“Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord: O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. (Psalm 118:25)

Importunity and persistence in prayer involves being shameless in asking God for your needs. As believers , we know that Christ took our poverty that we might be rich in Him.

However, many children of God are homeless, jobless, poor, and sick. A vast majority are in a state of ‘borderline-poverty’.

It is God’s will for us to prosper in all things and be in health, even as our souls prosper. Why then are so many wallowing in poverty?

Some of the reasons people remain poor are as follows:
Ignorance, Stinginess, Ancestral yokes/curses of poverty, Laziness, and Planlessness.

Ignorance and Lack of vision:

Ignorance causes suffering, while people perish without vision. However, through knowledge the just shall be delivered-See Hos. 4:6; Pr. 11:9; 29:18.
I heard a preacher say that Pentecostals use one percent of their brain, while Orthodox Christians use just 5 percent of theirs.

This is not meant to insult or judge but to help you understand the need to ‘watch and pray’ so you wont enter into temptations.

The Human Being is unique among all created things. God gave us faculties in our spirit, soul and body with which to function adequately in this world.

Added to which, Christ has been made wisdom unto us.

However, it is so alarming that most ‘Christians’ do not use their reasoning faculties!

Instead, they wait on God to come clean their butts. God wont do for you what you can do for yourself.

How would you feel if your 8 year old child still wait on you to spoon-feed him or her?

We really do need to grow up, search the scriptures and apply the principles therein to confront our daily reality.

There is a God part and your part.

God’s part is Done-Finished on the Cross by Christ.

Your part is to appropriate what is done for you.

And the Holy Spirit will help your infirmities as you strive towards perfection.

God did not leave Believers helpless. We have the Holy Spirit as helper, comforter, advocate, standby, teacher etc. And He lives within us.

Our prayer theme is a cry out to God for help. We are asking God to show us areas in our lives that we still need to work on.
And to God’s glory, everyday, He points us in the right direction. As we pray, we watch-we make amends and improve on our characters, relationships and evict the evil spirits influencing or enforcing evil in our circumstances and condition. By this, we walk in perpetual victory. Hallelujah.

What is your vision for the nest season? If you have no vision or clarity of purpose, ask God to show you what He wants you to do. When we acknowledge God in all our ways, He directs our path-See Pr. 3:6. And whatever He tells you to do, be ready to do.

Testimony:

I remember we once had a prayer meeting with this same theme, for aspiring entrepreneurs who needed upstart capital and direction.

At the end of the 7 day-prayer meeting, only 2 women were still clueless.

During private counseling, it came out that they actually received revelation pointing them to the type of business to do. But they felt it was beneath them as both were widows of ex-military officers.

One saw herself selling cornstarch extracts (pap), and the other saw herself selling bagged water (ice water in the local language). In all sincerity, these two businesses are what poor illiterate women do. So we understood their dilemma.

However, we told them to go pray for three more days and let us know what the Holy Spirit says to them. They both still had the same dream.

In trying to understand what the Holy Spirit was saying, we asked questions and it came out that the lady with the dream of making ‘cornstarch’ loves making it as a hobby with different flavors.

While the other lady had a nylon sealing machine she intended to use commercially, but she had no capital for the local materials.
Dear friends, do not despise the days of little beginnings.

As a faith and love based missionary who does not solicit or give handouts: our economic empowerment programs are usually spirit-led and with low capital base.

We depend on God to touch hearts of those he wants to bless through their partnership involvement with us. And little becomes a great company with His blessings. We teach people to work the word because the word works.

We prayerfully plan, and execute our plans according to Divine directives. What we have we need, what we do not have, we can do without. We impart these principles and encourage people to live within their present provisions.

We discourage indebtedness. one of our slogan is ‘don’t, beg, borrow or steal. Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways and He will direct your path.

In addition, both ladies were advised to ask for clarity and to do as they were shown. The first lady started making flavored-cornstarch, which is far better than custard. Her clientele grew, people started placing special orders.

Her break came when her niece asked her to host some Europeans who wanted to holiday in an African home setting. They loved the flavored ‘pap’ and became business partners. She exports her products. Her market expanded.
She did not need to beg, borrow or steal, to start an income -yielding venture that increased her her grace to give.

We are blessed to be a blessing.

An African proverb says a river that forgets its source runs dry. The Source of all blessings is God. Her support for God’s work increased and she invested more in the lives of others in order to point them to Christ her Source and Resource.

From Hephzibah Christly #theSpiritualWarrior
Part 2 follows immediately –

Extract from ‘Perfect all that concerns me, O God’ day 13. More
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