Perhaps the most foundational message I teach in this ministry is one called “The Land of Business – The Missing Link.” Although I have been teaching it for many years, it seems like every time I dig in and study it, the Lord provides new insight, and a deeper understanding.

It’s wonderful how well Scripture always interprets and confirms other Scripture. I want to share with you some of the confirming points that I have recently seen more fully explained in God’s Word. I don’t have the space to outline the entire L.O.B. message here, but I do need to recap a few relevant points to set the stage for my primary discussion in this newsletter.

1. God is our sole source.

Our Heavenly Father is our one and only source of all that we need in life. Furthermore, He is a good God, and like any loving father, He wants only the best for His children. God’s desire is for you and I to prosper and do well. Third John 1:2-3 says: “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.” (NAS) I know God wants my soul to prosper; therefore, I can be certain that His desire is for me to experience prosperity and health proportionate to my spiritual well-being. The key to prospering in every area of my life is for me to make sure that I nurture my spiritual health because it is the benchmark by which my other prosperity is measured.

Most people want to prosper in all respects. That simply means they want success in all of their dealings. Such success is more than just financial; however, money and finances are also central parts of God’s success plan for our lives. This raises the question: “How will God bring about our financial prosperity?” Will miracle money just show up in the mail box? It may, but that is not going to be how most people prosper. Besides that, “miracle money” is more of an event mentality than a system mentality. We serve a system oriented God, and He wants us to be active in His system.

2. Business is the only system that CREATES wealth – any and all wealth!

There are lots of ways to transfer wealth: inheritance, gifts, profit distributions, wages, found money, prize winnings, etc. but if you trace it back, all wealth (100% of it) is originated or generated by some business transaction. Nothing other than the exchange of goods and services – which is the dictionary definition of “business” – produces or manifests wealth. Everything else is just a transfer payment that moves it around. God is the source, but business is His SYSTEM for wealth creation — wealth of any amount.

Let me further illustrate these first two points through an analogy of a water system: The water faucets in your house are vital parts of the system that make a continual flow of much needed water readily available “on demand” in your house. Although water flows from the faucets, they are not your source of water. The pipes in the wall are not your source, nor are the city water lines, or even the lakes or the rivers that collect the water. The source of your water is the God who sends the rain from the sky above, but everything else is a vital part of the delivery system that creates a continual supply of useable water. Keep this analogy in mind as you read this article.

3. We serve a system-oriented God.

I know that some people like to pray for miracle events, but I don’t think miracle events represent God’s best. Don’t misunderstand me, God has been in the miracle business since before the dawn of time. There was not a time of miracles – we serve a God of miracles, and He can and does continue to perform miracles of ALL kinds today. However, I really don’t want to need a miracle. I’d rather walk daily and continuously in supernatural health than ever need miraculous healing. Likewise, I’d rather operate with God’s supernatural anointing and blessings for success in business – His system for wealth CREATION – than ever need a financial miracle event. The “supernatural” is just His “super” multiplying my “natural” effort within His system. It’s nice to know God still performs the miraculous, but let’s quit getting ourselves in positions that require miraculous deliverance; instead, just tap into His system.

Sadly, many people who have major personal or business financial needs either: 1. completely overlook God’s desire to prosper them, or 2. they run around looking ONLY for miracle money. The ones who overlook God’s desire for them to prosper will fail to aggressively pray for God’s financial blessings, but ironically they will work twice as hard to generate success on their own. The others are like someone standing by a stream who badly needs a drink of water. They run around with their head back and their mouth wide open “believing” for a giant, miracle drop of water to fall from the sky. While praying for a miracle “Big Gulp” event, they ignore the stream (i.e. water supply system) that is right beside them.

4. Psalm 1:1-3 contains a powerful analogy about God’s system for prosperity.

Let’s see what we can learn from what it says: “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and in His Law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. (NAS)

This passage is about a person blessed and anointed for success of every kind, but it starts off focusing on his or her spiritual prosperity. (Sounds familiar – to prosper even as your soul prospers!) The guideline for being a blessed person is found in one’s spiritual walk and in the value he or she places on Godly wisdom — day and night. If you don’t feel Blessed for Success, you might need to check and see if you are following the guideline. Ouch!

