Future Perfect: A Review of the Seven Laws of a Prosperous Christian

By Jerry Udoh, Ph.D.

God’s plan for you as a believer is that you live in victory on earth with your eyes earnestly focused on the life of eternity with Him. The Lord revealed this much to prophet Jeremiah when He declared in Jeremiah 29:11, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” John the Apostle reiterated the same promise when he wrote in 3 John 2, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospered.” Victory connotes winning over circumstances that are in opposition to the fulfillment of your destiny, and to be victorious is to be free to live and utilize your potentials as God has ordained. From the Scriptures, we can therefore boldly conclude that there are three levels of prosperity the Lord plans for His children: prosperity in health, material prosperity, and prosperity in the spirit.

I call this total or true prosperity. Therefore, to be a prosperous Christian, you must seek for and position yourself to be a partaker of this total prosperity. And this may not be possible unless you obey certain laws that pertain to life and godly living. These laws are seven in number. This book is a compilation of all the seven laws in one volume.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685704537

Book preview

Chapter One: Knowledge of God or Knowledge About God

These two statements are often used interchangeably to describe the depth of our relationship with God. But they mean two completely different things. Until you get to the point where you have knowledge of God, you would still be guided by your knowledge about Him in dealing with the things of God, and the law of profundity would be inoperative in your life.

Knowledge of God

Knowledge of God is the internalized understanding of who God is and what He means to you. When the experiences of life or life lessons acquired over your long walk with God are fully internalized, you grow in the knowledge of Him. Academic wisdom and church attendance may help but a little, but unless this desire is pursued as a life’s goal, in other words, until it’s a life’s pursuit, you would be failing in the knowledge of Him. Paul, who had experienced God in diverse ways over the length of his ministry, still desired to know Him more when he declared, That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death (Philippians 3:10). We can emphasize unequivocally that the word know, as used in the above verse, means to come into knowledge by encounter.

Paul’s desire conveyed in Philippians 3:10 is to come to know Jesus in that richness of knowledge by identifying himself with Christ and being Christ-like. It was this personal encounter with God, and not mere intellectual knowledge, that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ had in mind when He prayed, And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent (John 17:3).

Knowledge of God releases certain powers into the life of a believer:

Power for Strength and Exploits

Power to Resist Sin

Power to Savor His Presence

Power for Faith

Power for Strength and Exploits

Knowledge of God releases power for strength and exploits. Daniel 11:32 captures this fact succinctly, And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries; but the people who do know their God shall be strong and do exploits. All the personalities used by God powerfully in the Scriptures were people that had a good knowledge of God. Take Abraham, for example; no one in his position would have been able to stand firm with God the way he did without a solid knowledge of God. When oppositions come to render the promises of God unduly long in fulfillment, only the ones that do know their God will be able to weather the storms!

Strength is important when you are buffeted by the enemies, just as Jesus prayed for Peter in Luke 22:31–32. Without that, it is practically impossible to mount up with wings like the eagles or run and not become weary or walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:31). Strength, even physical one (though the verse refers more to spiritual strength than physical), prepares you for exploits. When David, in 1 Samuel 17:31–50, drew close to Goliath and fired the first shot, he did that with boldness on account of his previous encounter with the power of God. In other words, he knew God through his experiential relationship with Him. That explains why, when his brethren were frightened with fear as they scampered for safety with their tails behind their backs, David strolled out as a man with divine authority to issue the death decree against Goliath.

Power to Resist Sin

Knowledge of God constrains you from sin. When you know Him, you will know that the same God that is a God of love and mercy is also a consuming fire. When you know God, you will not need to be persuaded or motivated to love Him. The love will grow organically. Loving Him means refraining yourself from acts that will bring you into direct collision with God. When Joseph was faced with a very tempting but indecent proposition from Potiphar’s wife, he made a very instructive statement, No one here has more authority than I do. He has held back nothing from me except you because you are his wife. How could I do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God (Genesis 39:9). Even though he loved the master dearly and sleeping with his wife would amount to betraying that love. Nevertheless, his refusal to yield to the temptation was only based on his knowledge of and love for God. In other words, it was not the love for the master that constrained him, but his love for God!

Power to Savor His Presence

Knowledge of God brings God closer to you. Struggling with the knowledge of God makes Him appear distant and abstract. It would make you think that you must climb to the farthest part of the sky to encounter God. Or go to a particular location to meet with Him. That is why, to some, God does not exist because they cannot just fathom where God dwells. But to those who know Him, The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry and will save them. The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy (Psalm 145:18–20). With the knowledge of God, you know that God is everywhere to those who desire to encounter Him. Where can you go from His presence? (Psalm 139:7–12).

