Prosperity Is the Whole Gospel: Unveiling the Perfect Plan of God for Man

Copyright © 2013 Blessing Okechukwu Ezema.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-0648-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-0650-1 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-0649-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013915666

WestBow Press rev. date: 10/15/2013

Contents

Dedication

Have You Thought Of These?

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgment

Introduction

Chapter 1:    Prosperity: God’s Plan for Man from the Beginning

Chapter 2:    Reasons why God Prospers His Children

Chapter 3:    The Understanding that will Empower You for Prosperity

Chapter 4:    Possessing the Right Image of Yourself

Chapter 5:    Disobedience Destroys Destiny and Erodes Prosperity

Chapter 6:    Obedience: The Master Key to a Prosperous Life

Chapter 7:    People Who Prospered Through obedience to God’s word

Chapter 8:    Abraham: A Model of Total Prosperity

Chapter 9:    Christ: Our Perfect Model of Total Prosperity

Chapter 10:    Christ’s Mission: Restoration of total prosperity to man

Chapter 11:    Christ: Giver of Total Prosperity

Chapter 12:    The Teachings of Christ on Prosperity

Chapter 13:    Inward Attributes of the Ideal believer that Lead to Prosperity

Chapter 14:    Outward Attributes of the Ideal believer that Lead to Prosperity

Chapter 15:    Prosperity lessons in End-Time Prophecies

Last Word

This is a Gift

From

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To

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On the Occasion of

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Date

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DEDICATION

To your deepest sense of appreciation of God’s love, compassion and mercy; and to all who help you to discover this hidden mystery.

To Bishop David O. Oyedepo, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland whom the Lord has used greatly to unravel His compassionate and loving kindness to me.

Last but not the least, to my wife Joy Nkeiru Ezema, and our lovely twins—Paul and Peniel who constantly remind me of God’s faithfulness.

HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF THESE?

The fundamental and deep desire of every man is to be successful and prosperous. This has always been God’s plan for man as well, which He has designed to be attained through the application of Biblical principles. A careful study of God’s Word immediately reveals that, from the beginning, things like failure, poverty, lack, sickness, diseases, divorce, frustration and all other negative things were not part of God’s plan for man’s existence (Gen.1:31).

Therefore, this book is about God’s plan of prosperity for man. It seeks to show that the whole of God’s Word is about God’s vision for man’s prosperity. God is concerned about man’s prosperity and welfare. As a writer once observed:

‘Prosperity does not mean only financial riches… This would be a very narrow view of the concept… it simply means that we are living according to God’s principles and experiencing His blessings, and thus, successfully journeying through our pilgrimage here on earth free from greed, worry, and bondage.’

—Anonymous

FOREWORD

In ‘Prosperity is the Whole Gospel’, the author has focused on very essential issues relating to the revelation about the welfare of God’s people. By divine inspiration, the author has demonstrated and exposed the truth that God desires that all His children prosper and be in good health. The interesting thing about this book is that the writer espouses the doctrine that true prosperity is a foundation stone upon which many fundamental doctrines of the Scripture are built. The book is, therefore, very fundamental to the task of enriching and empowering God’s people following the divine patterns in the Scripture.

Many books have been published on the subject of prosperity. However, not many of them approach the subject with the depth of spiritualism with which the author of this book has written it. In this book, Okechukwu Ezema does not see prosperity from just materialistic and monetary terms. He is holistic in his approach and sees a solid connection between the spiritual, the material, the financial and the physical aspects of prosperity. I, therefore, praise God that he has written this book on prosperity and I feel privileged to be asked to write the Foreword to this book which is so important to the Church.

For the author, the Universe as created by God is a place of abundance and within each of us, there is the capacity to achieve great things and be truly prosperous. Prosperity involves the whole of our being and is not just about money. We can prosper in terms of our relationship, in terms of our health and in terms of finance too. The writer also makes the point that we can see, taste, touch and experience prosperity if we stay in tune with the Holy Spirit.

One of the most interesting things about this book is how Ezema weaves together stories that inspire, instructional statements and scripturally sound foundational information. This is not much of a ‘how to’ book. It is a book with a target to change the lives of the readers.

I congratulate the author for the insight, vision and understanding which is shown in the chapters of the book. He succeeded in drawing our attention to the truth that God is in the business of providing total salvation—the salvation that brings good health, lasting peace, real joy, true wealth and everlasting riches.

His detailed outline of the road to what the Bible says about the prosperity of mankind will deepen the readers’ understanding and equip all Christians who read this book. This book will greatly develop the spiritual horizon of the readers. Many readers will discover a lot of spiritual principles about prosperity and will realise that contrary to what many people believe, they are not destined for a life of pain, problems and predicaments. If they follow the principles outlined, they will become more prosperous in every area of their lives. The divine teaching given by the writer can truly change the lives of the readers if they read it and allow it to sink into their minds, body and spirit.

