What Is That In Your Hand?

​

Exodus 4:1-3

And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say, The LORD has not appeared to you. And the LORD said unto him, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod. And He said, cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

What is that in your hand? Use it for your deliverance, deliverance from poverty.

Proverbs 18:16

A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

A man’s gift makes room for him; room to exercise the power to get wealth and room for the wealth to come in. Because of his gift Joseph was brought before pharaoh, the greatest man in the world at that time. Joseph’s gift made room for him. Because Joseph put his gift to work he was taken from the prison to the palace, from poverty to prosperity. As you use your gift you will be taken out of your financial prison to your financial palace. 
Identify your gift and use it as a rod of deliverance. It is as you stretch out your rod that every sea and river of poverty will give way and let you pass into the land of prosperity. It is as you use the rod in your hand that God will open His good storehouse, the heavens, and empower you with the power to deliver yourself and family from the bondages of financial slavery and all will believe that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is your God. 

1 Samuel 17:4; 8-14

And there went out a champion from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span…. and he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are you come out to set your battle in array? Am not I a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me, and kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall you be our servants, and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man that we may fight together.

When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid. Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem-Judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man went among men, an old man in the days of Saul. And the three eldest sons of Jesse went and followed Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons that went to the battle were Eliab the first born, and next unto him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. And David was the youngest: and the three eldest followed Saul.

For many people poverty is the Goliath that is taunting them day and night, defying the children of the living God. It is because so many people have failed to bring down this giant that they have ended up serving mammon, the god of money. They work for money, money does not work for them. What a big shame.
   The king and all the experienced soldiers of Israel were afraid of taking on this behemoth of a man, including David’s three elder brothers. What was the difference between David and these other men? What separated the real man from the boys? The answer to that question is the same thing that will separate you from poverty, so please pay attention.

1 Samuel 17:24-30 (NIV)

And the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were greatly afraid. And the men of Israel said, Have you seen this man that has come up? Surely to defy Israel has he come up: and it shall be, that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel.

And David spoke to the men that stood by him saying, What shall be done to the man that kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him after this manner saying, So shall it be done to the man that kills him.
And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke unto the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why have you come here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the insolence of your heart; for you have come down that you may see the battle. And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? And he turned from him toward another, and spoke after the same manner: and the people answered him again after the former manner.
   The problem with many people, Christians included is that they are afraid of problems. They do not see them as an opportunity to solve peoples’ problems and get paid in the process. Instead of encouraging those with the courage to face these Goliaths we cut them down. We discourage them from exercising their God given gifts. “No one has ever done this before, you won’t make it.” Others even go to the extent of quoting scripture and say, “‘Be content with what you have’ if God had wanted you to be rich He would have MADE you rich.” That is pathetic. God wants us all to be prosperous in all areas of our lives, including our finances. But it is up to you to work out your own financial salvation. It was God’s will for Goliath to be defeated but someone had to rise up and face him. The same applies to the Goliath of poverty. God wants poverty to be destroyed out of your life but you have to rise up and fight it. 
   When God says, “Arise and shine for your light has come”, He does not mean He has done everything for us and all we have to do is move out of our small houses into mansions. He means it is time for you to face Goliath and prevail against him. He means that you have to ARISE AND FACE GOLIATH and when you do that you will definitely shine. Do not let people pull you down when you think, talk and work out your salvation from poverty. Be like David and refuse to listen to the “Eliabs” around you. So what was the difference between David and the rest of the armies of Israel? 

1 Samuel 17:38-47 (NIV)

And Saul armed David with his armor, and he put a helmet of bronze upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail. And David girded his sword upon his armor, and he attempted to go; for he had not tried it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not tried them. And David put them off him. And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a pouch; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine. And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David; and the man that bore the shield went before him.

And when the Philistine looked around and saw David, he despised him: for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field.

Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day will the LORD deliver you into my hand; and will strike you, and take your head from you; and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and He will give you into our hands.