I like the way Psalm 91:1 puts it, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. It means that you must first dwell (know Him) before you can abide (be in His Presence). Therefore, all you need to be enveloped in His presence is to dwell (know) Him! This makes the Lord as real and close to you as the breath you breathe. And with this closeness, you savor in His Glory. The presence of God, among other things, releases revelation. The power to discern things, as King Nebuchadnezzar attested to in Daniel 2:47, comes from dwelling in the presence of God. Daniel was able to understand the King’s dreams because he sought to know God (Daniel 2:17–23).

Power for Faith

Second Peter 1:2–4 states that all things that pertain to life and godliness are given to us, not because we are asking for them, but only through the knowledge of God. Undoubtedly, faith must be one of those things because, as the Scripture clarifies, no one can please God without it (Heb. 11:6). Thus, faith comes through the knowledge of God. That’s the reason Romans 10:17 declares that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The level of faith that you carry is in direct proportion to the revelation knowledge of God that you have through His Word. People who find it challenging to operate in faith either don’t have the authentic knowledge of God’s Word in them or have allowed the Word of God to be stifled by the cares of the world. As a child of God, you operate with a level of faith already because God has given to everyone a measure of faith. You cannot operate in it properly if you have no clue that it is there already or if you lack the knowledge of the operating factors that govern it. The laws governing rocket science have always been there, but man didn’t have a clear knowledge of them until lately. Man never even thought that to be possible. Same with aerodynamics and many other inventions that are commonplace today. It wasn’t God who stopped us from launching rockets into space or flying. It was our lack of knowledge of the laws that regulate rockets and airplanes. In the same vein, it is not God who neglected to give us faith, we have already been given a measure of faith as Romans 12:3 specifies, but we are perishing because we lack knowledge of how faith operates (Ephesians 1:15–23).

Knowledge about God

Knowledge about God is the externalized understanding of God often demonstrated by works. This is sometimes referred to as sense knowledge or knowledge that emanates from common sense. Common sense is gathered from the aggregation of happenings around us and our intuitions. Intuition can develop from our exposure to other cultures and practices and the extent to which we imbibe the lessons produced from these interactions. When we apply this to the work of God, we have a general knowledge about God.

A person with just knowledge about God is yet to die to self to live for Christ. Such a person, therefore, cannot demonstrate holy living in his daily undertakings. And thus, finds it difficult to resist sin. Who God is to such a person is still abstract. Someone in this position sees suffering for the gospel as a punishment from God or Satan and generally craves for only the blessings or prosperity from God and therefore cannot demonstrate the power of God over his circumstances. And to make up for the deficiencies, some of them get heavily invested in works. This is akin to demonstrating works without faith.

That explains why the mindset is to go to God only when trouble is ahead to avert calamity, not because of the love for God. They get involved in the work of God for pecuniary gains, and when the gains delay, they give up. When they persist in participating in works, it is often for show or to be applauded by men or to fulfill all righteousness. Such a person uses the name of God as a vessel for personal aggrandizement. He sees God as an avenue to make quick gains.

Chapter 2

How to Enter into the Knowledge of God

We come into the knowledge of God through personal revelation, personal experiences, and personal determination.

Personal Revelation

Personal Experiences

Personal Determination

Personal Decision and Experiences

Chapter Two: How to Enter Into The Knowledge of God

There must be a personal decision to want to know more about God. It’s a determination, a life’s pursuit. As the Psalmist declares in Psalm 42:1–2, As the deer pants for water, so I long for you, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. Where can I find him to come and stand before him? There cannot be a deeper knowledge of God until you thirst for it. This usually culminates from the believer savoring Christ’s power of resurrection during the process of regeneration. The resurrection of Jesus defeated death and paved the way to know the Lord. It does not mean that we will not die, but that we have authority over the author of death so that when we die, we live in victory with the Lord. There would not have been salvation if the grave had held Jesus (Acts 2:23–25). This knowledge releases power to overcome the devil and his works in the life of a believer (Ephesians 6:10–18).

