Prosperity is a Process

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Prosperity is the divine birthright of every child of God and can and should be accessed at all times, easily and lovingly. How? That is where the teachings on prosperity in the word of God come in. The Bible teaches that you are born to prosper and flourish in Christ Jesus; not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of God. Please read 3^rd John 1 and 2.

Prosperity is a process. It is not a one off activity. It is a series of sustained activities, actions, utterances tailored to increase, abundance and prosperity. It is not a code. It is not a one size shoe or dress which fits all.

There are customized processes to accommodate everyone to prosper; not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of God. That explains why people in diverse professions, trade and industry who understand what prosperity is always prosper irrespective of where they are located.

Significantly, God is the One Who brings about the prosperity. He made everything that Joseph did to prosper.

He blessed King Solomon with great wealth. How? He gave Solomon uncommon wisdom which made Solomon highly sought after and handsomely remunerated by Kings and leaders from nations around him. Additionally, God made all of Solomon’s businesses to prosper.  Solomon enjoyed divine favor both from God and humans. People and nations loved to do business with him and lived at peace with him and Israel.

The Link Between Zero Waste and Prosperity 8

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

How to Safeguard the Harvests

Sustained bountiful harvests lead to overflowing abundance and obedience to God and His word lead to sustained bountiful harvests. Please read Genesis Chapter 26 verses 12 to 14 and Leviticus Chapter 26 verses 3 to 10.

Zero waste is one of the keys to prosperity. There is a clear link between zero waste and prosperity. Zero waste always translates into surplus, abundance, sustainable resource management and wealth. Zero waste management of whatever resources God puts in the hand of a person, a family, an institution, community or nation always translates to or culminates in surplus and abounding abundance. This implies that zero waste is critical to ensuring sustainable resource management as well as key factor in creating sustainable generational wealth.

Severally in the Scriptures, God cautions against waste. The biblical Joseph for instance was used by God to ensure food security as well as stave off famine and hunger for more than seven years; not only in Egypt but globally. The food security strategy proffered by Joseph to Pharaoh and his court ensured that the surplus food resources from the seven years of bountiful harvests were saved up and stored away safely for the people of Egypt and their immediate neighbours. Zero waste averted famine, hunger and destruction.

A farmer plows the ground; that is prepare the ground for planting at a particular season and place; and when that is done, the farmer stops plowing or preparing the ground because that aspect of the seed planting has been done; hopefully at the right time; right season and right place. The farmer should not continue plowing or preparing the ground endlessly as if he or she is dancing in a vicious circle of unending wandering without any purpose. After all, a ground is prepared for planting and not just for the sake of preparing a ground endlessly. Therefore, plant the right seeds in the right spaces, nurture them aright, harvest at the right time and process them aright to ensure zero waste and prosperity.  Endless preparation without implementation is as good as waste as it does not generate any returns, therefore no prosperity. Ask God for the wisdom to implement. Please read Isaiah Chapter 28 verses 23 to 25. Thereafter, you care for the plants until harvest time and harvest them as they should be harvested; applying different techniques relevant to each crop; and thereafter process each harvested crop as they should be processed so that you do not lose the harvest. Thereafter, utilize the processed harvests for bread and whatever.

The Link Between Zero Waste and Prosperity 7

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Even trees, especially food bearing trees such as fruit trees were not to be cut down during sieges and wars because such trees bear what should serve as food for man “the tree of the field is man’s food. They should therefore not be wasted for building siege works. Zero waste in the management of food resources, the source of the food producing plant or tree should not be destroyed. Please read Deuteronomy Chapter 20 verses 19 to 20.

God killed Onan for wasting life producing see meant to raise an heir to his brother Er. Please read Genesis Chapter 38 verses 1 to 10. There was no point emitting seed that should give life on the ground. This implies that seed should not be wasted no matter what. If he had no intention of raising an heir to his brother, then he should not have gone into his brother’s wife to emit seed at all, not to talk of emitting seed designed to raise an heir on the ground.

