Luke 4:17-19 “And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: (18) “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor: He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; (19) To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Luke 7:22 “Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.”
In this section we will discuss certain principles taught in scripture, which if applied, will have the effect of blessing the saint so that they can walk in the full supply that our Lord Jesus has made available to us. But I need to make this statement up front. None of these principles will work for the believer unless they are applied in faith. You have to believe that God’s word is true and that if acted upon, it will produce the results that God has promised, for the just shall live by faith and we can receive nothing from God except by faith. If these principles are applied as works they will be of no benefit to the believer, but for the Christian who applies them by faith, they can fully expect to see the blessing of God being made manifest in their lives. We have already seen in an earlier section that the vast majority of the Lord’s saints are poor when they are brought into the kingdom of God. However, it is not the Lord’s will that His saints stay that way, and so in this section we will look at how Jesus leads His saints out of poverty into the place where they can walk in a full supply. Obviously that which we discuss in this section can be applied in the lives of all believers, not only in the lives of believers that are poor. In the first passage of scripture quoted above our Lord Jesus revealed to us part of the mandate that He had received from God the Father. Essentially, He said that He was sent to heal the sick, set the captives free, and preach the gospel to the poor. In the second passage of scripture quoted above our Lord confirmed to John the Baptist that He was accomplishing that which the Father had sent Him to do, i.e. the sick were being healed, the dead were being raised, and the poor were hearing the gospel preached. In the gospel accounts we can clearly see the results of the sick being healed, for all who came to Jesus believing, received their healing. And we see accounts of the dead being raised in Jesus ministry. And so the question is asked, what about the poor? We know that Jesus frequently gave to the poor, but even though His ministry was extremely generous in giving to the poor, He did not have enough finances available to deliver all the poor from their poverty. So how did Jesus minister to the poor, to deliver them from their poverty? The answer to that question is that the scripture declares that Jesus “preached the gospel to them”. In other words Jesus taught them the principles of the kingdom of God, which if they applied to their lives, would deliver the poor from their poverty and bring them into a place where they could walk in an abundant supply.
Matthew 6:31-33 “Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' (32) For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. (33) But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
So what were the principles that our Lord Jesus taught us to apply, so that we could walk free from poverty and walk in an abundant supply? The first principle that our Lord taught us is in the above quoted passage of scripture i.e. we first need to become a part of the kingdom of God, for we need to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. In other words we must be born-again, and then as God’s children He will supply all of our needs. And so we see that all believers meet the first condition to walking in a full supply. But clearly not all believers walk in a full supply, and so there must be further principles that need to be applied if we are to walk in God’s prosperity.
Mark 11:22-23 “So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God. (23) For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”
The principle that our Lord Jesus taught on faith in the above quoted passage of scripture, is that we must speak to the mountain. Many believers never see results in their life because they refuse to speak to the mountain, simply because they view that practice as foolishness. However, the apostle Paul taught us that spiritual things are foolishness to the natural man (1 Corinthians 2:14). And so if you are going to prosper financially, then you are going to have to learn to confess God’s word over your life. In other words you will have to speak to the mountain. It is significant that in this one verse of scripture when Jesus taught on faith, that He used the word “say” three times, whereas He used the word “believe” only once. Most of the time we as believers, put the emphasis on our believing, whereas Jesus, in this passage of scripture put the emphasis on our speaking. Don’t misunderstand me, we must believe. But very often our faith doesn’t work for us because we do not watch what we say. Jesus did not only teach us that we will have what we believe, He also taught us that we will have what we say. And so you must consistently confess that which you believe in your heart if you want to see it come to pass. Faith is released through words.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
We can receive nothing from God except by faith (James 1:6-7). The above quoted passage of scripture plainly teaches us that as believers, we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. The reason God could do that for us was because Jesus became sin for us. In other words Jesus took upon Himself our sin, so that we could take upon ourselves His righteousness. And so whether we believe it or not, the fact remains that when we were born-again we became the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. However, it is one thing to be made the righteous of God in Christ Jesus, but it is an entirely different thing to walk in that righteousness. Only saints that truly believe that they have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus will ever walk in that righteousness. So how do we do that? The way that we were born-again is that we believed in Jesus and we confessed Him as Lord. The moment we did that God’s power was released and the miracle of the new birth took place in our spirits. And so in the same manner, the saints that believe that God has made them righteous, and continually confess that they are righteous, will begin to walk in His righteousness. For it is through faith that God’s power is released in them to enable them to walk in His righteousness.
2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”
So what does that principle have to do with having our needs met? We have already looked at one aspect of our redemption i.e. how to walk in His righteousness. We saw that we can walk in His righteousness because He was made to be sin for us. The above quoted passage of scripture uses the same language to describe what Christ did for us in the area of walking free from poverty and walking in abundant provision. For the scripture says that He became poor that we through His poverty might become rich. And so just as with regards to our being made righteous, it is an accomplished fact that we have been made rich through the poverty of Jesus, whether we choose to believe it or not. For those saints who choose to believe it however, they can begin to walk in the abundant provision that Jesus has made available to them i.e. they can become rich. So how do we do that? We do it the same way as with every aspect of our Christian walk, we do it by faith, i.e. we must believe that we have been made rich through the poverty of Jesus, and we must also continually confess that we have been made rich through His poverty. It is when we do that, that the power of God is released in our lives to cause us to walk in His abundant provision.
Michael E.B. Maher
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