Yet today at best for most believers they are really just the Ten Suggestions. The majority of believers worldwide couldn’t name them, certainly not in order – and even less understand them – and will excuse their ignorance under the guise of ‘love’. When pursuing them for a definition of love again the vast majority of believers will settle for an emotional response rather than a principled one. Although love in various parts of the Bible does translate love as an emotion, by far the greatest definitions of love the Bible gives is that it is a verb, an action! [see 1Cor 13] And action as the act of our wills rather than the follow through of a good feeling.

So if we cannot tell what the Ten Commandments are because they are ‘irrelevant’ and give an emotional response to our definition of ‘love’ then we are left with today’s church which wants to interpret

God’s absolute truths as relevant. So we will say that murder is not good, but a woman violently raped and left pregnant has the right to abort the ‘foetus’ growing on the inside of her.

Another example would be that marriage is the cutting of covenant between one man and one woman, committing themselves to each other ’til death do they part. But if two people fall in love today and shack up and have kids we are told both by them and many others in the Christian world that they are ‘married in God’s eyes’ and as long as they ‘love’ each other then we have no right to interfere like I am doing now. When Jesus encountered the woman at the well however he knew the difference by the Spirit of God to the fact that she had been married five times and was presently shacked up with a dude. God knows the difference and so do we; it’s just that our compromise insists on seeing the shades of grey. Relevant truth wants to interpret each case on an individual basis and pronounce it’s own judgement on it. As the word says, all the ways of a man are right in his own eyes. Relevant truth has set man up as his own god instead of serving God.

So when it comes to prosperity today and God’s absolute promise to bless His children in every way we want to move away from absolute truth. We want to shade it in with all the greys of the religious, poverty spirits who twist the word to suit their prejudices, pain, pride and laziness! God has an absolute nature as described in metaphors like ‘our God is a consuming fire’.

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1John 1:5-7

That’s an absolute God from which flows absolute truth. “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all”. Our God and Father is absolutely prosperous and in Him there is no lack or poverty at all. No wonder Psalm 23 writes:

The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not lack.

Prosperity is the very nature of God and we are told that we are partakers of the very same nature of His, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” 2Pet 1:2-4

There is no halfway interpreting the prosperity of God in the life of a believer. The drive-by internet theologian wants to have their anti-prosperity toxicity spewed across our screens with all the vitriol that it’s worth and then simultaneously tell us to make room for all of God as possible; our God that is absolutely blessed, absolutely prosperous with no need unmet, no lack and no poverty.

Well which one is it? Poverty and lack or All of God?

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”John 14

What would that look like for a believer? The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit making their home in you? I tell you one thing right now, it’s not going to be shabby. Be absolutely blessed!

Like many others, I was baffled by this statement. Not because I begrudge rights and benefits to homosexual couples.

And certainly not because I have any great interest in the internal debates of the Conservative Party over what constitutes a true Conservative direction in policy – though ‘conserving’ things is definitely not what this policy is about.

Wedding: The union of one man and one woman has been the bedrock of societies across cultures for thousands of years

For it threatens to fatally weaken what is still one of our country’s greatest strengths – the institution of marriage.

I was also baffled because this Government’s proposal constitutes one of the greatest political power grabs in history.

The state does not ‘own’ the institution of marriage. Nor does the church.

The honourable estate of matrimony precedes both the state and the church, and neither of these institutions have the right to redefine it in such a fundamental way.

For thousands of years, the union of one man and one woman has been the bedrock of societies across cultures, all around the world. Marriage is now an integral part of the modern world not because of a government diktat, or a church decree, but because it has stood the test of time – and proved to be the fundamental building block for every stable society.

Marriage is one of the most important aspects of our culture, and one that the public hold in great esteem. Most people still get married, and many young people aspire to be married. Even if couples choose not to, when children come along many of them instinctively tie the knot.

Threat: Homosexuals in bridal veils kiss in the street. Such communions would jeopardise the stability of our country

By their actions they affirm their belief in what many of us know to be true – that the ideal is for children to be raised by a mother and father who are married.

Academic study after academic study has shown that adults, children and the wider community all prosper because of marriage.

A report recently published by researchers at the University of British Columbia found that cultures where monogamy is the norm are safer, while countries in which other arrangements are more common have higher levels of serious crime.