   The difference between David and the rest of the army is that David knew what he carried in his hands. He knew what he carried in both of his hands. He knew that God had placed certain gifts in his hands (the ability to use a sling) and he knew that it is these gifts that would bring him before great men and eventually make him the greatest man in Israel. In one hand David carried his sling (the endowments, talents or gifts from God) and in the other he carried a staff; symbolic of the word of God. 
  We also need to note that when David went against Goliath, what Goliath took note of was not the sling but the staff (v43). Why is this significant? Whatever your Goliath, when you choose to face it, it will not notice or worry about how gifted, intelligent or talented you are. The only thing that will intimidate your Goliath is the staff in your hand, the word that you wield as a two edged sword. A staff had three significant uses which are important for us to understand and apply to the word of God.
1. It was used to aid the shepherd keep his balance when walking in tough and rough terrain. The word of God is to give us balance in everything we do. It is there to keep us from falling when we encounter rough patches in life and it is also there to keep us from falling backwards in fear when Goliaths come charging against us. David knew that there was a possibility of moving back in fear when Goliath charged against him and so he took his staff along for support. Never move back in fear when poverty threatens you with unpaid bills. Take a hold of the word of God and hold on to it.
2. It was used as a weapon to stave off wild animals and even human attackers. Many a preacher teach that David only had one weapon to use against Goliath, that is not true. David had two weapons; a sling and a staff. The sling is symbolic of the gift that God has placed in your hands. The same gift that will bring you before great men. The same gift that you are to use to work out your salvation against poverty. Unfortunately many people think it is the gift alone that will bring down Goliath. The gift apart from the staff is powerless. That which gives power to your gift is the word of God. Without it you will end up toiling; exercising the gift but without getting the desired results. David did not go against Goliath with the sling, he went against Goliath IN THE NAME OF THE LORD OF HOSTS. Where did he get that from? He got it from the staff, the word of God.
3. It was also used as a symbol of authority. David understood that as a servant of God he carried authority and he used the staff to show that he understood the authority he stood in.

Ecclesiastes 8:4

Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What are you doing?

David understood that because he had the word of God, his sling would have the power to bring down Goliath. Never exercise your gifting without the backing of the word of God. It will have insignificant impact, especially when it is in an environment where there is a lot of competition. Everyone in the army had better and more powerful weapons than David but all feared to confront Goliath, why? It is because of all the men in the armies of Israel, only David had a staff that he knew how to use. When exercised with the authority of the word of God your gift will flourish, no matter the strength of the competition and opposition.
    The difference between David and the armies of Israel is what he had in his hands. What do you have in your hands? Get your staff. Read, memorize and understand the word of God and then put your gift to work. Couple your gifts and talents with the word of God and bring down that Goliathin your life!
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Be Prepared to change your career: By Strive Masiyiwa

This is an excerpt from STRIVE MASIYIWA’S amazing life lessons. I thought this was too good not to share.

_Always invest in the “tools of your trade.”

 

Shortly after I completed my engineering degree in the UK, I had to go to work in a manufacturing facility in England to get “practical experience” as they called it. The technicians, many who’d been there for many years, had certain routines from which I picked up some real “life experiences and practices.”

 

It’s always amazing what important principles you can take away, even if you go on to do something completely different in life.

 

# Take pride in your tools.

 

Every technician had a “toolbox” which they looked after lovingly. It was almost like a “rite of passage.” At the end of each day, they’d boast to each other about the tools they’d managed to acquire, and what they were used for. They would clean their tools after the day was over.

 

Buying and investing in good quality tools was considered a technician’s personal responsibility, not the employer’s. 

 

“I feed my children with them tools, don’ I?” one of them once explained in his colloquial English.

 

Fast forward:

 

I would always lose my plastic pen. Then someone said, “You would not lose it, if you invested in a proper pen.” 

 

“Wow,” I thought. “This is just like those old English technicians and their tools.”

 

That day, I went out and bought myself a nice set of pens. I immediately stopped losing pens!

 

Question:  What are the “tools of your trade”? 

 

Do you have your own computer? Everyone who runs a modern business, or works in a profession, should have a laptop. 

 

A computer is not even a “tool”; it’s the “toolbox” in which most all the modern technological tools are kept.

