Building Capacity for Greater Blessings
"And try Me now in this," Says the Lord of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it."
Malachi 3:10 (NKJV)
It is important to understand why God, in His sovereignty, chooses to reveal His plans to His children, because it will help us understand why so many of God's desires and plans for His children never materialise. The Lord's thoughts are infinitely greater than our loftiest thoughts; He neither sees nor does things on the frequencies of human conception. It is therefore very important that the believer never presume equality of thought with God. This is why the prophetic ministry is so important. It is a divine instrument God uses to present and propose His thoughts, desires and plans to us, for the purpose of making us participate in them accordingly.
Yet with all the prophetic revelations and blessings, I find that God's people almost never receive the fullness of the blessings God intended. The burning question is why. Why do God's blessings so often fail to come, even after people have seemingly done "everything" necessary to secure them? What a person does between the time the Word is given and the time it is fulfilled is so important, and yet many have simply overlooked this period. Let us take Joseph as a case study.
God gave him a dream that one day his parents and his brothers would bow before him, which meant that he would become a very great man on the earth. But at the time he was very young, seventeen years of age, and there was no indication that the dream would ever come to pass, especially after his brothers sold him as a slave. Yet even as a slave he conducted himself as a wise and faithful steward, until his master noticed his house prospering under Joseph and made him overseer. (The same is true of David: though God had anointed him king in place of Saul, the Scripture says he behaved wisely before Saul and did not try to usurp him; he let God prepare him in His own way.) Later, because of his integrity, Joseph was cast into prison, and again he made the most of his circumstances, using his gifts and his faithfulness until he was put in charge of the prisoners. The Lord used all these circumstances for His divine end, but Joseph had to participate fully.
Through these events, over fourteen years, God was building capacity in Joseph, the capacity without which he would never have been a successful prime minister of Egypt at a crucial time. The same is true of men like Jacob, David and Daniel. They had first to build spiritual capacity in order to handle successfully the destiny God had for their lives. Observe Daniel: he had to learn all the literature and wisdom of the Chaldeans, a prerequisite for the destiny God had for him. It was about building capacity, and building something as important as spiritual capacity requires intensity and focus.
In His revelations about 2022 and the future, the Lord revealed how the nations of the world would plunge into spiritual chaos and calamity, resulting in economic famines on an unprecedented scale; but He also intends to make His children wealthy and prosperous through the operations of His Spirit. It is important to understand, however, that God is not unwise. Though it be His desire, He will never give you something you have not prepared for and built capacity for. When you study Solomon, you realise that his capacity for wisdom and understanding had been built in him for years by his father David before that fateful encounter with God. It was not an overnight coincidence but something years in the making. Joseph did not wake up one morning to become prime minister and chief administrator of Egypt, and David did not sit on the throne the day after his anointing. People see me exercising the prophetic gift with ease and assume it is easy to be a prophet. I have been serving God for thirteen years, and I am still endeavouring to understand the full scope of God's calling on my life. And then you find those who have a sprinkling of dreams and inspirations and think they are prophets, or called into the ministry. Preparation and capacity are essential.
God's desires and plans cannot find expression through vessels that have not prepared for them, however willing He is to bring them to pass.
No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
2 Timothy 2:4–5 (NKJV)
Beloved, there are rules to follow for prosperity, wealth and a great life. Unless believers prepare themselves and build the capacity necessary for God's desires to be manifested, the Lord cannot do His part; and I say cannot, not will not, because it is not a question of His will. Naaman would have remained a leper to this day, the widow and her son would have perished, and entire nations would have been destroyed, had it not been for the prophetic ministry of the Spirit and their due response to it.
What do you understand about prosperity and wealth? How many hours have you spent praying about and researching this matter? Have you spent sleepless nights preparing yourself and your character, and building capacity for the blessing of prosperity? Have you been a faithful steward of your finances since the word was given? Have you been paying your tithes and offerings? Have you bought the gold God said to buy, entertained the angels of wisdom and wealth, honoured and interceded for the servants of the Lord? What preparations have you made for a life of blessing and prosperity, or have you wasted your time on the trivial matters of life? These are some of the reasons why blessings never come, and sadly, for some, never will.
When men prayed, it was always directed toward the accomplishment of something. Prayer works when it has an objective; the duty of prayer is to empower for the carrying out of work. It is not an aimless activity but a purposeful one. Only the one who prays with intent will receive from God.