For many centuries, Britain has known much more stability than most other nations on Earth, and marriage has been essential to our national welfare. It keeps families together. It is clear that family breakdown has a personal and societal cost – from children damaged by the experience of growing up in a broken home to the older people who are left lonely and isolated because of the break-up of their families in middle age.

For many centuries, Britain has known much more stability than most other nations on Earth, and marriage has been essential to our national welfare. It keeps families together. It is clear that family breakdown has a personal and societal cost – from children damaged by the experience of growing up in a broken home to the older people who are left lonely and isolated because of the break-up of their families in middle age.

Proposals: Men would be allowed to wed in churches, too. On a personal level, my own experience has taught me how wonderful marriage can be. I could not have managed without the support of my loving wife Eileen, who has been by my side for over five decades, assisting me with my ministry and also doing a brilliant job of raising our four children.

Marriage is the glue that binds our country together. When a couple marries, they are not just joining with one individual, but connecting two families – and in doing so creating a support network far better than anything the state can supply.

Of course – like most things worth having – marriage is not easy. There is increasing social pressure to split up, with TV programmes and celebrities often projecting the fantasy that we can hop in and out of relationships without any fuss, or emotional or financial fallout.

And perhaps, as a nation, we can fool ourselves into thinking that we don’t need marriage. But we’d be terribly wrong. Marriage is a cornerstone of our society. Because of this, I believe the general public will oppose the present attempt to fundamentally alter – and undermine – the institution.
This is not because we oppose gay couples, but because we simply don’t accept the mantra of the equalities industry – that being equal means being the same.

Marriage and civil partnerships have been defined for two different types of relationship and should be kept distinct – it is not and should not be ‘one size fits all’. Civil partnerships were brought in to give same-sex couples the rights that they said they badly needed. These rights are virtually identical to those of married couples. At the time the Government reassured us in the House of Lords that civil partnerships would have no effect on marriage. Marriage, we were told, would remain distinct because it is a relationship between a man and a woman.

Now the Government, egged on by pressure groups and image advisers – not the general public, it is important to note – is pressing ahead with plans to rewrite the legal definition of marriage.

The Government, I believe, has not fully thought through the implications. I understand that the word ‘marriage’ appears about 3,000 times in UK legislation. It is woven into the fabric of our laws and I am not so sure that it can be so easily altered beyond all recognition. If same-sex marriage is legalised, schools will be forced to teach children the new definition of marriage – which will run counter to the wishes of many parents.

We know what will happen, for we have already had a taste of it – it will encourage religious discrimination. A marriage registrar from Islington believed in traditional marriage, and was disciplined by her employers for it. The elderly owners of a B&B believed in traditional marriage, and were successfully sued for it. Numerous Roman Catholic adoption agencies believed in traditional marriage, and were closed down for it. These examples will be the thin end of the wedge if same-sex marriage is legalised.

I do not believe the British public wants any of this. The move to legalise same-sex marriage is undemocratic. That is why I am so pleased that a new organisation, the Coalition For Marriage, has been formed with the aim of forcing the Government to hold a proper debate on this issue.

I have added my name to their petition for marriage – in the hope of safeguarding an institution which is a vital part of British life – and I would encourage you to do likewise.

The petition can be found online at c4m.org.uk

By Lord Carey, Former Archbishop of Canterbury

Have the faith of God. Mark 11:22

Listening to so many ‘oh so important’ [not] evangelicals knock the message of faith and the principles of it, they don’t realise that despite their spiritual ignorance they’re actually knocking God because He is a Faith God. When Jesus disciples are awestruck at the fig tree being withered up from the roots by Jesus cursing it the day before, He responds to them with the words, “Have the faith of God”. [ Mark 11:22  original Greek; Youngs Literal Translation]. Jesus calls His disciples to operate on a  level of faith that belongs to God’s nature; beyond mere human faith.

God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.  Rom 12:3 

When you give your life to Christ you are born again. Simultaneously at that very moment that you receive the very nature of God Himself within your spirit you received the same measure of faith that each and every believer gets. No believer is without faith and no believer gets more faith than another. Again, this is because God Himself is a faith God. God operates by faith Himself. Here are some interesting examples:

 Rom 4:17  God calls those things which do not exist as though they did. God changed Abram’s name meaning ‘high father’ and called him Abraham, ‘the father of a multitude’ before it ever came to pass.