This is certainly one of the most important books written on the subject of prosperity for Christians. It is a must-read for all who desire to know the real meaning of prosperity and why God prospers those who serve Him. Anyone desiring a quick way to make money and better their lives will not find ‘Prosperity is the Whole Gospel’ useful. The book is not only thought-provoking but philosophical, it outlines the real meaning of prosperity and what it takes to have it. This is a book that should benefit everyone.

Elder Dr. Gospel Ikpeme.

Provost, Apostolic Theological College,

Abuja.

PREFACE

I have always been eager to understand the perfect will of God for man. Because of this, I conditioned my mind towards discovering the truth about who God really is and why He created man. Right from my childhood days, I have always seen God as a loving Father who cares for me more than my earthly father. This may be based on the picture my father painted for me.

Growing up, I desired to be highly successful and prosperous so that I can help as many people as possible. However, I had said within my heart that ‘If it is not possible to be successful and prosperous through godliness, let me never have it’. I detested poverty and wretchedness! So, it always bothered me seeing preachers of the gospel being in states of mockery. In those days I use to hear a proverb which says ‘as poor as a church rat.’ I reasoned in my heart that if God is really so merciful and compassionate as I was taught, He would not have allowed people, especially those who work tirelessly in spreading His gospel message, to live in abject poverty. So, my heart bled each time I saw people in wretched state and so I always desired to contribute to their lifting but did not know how.

After giving my life to Christ in 1999, I began to study inspirational books and the scripture with the help of the Holy Spirit. I then realized that God actually wants all His Children to prosper, and to win in every battle that may confront them as long as they are prospering in their spiritual lives. The major problem of man has been lack of adequate knowledge as it is written in Hosea 4:6, ‘My people (believers) are destroyed for lack of knowledge.’ Also from Ezekiel chapter 16, I realized that God derives great joy in decorating His children with gold, silver and other precious materials. However, the problem has been that God’s children have not learnt to continue obeying Him in their prosperity. And without man’s obedience, God will not only withdraw His glory from him but cast him off from His sight. I continued to search through the scriptures and I discovered Joshua1:7,8. As I began to meditate on those scriptures, I realized that the essence of the gospel is for the success and total prosperity of man. All through the Scripture, God has been sounding one core message—‘If you apply your heart to obeying My words, I will continue to increase your prosperity.’ Having this understanding will make anyone to always be self-motivated towards serving God.

Blessing Okechukwu Ezema

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I return all the glory to God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit Who gave the word (Psa.68:11) and commanded me to publish abroad (Luke 9:60).

Special thanks to the following people:

My lovely wife Joy Nkeiru Ezema, who gave me all the support I needed during the period of writing this book.

My father in the Lord, Bishop David O. Oyedepo, for the impact of his teaching and ministry upon my life.

My mother Francisca Ezema, my Uncle, Igwe H.U Ezema and all my siblings for their love and understanding.

My friends Chris Obida and Lanre-Alimi Matthew for taking pains in proof reading the initial manuscript of this book.

Dr. Gospel Ikpeme, for carrying out the professional editing of this work and last but not the least;

All the staff of WestbowPress, especially my publishing consultant Angel Steves for their professional advice provided towards making this book a success.

INTRODUCTION

‘There are certain laws which if followed will bring success. There’s no need for failure-not among Christians… The defeated life has never been part of God’s plan.’ —Kathryn Kuhlman.

When someone loses his precious material such as costly jewellery, he goes out in search for it. The person will only have full rest and happiness if he eventually finds it. In the same manner, man has been in search of peace, happiness, wealth, power, honour, strength, wisdom and glory since he lost all of them and was chased out of the original Garden of Eden. Since then,

•   He desires to have a healthy body, free from sickness and diseases. He can even give up all his possessions in order to have sound health.

•   He equally desires to have a sound mind, possessing great wisdom in dealing with various challenging issues of life.

•   He detests shame no matter how little it may be, and always wants to be gloriously decorated and happy.

•   He wants to live in a decent environment and at least to be able to take care of the basic needs of his family.

•   He loves to be in complete dominion and possess power to deal with invisible battles that confronts him every day.

•   And above all, his inner man (his spirit) is in search of having a perfect relationship with his Creator which guarantees peace on every side and the promise of eternal prosperity.

