. Whereas good success is that success which is motivated by the Spirit of God and drives you to seek wealth to promote the kingdom of God and the Gospel. Bad success on the other hand seek to get wealth for personal aggrandisement, selfishness. It depends on uncertain riches, shuns godliness in its avarice to get great gain. It sees riches as an end in themselves and would stop at nothing to get riches. Joseph prospered in all that he did, but the prosperity did not get into his head. He remained accountable to his master and was a good steward. He worked for his master as if he worked for God and so his master could trust him and promote him, and leave everything in his charge. Can God trust you or I with prosperity? Will we pass the prosperity test like Joseph did?

Note the cycle or linkage here: To prosper appropriately you need his presence; to have his presence you need to be obedient (not partially but fully like Abraham or Caleb and Joshua). To obey Him you need to hear Him and to hear Him you need faith where the written word is translated into a revealed word, a Rhema Word which sustains you in times of adversity. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. You need to hear the word again and again to boost your faith when the wind begins to blow and the fire begins to rage and the devil begins to whisper in your ears: yea hath God said?
Will you seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness when prosperity comes? Will you build your palaces and leave God’s house in ruins? Will you bring all the tithes into the storehouse or would 10% be too much for you to bring now that you’re earning millions? Remember prosperity of the fool will destroy him. Would your prosperity destroy you or give life to you? Will you be blessed to be a blessing like Abraham? That is God’s will for you and I.
8

Do Not Forget the LORD

¹ Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. ² Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. ⁴ Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
⁶ Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. ⁷ For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; ⁸ a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ¹² Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ¹⁵ He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. ¹⁶ He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." ¹⁸ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
¹⁹ If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. ²⁰ Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God. Deut 8:1-19

¹²And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
Can we be trusted at work? Can be rusted to be bible study leaders before we have our own ministry? Can we accept to do menial tasks which seem unrelated to our calling but which may be a training or proving or pruning ground? Would we treat the position as being beneath us or would we do it with all our might and ability? Would we Lord it over others or be humble and see it as an opportunity to serve others? Are we willing to wash others’ feet like Jesus did?
Someone said: ‘If a man cannot be trusted in a hard place, he cannot be trusted in a high place.’
Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Matt20:28

Joseph passed the stewardship and/or prosperity test in Potiphar’s house and proved that he was ready for greater assignment. It is also noteworthy that because of Potiphar’s association with Joseph, his household was blessed. And Potiphar knew it and wanted to maintain the blessing. God would want to bless those who are associated with us through us if we would honour him.

It is common knowledge that most African leaders once they come into privileged positions start amassing wealth for themselves and their families, siphoning funds abroad and feathering their nests, while majority of the populace live in abject poverty. When you get a highly paid job does it get into your head? Do you immediately think of another holiday home or car or more computers even though you have two or the latest mobile phone even though you have three? Do you think of how you can help spread the gospel and help the less fortunate? What are your priorities like?

What is your view of prosperity?

For some it is having more money, more houses, being promoted and the like.

Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. 1Cor16:2

However we need to have an all-rounded view of prosperity. Having creative insights and wisdom is prosperity, having abundance of revelation knowledge is prosperity; having lots of new converts is prosperity and so is having many members of your church moving from being on the fringe to the core. Prosperity should encompass the spirit, soul and body. Even having an increase in good relationships with members of the Body of Christ is prosperity. Let’s rise from the myopic view of prosperity and embrace the wider view and thank God for them. Often wisdom to spend well what you have can be better than having more without wisdom which leads to waste and want and discontentment.

Having peace is prosperity

Divine direction is prosperity ‘And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the LORD hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master.’ Gen 24:56

Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
⁴And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did.

⁵And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper.2Chro26: 5

Winning a war is prosperity And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.Judges4:24

This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of

the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. 2 Chro 32:30

Promotion and positive influence is prosperity So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian Daniel 6:28