As Paul said, the next thing to do is to seek to partake in the fellowship of His sufferings (Philippians 3:10–11). This may take the form of what the Lord referred to when Paul was converted: I will shew him how great things he must suffer for My name’s sake (Acts 9:16). Knowing Christ in the fellowship of His sufferings means to suffer accusation, ridiculed and persecuted for His name’s sake. Many of us completely miss this attribute, believing only that the faith walk provides freedom from hardship. This is the foundation of false teachings of so-called motivational speakers. The early church, including Paul, knew that living for Christ involved partaking in both the joys and battles of Christ. Most of us would eagerly seek to relish in the fellowship of His blessings, but how many of us would just as cheerfully seek the fellowship of His sufferings? But it is in the culmination of these experiences that true knowledge of God is developed.

After that, we need to know that His life saves us. In Romans 5:9–10, Paul instructs that we are justified by the blood of Jesus Christ, but he also adds that: His life shall save us. To conform to the death of Christ is to die more and more to the lusts of the flesh and to live more and more like Christ. It was the empiric knowledge of that power—its impact on his own inner life—that Paul pursued. The emphasis is to become like Christ in death, not the manner of death. We are to die to the world of sin and temptation to be completely transformed and be like Christ.

Personal Revelation

Sometimes, we need a personal revelation of God to assert our knowledge of Him. In Ephesians 1, Paul prays a very powerful prayer. In verse 17, he prays that God may give us wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. In verse 18, he adds two more powerful points: that our eyes may be enlightened and that we may know the hope of His calling, and in verse 19, he prays that we may know the exceeding greatness of His power. Paul would not have spent so much time dwelling on them if revelation and knowledge were not important. He probably put himself in our position before his encounter with Jesus on His way to Damascus.

God can use specific revelations to convey His redemptive purpose to mankind. In Acts 9, Paul had a revelation of the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. This encounter provided convincing proof that Jesus was, and is, the Son of God. Paul’s experience on the Damascus Road was a distinctive demonstration of the power of personal revelation in the knowledge of God. After that point, Paul recognized that Jesus was the promised Messiah and that He conquered death. This knowledge also confirmed his call as the chosen vessel to preach the gospel to the Gentiles and a testimony to the validity of Christianity (Acts 9:15). There is something compelling and uncanny about the personal revelation of God and from God. In Acts 10:1–33, we see two simultaneous revelations, one confirming the other.

While God showed Cornelius, a man that loved and feared God, in a vision a person to contact to solidify what he and his people knew of God, Peter, on the other hand, was pressed upon through a vision to prepare to receive the emissaries that were coming from Cornelius and to prepare his mind to get rid of the bias the Jewish people, of which Peter was one, had against the gentiles.

Chapter 3

Gauging the Depth of Your Knowledge

Chapter Three: Gauging the Depth of Your Knowledge

There is a simple yardstick to use to gauge the depth of your relationship with God. As straightforward as these statements are, they are equally very revealing.

You Will Not Need to Be Convinced That God Is Real

You Will Not Need to Be Told to Shun Sin

You Will Not Need to Be Persuaded to Love God

You Will Know How to Worship Him

You Will Not Need to Be Convinced That God Is Real

When you know God, nobody will have to convince you that God is real or that God is all-powerful. The three Hebrew children, Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego, when confronted with a suicidal proposition by King Nebuchadnezzar, defied him by standing their ground because they knew the God they served. They knew that God was able and that He would deliver them from whatever evil plan was coming their way. When you have the full knowledge of God, you will not wait for a preacher to convince you that God honors His Words more than His Name. God vowed to David that His son would rule in his place. Despite all the intrigues that took place as King David was about to depart this world, the Word of God came to pass. Solomon, the son of David, ruled in his place. When you see someone who is being preached to repeatedly and they still go back to their vomits, it’s because they are yet to have a real knowledge of God.

You Will Not Need to Be Told to Shun Sin

When you know God, nobody will tell you to shun sin or present your body as a living sacrifice to God. You will not need a theologian or a popular pastor to break down the expectations from God regarding holy living. Joseph told Potiphar’s wife, at the point of a very tempting proposition, that he was ready to go to the dungeon than sin against his God. Why? Because he had a deep-seated knowledge of his God.

As appealing as the encounter was, his love for God constrained him. A person with a deep-seated knowledge of God is the one that sets himself apart as a vessel of honor onto Him. He is the one that presents his body as a living sacrifice daily, wholly, and is acceptable to God. He is a person that abhors the works of the flesh and is imbued with power from above to exhibit the fruit of the spirit. This is a person that dies daily to please his master. This is the one that John speaks of when he says in 1 John 3:9 that whosoever is born of God does not sin, for the seed of God dwells in him.

