 Thank you, Lord. We thank you for your presence in each one of our lives, Lord. We thank you for the outpouring, for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We thank you for your presence. We thank you for your power. We thank you that both go hand in hand, Lord. And we thank you for this reality. And Master, we thank you for the way that you empower us, that you strengthen us, or the way that you, Lord, guide us through your Spirit. And may each one of us be always sensitive to this, Lord. Father, we thank you, the call for us, Lord, for each one of us. No matter where we are and what we do, Lord, it's the same. It is to proclaim the gospel, to heal the broken hearted, Lord, to open the eyes of the blind, to set at liberty those who are in prison, Lord. And yes, Father God, to proclaim liberty to the captives. Father God, we thank you that you've called us to be, Lord, messengers of hope, messengers of freedom, and also empowered us, Lord, to be carriers, Lord, of your anointing, to dispense us, Lord, of your aroma in every place, Lord. And I just pray that you will use us in that way, each and every day, God, even as we lean on you and not in our own understanding. We thank you, we give you all the praise, and we give you all the glory. In Jesus' matchless name, we pray. Amen, amen. Okay, welcome once again, those who joined a little late. Okay, so we've been looking at the principles of God's prosperity. So we've been looking at several things. We've been looking at several principles, several things to apply, really, several truths to apply. So last class, we looked at how we need to honour God in our finances, we looked at giving and we looked at tithing and arms and so on. And we also looked at how we need to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. So leading of the Holy Spirit, many times we associate with, okay, so-called spiritual matters in understanding the word of God in maybe a spiritual ministry like teaching, revelation, understanding, and also in terms of power, empowering the believer to live a godly life, to say no to temptation, empowering the believer to reach out and do the things, supernatural works of God, to be strong in his power and might, et cetera. So we think of the ministry of the Holy Spirit on those lines, but we also know that God who has the know-how, or God who knows how everything functions, even how the money market functions, how business thrives, God knows that. So when we lean in and we hear and listen to the direction of the Holy Spirit, God wants to fulfil his plan and purpose in our lives. And he will do that when it comes to finances, when it comes to for us dealing with money, when it comes to maybe investment, and all those things. God is interested in causing a believer to do well, and for his plans and purposes. The other thing that we see, let me just share the notes, is here it is. So leading of the Holy Spirit and on similar lines, to receive God's prophetic word, it's in similar lines that the Spirit of God would impart a prophetic word. God would want a now word to be spoken to us, to be shared with us, and that word is to help us, that word is to change us. Maybe we could be in a tough, challenging situation, and the prophetic word is to pull us out of that predicament or situation, and release us into his plans and purposes. To pull us out of danger, to pull us out of need, and release us into his plans and purposes. When we look at prophecy itself, 1 Corinthians 14 talks about that, where Paul teaches, writes to the Quentin believers, and says that prophecy edifies, it brings edification, exhortation and comfort. Edification, which means builds up, exhortation, which means there is encouragement, and comfort. There is consolation and comfort to man. So God's prophetic word does that. And when we look at 2 Chronicles 20-20, we see that God's, receiving God's prophetic word through whomever he sends to speak that word to us, to bring that word to us, prospers us, causes us to thrive, causes us or brings success. Because it's his word, it's not the person, it's not the person whom God uses. Well, of course that person needs to be faithful and all that, but it is his word, which is received in faith, and with diligence, and acted upon, which brings that, which prospers the person. So we see that Paul writing to Timothy, and reminding him to wage the good warfare with what? We know that inefficiency talks about the armor of God and so on. But in Timothy, when he writes to Timothy in Ephesus, first Timothy, we see that Paul writing and saying that by these prophecies, by what was spoken over you, you wage the good warfare. So if it is a battle, you use the prophetic word in order to win that battle. So I'm reading 1 Timothy 1 and verse 18 says, this charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience and so on. So wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience. And before that he says, according to the prophecies previously made, concerning you that by them, with them, with these prophetic words, you wage the good warfare. So receiving God's prophetic word and acting upon God's prophetic word is very important for us as believers. It is a very important principle in God's prosperity. When it comes to God prospering us. This is another way by which he prospers us. He gives the prophetic word. Now the prophetic word itself, it would come at the right time. It would probably change the way the person is thinking. Maybe the person is thinking all negative. It's very discouraged, is down, is unable to do anything. I just want to share one experience that I had when I was working for this company. But there was a lot of stress because of the targets that were there. We had to, when I was in sales and we had to achieve those targets month