HAVING POWER TO MAKE MONEY NOW! By Felix N.Jarikre.

One elusive secret that your soul’s adversary is not eager for you to mentally grasp is that money, seemingly harmless and neutral, actually has power to control and oppress your thoughts. If you are ignorant of this, you will struggle with slave labour, flirting with poverty. And when you are shy of the solution, you’d find that making money to you is a perplexing, dicey adventure on a stormy sea.  The challenge for many today is how to degrade money, and abolish its power to control our thoughts.  Really, it takes even a certain audacity to contemplate sharing your thinking along that line.

Now Jesus was under no illusion that the battle for souls was between God and money-power otherwise called Mammon. Money is not just a neutral and harmless piece of paper or coin. What makes money dangerous and deadly? It is because money has power to control and oppress people’s thoughts. If this power is not abolished or neutralized in our heart and mind, we become worthless and useless in the hand of the Maker of the Universe.

Prophet Isaiah said something in chapter 55 of his book in the Bible that was challenging and clearly subversive of human thought pattern:

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat, yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? And your labour for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness? ... Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts... For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD...For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

The late crime-novelist, James Hadley Chase, popularised a saying many years ago through a title of one of his fast-selling novels: “You are dead without money.” Like someone that has caught onto some great intuition, we repeated that statement at the drop of a hat with a rueful smile. It was so realistic and unarguable. The harsh reality of being without money is so brutal and unsparing. It’s an experience to be desperately avoided by many who want to retain their hold on sanity. For example, who’s that child of a poor, struggling parent that could forget the shame and humiliation of being sent away from school for not being able to pay school fees at a particular term? Have you ever woken up, and not knowing where the next meal would come from to survive the day?  To suffer the indignity and tension of being harassed by your landlord for non-payment of rent when it is due is not a scenario that you want to experience. Definitely, for many, it’s fool-hardy and unrealistic to argue James Hadley Chase’s “You are dead without money.”

Though it made sense to us, Isaiah the prophet clearly repudiated that saying. As far as he was concerned, the saying that “you are dead without money” went to expose a wicked, unreasonable, rebellious thought. He says YOU CAN PURCHASE WHATEVER EXPENSIVE AND COSTLY THING THAT YOU DESIRE WITHOUT MONEY AND WITHOUT PRICE. He was not quibbling or equivocating. The scripture was emphatic: DON’T LET THE LACK OF MONEY STOP YOU FROM PURCHASING AND USING WHAT YOU THIRST AND CRAVE FOR.  Hmmm, this is serious! Can I just walk into a car dealer shop, pick the latest brand of Toyota or Ford, and drive off, without money exchanging hands? Would I just memorize the selected scripture of Isaiah, quote it loudly and clearly to the car salesman, praying he would come into understanding?

Realistically, no! It does not work that way. The immediate aim of Isaiah was to DEGRADE money, resist, paralyze and destroy its POWER to control and oppress the hearts and minds of men and women everywhere. Why? 

The dreams and visions of many to transform their lives and communities have crashed while taking-off on the altar of poverty and inadequacy. Due to lack of money, the dreams of many to achieve something worthwhile for their lives have suffered stillbirth. Many have learned to cope and adjust themselves to poverty and scarcity because they are afraid to be disappointed. Desperate to survive, many have turned to prostitution of bodies and souls. Over the ages, some smart, diabolical intellectuals, idolised as giants of faith, have even crafted their own theology to justify why people should embrace poverty  while hoping for the paradise that awaits them on their departure from earth. Poems have remained unwritten, songs unsung, books unwritten, films languishing in the realm of day-dreams and vain positive thinking because their protagonists are perplexed as to where to get the money to finance their dreams. 

Hear Jehovah’s inexorable counsel from Isaiah’s writing: INSTEAD OF KEEPING YOUR LIFE IN SUSPENDED ANIMATION, WAITING FOR MONEY TO PURCHASE WHAT YOU DESIRE, FOCUS INSTEAD WITH LASER-INTENSITY ON DOING SATISFACTORY LABOUR. Your labour is the only bread that can satisfy (i.e. leaves nothing to be desired) you and others. SATISFACTORY LABOUR IS SUPREME. Forget the classical Economics that you learned from school. SATISFACTORY LABOUR IS CAPITAL!! When you focus on producing something of value, or providing a service to empower, and not defraud others, you are doing a satisfactory labour. 

You see, our lives can only have meaning when we spend our time trying to resolve the challenges of others. Now that sounds simple, and even appealing, but it cannot be accomplished in our own natural strength. You require the power of God to resolve the challenges of others, which indeed is the satisfactory labour. To put this in place, you must jettison, abandon or reject the conviction or mental persuasion that you need money to make things happen! I can even see you now, shaking your head with incredulity.  Of course, I can relate if that sounds incredulous in your ears. Still, we can’t escape that conclusion. 

To the people’s enquiry as to how they might work the works of God, Jesus said: “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

How can you believe the Word of God, and remain stagnant and powerless? Is it not hypocrisy to claim you believe the Word of God while wrestling with destitution? How can you say you believe the Word of God, and have no hesitation to embrace and justify your poverty with religious platitudes? No, you certainly cannot retrogress by believing God!

Truly, if the storm of confusion in our heads can be cleared, and we come to the mental persuasion that it takes only the inexorable power of God to make things happen, making money will be easy breeze!

Felix N.Jarikre.

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