You Will Not Need to Be Persuaded to Love God

When you know Him, you will not need to be persuaded to love and obey Him. Deep knowledge of God unwraps the ability to love yourself, love others, even people you believe have hurt you badly, and know the true meaning of love. The Bible may have instructions on the true meaning of love, but those instructions would be impracticable without first knowing God for who He is. That is why most people still have a hard time understanding how love is patient and kind. And why love does not envy, does not boast, and is not proud. And even what it means when the Bible says love does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily incensed, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth (1 Corinthians 13:4–8).

The love for God extends to your love for your spouse and even your children. When you love God, you will know how to love your spouse unconditionally. Love can be very fickle from a societal standpoint. Marriages sustained by a love for oneself first before the love for God break quite easily when trials surface. But marriages that are sustained first by the love for God before the love for spouse stand the test of time, even during unexpected occurrences. The Word of God enjoins husbands to love their wives. But what most husbands do not know is that this is one of the most difficult instructions to keep unless you know God and love Him. You are expected to love your wife even when you think that she is not loveable.

You must love her even when she does not deserve it. You are commanded to love her even when she commits an unpardonable sin against you. Many women, especially in the so-called advanced societies, view the word submit as enshrined in the Word of God as derogatory and outdated. They do not understand that that is the easiest thing to do in a marital relationship, even easier than loving your spouse as men are mandated to do when you have an in-depth knowledge of God. Nobody will continually preach to you to submit to your husband if you love God and know what He requires of you.

Submission is an offshoot of your love for God as it extends to the obedience of other lesser authorities ordained by Him. The way the world interprets love, especially love for the opposite sex, borders on appeal or attractiveness. In other words, when that thing that attracts a man to a woman is no longer there, love fades. But the biblical definition of love underpins its nonreciprocal and undeserving nature. It takes only the knowledge of God to know these truths.

You Will Know How to Worship Him

When you have a deep-seated knowledge of Him, you will know how to thank and worship Him for everything that happens in your life. A songwriter says that No one knows like I know what He has done for me. That is why I praise Him the way I do. When you know God, you will know that everything you have and who you are is because of Him. You will not need anybody to teach you or notch you on to praise and worship Him. Many people, at the height of achievement, forget so easily who makes the blessing possible. They take God out of the picture and think that their strength and intelligence or wisdom give them victory. It is because they do not know God. When you know Him, you will know that it is not by might nor by power that you excel in life but by His Grace. You will know that it is God that gives you the power to succeed in life. You will know that it is not of him that runs nor of him that wills but of God that shows mercy.

A person with a deep knowledge of God worships God for everything and in every season in their lives—in bad times and in good times. This knowledge will help you to recognize that, even if you are not there yet, He makes everything beautiful in His own time. It will help you to look back and remember where He pulled you from and know that the one that did that before will do even more again. David knew God profoundly that even as a king, with all the trappings of royalty, he danced in the streets like a commoner, so much so that his wife called him foolish. The wife had no knowledge of God. As far as she was concerned, royalty deserved to be valued and preserved more than God.

That explains why she attributed what the husband did as a desecration of royalty and a disgrace to the husband’s status and, by extension, her status as a queen. Even in a circumstance that you think is not worthy of worship, what will cause many to cry and lament, deep knowledge of God will cause you to start to praise and worship Him. Why? Because this knowledge empowers you to see beyond your present circumstances to the ultimate plan of God for your life. As we discuss in the law of fortuity, what you are going through and where you are now could be a set-up by God to confuse and distract your enemies and to equip you to possess your possessions. Only if you know God would this be a reason to worship Him instead of crying and lamenting.

Without obeying this law first, no other law discussed in this book will be operative in your life. In other words, the law of profundity sets the tone and the foundation for the law of defiance, for instance, or the law of resolution, even the law of pursuit, and all other laws. Without a deep-seated knowledge of God, you cannot defile your circumstances. It’s your knowledge of God that enables you to remain persistent in the face of daunting obstacles. When you know God deeply, you will be able to craft the right vision and understand the strategies of an aggressive pursuer. It would be difficult to let go of self and become a sacrifice to God without obeying this law.

Chapter 4

Lessons from the Tree

Chapter Four: Lessons from the Tree

There are key lessons that the trees can teach in grappling with the understanding of our relationship with God.