after month after month. And some of these targets were weekly. So we had to achieve those weekly targets. Yeah, I think somebody raised a question. So we raised a hand. Rosalind, you have a question? You raised your hand. Okay. Okay, if you have a question, you can ask or you can put it on the chat. I'm not sure if it was my mistake. Anyway, so you can feel free to put it on the chat as well. Okay, so I was in this organization working and there was a lot of pressure. And I was really struggling to, struggling in the sense, I was crippled by fear. I remember one day where I was, one day I just could not work at all because I was thinking, what would happen? What would happen if I did not achieve my targets? What would happen? Probably I lose my job and so on. So I was so paralyzed by fear. So paralyzed by fear that I could not even do anything about it. I remember sitting in the office the whole day. And this, not being able to phone client, call up clients, not being able to go out and do anything. So paralyzed by fear. Now the prophetic word can come like a shaft of bright light during that time. It can just come at that right moment and it does what exactly that. It opens the prison door for someone who is stuck in a place unable to move out, unable to do anything. It opens that prison door. The prophetic word of God, alive, it's now, it's real, so powerful. It really changes the very atmosphere. And that is what God's word which is quick into my heart at that time did when I began to speak that out, when I began to sing it out, then all this oppression, that left, all that fear left. So receiving God's word, prophetic word is very, very important. It's an important principle. So let's look at a couple of verses. We can look at Second Chronicles and chapter 20, verse 20. Second Chronicles 20 and verse 20. So they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, Believe in the Lord your God and you shall be established. Believe his prophets and you shall prosper. Believe his prophets and you shall prosper. Obviously, the prophets who speak the heart and mind of God and the word which comes from God's heart and mind, which changes, brings change for the better. Believe his prophets and you shall prosper. Then Ezra, which is just turn the pages to the next book, Ezra, which is chapter 6 and verse 14. Ezra chapter 6 verse 14. So this was the ministry of the prophets in action. This is what we see when they were rebuilding the temple. So the elders of the Jews built and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel, according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Arta Zexus, king of Russia. So it's talking about the temple work, rebuilding of the temple work, which was done. And here we read about two prophets. That is Haggai and Haggai the prophet and Zechariah. And they were prophesying, speaking the word of God, speaking the timely now word of God, speaking forth which is prophesying. And it says that the people prospered. So in this case, prosperity is that they had the means and they went about successfully completing the building of the temple. So we see that here, so they were successful in it. So we see prosperity is God inspired, divinely inspired, increase is divinely inspired, growth is divinely inspired, success through divinely inspired means and for divinely inspired purposes. So that is what we have seen, we have studied. So this is what happened here. So we see the prophetic word in action. We see the people who were prophesying in action and the people prospered, it says. So we don't know the nature of the prophecy, but it was probably strategies. It was probably words that encouraged them day to day, not to give up and whatever. But it prospered them, brought success. So that is something that we have. So we can open up our lives to the God's prophetic word. So having mentioned that, we also need to understand that in line with the prophetic, of course we're going to be learning about the prophetic and we learned about it in the Holy Spirit class as well. And the gifts of the Spirit, we've learned about prophecy, but just want to remind us that when it comes to the prophetic word, as New Testament believers, we are called, we are instructed to test the prophetic word. We are instructed to test the prophetic word, not despise the prophetic word, but test it and keep it. Test it, which means if it's good, if it passes the test, what is the test for to find out if it's genuine? If it is from God, God is the source. Test the word that there is no mixture, that there is no flesh involved. Sorry. So because we know that God's prophetic word is, the word that comes from God is pure, untainted, powerful, but we also know that the vessel, the human being is limited, fleshly and well, is a work in progress and therefore might make mistakes. So therefore, the principle that we have, instruction that we have in scripture, is to test every prophetic word or test all prophecies, which we see in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse, verses 20, 21, 22. Do not despise prophecies, test all things, hold fast what is good. Do not despise prophecies, test all things, hold fast what is good. So when it comes, especially in the area of finances, we're talking about that. So especially if it comes in the area of finances, test all things. Don't despise the prophecy, test it with the word of God, test it with the character and the nature of God, will God speak in such a way? Test it to see if it is in conformity with the truth of God's word, if it conforms to God's word or if it's blatantly contradicting God's word. Also, test to see if it's God's pattern of working in your lives. So many things that we can test these prophecies. So we test it and verse 21 says, hold fast what is good. When