John 3:27 “And John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.”
Whatever a man receives in life with God’s approval originates from God.
Whoever refuses to wait for God’s appointed time and chooses to take a shortcut to obtain something may receive it with an addition of sorrow.
Consider the life of Abraham. He could not wait for God’s appointed time to receive the child of promise. We can see the consequences of that decision all over the world today, running from generation to generation.
Satan came to tempt Jesus Christ to bow down to him in exchange for the glory of the world, but Jesus refused because He knew the commandment of God, which says that only the Lord your God should you bow down to and worship.
It was not that He could not turn a stone into bread, but what advantage would that have added to His mission on earth?
Bowing to the devil may give a person access to the glory of this world, as many are experiencing today, but it comes with an addition of sorrow. By accepting Satan’s terms and conditions, people permit him to interfere with and truncate their destinies.
The Bible says, “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it,” because God is not the originator of sorrow. Whatever God gives, He gives with life and blessing. His gifts are not designed to destroy the recipient.
When He gives children, He gives them as blessings. When He gives wealth, He gives it with the wisdom and grace to use it properly. When He gives life, He gives it abundantly, both in this life and in eternity, because in Him is the life of men.
Satan, however, adds his own nature to whatever he gives. This is why the authentic and perfect gift comes from God.
God alone has rest, and He gives rest to those who wait upon Him. But those who forsake God have already rejected His rest. The wicked have no true rest because they resemble their father, the devil.
When the serpent came to Eve in the garden, he came to give what he had. He was already separated from God, and he came to introduce our first parents to that same separation by persuading them to disobey the Word of God.
He also told them that they would be like gods. Unfortunately, they did not ask what kind of gods they would become. Would they become like the God whose image they already carried, or would they become something entirely different from God’s purpose?
The serpent came to introduce sorrow and the consequences of rebellion because he was already under the judgment of God for his rebellion against God in heaven. He came to introduce mankind to the same path of disobedience.
Those who follow the devil in this generation also become partakers of his influence and the consequences that come from following him. It is the followers of Jesus Christ who have access to the life of God.
Whatever God gives, He gives in abundance. He gives life in abundance, and He gives wealth in abundance. Look at the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and King Solomon.
When He gives children, He gives those who can become a blessing, excel in their generation, and serve as His ambassadors on earth.
When He exalts you, He raises you above your contemporaries and beyond human limitations. When He lifts you, He does it beyond measure.
It is unfortunate for those who use Satan as their standard, because they eventually receive what they bargain for from his hand. Satan has no peace, so he gives sorrow. He gives gifts without providing the grace to enjoy them because he himself is far from enjoying what God created.
How, then, can you expect him to allow you to enjoy the things he gives?
In him are diseases and afflictions, and he shares what he has with those who follow him. If you truly want to enjoy this life, you need to know whom you are following.
Satan does not have life, and he cannot give what he does not possess. His mission is to steal, kill, and destroy because he is completely opposed to the life that God gives.
Someone who had served the devil for years once confessed that all the diseases of the world were on Satan’s body and that he gives what he has to his children.
It is from him that cancer and terminal sickness originated because he has them and desires to give them to those who align themselves with his purpose.
Jesus Christ came into the world for a divine exchange. He died on the cross to give you His life. He became poor so that you might become rich in all things, including the richness of His Word.
He gives peace in times of trouble because He is the Prince of Peace. He gives eternal life because eternal life is found in knowing God and Jesus Christ, whom He sent.
God may withhold riches from some of His children because they have not yet discovered the responsibility attached to wealth. If you have money without understanding its value, purpose, and responsibility, it can become a means of your destruction.
That is why those who take shortcuts to acquire wealth often end up destroying themselves with what they obtained.
There was a programme we held in my house many years ago. One of my children was in a trance and saw an angel descend into our midst, giving the participants their packages.
He said that when I approached the angel to ask for my own, the angel replied, “If I give you, will you be able to utilise it now?” He then told me to wait and said that he would come back.
That was about sixteen years ago. Now I understand why the angel refused to give it to me at that time. If I had received it then, I might have spent it on the flesh, and by now I could have developed one disease or another that might have shortened my life.
At that time, all I wanted was financial breakthrough, but I did not have anything meaningful to spend it on except my selfish interests.
Many of those who took shortcuts to acquire wealth eventually destroyed themselves with it. Some died in immoral relationships, some through excessive drug use, and others from sicknesses that defied medical treatment because they lacked the wisdom to use their wealth properly.
God does give. He gave Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He gave David and Solomon. It is not everyone who has money who has bowed down to the devil. But those who bow to Satan will not use what they have received to glorify God.
Wait for God’s appointed time. Do not exchange your destiny for a shortcut. What comes from God comes with His blessing, His purpose, and His grace to enjoy it.
If the devil comes to tempt you, it means you have a great destiny to achieve, which he wants to use a counterfeit to rob you of.
When he saw the glory which Jesus had, he came to tempt Him with counterfeit glory, which is fleeting, to take His eternal glory from Him. How can you compare the glory of God with the glory of the world?
Most of us have lost the real things in exchange for counterfeits. That is what we glory in; that becomes our rejoicing, not knowing that we have lost the most important thing in life, our souls, in the process of the exchange.
The devil knows that he cannot give anything. His aim is to steal what God gives you, kill you, and later destroy you in hell. What he does is destiny exchange, not giving.
This word in the Bible means that if your gifts are not divine, they add nothing to your existence. It is only those who wait to receive from God whose gifts are permanent and enduring.
Whatever gift is not divinely activated adds nothing to your existence. It only distracts you from your purpose and confuses your destiny.
Prayer: Father, give me the grace to wait on You for divine upliftment, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
