WHAT ARE YOU TAKING BACK?

“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life [his
blessed life in the kingdom of God]? Or what would a man give as an exchange for
his [blessed] life [in the kingdom of God]?” (Mt16:26 Amp)

Everyday when I wake up, I thank the Lord that I am alive and kicking. I check every
part of me and I give Him the glory the more. I may not have so much to eat, and there
are times when the pressure of life weighs so much on me that I wish I could just pack it
all up and go to heaven. Even at such times when I open my eyes I praise God again
because for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Head or tail I win. Can same be said of
you? Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? (I advise you to kneel down now
and ask Him to come into your life) so that you may have the pleasure of life and death
such as I and others like me have.

I particularly give praise to God that I am alive at such a time as this when the gospel is
preached freely and opportunities abounds to grasp revelations from the Bible, we have
books, magazines, bulletins, bill boards, Bibles of numerous translations, tapes, CDs,
DVDs, TVs, internets, Cable TVs etc. In fact excuses for not hearing the word is fast
diminishing. That is one of the reasons I am wont to believe that we are actually at the
end of the endtime.

One more, I am very glad at this time for the prosperity messages. Now I know that being
born again is not synonymous with poverty as we were made to believe before. (In fact,
poverty is a curse) Now, I can have the best of life and not feel out of place and worldly. I
can glorify my God in and with my prosperity. Moreover, since it takes money to spread
the gospel effectively, I know and I believe that God will raise more people with money
within the church that the gospel may reach out to more.

If by now you still have problem with the prosperity message, just tell God that He
should by pass you in the endtime wealth transfer, okay! As for me and my household,
we are positioned to receive of this great transfer. In case you don’t know, it is already
on, just jump into the river. The first qualification of course is that you must be born
again, secondly, you must give your tithe and offering (if you don’t believe in tithe,
forget wealth transfer) and lastly, you must be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

So, are you ready!!! Now, you know my stand about prosperity, but just like any other
thing can be abused, so can prosperity. There is the tendency to get caught in on
acquisition of things, you may get caught up in thinking, “I will be happy when I am rich,
promoted, healed, married, have my child, build my house, buy my car etc. But like every
other person who tied their happiness to things, you will soon discover like the Bible say
…the joy of the Lord is my strength… there is nothing you can and will receive that can
give you absolute happiness. Absolute is only in and with God.
As Jesus said in the book of Luke, let me quote the Message translations …"Take care!
Protect yourself against the least bit of greed. Life is not defined by what you
have, even when you have a lot." (Lk12:15) If you are like me, you should be asking
questions. Firstly, Jesus said I should beware of in ordinate desire to keep accumulating
things because what I have does not define my life. Wait a minute? How do you know
someone that is “chopping life”? Is it not by the abundance he has in the bank, the
bigness of his house, the worth of his cars and how much of comfort he has? Yet Jesus is
saying for a born again child of God that is not what his life is defined by.

Secondly, which follows up with the first, He said since things don’t define your life, it
does not mater if you have so much it means nothing. It’s like this whole thing
contradicts the message of prosperity or so it seems. You may want to start asking like
me, “If abundance does not define me, then do I need it? Is God really interested in my
being prosperous after all? Is it not better to keep mute about this prosperity thing?

Questions, questions and questions all begging for answers but they are not far fetched.
The answer is found in the parable that Jesus gave in the proceeding verses of the farmer
who had harvested much and was talking to himself, ‘now its time to enjoy life, now that
I have much in stock it’s going to be party 24/7 all night long’ (paraphrased) But he died
that very night of his great harvest, then Jesus said, “So it is with the one who
continues to lay up and hoard possessions for himself and is not rich [in his
relation] to God [this is how he fares].” (Lk12:21 Ampi)

Do you think from this verse that it was his abundance that destroyed him? Of course not!
Rather he killed himself (or cut short his life) because his fellowship with his maker was
deficient. In other words, your life is dead without God. The only thing that can sustain
your life (spirit and soul) is your continuous fellowship with your maker aside from
this child of God, you are a goner, you may be alive but you are dead because you
have lost touch with the nourisher of your life (soul)