you test and then there's a witness of the Holy Spirit in your spirit. There is a confirmation, there is a sense of peace about it. Then hold fast what is good. When you know that this is the truth itself, hold fast. Don't waver, be unwavering, hold fast. And like Timothy said, Paul said, to Timothy use it to fight the good fight. Sometimes there could be opposition and God's prophetic word comes at the right time, at the right place. Use it against unbelief, use it against accusations, use it against anything. The situation seems like mountains. So use that and it says here, hold fast to what is good. Don't let it slip out, hold fast to what is good. The next principle that we see is for us who have access to wisdom, knowledge and counsel to get wisdom, knowledge and counsel. So wisdom refers to the ability to use the information that we have. The ability to use knowledge to apply knowledge. So knowledge would be information put together, information about a topic, information about a subject. It's information put together, arranged together and maybe it's also through experience. It's also something that is maybe categorized and set in order to make sense, set in place to make sense. Knowledge is important, then wisdom is important, wisdom comes. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of it, is the starting point of it. Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge, knowing when to apply where that's wisdom and counsel. Again wisdom or ways, truth that is applicable at the right time in order to solve something, in order to sort out something, in order to bring a solution to something. So knowledge, wisdom and counsel. So the Bible is not against, scriptures are not against that. It's not against wisdom, godly wisdom, godly counsel, it's not against information or knowledge. If you look at the few verses, then we will understand that the Bible is not against that. Well, there is something called worldly wisdom, there is something called selfish ambition. The Bible of course warns us about that, but godly wisdom and understanding and knowledge is something that we are encouraged to receive, encouraged to get. Let's look at Proverbs 8. This is slightly lengthy, we have 21 verses but it talks about wisdom. Which means wisdom in the context of finances, wisdom in the context of running something, running meaning maybe if there is a school, if there is a college, if there is a shop, anything. If there is a business, wisdom enables us to do it well. So let's look at wisdom. Proverbs 8 verses 1 to 21 does not wisdom cry out and understanding lift up her voice. She takes her head on the top of the high hill, besides the way where the paths meet. She cries out by the gates at the entry of the city, at the entrance of the doors. To you, O men, I call, and my voice to the sons of men, O you simple ones, understand prudence. And you fools, be of an understanding heart. Listen, for I speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things. For my mouth will speak truth, wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are with righteousness. So you see, it just qualifies what wisdom is. It's not something that is camouflaging as sin. Many times we have access to media, we have so much of information and advice and wisdom that is out there. But is it something that is righteous? So it says that wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are with righteousness. Nothing crooked or perverse is in them. They are all plain to him who understands and right to those who find knowledge, receive my instruction and not silver and knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies and all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her. I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. So again, another qualifier. It comes with the fear of the Lord. There's no pride, there's no arrogance, there's no perversity in it. Council is mine and sound wisdom. I am understanding I have strength by me, King's reign and ruler's decree justice, by me, Prince's rule and nobles, all the judges of the earth. I love those who love me and those who seek me diligently will find me. Riches and honor are with me. Enduring riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold and my revenue than choice silver. I traverse the paths of righteousness in the midst of the paths of justice that I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth that I may fill their treasuries. In fact, the whole chapter is about it, about wisdom and what wisdom does. And it's kind of figuratively talks about wisdom as a person. So this is something that we see here. The objective of wisdom and the end result of wisdom and the entire process of wisdom. It talks about council, talks about understanding, strength and how wisdom enables rulers who to decree justice, to bring forth justice, Kings to reign and so on. And well, if one has a diligent heart in order to seek wisdom, when one has a fear of the Lord, then wisdom is their possession. There is wisdom. We also see in the book of James where the Lord says, where we are encouraged, where we see if James 1 and verse 5, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. And let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord because it's not in faith. So the thing is that we have access to this kind of wisdom. You see the wonderful quality of wisdom and what wisdom can accomplish in a person's life and how it says very plainly that I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth. Verse 21, that I may fill their treasury. So wisdom does open door to wealth and riches. Wisdom applied, wisdom followed through. So it comes from God. And God's heart, you know, when it comes to wealth and prosperity for people, you know God's heart. God is not against it. God