Joseph Prince - The Gospel Has The Power to Bring Provision
This is an excerpt from: Prosperity With A Purpose
It's not that God needs you to build His house; He needs your money to build His house. No, that money came from God. Now, sometimes we think that Well, what I have is what I earned, Pastor Prince. You know, I worked hard for this and all that. Now, there's a beautiful verse in the Bible that God promised the children of Israel, and God says this in Deuteronomy 8, verse 17 to 18. "Then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.'" Now, the background is this. God says, "Don't say that 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.' But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day".
Friend, why is it that God says, ‘Don't say in your heart? Notice it's not someone boasting outwardly. We always think that, you know, no one says this outwardly, right? They know enough not to say my power got me this wealth. Not many people will say it verbally, but don't say it in your heart, don't even say it in your heart. That's where it happens: You have this attitude my power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. Why did God say that? Sometimes the wealth that comes to you comes to you in a very natural, it seems like in the natural, it comes to you naturally because you invested wisely in something, or you work hard and all of a sudden, your boss came to you and he said he's gonna give you a promotion, and increase pay and all that.
Whatever it is, you find that it's so natural because I worked hard for it, and I did this, I did that. It must be that, or else no one will say in their heart; if it's so spectacular, like God opened up the Red Sea, no one can say I opened up the Red Sea. It will not be spectacular; the wealth, the power to get wealth will be something, it’s real power from God, or else He won't say He gives you power to get wealth. Notice, not He gives you wealth. He gives you power to get wealth. And that power is so supernaturally natural in its manifestation that the danger is that you forget it is the Lord who gives you the power. So God says, "Don't say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand gotten me this wealth.' But you shall remember the LORD your God, it is He who gives you power to get wealth".
Now, the purpose for this power to get wealth is "That He may establish His covenant, which He swore to your fathers as it is this day". Now, some may think that God is saying about the covenant of Sinai which is the covenant of law. No, the power to get wealth is to establish His covenant. Which covenant is it? "Which He swore to your fathers". That's your answer. It's a covenant of grace, because when God swore, right, the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, it was way before the law, it was more than 400 over years before the law. God swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And what covenant was that? The Abrahamic covenant, which is totally unconditional. It's not based on, on Abraham's obedience. It's based on God's faithfulness.
And that's the same covenant of grace that we have today. We are blessed with the blessing of Abraham. We are Abraham's seed if we belong to Christ. Amen. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, "that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles," on you and I, amen, "that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith".
So, you see, that power to get wealth, number one, is to establish His covenant. But what covenant is it? Is it a covenant of law? No, it is a covenant of grace. So, friend, God gives you power to get wealth to establish the covenant of grace. Wherever you find the covenant of grace being preached, being, proclaimed, that is the ground. If you line up your, your, your, your life with that and your giving and all that, your sowing, your tithing, your giving with all that, amen, you will definitely receive that power to get wealth. Praise God. Hallelujah. God definitely gave that power to His people. Now, again, you know, some, some people might say, "Well, you know, I don't believe, in this health and wealth gospel".
Friend, I don't believe in that also. I don't believe there is a gospel called gospel of health and wealth. There's no such thing. The Bible says the gospel is the gospel of grace and peace. But the result of the gospel is always provision, amen. The first area, God provides, what? Righteousness as a gift. And then God provides for us in our soul, in our realm, "Come unto me and I'll give you rest". Praise the Lord. Peace that passes understanding. For our bodies, He gives health, amen.
And for our outward life, just like 3 John 2, God's will for you, God's desire for you above all things that you prosper outwardly and be in health, even as your soul, your inward man, prospers, amen, in every dimension. That's God's kind of prosperity. Amen. So, God will give the power to get wealth to, to someone who see His vision, His plan, His purpose, to establish, which covenant? Covenant of grace. Amen. And they'll put their money there, praise the Lord, because that's where, amen, God is working.
That's where God is, God's provisions are flowing, amen. Ah, in Israel's time, where was God working in? God was working towards building the tabernacle. And that's where all the wealth that God gave them, the great possessions was going towards. Now, of course it's not everything they had went over there. In fact, they were told not to bring any more. So, when God blesses you, there'll be, definitely there'll be things left for you. God blesses, like Jesus says, "Give, it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down". Now, He could have stopped there also. It will be enough. Good measure, pressed down, means what? You got to press it down because it keeps on coming up. But then He went further by saying, "Running over". What is running over? Have you ever experienced the running over blessings?
There are some people who say, "Well, God supplies our, our needs, all right. God meets our needs, not our wants". Well, my Bible says, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want". There is no want in Psalms. There is no want to them that fear Him. All right. God takes care of your want. In fact, the running over, why is it the running over? Have you ever experienced the running over blessing? See, friend, God wants you blessed running over so that your blessings will flow to others. Amen. But are you blessed? Are you blessed in the process? Yes, you are blessed in the process, definitely. Amen. Because you are the channel through which the supply flows through.
Definitely there will be more than enough for you. The only problem we have is that it stops there, like the Dead Sea in Israel. The Dead Sea has inlet. It has no outlet. And that's why it's called the Dead Sea. Nothing can live in the Dead Sea. But up north in the, in the land of Israel, the Sea of Galilee is thriving with fishes. Why? Because there's inlet and there's outlet, amen. Would you call the sea blessed? Yes. Why? Because it's a channel. It's allowing itself to be a channel. So, will you be blessed when you become a giver? Definitely you'll be blessed, all right. And the running over is a blessing plenty for others and plenty for you and your family.