When God created the heavens and the earth, Genesis 1:3 reveals that He created light on day 1 but didn’t create the sun, moon, and stars until day 4 ( Gen. 1:14-19 ). God called light into existence first and then four days later created a source for the light to come from.

 Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

 Rom 8:29  For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. God sets our end from the beginning so He can therefore promise to keep us. Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, To God our Saviour, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.  Jude 1:24-25 

John 1:42 Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).

Heb 11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Mark 11:22-24 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have the faith of God. 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. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

We are told to be ‘imitators of God as dear children’ Eph 5:1 and to do the works that He did and greater works John 14:12. There is no other way to do this than to learn the principles of faith that reside in the nature of our Father and if we are His children then our born again nature.

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. 2Cor 8:9

The answer to rightly dividing the answer to the above is in the concept of ‘substitution and identification’; recognising where Jesus took our place and where we are called to live like Him. We know that Jesus came to take our place and all who believe on Him are set free. It’s great to know what we’ve been set free from, but it’s just as important to know what we’ve been set free to!

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2Cor 5:21

Jesus became our substitute so that we could stand rightly before God, not because of anything we have said or done, but because of Jesus who took our place. In the first scripture above it tells us that Jesus became poor, became our substitute, so that through His poverty we might become rich.

The context of 2 Corinthians chapters eight and nine is money. Yes, Jesus came to make us rich in other areas of our lives but here, in context, it’s talking about an offering. I like what the Amplified says, ‘that we might become abundantly supplied’. I believe that reflects the nature of our God, El Shaddai – the God who is more than enough!

In the context of giving an offering, God reveals to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ a wonderful truth of substitution – Jesus became poor so that we can be live lives free from poverty and lack. The religious fruit and nuts, those drive-by ignorant theologians, want us to identify with poverty because of their theology of misplaced suffering that I cannot find in Jesus.

If you’re going to identify with Jesus you religious fruitcakes then here’s a Word from Jesus to you:

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. John 14:12

The problem is these people that constantly identify with poverty and lack and suffering NEVER emulate Jesus in His works and neither do they do the greater works He spoke of. In order to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils, feed the poor, multiply the food etc you have to be big hearted, large hearted, rich! And they’re not because religion and poverty are mean spirited twins. Besides, the moment you raise the dead and heal the sick  guarantee you that you will never be poor again. What would a father or mother not give in gratitude to seeing a loved one returned to them alive, healthy, whole?

In the Gospels we have four pictures of Jesus and in not one of them do we see Jesus making anyone poor, handing out pain and suffering, telling anyone that He’s teaching them something by making them suffer. Yet the religious would have us mistakenly believe that is the will of the Father. Believer, you don’t have to suffer want or lack or poverty – not for any reason whatsoever. God has empowered you to prosper through the substitutory work of Jesus Christ.

The Lord is my Shepherd I SHALL NOT lack! Ps 23:1

But without faith it is impossible to please God for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him! [NKJV Translation]  Heb 11:6 

As a nation’s monetary unit of currency is used to acquire natural goods and services so faith is heaven’s unit of currency. Money on it’s own is meaningless. It’s paper or metal that you cannot shelter in; cannot drink or eat to quench thirst or satisfy hunger; cannot medicate sickness or disease with it; cannot solve problems with it etc. It is what money empowers you to do that makes it important.

So it is with faith. On it’s own it has no meaning at all but with it we can touch and access the very realm of God, His angels and every resource He possesses on behalf of humanity. When faith is released Heaven enters the room. The evangelical world makes a huge issue out of love, but as important as love is, it is not a replacement for faith. Love is not the panacea to every fulfilled promise in God’s word. Both have their place in the life of a believer. Love goes to the motivation but faith gives access to God and possess His promises for yourself. All that evangelicals can really talk about is saving faith, yet going beyond that they live in over-stated realms of the ‘sovereignty of God’ where everything that comes their way -that life throws at them, is accepted with a “whatever will be, will be” philosophy.

One leading evangelical n the UK told a friend of mine, “With your power and my theology we would make a great team.” To which my friend replied, “If I had your theology I would never have got out of my backyard.” Faith gets you out of the devil’s backyard into God’s glory. Faith does not have a fatalistic view of life.” It challenges the adversity before it and in the midst of attack turns every negative situation around that does not line up with ‘abundant life’.

