In this piece, we'll be looking at ‘The Blessing that Makes Rich’, and we're going to start our observation from the book of Proverbs chapter 10:22. The Bible says; “The Blessing of the LORD makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it”. The Blessing of the LORD makes one rich, and ‘He’; not the riches, but the LORD. It says; “The Blessing of the LORD”, meaning that the Blessing is of the LORD; He is the owner of the Blessing. And it is that Blessing of the LORD that makes one rich and it is not the kind of riches that we are used to, or that is being paraded around; we are talking about true riches. It is not the kind of riches of dollars and naira; we are talking about having an abundance of all things.

 

There are many people that have dollars and naira in their bank accounts and in their houses that have no peace of mind. There are many of them that have so much money and no health. There are many people that have abundance of gold and silver as it were, even in its raw form, and they cannot say boldly that they are satisfied and fulfilled in life. So, the riches we're talking about is the one that God causes His Blessing to make available for you, which is abundance of all things. Proverbs chapter 10:22 says, the Blessing of the LORD makes one rich, then you will now ask if he's just talking about dollars and naira or pound sterling, or Canadian dollars, then why should it be that the Blessing makes one rich? Why didn’t he say rich, wise, honorable, strong, and the list goes on and on? But the word rich here is like a generic word that subsumes all other expressions of abundance.

 

In Matthew chapter five, when Jesus was sharing the beatitudes, He said; “Blessed are the poor.” He was not talking about those that don't have money, He was talking about those that were lacking, and they acknowledged that they are lacking. Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees at some point, He says, the unfortunate thing is not that you are blind, the unfortunate thing is that you don't know that you are blind. In Revelation, He was talking to another set of people, and He said that you are poor, wretched, and blind also; and He said, come and buy from Me. You will come to Him because you know that you lack, but imagine you don't know of your lack; that’s a terrible situation. So, we are looking at riches with this definition, “abundance of all things.”

 

So, we are talking about you being rich in wisdom, in health, in honor, in glory, in strength, in might, and in all things that pertain to life and godliness. So, he said, what makes that possible is the Blessing, and He said, He; the owner of the Blessing makes you rich and adds no sorrow; no attachment of sorrow to it. So, that is why it's important that we look at the Blessing: this Blessing of the LORD, it looks as if it is the real deal; it is the Blessing of the LORD that makes us rich. How many of us want to be rich in health? How many of us want to be rich in resources? So, for us to be rich in all areas, let’s journey together. Proverbs chapter 10:22, in the Amplified Classic version. It says: “The Blessing of the Lord–it makes [truly] rich, and He adds no sorrow with it [neither does toiling increase it]”.

 

When you work hard, it does not confer on you the Blessing of the Lord. Some people may say; I am a self-made millionaire, I am a self-made man, I'm a self-made woman: that's not what we're talking about here. We are talking about God-made people, God-made men, and God-made women because it is the Blessing, not hard work, not toiling. Jesus came to restore us to the original state, and that is why Jesus was not praying for money for people. When Jesus was confronted by the tax collectors, Himself and Peter, He said to Peter, go to the river, the first fish that you catch, open the mouth, and you will find money in it. Jesus didn't pray for money. When Jesus was going to multiply the five loaves of bread and two fishes, He did not pray for the multiplication; rather He gave thanks, and He said the disciples should distribute it. Why was Jesus operating like that? He was in the original state.

 

Adam and Eve did not have to pray for the trees in the garden to produce; the trees produce according to the Word of the LORD, and because they were in alignment with God, all things were theirs. And that's why in the New Covenant, we must understand that what makes all things ours is the Blessing. That's why when Jesus was speaking about the beatitudes in Matthew chapter five, He said, blessed are the poor; He was always attaching the Blessing to whatever category of people because it's the Blessing that makes the provision available. The provision of wisdom is tied to the Blessing, and the provision of riches is tied to the Blessing. So, the Blessing is the original state. That's why in Genesis chapter 1:26-28, the Bible says;

 

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So, God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

 

It says; “And the Lord blessed them” That's the Blessing. And He said, be fruitful, multiply, subdue, and replenish the earth and I have dominion over the fishes of the sea, over the cattle on the ground, and have dominion over all the earth. Gold and silver are mined here on earth and not in heaven; so, we are to have dominion over money.  There is no money in the world that is not backed up by gold, and so our dominion is over everything, and that's what the riches is about. So, God's Blessing makes life rich. If there is poverty, or a state of being poor, in any area of your life, maybe you have not truly connected with the Blessing. God's Blessing makes life rich, and nothing we do can improve on God.