wants to uplift the ones with need. So we see this and also we do not have to hesitate to ask if we think we lack wisdom. So wisdom enables one, accomplishes this, enables one to accomplish this or accomplish this. But God, when it comes to, you know, people lacking wisdom, God's heart is, when we ask in faith, when we ask unwaveringly, His desire is to give wisdom so that wisdom can accomplish all that. You know, it's not just to make decisions about where to go. It's not just decisions about what should I preach. It's not just decisions about, okay, what song should I, you know, add in my settlers. It's not just those things, but it is also about very practical things. You know, it's also about very day-to-day things that God is more than willing to give His wisdom. And we see the gift of the Spirit also as word of wisdom, which is more in line with counsel. Okay, let's look at a few more verses. Maybe if we can just open up to Proverbs and, you know, we'll just go one verse after the other. So Proverbs 11 and verse 14 says where there is no counsel. Now this is the negative side of it. Okay, if there is no counsel or godly wisdom, the people fall and in the multitude of counselors, there is safety. Okay, so it talks about, okay, you might say, okay, this person was sincere but was not wise, right? The thing is, with all sincerity, you know, God will speak, you know, the posture of that person's heart is sincere and hand in faith and hand in humility. Well, God will make sure that that person has access to wisdom, right? But it's for us, it's up to us whether we can, whether we want to accept wisdom or reject it. So having a good understanding of wisdom will enable us to discern and receive and accept it, right? Otherwise, we might reject and say, okay, oh, this is worldly, oh, this is, you know, this is sin, you know, and not be discerning. So we kind of reject the wisdom that God brings across a path. Okay, so 11 verse 14 where there is no counsel, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors, there is safety. In chapter 12 and verse 15, the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise. Okay, so again, contradicting, I mean, I mean, contrasting what wisdom does and what would happen if there is lack of wisdom. Okay, chapter 15 verse 22, without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors, they are established. So again, telling us, you know, we might have plans, we might plan in a certain way. But when there is counsel, when there is wisdom, then plans are established. What does it mean when we have multitude of counselors? It means that people who speak or who share godly counsel. Now, in the multitude, when we have such an environment where people share the counsel, then the plans are established. They are made firm, they are, you know, we are able to carry out. Okay, but if without counsel, the plans go awry, it could be a good plan, but you need wisdom to execute it. Alright, so without wisdom, plans go awry. Okay, let's look at chapter 19 and verse 20, and also verse 27, I think. Proverbs 19 and verse 20, listen to counsel and receive instruction that you may be wise in your latter days. Okay, so the importance of, you know, when it comes to receiving and listening, a very important quality that is required is humility and discernment. Humility because you're in a place to receive. You're saying, okay, I want to take it. We're not, you know, we're not filled with pride to say, okay, I know everything and reject it. We're in a place to receive. We're in a place of humility and saying, okay, I need this. I need to know I'm not there yet. You understand your true state. Okay, I might be knowing a lot, but then this is something that I need to know. Okay, so a place of humility where I'm teachable. Okay, at the same time, discernment. Okay, at the same time, discernment. So both are required for us to listen for us to receive instruction. So what will that accomplish that you may be wise in your latter days? Even as you progress in age, you will be wise. Right, and this will accomplish what it needs to accomplish in your life. Verse 27, cease listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. Now, instruction is not something that we are all very happy with, you know, because, you know, it's telling you to do something to instruct. It is to say, you know, a typical instruction would be like, okay, go left, take five steps, take a right here, right? And many times we'd like to avoid that, right? But scripture warns us as cease listening. If you stop listening to instruction, obviously, you know, it's referring to, again, just qualifying the instruction which leads to life, the instruction which stays, you know, or leads in the parts of righteousness, right? Okay, so cease listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. You know, we will drift away, walk away from the words of knowledge. Okay, so which means that we distance ourselves, you know, we don't realize it. Okay, we stray away from the words of knowledge. If we distance our, if we stop listening to instructions. Okay, so that again calls for a heart of humility and heart that's teachable. Okay, now all this we are studying in the context is prosperity, financial stewardship, financial prosperity, and how God prospers his people, right? You see, this is a very important principle. So maybe we did not think of, you know, we did not link that, you know, make that connection between prosperity and wisdom and counsel and understanding instructions, but there is a link here, right? And so when we stop listening to instruction, we stray away, we drift away, we don't even realize that, but we are the ones who are distancing ourselves from receiving instruction, receiving the words of knowledge, sorry, right? Okay, one more