Whenever a believer tries to move God on their or anyone else’s behalf with anything else other than faith then they have moved into calling on another god other than the God of our Lord Jesus Christ! Through over 30 years of ministering the Word I have heard people angry at God because they got no response from Him because of trying to move Jesus with their pain, their tears, their need, their hardship, their self-righteousness, their works, their sense of entitlement etc. Other’s that refuse to operate in faith towards Him as He sets out in His word have told me that it doesn’t matter because: ‘He understands’, or ‘knows what I mean’, or ‘He knows I’m His child’, or ‘He loves me so He will answer me’…etc These are the lazy quips of evangelicals who cant be bothered to find out how to operate in the spirit. Their attack on the ‘word of faith’ that Paul said he preached brings upon themselves self-inflicted blindness. Faith moves God! Faith is the currency of the realm of God.

Look at the currency of faith being honoured by God in ordinary people’s lives:

Matt 9:2 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” [And the paralytic was healed.]

Matt 9:22 But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.

Matt 9:29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.”

Matt 15:28 Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.

Matt 17:20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

Luke 7:9 When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” [And the servant was healed.]

Luke 7:50 Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Luke 8:25 But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”

Luke 8:48 And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

Luke 17:6 So the Lord said, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Luke 17:19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

And in the Book of Acts:

Acts 3:16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Acts 6:8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people.

Acts 11:24 For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.

Acts 14:8-10 And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked.

Let them shout for joy and be glad, Who favour my righteous cause; And let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His Servant. Ps 35:27

Remember we are taking this journey into prosperity because of the emotionally hysterical ‘drive-by’ online thugs who drop their anti-prosperity ‘brain farts’ into people’s lives in an attempt to make them twice the sons of hell that they themselves are. If prosperity was such a demonic thing then why isn’t he making every Christian really prosperous? Some so-called theologians have got into the act as well and deride anyone speaking up for prosperity because it doesn’t fit into their religious theology of suffering, sickness and disease, pain and suffering. And though their theology ‘agrees’ with them it certainly does not agree with the Word of God.

So, what is God’s will for us? Let’s forget the excesses, the modern day tele-evangelist with 8 aeroplanes and 25 cars. Let’s go back to the Word.

God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion.’ Gen 1:28

There’s the will of God established right at the beginning of humanity’s history. No Curse, no poverty, no lack, no sickness and disease [because He doesn't have any to give anyway] – God BLESSED them. Right there we can establish that God never intended to use grief, pain, hardship, suffering, sickness, lack, poverty, distress etc to ‘teach’ humanity anything. These are the tools of satan from his nature loosed on humanity to destroy that which was created in the image and likeness of God. The religious take these satanic tools and by twisting and perverting the word of God create an ‘alternative God’s will’.

Let’s forget the excesses, the modern day tele-evangelist with 8 aeroplanes and 25 cars. Let’s go back to the Word.Every time God establishes covenant with man, of which there has been the Adamic or Edenic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic and New Covenant in Christ, He establishes it with prosperity for walking right before God. Isaiah captures the principle when he states the will of God,

If you are willing and obedient you shall eat the good of the land. Is 1:19

I called this prosperity post the will of God for the ‘radical believer’ because I cannot speak for those who water down their obedience and compromise the Word in their lives for any number of reasons that they seek to validate before God their compromise. God is not obligated to move on behalf of those who offer Him lip service and partial obedience. You’re either obeying Him or you’re not. Another phrase that I love is from the Amplified Bible that uses the phrase, ‘the uncompromisingly righteous’. When you read what it says about the ‘uncompromisingly righteous’ then you cannot but be persuaded that God is committed to them.

Look at the Mosaic Covenant God made with the people of Israel:

And if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God. 3 Blessed shall you be! Deut 28:1-3

Jesus said, “If you abide in me and my word abides in you then you shall ask what you desire and it will be done for you… These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” John 15:7, 11

God’s will is for you to be prosperous. Prosperity is your portion. The more you submit and honour God’s authority in your life the more your life will take on the flavour of Heaven!

The blessing always lies in obedience; and because God’s righteousness and unending grace has been made ours obedience is not difficult. For those who keep on complaining that obedience to God is so ‘hard’ – the answer is simple: it’s on hard for those who are full of themselves. For the surrendered it’s glorious.

“For if because of one man’s trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God's] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).” Rom 5:17 AMP

Here are some of my favourite scriptures concerning the will of God concerning propserity:

3John 2: Beloved I pray above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.