Beloved, the case of the man described in the parable of talents as the wicked lazy servant in the Bible (Matthew Chapter 25 verses 14 to 30) also illustrates the principle of zero waste. Talents, money, resources should always be traded to multiply, compound and bless humanity. The master of the three servants gave them talents according to their abilities. While the first two servants who received the most talents invested time in investing their resources for a profit irrespective of the supposed hard nature of their master who reaped where he did not sow; that is going by the account and lame excuse given by the wicked lazy servant in verses 24 to 25; the wicked lazy servant did not bother to do anything with his one talent. He did not even consider investing the one talent for himself or on himself. He had the least ability; received the least talent which could have been multiplied and compounded if he made the least attempt, invested the least time to invest the talent. At least, he would have done something to avoid zero waste even if it meant doing it for himself and not his supposed hard opportunistic master. Instead, he took the trouble to dig he ground and hid the talent there, unprofitable labor which did not ring blessings to anyone. What a shame, what a waste!  Say, which is easier, digging the ground to hide the talent or investing the talent?

Beloved, it is my prayer for you and for me that we will not be like the wicked lazy servant. Rather, God by His Spirit will empower us to invest time in trading His divine deposits in us profitably to bless humanity so that we are also enlarged and enriched in the process to the glory of His Holy Name in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Contrary to the description of the master given by the wicked lazy servant, the master was generous. He rewarded and blessed the two faithful servants. Their capacities to further bless humanity were expanded and enlarged beyond their wildest imagination. The two faithful servants had the right mindset, the right attitude to investing their talents. They were more concerned about investing their talents than about the character of their master, the people and environment they were investing in. their priority was prime and prompt obedience to their master who blessed them with the talents and commanded them to invest the talents. That explains why their master referred to them as faithful servants; servants who were committed to obeying their master and doing what their master requested of them.

The Link Between Zero Waste and Prosperity 6

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Ironically, the diligent virtuous woman of Proverbs Chapter 31 verses 10 to 31 worked smart and hard to own and maintain a vineyard in addition to running a home efficiently and managing a fashion business profitably. Unlike the lazy young man devoid of understanding, the diligent virtuous woman was enriched and had property to leave to her children and children’s children. The young man unfortunately destroyed what he was blessed with through waste while the virtuous woman built wealth by adopting a zero waste policy and attitude. Whatever free time she had was ploughed into and invested in her fashion business while the profit from the fashion business was ploughed into owning and maintaining a vineyard. She did not fritter time in idleness, gossip, sleep and slumber. Everything she touched owned was always invested and not wasted.

Time is also a major resource that should never be wasted. Great examples of great investors of time include the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, the diligent and virtuous woman of Proverbs Chapter 31 verses 10 to 31, the biblical Joseph, Daniel, and Nehemiah as well as the prophetess Anna who spent nights and days in the temple fasting and praying. Significantly, Anna had no children to labor for in prayers yet she spent quality time praying for the manifestations of the plans and purposes of God for humanity. That time could have been spent by Anna in idle chatter and gossip. After all some of the widows described in the book of 1^st Timothy engaged in such trifles for which they were cautioned. But Anna chose to invest that time in the service of God for kingdom purposes.

What a person does with time either amounts to investment of time and resources or frittering of time and resources in unprofitable ventures. Be proactive – a great way to invest time. When you are proactive, you will plan ahead of time and prepare for contingencies. Contingencies will not take you by surprise and have you shopping for time to come up with solutions to the contingencies. But when you are proactive, you would have prepared for the contingency and would simply implement the solutions when the contingencies show up.

Procrastination is also a way of wasting resources because as you procrastinate on a task, the task does not get accomplished. So if it is a tear, any repair work, the tear or damaged part gets worse and ultimately you end up expending more energy and deploying additional resources to accomplish the task. If the young man had cared for his vineyard when he should have; weed the vineyard, fix cracks in the wall as they showed up, the vineyard would not have been taken over by weeds and the wall would not have broken down.

If it is information that is required to take an urgent decision, procrastination keeps you ignorant and indecisive and of course the decision is not taken and what ought to be done urgently is not done. For instance, can you imagine what would have happened if Joseph procrastinated on securing the surplus food resources from the bountiful harvests; some or all of the food would have rotted and there would have been no food during the seven years of famine. If the widow of the indebted prophet had procrastinated, her sons would have gone into debt bondage. If blind Bartimaeus had procrastinated to call on Jesus and assumed that Jesus would pass through that place at a later date, he would have remained blind. Procrastination is not only the thief of time, it is the forerunner to waste and destruction and poverty; it is also a great satanic tool for activating waste, poverty and destruction.