 

Jesus did not come to hand us a poor life; He did not say, just manage, occupy in poverty till I come, no! that's not the word. The word is, occupy till I come in riches; abundance of all things. That's why he said, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers. He said I know the thoughts that I have towards you; says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil; ‘He adds no sorrow to it’, to give you a future. It is only in God, that you have a future and a hope because of the Blessing.

 

Proverbs chapter 10:22, in the Passion translation, says, “true enrichment comes from the Blessing of the LORD, with rest and contentment in knowing that it all comes from Him”. True enrichment; enrichment in your health, enrichment in your family, enrichment in your marriage, and over your children, comes from the Blessing of the LORD. When you see a man and his children are successful, and they surround his table or you see a woman who is successful, and her children surround her table, you call her a blessed woman, and you call him a blessed man. Why? The Blessing has given true enrichment with rest, not with sorrow, but with rest and contentment. We're not saying that after now that the Blessing has come upon your life, there will suddenly be $1 million in your account. No! that's not it, but there will be rest and contentment in knowing that it all comes from God.

 

The Bible says every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of light, in whom there is no shadow of turning nor variableness. So, it comes with rest and contentment. Ephesians chapter 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual Blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”. The reason why we feel we are not blessed is that we think God's Blessings start physically. God's Blessing is spiritual. Until you receive the spiritual, you cannot receive the physical. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual Blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. The reason the world cannot receive this Blessing is because; it is in Christ.

 

If you are not in Christ, you cannot receive this Blessing. God has finished the work, God has settled all things and that's why when God created all things in Genesis, and the Bible said on the seventh day He rested. And that's why when God is going to make anything again, it was by extension of His love; John chapter 3:16, and God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son. And when God gave His only begotten Son, He had finished work in Christ, that whosoever will believe in Him, whosoever will connect with Him, whosoever will reach out to Him: will not perish, will not have a frustrated life, will not have a life that lacks rest and contentment, but will have everlasting life; such a man will continue to have enrichment in life: true riches.

 

When we talk about this, we're not speaking about religion; we are talking about the Kingdom. The Bible says, and in the end, the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign. Now everything God is going to ever give to us, He has given to us in Christ. So, when we sit down in our house, and look up to heaven and say, God, where is your face? God, can you not see that I'm suffering? And God is looking down and saying have you not found Christ? Because if you have found Him, you will not suffer. The Bible says He became poor so that we can become rich. The Bible says that by His stripes, we were healed; God made provision for our healing in Him, God made provision for our riches in Him, and God made provision for our health in Him.

 

So, until you find Him, and you are found in Him; you cannot have access to all things that God has provided for you. He said He has given us all things that pertain to life and to godliness in Christ. Ephesians 1:3 says He has blessed with every spiritual Blessing you can think of; God has already made it available in Christ. That's why it's called the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is the embodiment of everything that God can reach out to you on earth with, and He gives you in Christ. So, if you have not found Christ, you have not found grace. If you have not found Christ, you have not found the Blessing, because the Blessing is locked up in Christ. And that's why the Bible says, this is the mystery of godliness. Everything God has done; He has wrapped it in the mystery of Christ.

 

 Christ Jesus is a gift to us, but He is wrapped; He is a gift that is concealed in revelation. To assess the gift, He must be unwrapped; revealed. So, everything that we need, Bible says, He has given to us in Christ. Let us also see James chapter one, because all these are important foundations for us to understand how the Blessing works. James chapter 1:17-18, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will, He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures”.

 

I don't know the good gifts you desire; I don't know the perfect gift you desire: it comes from above, and there's no other location. What the devil tries to do, is to lie and to manipulate; he says you want it and he dangles the carrots, you don't know that behind the carrot; if you look closely, what he is dangling is really not carrots, he has painted it; it is a stick, that if you should fall for it, that is how you will enter the captivity and oppression and bondage of the devil. What the devil has as good is evil, but God has good and perfect gifts. So, we understand that the Blessing is truly one that makes rich. So, let's look into the operational analysis of the Blessing. How does the Blessing work? I will share with us, seven points on how the Blessing works.