The Larger the Tree, the Deeper the Roots

When you operate under the influence of the law of profundity, you develop depth in your relationship with Him. Allow me to use a tree to illustrate this statement: Different cultures associate different meanings to the image of trees. Trees are associated with the changing and passing seasons, with time, with depth, and with resilience. However, the characteristic that is of more interest to us as far as the law of profundity is concerned is that generally speaking, the tallest trees have the deepest roots. Longer roots can pin down taller trees, allowing them to access water deeper in the soil, which may help them be more drought resistant. A typical tree grows in an up-and-down direction. The taller it grows, the deeper it goes down.

And I believe it is a remarkably simple way to make sense of our relationship with and knowledge of God. The more you know, the greater the urge to know more and the better you get. The higher you ascend, the more critical it becomes to put the roots down deeper in the soil. That way you stay attached to the soil from where you derive the nutrients for sustenance. Apart from being likely to fall in a blizzard and other serious weather conditions, a tall tree with shallow roots also battles to get the right nutrients it requires. That should be the objective of every child of God who desires to have an in-depth knowledge of God, to grow tall and dig deeper. Reach for the stars, but remain firmly anchored to the soil.

Roots Connect You to the Right Nutrients

Roots are what connect a tree to the nutrients it requires to survive. This characteristic reminds me of the Word of God from the prophecy that prophet Isaiah gave to King Hezekiah in 2 Kings 19:30, And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. Knowledge of God is the nutrient that feeds your resolve and directs your vision. A person that is not well nourished remains sickly at best. The right nourishment helps you to grow and mature into adulthood. Because when you are a child, you think like a child, but when you become an adult, you start to think and act as one. God requires all His children to grow and mature in His knowledge and relationship with Him so that they can start to impact this world for Him as matured children. It will be impossible to have a deeper knowledge of God if you are not firmly rooted in him through His Words. Being deeply rooted requires sincerity of heart and utter genuineness to follow him at whatever price. This is the only way you can grow tall.

Without these deep roots, your growth would be stunted. The growth of many Christians has been hampered by their inability to develop deep roots. A small tree or plant does not require deep roots, but they cannot reach the clouds either. Unless you do not want to reach the stars to be seen and acknowledged for your work for God, then your shallow roots are just all you need. There is no pretense where this kind of relationship is concerned. We have seen a lot of pretenses and deceptions already in the churches. It was for this very reason that Paul admonished the Colossians who had received Christ to walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving (Col. 2:6–7).

Many have remained baby Christians throughout their journeys for this simple reason. Despite all the promptings, they have refused to take roots downward and therefore cannot grow upward. Many today in our fold are ready to be blown away by any small wind of doctrine. As the book of Ephesians 4:14 says, these can easily be tossed to and from by the trickery of men and by the cunning craftiness of their deceitful scheming. Some are neither here nor there. They claim to keep an open mind. If the attraction is right, they can cross over and try other religions. As far as they are concerned, it could not possibly be only one way to God. Any eloquent or motivational persuasion can push them over to the other side. Some are just sitting by the fence, waiting for any gentle push to flip over. It’s because their roots are shallow. They have not anchored deep enough to reach the water and the nutrients below the surface.

Deep Roots Weather the Storms

Taking roots downward is not all about getting the right nutrients but also about weathering the storms. A tall tree needs deep roots to withstand the bombardments from the rough winds. Growing tall is incredibly good, but remaining tall for long is the most important pursuit. A tall tree with shallow roots cannot stand long enough for the storms to be over. The anchor is weak and, therefore, likely to fail as more storms beat the tree. Storms of life will come. Make no mistakes about that. How much you endure, how long you remain standing, is a function of the foundation on which you stand, the depth of your knowledge of God.

As we discuss in the law of resolution and the law of fortuity, God allows storms for several reasons: to train you and keep you in the right frame of mind and spirit and to push you through the narrow path toward your destiny. But if you are not deeply rooted in Him, you would not see the hand of God in your travails. It would be difficult to fathom why a loving God would allow His children to go through so much without this knowledge. And in no time, you would tire out and give up. How many have failed miserably in the storms? How many have backslid in the bombardments from the enemies? How many have lost patience and went on to try other solutions, including other gods, because they felt that God had failed them? They are Christians during the day and children of Baal at night. Their roots are shallow.