Joshua 1:7-8: Only you be strong and very courageous, that you may do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.

1Chron 22:13 Then you will prosper if you are careful to keep and fulfill the statutes and ordinances with which the Lord charged Moses concerning Israel. Be strong and of good courage. Dread not and fear not; be not dismayed.

2Chron 25:5 He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the things of God; and as long as he sought (inquired of, yearned for) the Lord, God made him prosper.

2Chron 31:21 And every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in keeping with the law and the commandments to seek his God [inquiring of and yearning for Him], he did with all his heart, and he prospered.

Job 1:10 Have You not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have conferred prosperity and happiness upon him in the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

Psalm 1:1-3 BLESSED (HAPPY, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly [following their advice, their plans and purposes], nor stands [submissive and inactive] in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down [to relax and rest] where the scornful [and the mockers] gather. But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and by night. And he shall be like a tree firmly planted [and tended] by the streams of water, ready to bring forth its fruit in its season; its leaf also shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity].

Psalm 68:6 God places the solitary in families and gives the desolate a home in which to dwell; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity; but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

Psalm 112:1-3 PRAISE THE Lord! (Hallelujah!) Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who fears (reveres and worships) the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. His [spiritual] offspring shall be mighty upon earth; the generation of the upright shall be blessed. Prosperity and welfare are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.

Psalm 23:1, 6 The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not lack… Surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and through the length of my days the house of the Lord [and His presence] shall be my dwelling place.

Prov 3:13-16 Happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) is the man who finds skillful and godly Wisdom, and the man who gets understanding [drawing it forth from God's Word and life's experiences],
For the gaining of it is better than the gaining of silver, and the profit of it better than fine gold. Skillful and godly Wisdom is more precious than rubies; and nothing you can wish for is to be compared to her. Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand are riches and honour.

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

The spirit of faith has an attitude that accompany’s it that changes a room with it’s presence from gloom and despair to hope and optimism. The spirit of faith walks into a room and has a confidence; it is fully persuaded that with God all things are possible. [Matt 19:26] Negativity or despondency isn’t entertained or room made for it whatsoever. In fact it’s so positive that those around it may even think that this person is out of touch with reality.

Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her,.. “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement. Mark 5:38-42

It is regrettable to see some people try to operate faith as a formula while not really being in faith at all. They have a negative, downcast demeanour and then try to speak a promise from the Word or try to be optimistic; really hoping that something positive will happen. Instead of realising that their default position is negative and doing something about it they continue in some kind of fantasy thinking that something will change. But it wont. You cannot be in faith whilst having a negative attitude. A defeated attitude, no matter how much word it speaks, will always bring defeat!

A sure sign of people trying to operate in faith from a negative attitude is found in their words. Jesus said that, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45 Sooner or later – normally it’s sooner – they cancel the one positive they said with a torrent of negativity; doubt and unbelief are not far from their mouths.

Another tell tale sign is they veil their attempt to be in faith with certain learnt Christianese phrases like:

I’m really trusting God for/ to…

I’m believing God for/ to…

I know God’s going to…

Faith doesn’t speak like this; based on the Word and your relationship with God it receives the unreality of hope and brings it into the realm of the natural.

God never thinks a negative thought; due to His ‘Godship’ there is no problem He cannot solve, no challenge He cannot overcome, no need He cannot meet, no sickness He cannot heal!

Nothing ever bewildered Him or took Him by surprise. God does not have a negative attitude and those that hang around God are soon released from their negativity because His possibility thinking is contagious. Beside how can two walk together successfully when they speak two totally different languages: one negative and the other positive.

You must feed on the Word of God; feed on the promises of God; study your covenant with God; take authority over every negative thought and bring it captive to the Word of God; put away from you every negative influence/mouth that will discourage you with their negativity; put a guard over your mouth and speak the Word over your life – and you will soon be well on your way to exuding a spirit of faith.

Here are some of my favourite scriptures:

Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Mark 11:22-24 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 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. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Rom 10:17 So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

1John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

Heb 6:12 Imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Heb 8:6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please God for he who comes to god must believe that He is; and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

Rom 10: 8-13 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

2Cor 1:20 For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.

1John 4:4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Rom 8:31 If God is for us, who can be against us?

Rom 4: 16-24  Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all  (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us.

Get rid of that stinking negative attitude! It’s hurting you more than you know right now.