 

Number One: Philippians chapter 2:13, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure”. God works in you the Blessing; you can’t work the Blessing out on your own. Somebody cannot tell you that there is a straight way to get the Blessing. Just do seven days of fasting and prayer, go to a mountain, in fact, on the seventh day, wake up twelve midnight, look up to heaven, and say, my Father, my Father, if you are my God, and I'm close to you now because I'm on a mountain, I'm seeing the sky very clearly; answer me: that's not it. The Bible says it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

 

What is His good pleasure? He said, the thoughts that I have for you, they are thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. God works the Blessing in you. In First Corinthians, the Bible says that the Spirit of God gives to us several gifts, according to our several abilities; He gives to us as He wills. So, in First Corinthians 12, we saw it there, that it is God that works in us. Whatever extent of riches God wants you to have, He will work it in you. And that's where the Scripture is very important for us that it is God who works it in you and when He works it in you, you will find yourself willing and doing according to His pleasure. When Lazarus got sick, they came to Jesus, and said to Jesus, the one that you love is sick; for us to come all the way to meet you, the sickness is not headache, he is seriously sick and Jesus said, they should return, that the sickness is not unto death and they went.

 

What was happening at that point? God was working something in Jesus, if we will live Jesus by Himself, He loved Lazarus so much that He will stand up immediately and go there. But He stayed still. What I heard is that I should not follow you, but this sickness is not unto death. By the time they came again, they brought news that Lazarus had died. Even His disciples could not understand the workings of God in Him, and Jesus said, let us go. Thomas said, they came and told us that he was sick, You did not say let us go; he has now died, should we go and die with him? They got there four days later, and Lazarus was already buried. Jesus came to show us the operational analysis of how God works in a blessed man.

 

 Jesus was an epitome and a sterling example of how a blessed man works. Jesus had abundance of all things. Do you know the ministry of Jesus was reaching out to the poor? He lacked nothing. Jesus was wearing such a beautiful robe that soldiers were casting lots over His robe; He was not poor, and He had a treasurer for the ministry. Uncle Judas was the one keeping the money, so much so that he was so sound at the treasury work that when the woman with the alabaster box came and broke it; he knew the amount they sold the alabaster box of oil. He said why should you waste this expensive oil? So, Jesus was not poor, He had abundance of all things. So, Jesus was being led by God, it was God that was working in Him both to will and to do.

 

So, as a believer, when you are in a situation, and it looks as if that situation, God is not allowing the grace over your life to speak concerning that situation, don't be disheartened; know that it is God that is working in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. That's the caveat of the Blessing. The Blessing of the Lord has full enrichment, but on the caveat that it is according to the pleasure of the King. As fantastic as God wants you to be blessed, if it's not according to His pleasure at that time for you to demonstrate that level of Blessing, God is not going to work it. 

 

Number Two: Ephesians chapter 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us”. It says; “Now to Him who is able”, I want us to take note of these words; number one, He is able. When we are talking about the Blessing of the Lord, God is not handicapped when it comes to His Blessings. The Blessing of the Lord is not in shortage, it's not in scarcity. So, the Blessing of the Lord is not tied to the limitation of where you are, and it is not tied to your family background, God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask. So, the Blessing is not even limited to what we ask, nor is it limited to what we think; He has the ability to exceed it and He has the ability to make it more abundantly available. So, the Blessing is according to the power of God, not according to our background.

 

The working of the Blessing is not according to our background, it is not according to the limitation of our own space or geography; it is according to the power. How great is the power of God? How superabundant is the power of God? That is how the Blessing can be made manifest; the Blessing of God is made manifest according to the power of God. So, what is our responsibility in this? Our responsibility is to allow that power to be at work in us. Once that power can be at work in us, the ability of that power will find expression: that's how the Blessing works. One of the things that Jesus showed us, is that Jesus did not heal just one blind man, He did not raise just one dead person, and also, Jesus didn’t feed one set of people; He did it severally. The ability to recreate what was done shows that you are a master of that thing; and that's how Jesus demonstrated it to us.

 

Jesus healed blind people, cast out demons from the madman in Gadara, and the woman that was possessed with seven demons, and also the boy that was possessed. Jesus delivered in several instances showing that He is a Master. You know when you do something once, it looks as if it is accidental discharge; like it just happened and you don't even know how it happened. If Jesus had cast out one demon, we would have said maybe the Holy Spirit just blew breeze on Him, and He did it once: but Christ Jesus kept doing it. When He raised the dead, He kept raising the dead. He fed four thousand men, and also five thousand men apart from women and children. So, He did it severally, to show that it wasn’t accidentally done, but it is intentionally done, according to the power.

 

So, as a believer, you won’t just be accidentally wise, you won't just be accidentally powerful, you won’t just be accidentally rich, but it will be consistent and persistent because it's not just something that just flew on you, it is according to the power. That's why whatever God does is forever; it is permanent. The Bible made us understand that the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance, God does not change His mind. When God blessed Job, and the devil came to test him, when God was going to restore Job, He restored him in such a way that the Blessing he had first was no accident and He increased it in proportion. That's how God deals with us. So, the Blessing is according to the power, it is not limited to us.

