It is a waste of time to get up early and stay up late, trying to make a living. The Lord provides for those he loves, even while they are sleeping.”

Welcome back to the concluding part of this blog post. I apologize for the delay in delivering this last part-my PC has been acting up!

In parts 1-4, we learnt that God sends us opportunities to increase us;

1. When we serve selflessly

2. When we receive and act on an unusual instruction.

3. When we give to the poor.

4. When we give an unusual freewill offering.

5. Divine connections and relationships can also be God’s way of increasing us.

We’d also said that usually, success is defined by wealth, power or prestige gotten through hardwork and dedication.

So with ‘divine opportunities’ we are saying God is the one sending these opportunities to us. Does that mean that we have no role to play? Does God send divine opportunities to everyone? Yes, He sends to everyone that serves Him in truth and in Spirit. And that has nothing to do with just building a tent in a church and living there. Has nothing to do with just going to church every day of the week.

The Bible tells us that God knows those that are truly His, does whose hearts are upright towards Him, because He searches not just the actions of men, but their intent.

1 John 2:5 reads;

‘But whoever habitually keeps His word and obeys His precepts [and treasures His message in its entirety], in him the love of God has truly been perfected [it is completed and has reached maturity]. By this we know [for certain] that we are in Him’. Amplified.

There are traits and virtues that people who truly reverence God exhibit. These are the virtues that attracts divine opportunities for increase. All the characters (people) we have mentioned as examples in the course of this blog post series exhibited most of these virtues and if we must receive divine opportunities for increase from God, we too must imbibe and exhibit these attributes.

The virtues for Divine Increase include;

1. Fear of the Lord

2. Excellence

3. Integrity

4. Fairness and Justice

5. Love

6. Dedication and commitment to a divine cause.

7. Hardwork.

8. Humility

At any point in time, mediocrity, greed, pride, gluttony, strife, laziness, insincerity, are killers of growth.

Sometimes colleagues, friends or relations want to discourage us from working in integrity as double standards is fast becoming the norm fearfully even among Christians.

Proverbs 6:16 says;

‘These six things the Lord hates; Indeed, seven are repulsive to Him: A proud look [the attitude that makes one overestimate oneself and discount others], a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that creates wicked plans, Feet that run swiftly to evil, A false witness who breathes out lies [even half-truths], And one who spreads discord (rumors) among brothers.”
AMPLIFIED.

So whose words are we going to obey? The world’s or God’s?

Of all the virtues we’ve listed above, probably the most critical and central is the fear of The Lord. Because when we have deep reverence for God, we’ll work in integrity, love, fairness, humility, with excellence and selflessly.

These traits will always attract divine opportunities to us .

Help us dear Lord.

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As a Christian, I don’t believe in coincidences. My steps are ordered by the Lord. I therefore believe that God sends people my way to bless me (in different ramifications) or for me to bless. And every opportunity to express our love and gratitude to God can translate into an opportunity for increase.

A lifestyle and disposition to continuously give to others presents us the givers with divine opportunities for personal increase and growth

Welcome back!
In “Divine opportunities for Increase: blogpost1” I’d said we would look at Christian Virtues that help make divine opportunities come our way. I apologize that we will not be doing that today. Instead, we’ll go through and complete the ways God brings divine increase our way first.

In part 1, we looked at SERVICE, as a springboard to success and increase. The kind of service that is self-less, outstanding and done in the fear of the Lord.

The opportunities for Increase that God sends us can also be through;

2. Receiving and Acting on an Unusual instruction from God.

Unusual instructions here refers to uncommon, remarkable, extraordinary, significant instructions. A different or strange instruction that attracts attention.

When God gives you an instruction to sacrifice your long-awaited precious only son and you summon up the courage to obey, be prepared to receive a ram for sacrifice and also get ready to become the father of many nations (Genesis 17:4-5, Genesis 22).

When God sends His prophet to you, a poor wretched Widow, with no human support system and tells you to release your last piece of bread, meant for you and your son, to this prophet, who is a fully grown able-bodied man, and you look beyond this prophet’s seeming callousness to obey and act as directed, then get ready for the jar of flour that will not be used up and the jug of oil that will not run dry until the famine is over (1 Kings 17).

When God speaks to you to relocate to another land, where you know no one at all, where you have no contacts at all, when you have made no reservations or preparations for a place to sleep or stay even for the first night, and you act in faith, get ready for a bumper harvest.

When God tells you to give a huge offering, amounting to most or all of your annual income and you muster the courage to act as directed, you have just taken advantage of an opportunity for divine increase. Your increase will come! (this is good prosperity gospel).

Unusual instructions that will bring divine increase are often difficult instructions. They don’t usually add up mathematically. They are not logical. They may not make sense. But they test your trust and faith in God and are pregnant with your next level of increase.

Again, do you know how GOD speaks to you? Can you hear Him when He speaks to you?

The unusual instruction that will bring you divine increase should come to you from God directly, through His Word or through His prophet.

Are you looking to make a big leap in your finances, career, ministry etc. God may just send you an unusual instruction.