 

Are you on the Internet? Do you have it in both your business and your home? 

 

# If not, you better sell your car, if you have one, and walk, but you must have a computer and be on the Internet

 

# If you have a house, it would be far smarter in today’s world to have a smaller house with Internet, than a bigger house with no Internet. 

 

# It would be far, far smarter to have a smaller car, or none at all, and be able to afford a computer and Internet for your business and family, than to have a luxury car or the like.

 

# Those who understand what I’m saying here are better positioned to make the career changes needed as a result of disruptive changes to the workplace, and the jobs we do.

 

Whatever work you do, or plan to do in the future, you have to upgrade your “toolbox” for the changing times ahead. I want you to be prepared. Remember what I wrote last week about your mindset? And the week before that, about imagining the horizon beyond today’s horizon?

 

As I’ve written you before, the “mobile revolution” has already given way to the “Internet revolution.” If the Internet were an ocean, then what you’re seeing today is just the shoreline. The Internet will even transform our villages. In the future, the village store and grinding mill will use the Internet, even to order and manage inventories. Even the village school will be changed by the Internet.

 

You will see it happen. Somewhere, somebody is already working to find a solution.  Just five years ago, if I had said to you, “Villagers in the remotest parts of Africa will be able to receive money from anywhere in the world within five minutes or even less,” what would you have said? 

 

You’re the ones called to make this kind of thing happen.  It’s your time. Is your toolbox ready?

 

To be continued. . .
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The Laban System

​As said earlier work is not a curse, it is a responsibility and a blessing that should be enjoyed. The first thing we need to notice is that Adam was not working for anyone, he was working for himself. In other words you need to reach a level where you are independent enough to work your own garden in life, a place where you know that all your efforts are for the sake of you and your family. This is what we usually term a business. According to God’s plan we were all supposed to be tending our own gardens here on earth. 

Each of us should have a project or business we call our own.

  Am I saying it is wrong to be employed? Not at all. It is good to be employed. So what am I saying? Am I contradicting myself? Let us look at another biblical example that will give us more clarity.

THE LABAN SYSTEM

   Jacob was an ordinary person like us, nothing special about him. Like most people he needed to earn an honest living in order to survive and meet his needs. Like most people he looked for a job and fortunately, or unfortunately, he got a job with his uncle Laban. And Jacob being the honest, hardworking Christian he was, did his job diligently; sacrificing his time and effort like most people. Fortunately for Jacob he understood what God meant by work. He understood that he needed his own garden.

Genesis 30:25-26 (K.J.V)

And it came to pass, when Rachel had born Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, that I may go to mine own place, and to my country. Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served thee, and let me go, for you know my service which I have done for thee.

  

 Jacob understood that formal employment was just meant for a season. Formal employment is just for a season, it should be a stepping stone to your own garden. A time should come when you should be able to say to your employers, “Send me away, that I may go to my own place.”
Unfortunately many people can never reach this stage because of what I call the Laban System.

Genesis 31:41

Thus have I been twenty years in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy cattle: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.

   Jacob served in Laban’s garden twenty years for two important things: his wives and his own garden, that is, the livestock he went away with. Formal employment is good but it must not take your lifetime. You need to be able to serve in someone else’s garden for a season that will allow you the opportunity and ability to start your own garden (business or income generating project). 

   Unfortunately for many, they are serving Laban and thus working under the Laban System. It was not Laban’s will for Jacob to go. To prevent him from going, he kept on changing Jacob’s wages. Laban knew that Jacob’s labor was profiting him immensely, just as your employer knows that your labor is very valuable. Because of this he wanted to trap him in his garden. It is the same system the world is running on today. Many are trapped in formal employment till the day they retire. The Laban System does not allow them to work their own gardens. Jacob had to forcefully remove himself from this system in order to go to his own place. We too need to use force to reject the Laban System and establish our own gardens.