For this purpose was the Son of God made manifest, that He might destroy the works of the evil one. 1 John3:8

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. [NIV Translation] 1 John 3:8 NIV

I have come that you might have a rich and satisfying life. John 10:10 NLT

Jesus came to the earth to reverse the Adamic curse on mankind; the root of which is sin and it’s power it exerts over us. The ultimate purpose is that God would dwell amongst His people in complete unity and freedom. Sin and it’s power over us is Jesus point of attack and victory.

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2Cor 5:21 HALLELUJAH!

He wasn’t made sickness and disease nor poverty nor spiritual death nor fear or any other terrible thing that afflicts humanity. He was made to be sin because sin is the root that brings forth all other evil on humanity. Rotten root brings rotten fruit! When Jesus put the the axe to the root of the tree and won the victory for us He understood that all the rotten fruit would naturally be anulled in our lives.

Before the fall there was no sin, no fear, spiritual death, no lack, no poverty, no sickness and disease, no tears, no pain, no suffering. The moment humanity fell

through sin satan gained authority through sin over man and immediately we see sin’s effect: fear, jealousy, envy, strife, hatred, murder, breakdown of family, breakdown of marriage, hardship, suffering, confusion – and thats just in Genesis 3 and 4!

So Jesus becomes the second Adam and redeems mankind back to Himself. Some of our redemption is now while we live on the earth, some for when we get to Heaven, and some for when we are living in the new heaven on the new earth. Revelation 21:4 shows us this ultimate fulfilment of Jesus victory in our lives:

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:4

This does not mean that we do not appropriate all the promises He has for us right now! There’s nothing we can do about our state on the new earth but we can live in God’s best for us right here on earth right now. Jesus has made provision for prosperity for the whole man. The beloved apostle, John, prays the heart and will of God over us when he said, “Beloved, I pray above ALL THINGS, that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.” 3 John 2

The apostle Paul writes in Romans 6:14 about Jesus awesome victory over the power of sin and it’s effect in our lives when he states, “Sin SHALL BY NO MEANS have dominion over YOU!” There it is, right there! The power of sin broken off of our lives. This is the beginning and the end of true prosperity for the child of God.

Jesus brought salvation to man. The word for salvation is ‘soteria’ which is the noun of the root word for salvation called ‘sozo’. Sozo is an all encompassing word for salvation or being saved. Sozo means: to make whole, to preserve, to make safe, to rescue, deliver, to keep safe and sound, preserve from judgement, prosperity, deliverance. When salvation comes to your house it brings the prosperity of God into your life. In every area of your life. On every level of your life.

For a moment see Jesus victory won for you personally. See Him make His victory yours. He didn’t come to the earth, die on a cross and rise again for Himself. He paid a high price for YOU! Understand it. Receive it. Accept it. Possess it.

My first post on prosperity I spoke on the person of Jesus. For my second post against the emotional hysteria about the ‘prosperity gospel’ within the evangelical world I want to talk about the believer’s position in Christ. If there ever was a case to be made for prosperity as believer’s it’s found in the believers’ position in Christ. The most powerful revelation in the NT is found in the writings of Paul who tells us that we are ‘IN CHRIST’. This revelation is spoken about over 160 times in the NT through the revelation of ‘In Him’ and ‘In Christ’. If we’d realise our union with Christ much of the charismatic claptrap that goes through the church world would never find an expression at all.

God has united you with Christ Jesus. [1Cor 1:30] Another one of my favourite scriptures is found in 1Cor 6:17, He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. I don’t know if that has ever truly impacted our evangelical brethren with regard to our prosperous state but WHAT A REVELATION! We are one spirit with Him. As He is, so are we in this world! [1John 4:17] No wonder the apostle John exclaims with such awe concerning God’s love for us that we have been made the children of God.

What prosperity!

If you think how Jesus is right now, seated at the right hand of the Father, so are you. And yes, I am aware of Kingdom now and not yet. The promises of God in the NT for us are all past tense because they were accomplished for us in the work of Christ in His life, death, burial and resurrection. Past tense!

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ , and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus! Eph 2:4-6

Jesus told the disciples that when they prayed they should trust Him for His will to be done in their lives on earth – AS IT IS IN HEAVEN! I don’t know about you but Heaven is not some shabby shack [The Shack] for the religious who have engaged in some romanticism with the doctrine of suffering.

