FOUNDATION STATEMENT: As believers it’s our ability to abound in the grace of God that will determine the amount of prosperity that we walk in. If we desire to abound to every good work then we must live a lifestyle of love and faith, positioning ourselves to abound in the grace of God. – 2 Corinthians 9:8, 8:7
I. Inheriting or receiving the manifestation of the promises of God in your life is the outcome of faith working by love so that the manifestation of the promise, might be given as an act of grace (Rom 4:16)
A. The manifestation of the promise is given as an act of grace, but it came out (outcome) through working of love and faith
1. Of course the manifestation of healing, prosperity, or deliverance in our lives is an act of God’s grace, but receiving those things is the outcome of love and faith
2. Grace cannot be earned and you can’t earn the manifestation of the promises of God-Eph 2:8
a. I can have all of the grace in the world and offer you a gift by grace, but without you receiving it you’ll never get it
B. The purpose for the grace of God in your life is that it will cause you to always have, more than enough, in all things, so that you can abound to every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8)
1. No matter what the need is, grace will cause you to always have more than enough
2. When the need was eternal salvation and redemption grace caused you to have more than enough (Ephesians 2:8)
a. The grace that you needed to get saved came through faith working by love and caused you to have more than enough salvation
b. The grace you need to see manifested healing or prosperity works the same way
C. You have to give faith working by love to grace
1. Faith working by love is the channel that the grace of God can flow through and cause you to always have more than enough no matter what the needs is
2. If you’re ever going to reach the level of total life prosperity that God wants you to reach, it’s going to be because you live a lifestyle of love and faith, providing the proper channel for the grace of God to flow through into your life (2 Corinthians 8:7)
II. When you step outside of the lifestyle of love and faith you’re in a place resistance where the grace of God is concerned (1 Peter 5:5-9)
A. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble
1. Love isn’t prideful; it’s not God saying, “Their prideful I’m resisting them,” it’s just who He is
2. The proud aren’t walking in this grace
B. Humility vs. Pride
1. There’s outright pride and then there’s hidden pride that Satan doesn’t want you to see
a. The outright pride is the “I’m great” kind of pride
b. The hidden pride is the pride that people walk in when they worry in fear & take the care
2. You humble yourself under the mighty hand of God by casting the whole of your care onto him
a. It’s a prideful thing to pick up the care of something thinking that you can take care of it better than God; When you’re worrying that’s what you’re doing
b. Your job is not to take the care of it, that’s God’s job
1) Your job is to fear not and believe only
3. You cast the care on God by keeping the commandment of love/fearing not and believing only
a. To get rid of the care, you have to go to the root called fear
1) Love gets rid of the fear and if there’s no fear present you can’t take the care
2) You can spend all the time in the world in the Word of God where that care is concerned and faith will come, but it will be contaminated and there will always be this thing in you that says, “This isn’t coming to pass,” and that’s the torment that comes from fear
b. Faith is the resisting the temptation to pick up the care (V9)
4. It’s that position of fearing not and believing only that you are positioned to receive grace because you’re out of pride and into true humility
C. God wants you exalted, lifted up, and elevated out of your current circumstances
1. God doesn’t have a problem w/ u being exalted, He’s got a problem w/ u trying 2 exalt yourself
a. He’s got a problem with you picking up the care of that situation and trying to do things to make the Word of God come to pass
2. You put yourself under the authority of God, the commandment of love, and the Word of God and He/His Word will exalt you out of those circumstances
a. You have no business being up at night worrying and trying to figure out how your going to make this happen
b. God will do the exalting you do the fearing not and believing only
D. You be self-controlled, clear-headed and on guard to not pick up the care of that situation
1. If u pick up the care of that you’re resisting the very grace that’s more than enough 4 that care
2. Satan’s looking for people who operate in fear and pick up the care because those he can devour (Isaiah 54:14)
3. Every time he comes you resist him in with faith working by love
III. The Apostle Paul got in a position where he was resisting the grace (2 Corinthians 11:28, 12:6-10)
A. He picked up the care of all the churches he was writing to
1. He had no business with that care any more than you or I do
2. Jesus said cares are like thorns (Mark 4:18-19)
B. The only pride problem he had was that he picked up the care of the churches instead of casting the care of those churches over on God
1. It’s clear he doesn’t have an outright pride problem (V6)
C. The Word of God was coming to him in revelation form and it was coming in abundance
1. Mark 4:14-17-Satan came immediately to steal that Word to keep that Word from exalting him
2. The thorn came to buffet/torment him and to keep him from being exalted above measure
a. The torment was there through his fear that something was going wrong with the churches
D. God’s grace was more than enough for him in that situation and it’s more than enough for you in your situation, but you don’t get that grace by begging God (2 Corinthians 9:8)
1. You receive the grace by coming boldly to the throne of grace holding fast to the confession of the Word of God in your mouth (Hebrews 4:14-16)
a. A lifestyle of love and faith
1) Faith – Hold fast to the profession of your faith
2) Love – Come boldly
b. When you’re in need you don’t need to tell God how hard it is b/c he already knows how you feel; he felt what you’re feeling right now & he’s touched by the feeling of your infirmities
1) You can come with the confession of the Word because he already knows how you feel
a) You don’t come bawling and squalling
2) What He needs to know is what you believe
a) God’s touched with your feelings, but he’s moved by your faith
2. The apostle went from begging to confessing; the light came on
a. Just because you preach it doesn’t mean that you do it all of the time automatically
b. He got in love and faith for the sake of the anointing
IV. Everything that you could ever need, want, or desire on this Earth was already bought, paid for, and struggled for by Jesus on the cross at Calvary. It’s our job to enter into the rest of love and faith and receive it. (Romans 8:32)
A. You don’t have to work or toil to earn what God has provided. As believers we got to get out of the tormented struggle.
1. You can’t do anything to earn grace, but you do have to receive grace (Ephesians 2:8-9)
2. The promises of God are obviously ours because of the grace of God, but to see the grace of that promise in your life, you must receive it by faith (Romans 4:16)
3. There’s no struggle, no sweat, and no toil in receiving
a. How hard was it to get saved? It shouldn’t be any harder for you to receive prosperity.
B. Jesus made it so that you have a right to prosper and walk in victory without struggling to do so (Matthew 6:28, Proverbs 10:22)
1. We can prosper, increase, and walk in victory without the tormented struggle of toil
C. We can enter into the rest of fait and experience sweatless victory
1. Adam didn’t sweat and struggle until after the fall (Genesis 3:17)
2. Jesus came to take me back to the garden (Galatians 3:13)
D. Peter struggled and toiled as an expert fisherman all night and never caught one thing, but when he acted in faith, there was no toil, he just received and because God was providing it, it was the biggest catch that he ever made (Luke 5:1-9)
1. Don’t struggle to get what has already been struggled for, just receive it
E. David defeated Goliath with no sweat, no toil, & no struggle; faith in Word did the work (1 Sam 17)
1. Deuteronomy 28:7,10,13 – It was the simplest thing in the word to him; he just received what God had promised
2. David didn’t sweat, he didn’t struggle, and he didn’t toil, he shot one rock and swung the sword one time
a. That must of took all of what, five minutes tops
F. The woman with the issue of blood struggled and toiled for 12 years to get healed and only got worse (Mark 5)
1. She didn’t do anything, but believe and receive
G. The leper (Luke 17:13)
1. This guy has leprosy and has body part missing
2. It was by grace, through faith