Significantly, procrastination is not only physical but also mental and spiritual especially spiritual and instructively, spiritual procrastination is the forerunner to mental and physical as well as other forms of procrastination. For instance, when we fail to activate and walk in a loving and fervent relationship with God, we lose the grace to receive myriad blessings from God such as the grace for divine wisdom, sure guidance from the Holy Spirit to accomplish divine purpose and live truly fulfilled lives.

Adopt a zero waste policy and attitude and see what transformations, surplus and abundance will come your way in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

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The Link Between Zero Waste and Prosperity 5

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Some Examples of Waste

Hiring a supposedly professional to implement a project and the professional turns out not to be as knowledgeable as s/he claimed to be, lacks the necessary expertise, is incompetent and does a shoddy job that leaves you having to start all over again; expending additional and much more resources than you would have expended on the project. Resources that could have been ploughed elsewhere to further expand resources and your wealth has to be reinvested into a project that would have cost less.

The biblical Joseph knew exactly what to do to mitigate the seven years of famine. Though the bountiful harvests were plenty and the saved up surplus was immeasurable and beyond counting, none of it was wasted. Everything was processed and stored safely. One of the ways to ensure zero waste was that food resources collected in farms around a particular city were stored in that city. The food resources were not moved farther – to prevent loss, damage; in addition to saving op on resources that would have been used in moving them farther.  It was pointless diverting resources that would be required elsewhere in moving goods farther from the fields where they were produced and from the people who produced them. Besides when famine came, the inhabitants of those areas would easily move to their nearby cities to access food resources without journeying to far away places. The risk of accidents was also minimized greatly.

Additionally, and this is really significant. Joseph traveled round the country not for the fun of travel but to carry out an assessment of facilities required to store the surplus harvests. In today’s business terminology, that would be referred to as a feasibility study -  a know what is required, what is on ground and what else to access and how access it, who to partner and work with. That way, you avoid wastes and losses and do not duplicate resources and efforts needlessly.

Not knowing what you own as well as the value of what you own is an example of great waste. For example, the young man described in Proverbs Chapter 24 verses 30 to 34 as devoid of understanding owned a vineyard; significantly a walled vineyard, implying that he owned great property – land to plant a vineyard – vines to process wine out of and sell to other people, a secure vineyard walled around for security from predators yet the young man had absolutely no understanding of what he owned, the value of what he owned so he allowed the property alongside the economic resources in it to go to seed.

The Link between Zero Waste and Prosperity 4

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

The Apostle Paul was greatly used of God to harvest souls for the kingdom; great harvests in different geographical locations, cities, towns and villages. As geographically far apart as these places were from each other, Paul managed to stay very close to the people despite the fact that they very fast methods of communication and transport of the 21^st century were lacking in the days of Paul.

How did he achieve such great feat?  Paul had a great audience and he did not for once neglect them. Paul secured his spiritual and physical harvests through constant communication with the people. He always communicated with them, had great words for them, prayed for them and encouraged them through the letters he sent to them through human couriers on a regular basis. An insightful perusal of the Pauline epistles (Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, reveal Paul’s great care and concern for the bountiful harvests God gave to him. Paul could have chosen to ignore them and move on; after all he was working in other mission fields and had raised leaders in those Churches. Yet Paul maintained constant communication of love, care, concern and compassion with the people God gave to him. He is a great study in securing spiritual and physical harvests, as well as a manual for sustaining Church growth. In essence, Paul consolidated on every success and in the process had lasting success.

The Link between Zero Waste and Prosperity 3

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Additionally, every divine opportunity and platform to showcase your divine gifts is also harvest time as it is a platform to plant your seeds and because every seed germinates and fruits, a harvest awaits you. Therefore, do not be like the man who refused to plant because of winter – Proverbs Chapter 20 verse 4 or the one who is always  seeing fierce lions that are very determined to kill him in the streets – Proverbs Chapters 22 verse 13, 26 verse 13. Rather, be like the virtuous woman of Proverbs Chapter 31 verses 10 to 31 who always took advantage of opportunities as the Bible instructs in Ecclesiastes Chapter 11 verses 1 to 6. Thereafter, take instructions on caring for your seeds, pre-planted, planted and harvested from Isaiah Chapter 28 verses 23 to 29, and Proverbs Chapter 27 verses 23 to 27. 