You are born of God. You are His child. You are joined as one spirit to Christ. His will is that you live on earth as it is in heaven. These are simple truths yet exceptionally profound when we think of prosperity. Prosperity has come into every area of our lives by virtue of this wonderful truth – I am a child of God! I’m not a child of some beggar, of a poverty spirit, of a family in lack, of a sick family, of a family in strife and failure and defeat and confusion, of a family that is bound, demonised, oppressed and addicted.

Here are some of my favourite scriptures about us being in Christ:

Acts 17:28 For in Him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

2Pet 1:2-3 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

1Tim 6:17 Trust… in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.

Matt 6:33 Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Ps 84:11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Col 2:9-10 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.

3 John 2 Beloved, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers.

1John 2:5-6 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

1John 5:14-15 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

The Word says that a fool answers a matter before it is heard. And what fools they are.

British denominations at the highest level scorn the ‘prosperity Gospel’ when in fact they’ve just inherited an historical attitude found in modern day Pentecostalism and repeat the mantra of the poverty spirits that went before them. Both American and British modern day Pentecostalism find their roots in the depths of poverty, but that doesn’t mean you stay there. There is just no room for such wilful ignorance in a 21st Century church context; especially when they have Bible Schools that can command true Biblical perspectives on the subject.

What is even more insidious in the church world are the arrogant pew warmers who think it’s open season to attack preachers – men and women of God – that have paid a high price to walk their walk before God. Just because social media puts the preacher and the pew on equal footing, does not mean that they are. These bitter spirits are bereft of any Christlikeness, honour or stature as human beings, never mind as believers in the way that they speak and act. To deflect their own lack of financial responsibility toward the gospel and obedience to Christ and His appointed leaders they howl like vampire wolves beying for blood because they know of some-one who gave once and God didn’t bless them back.

This issue is even more exacerbated in a British culture where it’s said that there are three things you don’t speak about: politics, sex and money. Money, of course, being worst of all three evils and therefore the most culturally offensive of all. This is really because money is a revealer of the heart more than any other thing. Yet it is this very offence that has the local church and it’s glorious message captive to the very small four walls of their church. I sit with people who will ferociously judge the ‘prosperity gospel’ and then in the very next sentence whine with a victimised mentality that there’s no money to fulfil God-given vision. Well you can’t have it both ways. If you’re going to preach a message then you better live it.

Prosperity is not a thing; it’s the very person of Jesus Christ Himself.

When Jesus Christ who is fully God steps into your life and makes His home in your heart how can that not be the Ultimate Prosperity? He is God. He is the King of Glory. Heaven and earth adore Him and angelic hosts bow before Him. He was and is and is to come. The earth and all that is in it belongs to Him; the silver, the gold, the precious stones, the cattle on a thousand hills are all His. The entire universe, galaxies upon galaxies are all in Him. He is absolute Light, absolute Life, absolute Love! His is eternal life; unstoppable life. His name is above every name. He upholds all things by the Word of His power. Nothing is impossible for Him. All things were created through Him, by Him and for Him. He is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient. He sets the end from the beginning. He knows no failure, no defeat, no barrenness, no death, no sick nor disease, no poverty, no lack, no need, no problem. Not all the devils and fallen angels in the universe have enough power or authority to to even cause Him to break a thought about them and their threats. Do I need to go on?

He is YAHWEH, El Shaddai, Jehovah as manifested in His revealed names as:

Jehovah Jireh – the Lord our provider.

Jehovah Nissi – the Lord our banner of love and protection.

Jehovah Shalom – The Lord our peace.

Jehovah Tsidkenu – The Lord our righteousness.

Jehovah Shammah – The Lord who is present with us.

Jehovah Sabaoth – The Lord of Hosts, our protector.

Jehovah Raah – The Lord our Shepherd so that we will not lack.

Jehovah Rapha – The Lord our healer.

Jehovah M’Kaddesh – The Lord who makes us holy.

Jehovah Elohim – The Lord God.

Elohim – Our God, creator, mighty and strong.

El Shaddai – God Almighty.

El Elyon – The Most High.

El Roi – The God of seeing.

El Olam – Everlasting God.

El Gibhor – Mighty God.

And HE has come into your life, made His home in your heart and You are His child. So the next time some-one becomes emotionally hysterical about prosperity as if they’ve been cornered in the bathroom by a deadly spider I want you to think – they’re not attacking a thing, or a doctrine, but a person – Jesus Christ.