The Bible is full of analogies, analogies that serve as illustrations to help the reader more fully understand important and powerful Spiritual truths. Psalm 1 uses an analogy of a tree and a stream to illustrate the power of a system, and the impact it can have on those who tap into it. Notice the last line says: “… and in whatever he does, he prospers.”  From the “whatever” we know this scripture is referencing broad-based success in all areas of life: relationships, health, finances, business decisions — “whatever!”

Psalm 1 also describes the evidence of prosperity as: fruit in season and leafs that do not wither. This is a prosperity that comes about with certainty and continuity like the foliage and fruit of “a tree planted by streams of water.” This is a tree tapped into the SYSTEM; likewise, a person who chooses God’s Word over the ways of the wicked, the sinners and the scoffers, is also tapped into a blessing system.

Remember the analogy of your water system described above? Pipes and faucets are modern refinements that we have added to a water system that is as old as the earth. When God created the earth, He designed it with hills and valleys. This very design creates a system for gathering water into creeks, stream, rivers and natural lakes. He even created beavers to build dams in places where no natural lakes exist.

If the earth were as flat as a table top, there would be no place for water to accumulate. It would spread evenly across the land and soak in quickly. Flat land would make us totally dependent on catching that miracle “Big Gulp” – or at least lots of small ones. God’s ingenious creation of system hills and valleys forces water into His system, and makes it readily available for us – even for us to tap into with pipes and then faucets to control its ready availability when we need it. I like that way better than miracle water!

Drawing on the analogy of Psalm 1, we see that a fruitful, successful tree is one that is planted by a stream — tapped into the system. Its roots spread out through the ground and tap into the continual flow of moisture created and delivered by the stream. Plants cannot survive without water; plants flourish with water. Notice also that a stream delivers more than just H2O. Streams carry nutrients and essential mineral of all kinds. Those nutrients are carried into the roots and dispersed throughout the tree by being suspended in water.

With the exception of carbon-dioxide and sunlight, EVERYTHING a tree or plant needs to live and flourish comes to it through the water system. That’s why a tree close to a nutrient delivery SYSTEM (a stream) will flourish. The system creates a continual supply of all that the tree needs. In fact, rain water doesn’t pick up the nutrients from the ground until it flows through the system of hills, valleys, creeks, streams and rivers. Likewise, business and work is the system that God designed to bring to you a continual supply of all that you need to prosper financially.

5. Jeremiah 17 gives us additional confirmation of the importance of tapping into the system, instead of waiting for an event in a desert.

Verses 7-8 say: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose trust is the LORD. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit. (NAS) When we are tapped into a system of supply, we don’t have to worry about drought or heat, and we won’t fail to yield the fruit of prosperity.

Jeremiah 17:6 specifically describes the opposite of one tapped into a system.  It says, “For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not even see when prosperity comes. But will live in the stony wastes in the wilderness.” (NAS). A bush in the desert receives life-giving, fruit producing water ONLY when it rains. It flourishes ONLY when the rain EVENT occurs. A desert bush does not see or experience the continual stream of life-giving water that passes through a distant valley. It relies on a miracle “Big Gulp” event to break the drought. But events, unlike systems, are temporal, and soon there won’t even be droplets to catch. Likewise, occasional miracle financial “Big Gulps” won’t meet your on-going financial needs.

6. Business and work is like a stream – it is a SYSTEM, designed by God, because He designed us to exchange and do business with each other! Not one of us was designed to be self-sufficient.

God is the source but business is the system designed to bring you a continual flow of financial provision. Continual flows provide fruit in season and luscious leafs year round!

Psalm 92:12-14 says: “The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree… full of sap and very green.” A palm tree has the ability to store up water and flourish even in a drought. Personal righteousness combined with the prayer of faith are the only things that will get you through a recession or a business downturn. Righteousness matters! When tough times come, examine yourself closely. Make sure you are tapped into the system, and then check to see that you are not walking in the counsel of the ungodly, but are delighting in the Law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. Once you get that part right, then begin to pray aggressively for God’s supernatural favor upon you, so you can truly experience Psalm 1 prosperity.