Any one or people who fritters and waste divine resources are actually begging poverty to visit them speedily. This is because saved up resources, well managed resources always translate into surplus while wasted resources is as good as multiplying zero by zero or adding zero to zero to get zero. If the people of the Biblical Egypt had not paid attention to Joseph and wasted the surplus food resources from the bountiful harvests of seven years, they would have probably alongside their neighbours and other nations who came to buy food from them in Egypt gone into extinction on account of famine and hunger. Even if they had resorted to cannibalism, seven years was plenty of time for them to eat each other up. Please read Genesis Chapter 50 verses 18 to 21. Fortunately, Pharaoh and his court not only paid attention, Joseph was also appointed to manage the resources of Egypt. And succeed greatly he did; ensuring food security for more than seven years until the long drought was over.

The Link between Zero Waste and Prosperity 2

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

On the other hand, the bountiful harvests God blessed you with can just fall to the ground, may be scattered and blown away by wind. Human predators can also come in and steal the bountiful harvests. Rain can also come and destroy the harvests just as too much sun can also destroy the harvests.

Beloved, harvests have to be protected by bringing them in from the fields at the right time – just the right time to shield them from all possible predators and process the harvests aright as well as secure them from any form of destruction and waste. Perhaps, we should take a cue from some Bible characters.

The Patriarch Isaac for instance brought in his harvests at the right time and through the bountiful harvests secured aright, the Bible records in Genesis Chapter 26 verses 12 to 14 that he began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous, beloved, it is significant to note that Isaac did not allow his harvests to waste after planting seeds in the land as instructed by God. Rather, he reaped the harvests, brought it in and secured it safely as soon as it came in. that explains his progressive prosperity - securing each harvest and profiting from each harvest. Isaac did not gape at his harvests and left them in the fields. Uncared for and unprocessed. If he did, the Philistines would have quickly harvested them. Isaac also did not procrastinate or delay in bringing the harvests in. that way, he could have lost some of the harvests. Isaac acted fast - he reaped in the harvests as soon it came and secured the harvests for profit.

Significant and quite instructive is the fact that the harvests were bountiful yet Isaac paid prime attention to the harvests and quickly brought them in. None of it was wasted.

Process the Divine Ideas

Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha

Ideas are treasures especially when they are the types of cutting edge ideas such as the ones King Solomon, Joseph and Daniel had. Please see 1^st Kings Chapter 5 verses 29 to 34 as well as Proverbs Chapter 21 verse 220, Psalm 119 verse 130.

While it is great to birth he divine ideas, it is greater and wonderful, actually inspirational to process the divine ideas. This is because processed ideas are treasures which become tangible assets. But when ideas are not processed, they die off just like seedlings and babies that are not properly cared for die off. While processing may be tasking, it is worth all the resources at your disposal because ideas properly processed and harnessed rule the world.

Ideas are usually intangible assets at conception but they take on flesh to become tangible assets as they are thoughtfully processed. Ideas, particularly positive ideas are blessings from God. Please see Deuteronomy Chapters 8 verse 18, 14 verses 22 to 29, 15 verses 4 to 6, Malachi Chapter 3 verse 10. The Holy Spirit is the Author of divine ideas. Please see Isaiah Chapter 11 verse 2, Exodus Chapters 31 verses 1 to 6, 34 verses 25 to 26, 30 to 35; 36 verses 1 to 4, 8; 38 verse 22, 39 verse 43, Daniel Chapters 1 verses 17 to 20, 4 verses 9 and 18; 5 verses 11 to 17; 6 verses 1 to 3; 1^st Kings Chapters 3 verses 5 to 14, 26; 5 verses 29 to 34; 2^nd Chronicles Chapter 9 verse 23, 1 to 8.

Empire building does not happen in an instant. Ideas which become empires do not happen in an instant. They are progressively processed to become empires. When you receive a divine idea from God, you can start processing the idea by first thanking God Who in His great love and mercy to you gave you the divine idea. Thereafter, reflect on the idea and explore the diverse ways in which the divine idea can become a blessing to you, humanity as well as serve the divine purposes of God for your life.

That explains why you should give the idea form/shape and light. The divine events of creation in Genesis Chapter 1 are great examples to learn from. As you give it form and light, the shapes begin to appear and if you do not like the shapes or they are not perfect, you can then commence perfecting the shapes. Life is about evolving and it takes understanding from and by the Holy Spirit to process divine ideas to profit.