In our days the Laban System is very shrewd in the way it traps people, it offers them pensions and other “staying incentives”. In extreme cases it binds them with certain clauses in contracts. I am not against the pension system as a whole; I think it is a good idea for those who are willing to be formally employed for the rest of their lives. The problem I have with the pension system is that it was designed to keep people serving Laban. It creates a false sense of security about one’s future. A closer look at this system will reveal that it does not work. Most retirees who retire on a pension live way below the poverty level. The pension does not meet all their needs and they die early because of stress and frustration. But Laban does not care because he has already used your strength to prosper himself. 

The other reason I do not like the pension system is that it stifles the dreamer within us. It is because of the dreams of a pension that many stop dreaming of tending their own garden. “Why bother?” they ask. “After all I will be getting a pension.” This attitude kills creativity and a beautiful garden needs creativity.

   The Laban System is the system the world is using because the few wealthy people who are running the world want to keep others from getting to the top. The truth is that if all the money in the world were to be divided equally among everyone in the world each of us would be worth US$3 million. Incredible but true. Yet this is a reality to those who are willing to break out of the system. For other people that money is small change so why limit ourselves to where we are?
In short all I have been trying to say is summed up in the words of Mark Anastasi: “A JOB IS ONLY A SHORT TERM SOLUTION TO A LONG TERM PROBLEM”. Get a job but keep dreaming and creating your own garden, your own business. Even Jesus made mention of this in His teachings.

Luke 16:12

And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?

  This statement implies that after you have faithfully served in someone else’s garden, a time should come when you are to be given your own. That is the blueprint of heaven.

BACK TO WORK!

   Have you ever noticed that the people who labor extremely hard labor for those sitting in chairs? Do you know that toilers toil for those who tend? This is because those who tend know their place in the garden and employ their gifts. Because they employ their gifts God blesses them and when God blesses them they employ the toilers, those who do not know their place and gifts and therefore end up working anywhere. The result is that the tenders end up tending larger places; God enlarges their territory and thus the blessings increase. God prospers the tenders and that is a fact. That is why the rich get richer and the poor poorer. The toilers lose their portion of the garden and its blessings to the tenders. In the parable of the talents the servant that was cast out into the outer darkness was cast out because he was unprofitable (Matthew 25:30) and his lot was given to the one who was profitable. God is concerned about our profitability; it is one of the major things that is on His heart. 

  Toilers are enemies of the cross because they do not work under the laws of God. They do not utilize the covenant that Jesus Christ died to bring into effect. They work under the system of the fall and not under grace.

Ecclesiastes 10:15

The labor of the foolish wearies everyone of them, because he knows not how to go to the city.

   May this not be your portion as you work. May you enjoy the fruit of your labor and find the city of prosperity. Toiling is foolishness, for all you will be doing will be in vain. Toiling will get you nowhere.

Which of the two are you? Are you a tender or a toiler? 

Praise be to Jesus for redeeming us from the curse of the law (Galatians 3:13).We can now move back from toiling to tending. We can start enjoying our work and our work being extremely fruitful. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and savior not only do we move from being toilers to tenders but God also heals the land that we are on, turning our toil into sweet tending.

The power to work is the power to get wealth, for without work one cannot get wealth.

This is an excerpt from the book “Kingdom Finance Dynamics“, you can check it out at:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Katopeka

What Kind Of Worker Are You?

No one likes working for peanuts. That’s a universal truth you can take to the bank! No one likes being taken for granted and short changed either. Whatever kind of work we do, we all want progress and fulfilment. Work is our primary preoccupation and understanding how to get the maximum benefit and satisfaction out of it is of utmost importance. A disgruntled worker is a miserable human being! 
Let’s look into the scriptures and see how we can be happy, satisfied and fulfilled workers.

Genesis 2:15

And the LORD God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

God gave Adam a kingdom but just because Adam was the king in that kingdom, he was not exempt from work. Contrary to popular belief work is not a curse, it is actually a blessing. Work came before the fall and everything that was before the fall is a blessing.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20

Behold that which I have seen: it is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor that he takes under the sun all the days of his life, which God gives him: for this is his lot. Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to accept his lot, and to rejoice in his labor, this is the gift of God. For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God keeps him busy with the joy of his heart.