verse, which is Proverbs 20 and verse 18. Okay, Proverbs 20 and verse 18 says, Plans are established by counsel, by wise counsel, which was again establishing of plans by wise counsel. Okay, so we see all these principles that are there. Okay, let's just kind of quickly review. Okay, and we started by looking at, you know, principles for divine prosperity. We started by saying, okay, we want to prosper, we might have an understanding of prosperity, but then in carrying out the task, okay, maybe if it's work, maybe it's business, maybe it's something that you need to do, which God has established, you know, given to you in carrying it out, we, if we are doing it with a mixture of, you know, maybe instruction in scripture and also worldly things, worldly values, worldly standards, then it does not result in the good that God intends for us, right? So we dedicate our work, dedicate our business, but when we operate, how do we operate? We need to operate with the principles of God. So that's how we started. So we looked at, you know, how we need to put God first, right? We need to do what God wants us to be doing, which means you're close to God's heart. You know, God says that he will guide us with his eye, right? So how close do you need to be to be able to perceive that, right? Guide us with his eye. So yeah, so God, doing what God wants us to be doing, to practice righteousness, right? To do the right thing, which brings us to a right standing with God, to practice righteousness. Then we looked at work itself, you know, the diligence with which we work, that work is a vehicle for God to prosper us. Work is like, it's like a tap, it's like a connection, it's like a pathway that God provides for us, through which God provides for us, and through which God provides for us financially, through which God prospers us financially. So the quality of work also matters that there should be diligence in the work. Then we looked at faith, you know, faith is a very important principle that we believe God, we believe that God is who he says he is, and we come to him in faith, right? So when it comes to faith, we know that we believe even before we see it, even before we receive it, that's faith, right? We believe that we will see the manifestation of it, we believe that we receive it, and it's to be, you know, it's evidence of things that, you know, like what Hebrew says, that it is the evidence of things that I hope for, so it is the evident itself, right? So faith, using the principles of faith, so what are those principles of faith? When it comes to declaring, you know, we looked at the next one, speaking the God's word of prosperity over our lives, you know, which is again a way of expressing faith, you know, you speak, you declare it intentionally, you know, speak that up. Then we looked at honoring God in our finances, you know, with our money, you know, it's not something that is closed from God, but it's open to God. He has access to it, so how do we honor God with our finances? You know, God has talked about, God has laid in scripture about tithes, principles about tithes, and we looked at tithes, you know, we saw that how it is not discontinued, you know, why do people not tithe wrong understanding, maybe fear of being manipulated, we looked at tithes, we looked at giving, we looked at arms, right? And we saw that in all this, God instituted and a man paid or gave tithes even before the law was in place, so it came from a place of relationship rather than instruction or commandment, you know, that's how it started, that's how it originated, right? So it is to do with your relationship with God. So honoring God in our finances, then we looked at listening to the Holy Spirit and today we looked at, you know, how we need to receive God's prophetic word, wisdom, counsel, understanding, knowledge, all that, our God's ways by which he prostrates us. So we looked at that. Okay, so we'll stop here and next class we're going to look at the last chapter. So that's going to be a very practical one. We're going to look at, you know, stewardship and all these topics that are listed here. We're going to look at that and some of it is like very practical. So we're going to look at, you know, saving investments, et cetera. Now these are over, you know, it's like basic principles, basic ideas, right? But when it comes to the practical application of it, you know, we need to go into the details of it. Okay, you need to go into the details of it and we know that when it comes to currency, when it comes to banking, when it comes to, you know, all these things, it differs from place to place. You know, it differs from nation to nation. So this is just a basic principle, but you need to go and get that knowledge, get to know how, before you actually, you know, maybe make an investment and so on. Okay, get more details out of that. But these are basic things. So we're going to look at these things, you know, starting with stewardship. Okay, so yeah, so we look at it next class and we'll go through all this. Okay, so we'll stop right here. Just want to remind us that there will be two quizzes. One we'll have by maybe end of this month or beginning of April. And one more quiz by the third week of April. That'll be the final one. Okay, and both the scores will be, will add up to your final score. And the quizzes will be for the online students. Of course, the quiz will be, you know, the announced on the stream, your class stream. So please be mindful of that and go ahead and it will also have a submission date. And for the eLearning students, the quiz will be uploaded and on the chat and you will know about it. And of course, the end of the term is the date for submission of the quizzes. Okay, so we'll stop here. Thank you. God bless. We'll meet again. Bye-bye.