Seize your opportunity for divine increase. Don’t let it slip ?

Medicine is a professional discipline having different specialties. To rise to the status of a Specialist in medicine you must undergo some professional exams plus minus a residency training. This is the usual career path in medical practice.

As a young doctor I started asking questions about administration and management in Health. This is not a common pathway for doctors to rise to the top. But as far as I could see, clinical practice wasn’t my thing. Yes! I prayed, prayed and followed my heart, glad I did.

Generally, success is defined by power, wealth or prestige. People reckon you as successful if you have made good enough profit to be considered wealthy, if you occupy a position of power or if you have earned or become conferred with a prestigious role.

Often there is a lot of emphasis on hard-work, sharpening skills, grooming talents more than on chasing one’s passion, especially if such passion has not been known to bring prestige, power or profit.

In this blogpost series, we’ll be exploring ‘ways of increase with God’. And we’ll be answering some key questions as we go along; ‘should a Christian rely solely on God’s grace and not work hard?.’ ‘Is the message of prosperity as popularly preached in some Christian circles unrealistic?’ We’ll also look at essential Christian virtues for sustained divine increase, as well as enumerate killers of increase/growth in a Christian’s life.

The first way of divine increase with God to consider is;

1. Service

Service is a springboard to success and greatness. Service simply means doing something for others voluntarily or for a fee.

Eight years ago, I was randomly selected by the Commissioner of Health in my State to work in a committee with top shots in the healthcare sector at the time. Then I was appointed the welfare officer. Being the youngest member of the committee (in every sense) the greatest challenge I faced servng in that role was insisting that members earned their stipends. I acquired enemies that tried to hunt me many years later ?. But that’s not all that happened, many months on, one of the older ladies in the group, picked me to work with her as part of the management team in a newly established health board, a role that brought me to limelight in that area of healthcare delivery in the State. Years later, she said she chose me because of my dedication, hardwork and commitment as welfare officer in that committee we worked together at the time.

God deals with His children in different ways. As a Christian, God may endue you with strength and wisdom to serve and He provides opportunities for you to climb the next rung of the ladder by putting your gifting to use through serving.

The kind of service that would pull from your strength and gifting and bring divine increase will have to be selfless, conscientious, plus or minus an immediate or obvious personal gain. This can be service to humanity; done out of the fear of the Lord, or service done to God as an act of gratitude or show of love.

Our example of selfless service from the Bible is Joseph. As a mature man at 30 years, Joseph began serving in the court of Pharaoh the King of Egypt. The story of Joseph the son of Jacob spans over many chapters of the first book of the Bible, Genesis. We’ll look at a few;

“Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh King of Egypt. And Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and travelled throughout Egypt.” Genesis 41:46. NIV

“The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered and lived in the house of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Portiphar put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. Genesis 39:2-5. NIV

If you are reading this blogpost and you are currently serving an ‘Egyptian master’ I urge you to stay where God has planted you because therein lies your increase. Or at least spend good time in prayer asking God’s direction before jumping out. God does not make mistakes. You may just be on a divine mission just like Joseph. Your service could be God’s opportunity to you to spring to the top for His divine purpose.

Interestingly, another person we see in the Bible that had great resilience for service is Jacob, Joseph’s father. Jacob served to get the love of his life, Rachel.

“So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.” Genesis 29: 20. NIV

Indeed, service can buy you prestige, power, profit as well as take care of your passion 🙂

In the next part of this blogpost series, we’ll look at key virtues for divine increase, some of which Joseph possessed.

Stay with me.

Peter (birth name Simon), is one of my favorite disciples of Jesus Christ. Understanding his transformation from an unstable, talkative fisherman to a reliable leader of the Church of Jesus Christ, reveals God’s magnificence in making a masterpiece and a rock out of an unusual vessel.

The early verses of Luke chapter 5 does more than show a miracle of provision and abundance. Those verses of scripture portrays Peter in a light that helps us appreciate why Christ chose him to lead his team despite his obvious human imperfections. They reveal the personality of Peter and how this contributed to him experiencing a net-breaking miracle.

The Master’s instruction was simple;

“Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch”. Luke 5:4b NKJV.

For many months, the Spirit of God stayed me on Luke 5 in response to my desire to experience God’s wealth and riches. I am still learning by that scripture 🙂 And in addition to some attributes of Peter elaborated in one of my past blog posts; ‘Men after God’s Heart‘ , I discuss here 10 things about Peter that I believe made his net-breaking miracle experience possible.