   Work is a blessing that is to be enjoyed by all but sadly only a few people enjoy their labor. Work is a heritage we have received from our heavenly Father for He too works (Isaiah 43:13) and because He works He receives the fruit of His labor.

Deuteronomy 28:8

The LORD shall command the blessing upon you in the storehouses, and in all that you set your hand unto, and He shall bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

   It is of paramount importance for you to know that God blesses that which you set your hands to do. That is how God prospers you; through your work. In order to understand this principle of work we need to go back to the place where work was ordained by God. When God made Adam work was a blessing, a gift from God. After the fall another kind of work came into play, a cursed kind of work. It is these two that we need to understand and make sure ours is the blessed and profitable kind.

TENDING

Genesis 2:15(NKJV)

Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

God made man and God ordained man to work, to tend the garden.

Genesis 2:16

And the LORD God commanded the man saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat”

   Why did God give Adam the right to freely eat from the garden? Because Adam worked in the garden therefore it was his right to reap where he had sown. I want you to realize that Adam was only free to eat from the garden and not any other place on the earth. He had no right to eat from where he had not worked.

Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 (NKJV)

What profit has the worker from that in which he labors? I have seen the God given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives, and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy all the good of all his labor- it is the gift of God. 

 

  This is tending, working under the anointing of God, the power to get wealth. Whatever you work at, whatever you tend, God beautifies. Whatever God has given you to tend you enjoy. Many are frustrated because they are tending the wrong things. They are not employing the gifts God gave them therefore they are tending the wrong garden.
 
 “Tenders” are those that appreciate and employ their gifts, therefore all they do is stand in the garden God has put them in and tend it. God in turn opens up His good storehouse for such people and blesses the work of their hands.
Enter the serpent, enter the curse…..

TOILING

Genesis 3:17-19

And unto Adam He said, because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake; in sorrow shall you eat of it all the days of your life; also thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field; in the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return.

   Man fell, man was cursed, the ground was cursed and man moved from Eden to the field. Adam moved from tending to toiling. What is the difference between tending and toiling?

Genesis 2:15 (NKJV)

Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

Tend means to work, it is pleasurable, it is a blessing.

Genesis 3:17-19 (NKJV)

Then to Adam He said, “because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.

Toil is extreme labor that produces little fruit but more thorns and thistles. It implies struggling and sorrow, it is a curse. 

Proverbs 23:4-5

Labor not to be rich: cease from your own wisdom. Will you set your eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

   This is toiling, laboring in your own strength and using your own wisdom and understanding. Toiling does not bring wealth; labor not to be rich, rather seek to understand your place in the garden and tend. Whatever you toil for will grow wings and fly away because you are working under the curse of “toil”. That is why many people complain that they work extremely hard yet they produce little, or even nothing. What they work for flies away from them.
 
 “Toilers” are those that work extremely hard and produce very little because they do not exercise and employ their gifts. This is a serious curse.

WHAT IS WORK? 
Before we proceed it is of utmost importance for us to understand the term “work”. I know we should have defined it in the beginning but hey, let’s  dare to be different! 
It may sound like an obvious word since we are used to hearing and using it so often. Unfortunately today’s definition of work does not mean what God originally meant it to mean. For most people the word work means a job and that is fair and fine but it is not complete. Let us go back to the beginning and see how God meant it to be for us work-wise.

Genesis 2:15-16 (N.K.J.V)

Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat”

As said earlier work is not a curse, it is a responsibility and a blessing that should be enjoyed. The first thing we need to notice is that Adam was not working for anyone, he was working for himself. In other words you need to reach a level where you are independent enough to work your own garden in life, a place where you know that all your efforts are for the sake of you and your family. This is what we usually term a business. According to God’s plan we were all supposed to be tending our own gardens here on earth. Each of us should have a project or business we call our own.
 
 Am I saying it is wrong to be employed? Not at all. It is good to be employed. So what am I saying? Am I contradicting myself? We will delve deeper into this issue in our next issue. Stay turned don’t miss it for anything!!

This is an excerpt from the book “Kingdom Finance Dynamics”, to get yourself a copy visit:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Katopeka