Outlook

3 John 1:² (KJV) “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”

Common wealth by community is a safety net that God has put in place. It is so important that you see it as just that and not a supply source. Think of it as a safety net that God has put in place and for your benefit, not as your supply source. It is for your good. It is not a supply source. Never ever, if you do not want to die in poverty, never ever think of common wealth by community as a supply source. Too often we come across people insisting that the church should take care of them because it is their “right”. When the Bible says to take care of the poor, was your name written there? We should see it as a safety net and not as a supply source. We should see it as a privilege and not as a right. When you begin to see what is a privilege as a right, you are asking for trouble.

There was a certain family my wife and I were pastoring a long time ago. The man did not have a job and they were always requesting for common wealth by community. After raising prayers for him repeatedly, we moved to engage him, just to understand the situation not that there was necessarily a problem with him. From everything we could see, he was married to a beautiful woman that had given birth to about three children for him. But he had not paid her bride price and the girl’s father was not happy about not being given the honour due him. We advised him to go and fix the situation and he said he needed to have money before he could fix the situation. Good idea, right?

We prayed and pleaded with God and in about a week or so this man that had been without a job for a long time, got a job. Miracle! I gave him some time so that he would not think that we were trying to control his finances. Months passed and I called to ask if he had fixed the situation as agreed. But instead, he began to tell me about the different projects he intends to plug money into. Long story short, he did not listen to me or do the needful and he lost the job. Back to square one; he came back for common wealth by community. I tried to show him the connection; God is not a respecter of persons, if you obey His principles – you will get the result. We went to God at least two more times, and God had mercy. But each time he got another job, he did the same thing. We were trying to connect him to common wealth by covenant but his disobedience limited him to common wealth by community. God operates by principles and not emotions.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, empower me to be a doer of God’s Word and not merely a hearer, I will operate God’s principles by covenant, in Jesus Name. Amen!