You must realize now that all that you acquire technically are not yours. It is only
that which you expend on you that is yours because if you die today those things
which you say are yours are not following you back to wherever you are going. Since
the Bible says all we have was given by God, it means what you thought you worked for,
God permitted you to have and since He does everything for a reason (remember, they
are not technically yours) it means you will never know how to distribute them
effectively without Him (that is why there must be wealth transfer to those who will
distribute them according to heavenly instructions). I particularly like the way it is put in
Ecc5;15 “As [the man] came forth from his mother's womb, so he will go again,
naked as he came; and he will take away nothing for all his labor which he can
carry in his hand.” (Ampi) If all that you amass are technically yours then you should
have been able to take them back with you when leaving earth.

What is life or soul? From the scriptures quoted in Mathew and Luke, (Permit me to
speak Greek) according to Strong Hebrew and Greek Dictionary the word translated life
and soul came from the same source which in Greek is called ‘PSUCHE’ beside its
meaning as “heart”, “mind”, “soul” denotes “life” in two respects, (a) “breath of life, the
natural life” and (b) “the seat of personality.” From the scriptures quoted, it is referring to
your natural life. But in the scriptures there is another word for life, which is “ZOE”(from
the Strong Hebrew and Greek Dictionary) This is life in absolute sense, life as God has it,
which He had in Himself and gave to His only Begotten Son Jesus. Simply put ZOE is
“the life of God”.

I have gone this far so that you can understand mans depravity without God. Like it is
said in John3:16 …For God so loved the world…..shall not perish but have …life….
That word “life” is ZOE. Meaning there is life beyond the breath. Speaking generally,
PSUCHE, is the individual life, the living being, whereas, ZOE is the life of that
being. Meaning, a life devoid of the life of God just exists but is not having life in the
absolute sense. He is like a car without battery. It can move when it is pushed, it can be
stirred but it takes efforts and every other gadget in it cannot function. The battery is the
life of the car. In the same vein God is the source of your existence. If a battery is not
charged, the driver is in for a disgrace, so is your life child of God, without fellowship
with the Heavenly Father, you are on death row!

Little wonder the scripture says we should first seek the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and then all these things (riches and comfort of life) shall be added,
because the prosperity of your soul is more important to God. That is the only thing
heaven sees when it beholds you. …I have found me a man (PSUCHE) after my own
heart (ZOE)…. (1Sam16:7 emphases added)

There is nothing you will have on this earth which you will take back with you in
your final journey except that which occupies your spirit (and that will determine
your final destination) Why so? God is a Spirit and they that worship Him indeed, do so
in spirit and not in material. Don’t get me wrong, you can use your material possession to
bless God, but that will only be if your heart is responsive to Him and that is determined
by how rich your heart is towards Him.

The definition of your life is linked to how much influence God has in the affairs of
your life. Can you indeed submit your daily, monthly, yearly and lifelong decisions to
Him/ or are you your own God? How supple is your heart to God? How would you rate
your obedience to His instructions? In His word, through the Holy Spirit in you or
through others like your Pastor, or the books you read? How much of the fruit of the
Spirit is manifesting in your life in spite of all that you have acquired? Or have
those things acquired you instead?

As have been said severally, “you cannot serve God on your own terms” It is only on His.
That is why many will get to heaven bringing their CV with them but God will not
recognize them. He calls such men workers of iniquity because they did as they pleased
forgetting that there is nothing they had which was not given by the Heavenly Father
(even riches, wisdom, intelligence, anointing, power, influence, beauty etc.)
My fellow brethren, I ask you this day, even in this your rat race, what are you
taking back? Or is it what is taking you back? Is it your prospered soul or your
prospered pockets? For that will determine where you will end up and the reception that
awaits you after your journey here on earth is ended or do you not care?