Aren’t you thankful that the economic system in which this world operates is completely different from God’s economic system? Regardless of what is going on in the world, God’s plan for you to prosper and be in health has not changed, and now is not the time to be shaken or disturbed because of what we see around us!

I have been walking with the Lord for more than forty years now, and I can assure you that if you will remain strong in faith, and continue being a doer of the Word, that you will see the hand of God as you navigate this season. 

In 1980, Jimmy Carter was elected president, and while he was in office, America entered one of the worst recessions that the country had ever experienced up until that time. One night while watching the CBS evening news, they were sharing some economic facts about the country and they mentioned Tulsa, Oklahoma, as having the lowest unemployment rate in the nation. That caught my attention because at the time, I was living in Tulsa, attending Rhema Bible Training Center, and I remember it booming out there. Hundreds of people were moving there to attend Bible school, the City of Faith was being built, the housing market was strong, and much construction was being conducted. Interestingly enough during that same broadcast, Birmingham, Alabama, was mentioned as well as having the highest unemployment rate. I knew that to be true because I was part of the “unemployed” statistic, and it was terrible living in the midst of that.

Phyllis and I thoroughly enjoyed living in Tulsa during that season because we experienced a move of God that completely changed our lives. As I got closer to finishing school, the Lord began to deal with me about moving back to Birmingham, so we began our journey back home. I can remember the drive back so distinctly–the closer we got to Birmingham, the worse I felt. It wasn’t that I wasn’t looking forward to it; it was a darkness that I could feel closing in on me. In Tulsa, I had been in the middle of a spiritual lightness and excitement, which translated into economic abundance, and here I was headed back into this environment that felt oppressive and dark. 

One thing I learned during this season of my life is that regardless of the state of the economy in the world, when I was in the will of God and operating in the principles He set forth in His Word, prosperity would flow. While I was in Tulsa, I was working a job paying the same wages as the job I worked just out of high school, yet I was able to pay off the remainder of my debt, support my family, and save more money than I ever had up until that time in my life. How could this be? I learned how to prosper God’s way!

Prospering God’s way far outweighs any other avenue for prospering, and it boils down to one foundational truth…COVENANT. Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He may ESTABLISH HIS COVENANT which He sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.”

Many peoples’ economic life, including their giving and sowing, is convenience-based, culturally-based, and crisis-based. However, Bible wealth and prosperity is covenant-based, and if there is anything that God does, HE KEEPS COVENANT. 

A covenant holds far more weight than a contract; it is an exchange of lives. For example, marriage is a covenant where an exchange of lives takes place. It is the most sacred, combining and joining of two lives that can exist. So when God made covenant with man, He did so with absolute certainty and purpose to join Himself to us. 

In the book of Hebrews, we find where we fit into all of this–we are in a covenant relationship with God, a relationship that cannot be broken. However, just because you have a relationship with God, did you know that you can still fall short of your inheritance? This can be seen by what happened to the Old Testament saints that came out of Egypt. They were supernaturally delivered from Egypt and then wandered around in the wilderness, having never obtained their inheritance–the land of promise. 

I see so many Christians today emulating this very lifestyle–they’ve been delivered from the power of darkness, yet their lives are still void of their inheritance that belongs to them. Just like the children of Israel wandering around complaining about their circumstances, they too are complaining about how hard life has become, and therefore, forfeiting their inheritance based on their covenant with God. 

Child of God, these are not times to hold back and just take whatever comes your way. These are times to stand upon our covenant with God and declare what He has already declared belongs to us. Psalm 89:34 says, “My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.” THIS is the truth, so stand firm on your covenant with God, and refuse to settle for anything else. 

Never forget these truths…prosperity BELONGS to you. Health BELONGS to you. Peace BELONGS to you. It is all part of your inheritance!

On Wednesday nights, we have been ministering on “Wisdom & Wealth…A Study in Biblical Economics.” If you’re not able to join us live, you can find these messages at this link on our YouTube channel.