Message
In the 70s, when I became born again, it was widely believed among Christians that poverty is one of the criteria for being a true child of God. This belief was so strong that when someone gifted me a Mercedes-Benz, I parked it in my garage unused for months until the Lord told me I was hindering the blessings of the person who gave me the car by not using it. I was afraid that people would think I had backslidden if they saw me in such an expensive car. Because of what the Lord had said to me, I decided to drive the car just once, and I recall that I felt so ashamed that day. After that day, I said, “Lord, I have driven the car, can I sell it now?” He agreed, and I sold it. Not long after that, someone gave me a limousine with six doors. When I saw it, I said, “Lord, you know that even if they put my dead body in this car, it will jump out of it.” That is how much we thought that poverty was directly proportional to godliness in those days, and because of that, the devil cheated us. He raised people to take over companies and industries until Christians were at the mercy of evil people running different economies around the world.
There is nothing godly about poverty; it has sent many people to hell, just as riches have done. Poverty has made many youths decide never to follow the path of their Christian parents because of how badly they suffered while growing up. It has made the people of the world mock the Almighty God because they thought that Christians were dumb as a result of their devotion to God. In today’s Bible reading, one of Elisha’s proteges died in poverty and left an inheritance of debt for his family. If his wife had not run to Elisha and received the word of the Lord that turned their poverty to wealth, his two sons, who were facing a lifetime of slavery, could have grown up hating God even though their father was a godly man.
God is not poor (), so poverty is not godliness. God gives his children power to make wealth (), and it is His desire to prosper them even as their soul prospers (). Beloved, reject poverty! It is not the will of God for your life.