Summarily, we can say that the heart of every man, whether consciously or unconsciously is continuously searching for the prosperity of his spirit, soul and body. I regard all of these pursuits as ‘Total Prosperity’. Just as it is not wrong for anyone to go in search of his lost items, it is not equally wrong for man to go in search of all these things listed above. For this particular reason, Jesus in the book of Matthew 13:44-46 likened the Kingdom of heaven to costly pearls and hidden treasure:

‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.’

It is this search for the ‘Kingdom of God experiences’, characterized by abundant prosperity that drives people every day. Have you paused for a while to think of what drives you out of your house every morning? May be you have the passion to make a difference in people’s lives or you simply have the love to make a difference in the lives of your family members. All of them gear toward helping others to live happy, prosperous and successful lives. As you observe, you will equally find your own fulfilment in life by gaining more peace, happiness, wealth and other things money cannot buy.

The means of searching for these lost blessings, therefore, need to be thoroughly examined. Since it was God Himself that chased man out of the prosperous garden in the beginning due to disobedience, man’s reconciliation with Him through obedience will equally lead to the recovery of those lost blessings. The Bible provides the best means of recovering these lost ‘items’ by man since his fall in Genesis 3:6. The scripture was given to man only after the fall (failure) of Adam. Man didn’t have need for it if not that Adam failed. Originally, the word of God was written in his heart. He obeyed them and prospered accordingly, but everything turned upside down, the moment he disobeyed God. Then, he lost his mind (2 Cor.11:3, 2 Tim. 3:8) and needs to be reminded of God’s will and His commandments for him. God in His infinite mercy designed the Bible to enable man find his way back to the Garden of Eden and start swimming in prosperity as He ordained it in the beginning. Many people are searching for these ‘Kingdom of God experiences’ or ‘Garden of Eden experiences’ by following wrong parts and these have led to more frustration than they ever imagined. Majority believe that all they need is money and so, their problems will vanish as soon as they make more and more of it. Unfortunately, they realize at last that there are so many problems that money alone cannot solve. As opposed to what many think, prosperity has to do with the total wellbeing of man and not just having money and material possessions.

Let us consider different definitions of the words ‘Prosper’ and ‘Prosperity’ from other sources. From these, we equally understand that they are not just limited to material welfare.

According to e Bible on Prosperity, ‘The most common Hebrew word for Prosper is tsalach (tsaw-lakh)¹. It means to advance, make progress, succeed, be profitable. To bring to a successful issue; to experience prosperity. Also the Greek word for ‘Prosper’ is euodoo² (yoo-od-o: Strong’s #2137). Strong’s Exhaustive dictionary of the Bible gives these definitions: to help on the road; to succeed in reaching; to succeed in business affairs; to have a prosperous journey". You and I know that life is a journey and just like the ultimate intention of everybody is to have a successful and prosperous journey through life; God even desires much more for us to prosper and be successful in life because we are products of His handwork. Paul said, ‘making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you’ (Rom.1:10 KJV). Our covenant fathers also desired to have a prosperous journey in their time as we can see in the life of Jacob:

‘Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God’—Genesis 28:20, 21.

God responded to his prayers by granting him safety and blessings beyond measure. The ultimate intention of any producer is that his products should prosper in the hand of the users. Therefore, God’s ultimate will for us is to prosper and that is why He gave us the Bible as a guide to the prosperity of our spirit, soul and body (Josh.1:7, 8).

Similarly, Webster dictionary defines Prosperity as ‘the state of being prosperous; advance or gain in anything good or desirable; successful progress in any business or enterprise; attainment of the object desired; good fortune; success; as commercial prosperity; natural prosperity.’

Finally according to Wikipedia³, Prosperity is the state of flourishing, thriving, good fortune and/or successful social status. Prosperity often encompasses wealth but also includes other factors which are independent of wealth to varying degrees, such as happiness and health.

The only source for having this ‘total prosperity’ or

‘total wellbeing’ is in Jesus Christ. Scripturally, possession of earthly material wealth is just one aspect of prosperity. There is a lot in God’s prosperity package. Everlasting happiness and peace with all the promises of eternal prosperity are the things all Christians should aspire to receive. Remember the streets of heaven and its walls are paved with gold and Christ assured us, saying, ‘In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you’ (Rev. 21:18, 21 and John 14:2).