1. Peter was skillful and hardworking. Peter was not only a professional fisherman, he was also very hardworking and resilient. Why spend a whole night searching for fish? With Peter’s proficiency with fishing, he would know better that the tides were unfavorable that particular night and pull the boat to the shoreline. But Peter didn’t do that, he stayed on all night searching for any catch of fish at all. Peter was surely a man dedicated to and passionate about his trade.
2. Peter had a generous attitude. Looking at the display of generosity by Peter in the above verses of scripture, I have to say that, my husband, Arnold, is much more generous than I am. I have vivid examples of times Arnold have cancelled people’s debt following a not-so-profitable business deal. Sometimes, I am not sure how I’d react in such circumstances. Peter’s generous nature is revealed in the ease with which he released his boat to Christ for a preaching session. A bad night of fishing without fish is enough to make anyone cranky and not nice…. So it would not be completely inappropriate for Peter to have been offended by Christ’s ‘insensitivity’. If Jesus could teach about God’s Kingdom from his boat, He could as well command fishes into Peter’s boat rather than ask for a boat to preach!
3. Peter was teachable. I had to use my imagination a bit to answer the question of where Peter was after letting Christ have his boat for a sermon? Was he washing his nets or getting a well deserved rest? I want to believe that Peter sat down with the crowd and listened to Jesus teach. What Peter didn’t realize though was that by bringing himself to listen to Jesus Christ, he was building his faith in preparation for his forthcoming miraculous catch of fish. Peter’s faith was stirred by Jesus’ teaching, his expectation was aroused and I daresay Peter was greatly mesmerized and astonish with the words of wisdom that proceeded from Jesus’ lips.
4. Peter acknowledged the limits of his skill. As a Medical doctor, it will be a hideous task for an Engineer to try to tell me what drugs cure malaria, for example. Such volunteer of unsolicited teaching is only likely to be acceptable to me if my encounters with this Engineer suggests a superior ability or prowess for thinking critically across different spheres of life such that I buy-in and respect his views on issues other than engineering. When Jesus directed Peter (a professional fisherman) to exactly where he needed to let down the nets for a good catch, it was easy for Peter to obey Christ because having listened to Him, he appreciated a superior knowledge/wisdom in display, probably a supernatural gifting, that surely flawed his skills and fishing expertise. When we come to our wits end, may we be humble enough to seek God’s directive.
5. Peter respected authority. When a seasoned fisherman tells you he has toiled all night without a catch, he must be pretty sure of himself. But again, having listened to Christ, Peter recognized Jesus’ authority and if Christ could teach with such wisdom, He must have God’s authority. Maybe more important is the fact that Peter placed Jesus’ authority above his experience. He must have adjudged Jesus’ audacity and confidence as not natural, and also worth respecting.
6. Peter recognized and acknowledged a miracle when he saw one. There are many people that would come up with logical explanations about why their second round of fishing yielded great catch rather than ‘fall down at Jesus feet’. Peter recognized that only a supernatural intervention would give the kind of catch they experienced and he was not going to take the praise to himself.
7. Peter cared about other people. When Peter called his partners in the other boat to come help gather miracle, I believe that he called them to come share of his abundance and not to come help him carry his blessings and give it back to him at the shore. These same guys had toiled all night with Peter and once again, we see Peter’s generous nature show up. There are people who would rather struggle to get all the fish to the shoreline (and probably drown in the process), instead of share them with others.
8. Peter prioritized Godly wisdom over earthly strengths. By ‘strengths’ here I mean all of man’s skills, knowledge, proficiency etc. How do you toil all night without success, and be magnanimously given what you toiled for in an overwhelming measure, only to abandon same and walk away? You must have seen something of greater value! Whatever Peter heard Christ teach, combined with his experience of the miraculous catch of fish, made nonsense of Peter’s technical know-how, knowledge and experience. He hungered for Christ’ wisdom.
9. Peter prioritized Godly wisdom over wealth. People are constantly making efforts to enhance their skills, to make them marketable and possibly meet their needs comfortably. You don’t seek for a promotion, get one and then refuse the salary increment or benefits of your promotion. Peter needed fish to make money/wealth. It doesn’t make sense that he’d walk away from it when he got it. Can you just imagine how much money 2 almost-sinking-boats laden with fishes would bring? But Peter suddenly ignored all that to become a fisher of men; a concept he knew nothing about.
10. Peter trusted Christ. By abandoning his fishes, boats and nets and following Christ, Peter was walking into the unknown. That is only possible where trust has been built. Yes, Peter was generally unstable in his reaction to things, but to abandon his only source of livelihood without thinking was a bit overboard. I believe Peter’s encounter with Jesus helped his decision no matter how irrational it looks. If Jesus can teach with such unearthly wisdom and miraculously provide what he toiled for all night, then Jesus can be trusted absolutely to take care of him.

Peter gave up all (wealth, proficiency etc) for a higher calling.

Would you be ready to give up all for the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Personally there are attributes of Peter I need to imbibe to prepare for the overflow and abundance God has in store for me. I hope you find something to work on yourself too 🙂 And when the wealth comes, may we still recognize that ‘fishing for men’ supercedes all.

Prayer

Thank You Father.

You are at work in us to will and to do of Your good pleasures. And we give You praise forever in Jesus name. Amen. Help us to heed your instruction to “launch out into the deep and let down our nets for a catch”. For only in full obedience and unwavering trust is our miracle guaranteed. Amen.

……………….

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Blessings & Love Always.

Grace Obomanu