WAGING WAR AGAINST LAZINESS PT3

 Pst. Favour

DILIGENCE (hard work)

PREDESTINATION IS AN ACT OF GOD. ACTUALISING IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY pst. David Adeoye.

Giving is a trigger for your blessings but work is the basket to hold your blessings. If you're not working and you're giving, God is sending you blessings but you dont have a place to hold them. No wonder when we pray for blessings we hear people say I was blessed with a new job or I got a promotion...

 Remember, there is no such thing as luck!

Matthew 20:1-18

1 ¶ For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

 2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. {penny: the Roman penny is the eighth part of an ounce, which after five shillings the ounce is seven pence halfpenny; about fourteen cents}

 3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

 4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.

 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.

 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?

 7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.

 8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first 
It is not too late to stop being lazy.

Jesus is still challenging idleness today. Go and work, if you want to increase and multiply. It is only the labourers that are entitled to a wage. The degree of labour

The Bible is very clear on the issue of personal input in order to taste the grapes of comfort.

1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

In the Scriptures, lack is usually associated with idleness and folding of hands.

Proverbs 13:4 The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.

Proverbs 12:24 The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.

Proverbs 13:23 Much food is in the tillage of the poor: but there is that is destroyed for want of judgment.

These Scriptures establish the fact that every one’s ground has what it takes to get him accomplished, fulfilled and successful in life, if only he will "till" it. This truth is established in yet another Scripture:

Proverbs 12:11 He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding.

Your ground is the work of your hands, it’s our diligence in tilling the land God has given us that will yield for us the desired fruit. Part of man’s responsibility in the covenant of prosperity is to work with his hands.

When you work diligently, you position yourself for the blessing, when you give, you trigger the blessing that you have positioned yourself for. Work is one of the avenues of receiving the harvest from your sowing and giving. Work is the basket with which we collect harvest from our givings, so if you do not work, then you have nowhere to receive the harvest with thus you remain in financial distress.

Jesus also said:

John 9:4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

Again, He said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Since the servant is not greater than his Master, if Jesus is working, we cannot afford to fold our hands. Increases respond to our personal inputs as covenant people. Apostle Paul said:

1 Corinthians 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

It could be illustrated this way: the seed sown can be interpreted as the watering, after which God gives the increase. The prosperity of the giver is via "whatsoever he doeth" (Psalm. 1:3). Having believed and given precious seeds severally, the returns promised are channelled through the works of our hands.

Beginning with Abraham, all the blessed patriarchs were hard working people. At age 75, Abraham was a cattle rearer.

Genesis 13:2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

Isaac was an established farmer. "And Isaac sowed in that land." He was a tiller of ground! The covenant pattern son had to till the ground to obtain the blessings of the covenant. No idle man has a part in this covenant.

Genesis 26:12-14 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great: For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him.

Jacob was a blessed man, but not without strong personal inputs. A specialist farmer he was. He had this testimony at the end:

Genesis 30:43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.

The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is still a covenant-keeping God, who responds with blessings to the diligent inputs of His people. Abraham was still a worker when he was past the age of 75. Jacob laboured in the house of Laban as a slave and Isaac cultivated in the days of drought. If these patriarchs could work, no one has an excuse to be idle.

Ecclesiastes 11:4 He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.

Proverbs 22:29 Seest thou a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.

Proverbs 20:4 The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.

We must work to prosper because:

Proverbs 14:23 In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.

We have to work, not just to prosper, but also to maintain the prosperity.

Proverbs 13:11 Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.