 

Number Three: Proverbs chapter 16:7, “when a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him”. This is another operation of the Blessing. When the way of a man pleases the Lord, the Lord blesses the man in such a way that even his enemies; those that don't like him, will be at peace. They will say see; it is not as if we like you but take: that's the Blessing. Do you know that the Pharisees and the Sadducees did not like Jesus, but He entered the synagogue; every time He needed to enter the synagogue, He entered. So, much so that He brought whip one day, and chase all those that were buying and selling. Why? He is a blessed Man. The Blessing makes even your enemies to be at peace with you; and because God has said so, they pave way for you. The Bible says if the devil had known, he would not have crucified the Lord of glory, even the devil was at peace with the crucifixion of Jesus because he didn't know. Imagine if he knew that the death of Jesus was going to bring all of us to God. Will he have allowed Jesus to die? He won’t have, but he did not know. Even the enemy of Jesus was at peace with the situation that God wants to play out, and the way God wanted it to play out. He didn't say stone Him to death but rather to crucify Him. Your enemies won’t understand why, but they are at peace because your ways please God, and He has put the Blessing.

 

How does our way please God? It is not by what we do; like consciously we're trying to please God, it is because we have found ourselves in Christ. That's how we are pleasing to Him. He said, we're not putting on our own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ. The Bible says concerning Jesus, God gave a testimony, He said, this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. How do I know that I am pleasing to God? I know that I am pleasing to God because Christ is pleasing to God.

 

Don't let the devil lie to you, you are in Christ; you are pleasing to God. Condemnation comes first from the devil making you find it difficult to understand what is yours in Christ. That you are in Christ, maybe it is the first level of battle; the real battle is that you are in Christ, but the devil does not want you to know what you have in Christ; because once you know, he has lost completely. That's why Apostle Paul was always speaking to the church. He said you need to know what is yours in Christ. He said, now therefore there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin, and of death. So, in Christ, I am well pleasing to God, and He makes my enemies to be at peace with me.

 

Number Four: John chapter 1:16, “and of His fullness, we have all received, and grace for grace”. Of the fullness of His Blessing, we have all received; the fullness of His Blessing is not for some of us, but it is for all of us. We have received grace for grace, the Blessing gives grace. That's why the Bible says the Blessing of the Lord makes rich and adds no sorrow. What is grace? Grace is everything, every spiritual Blessing that God has made available for us in Christ Jesus. That’s why he said, we can come boldly, to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy and find grace in time of need. We're able to find grace because of the Blessing. So, when we find grace, what do we have? We have abundance of all things. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the grace has appeared to all; teaching us to depart from evil, the things that will stop us from having that enrichment of life. So, the Blessing gives us grace; grace to be strong, grace to be wise, grace to be honorable, grace to be rich, grace to be mighty in all grace of His fullness, ‘and of His fullness, we have all received grace for grace’.

 

Number Five: Third John chapter 1:2, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers”. The Blessing prospers your soul. The Blessing that does not prosper your soul is not from God. The Blessing that takes over your soul, that you can't seek God, you don't love God, the things of God irritate you is not the Blessing from God. The Blessing of the Lord will make you rich, and add no sorrow; your soul will be preserved. The Bible says that the life of a man does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses. Your soul must prosper and that is when you know the Blessing is from God. When your soul is not prospering, ask, this thing that I am calling Blessing, is it from God? Because it is the Blessing of the Lord that prospers your soul.

 

What do we mean by the prosperity of your soul? The soul is that part of your being that is able to retain knowledge. So, if you have the knowledge of God, it is because your soul is prospering in God. If you have knowledge that is not of God, it is because your soul is been destroyed by that knowledge.

 

 In this world, there are two kingdoms, the kingdom of light, and the kingdom of darkness. That is why when we hear this phrase often used; people have sold their souls to the devil, is because the knowledge in their soul is being taught by the devil. The devil is the one that gives them inspiration, it is the devil that gives them knowledge of what to do; because when you know, then you do. You cannot do what you don't know. He has to come to your soul to know and to do. So, if you don’t have the knowledge of God, you can’t do the things of God. So, your soul is prospering in that it is knowing the things of God so you can do them. If that is not the case, that means there is another knowledge source, which is the ki
Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Lara Gboyega Adedeji!

Feel free to share your thoughts or testimony in the comment box below. I promise to respond to them as soon as possible!