In the words of Anthony Robbins;

‘Everything you and I do, we do either out of our need to avoid pain or our desire to gain pleasure’.⁴

And so it is with our Christian race. We want to escape the pains in hell and enjoy all the good promises in heaven with our heavenly Father. Because of this pain that is being experienced in hell, we can even afford to lose all our earthly possessions in order to gain access to eternal life which means we shall experience everlasting prosperity. That is exactly what Christ is teaching us in the book of Mark 8:36: ‘For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?’ This implies that, if you are to have the whole wealth of this world and at the end miss heaven, you will be the most miserable man that ever existed. Your portion in heaven is far greater than all the wealth of this world. Also see Matthew 5:30. Just like any good father would take time to teach his children how to maximize their talents toward profitable living, God even does much more for His children. In the book of Isaiah48:17, 18, the LORD says:

‘… I am the LORD your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river. And your righteousness like the waves of the sea’

Amplified version of the above scripture states,

‘… I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit. Who leads you in the way that you should go. Oh, that you had hearckend to My commandments! Then your peace and prosperity would have been like a flowing river, and your righteousness [the holiness and purity of the nations] like the [abundant] waves of the sea.’

In the two versions of Isaiah 48:17, 18 above, the term ‘wellbeing’ is used interchangeably with ‘peace and prosperity’. Therefore ‘total wellbeing’ or peace and ‘total prosperity’ can only be obtained by living your life based on God’s words.

Whenever a wise man is about to depart from this earth, he will call his children or at least his dearest son to give him the final instruction and blessing. These instructions will definitely contain the secret of the man’s success. King David, having lived a successful life and obtained a fantastic testimony of being a man after God’s heart, called his son Solomon towards the end of his life for this same purpose. Then ‘…David…charged Solomon his son, saying:… be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. "And keep the charge of the LORD your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses [Solomon may have asked: why Daddy? And he went on], that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn’ (1kings 2:1-3).

David was telling Solomon, Son, if you must be prosperous in life, you have to take hold of the scripture, eat and obey every bit of the content. In the same way, the LORD commanded Joshua to continuously keep to the dictates of the law in order for him to achieve success and prosperity. He told Joshua saying:

‘Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, [Joshua may have asked : Why should I do that LORD? And God answered] that you may prosper wherever you go’.

He stressed it again in verse 8 saying:

‘This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.[Why should I do all these? Why shouldn’t I live the way I want? Perhaps He asked further, but God reaffirmed it saying] For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.’—Joshua 1:7-8.

All these boil down to the fact that after obedience comes good success and prosperity. God’s eyes run to and fro upon the earth in search of those whose hearts are completely obeying and trusting in Him. So, it is clearly written all through the scripture that God’s ultimate pleasure is the prosperity of His children (Psm.35:27, 1Corin.2:9). The only thing He demands from us is total obedience to His word (Isa.1:19, Mt.5:19). His mark scheme hasn’t changed since creation. I can say that the message throughout the scripture is simply; ‘Depart from evil, continue in doing good and I will continue to bless (prosper) you on every side.’ I equally believe that every powerful sermon by any great man of God will still contain the same message. God’s word is sent to cause man to be successful and prosperous just as it is written, ‘… My word … shall prosper in the thing (in man) whereto I sent it’ (Isa.55:11). A good understanding of this truth will make anyone to be self-encouraged in the journey of life while serving God despite the challenges of life (1 Sam.30:6).

Therefore, I intend to achieve the following through this book:

•   To help people understand the fact that every commandment of God is designed to move us forward and make us more prosperous.

•   To inspire people to be self-motivated towards serving God.

•   To answer these crucial questions that have brought division and confusion in the body of Christ:

-   Should prosperity be preached in the church?

-   If yes, to what extent should it be preached?

CHAPTER 1

Prosperity: God’s Plan for Man from the Beginning

Let us look at this simple analogy. Assuming you were a husband whose wife has just had a baby boy. Pick up a pen and sheet of paper. Write everything you wish the child will be and achieve in life. Stop reading this book until you finish writing them.

Now, take out another piece of paper and write all the experiences you would not like your baby to have.

When I carried out a survey on this topic among Christian fathers, the following were at the top of the lists of their wishes for their children.

50595.png    He should grow in the fear of God.

50598.png    He should be able to identify his vision and pursue it.

50600.png    He should be highly successful and prosperous in the pursuit of his vision.

50602.png    He should use his wealth and talent for the service of God and humanity.

On the other hand, these points headed the list of things they wouldn’t like their children to experience.

•   He fails to serve God.

•   He is distracted from actualizing his visions.

•   He suffers from sicknesses and diseases.

•   He suffers from poverty and lack.

In summary, the survey shows no man with a sound mind wishes his child will have afflictions (diseases, sicknesses, and other evil manifestations) and live in poverty. Even mentally ill people usually take care of their children despite the fact that they cannot reason properly.

God’s plan for your life is far more than what you have ever imagined for yourself or the greatest plans you may have for your children.

God’s Prosperity Plan for Humankind in the Beginning

When God created Man after His own image and likeness in the beginning, the next thing