Joseph might have gone through so many grueling experiences, but he remained standing because he could see the hand of God in his battles. As a person, he felt the pain and the betrayal from loved ones, but he was unfazed because he had learned to trust in his God. In other words, he had learned to grow his roots downward that even though the storms shook him, the power of the storm was not enough to bring him down. Paul, the apostle, saw a lot in his short stay on earth. But he counted it all joy for the excellency of the power of God in his life. What kept him going was his deep roots in the ground.

He had an intimate and deep knowledge of the God that called him, and he knew better than even though his earth caved in, the outstretched Hand of the Lord was available for his rescue. All the patriarchs and matriarchs of faith have one thing in common: their deep roots in the ground. These roots helped them to weather the storms, some of them very severe and deadly, that at the end they could exclaim, like Paul did, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith (2 Timothy 4:7).

You Have the Ability to Sprout Again

What if you are entirely cut down? Do you have the capability to sprout again? There are certain trees that, if they are cut down, can sprout again. In his agonizing encounter with afflictions, Job had this to say, For there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its tender shoots will not fail (Job 14:7). Unfortunately, not many trees have this capability. Only trees with roots that are deeper in the ground can sprout again after having been cut down. Sometimes, the battles you face may seem overpowering, and these may completely paralyze you. You may seem cut off completely from God and the people and things that make serious meaning in your life. You may feel drowned in a mighty ocean with no rescue in sight. But I come to tell you that if your roots, your anchor is deeper in the ground, even the ocean will throw you out, as the whale vomited Jonah out. Your deep roots will cause you to come out of the pit as Joseph came out of the dungeon.

Your relationship with God would cause the right hand of God to arise and fight for your rescue. Like a tree, you will sprout again. If the hair on the head of Samson grew back, you would come out of that pit. You will arise again from the shackles of poverty and infirmities. Your stars will shine again. They might have been covered for so long, but I come to prophesy into your life that your time has come to shine again. Only allow your roots to grow downward.

A Tree Bears Fruits Upward

Because the roots grow deep into the ground, it is difficult to know how deep they go. It is possible for some trees to grow tall but possess shallow roots. Of course, they are brought down by any sudden rough wind even as quickly as they sprout out. This fact is not always apparent to a casual onlooker because the roots are covered with soil. It is quite easy to hide the depth of your knowledge of God by hiding behind doctrinal complexities and theological eloquence. The ability to memorize the Word of God and speak it out to others with a certain air of arrogance is often misconstrued for intelligence and knowledge of God. However, maturity in God is not by speaking but by doing. You can memorize the Word of God all you want. You can talk eloquently as you like. If it is not borne out of a genuine and deep relationship with God, you may succeed in deceiving others and yourself, but you cannot deceive God. Like I said already, deceptions and trickery are rife in churches and among Christians. Many of us are living a lie.

You Cannot Hide Your Fruits

However, there is something you cannot hide—your fruits. The fruits are borne upward. Fruits come out in the open. Fruits cannot be hidden in the ground. Sometimes, fruits may be covered by leaves, but it is only a matter of time for the wind to blow and ruffle the leaves to expose the fruits. In the same vein, your fruits cannot be hidden for long. Your fruits are borne outward. They are meant to be enjoyed and valued. You might pretend or deceive people but know that fruits always have a way of coming out in the open. We know a tree by its fruits. Most trees are named by their fruits. That is why we have tree likes apple trees, mango trees, coconut trees, etc., named after the names of their fruits. By your fruits, you will be known (Psalm 1). Both believers and unbelievers alike are observing to see the kind of fruits you bear. Your fruits will attract people to you or dispel them from you. Many lose great opportunities for divine connections because the fruits they bear disgust people and push them away from them.

Whether you like it or not, you will bear fruits in your due season like a tree. But what kind of fruits will that be? A person with a deep-seated relationship with God is like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper (Psalm 1:3). Because you are well nourished, your fruits will come out appealing to the eyes and delicious to the mouth. People will pluck from you and go home and remain blessed. And you will continue to wax stronger with evergreen leaf. Like the allure of ripe sweet fruit, your fruits should advertise to you. The fruits you bear define you and detect the type of people that want to associate with you. These fruits should cause men to congregate around you and eat from your bowl. Your fruits are supposed to attract your divine connectors to you. Like a tree named after its fruit, people will get to know you (Matthew 7:15).

Your Fruits Detect Your Type of Connection

Many a time, you pray, Lord, connect me to my divine helpers. But how many times have God connected you, but you drive them away with your fruits? The kind of fruits you bear detects the type and caliber of people that are attracted to you. In the scientific world, the opposite attracts. But in the spiritual world, likes attract and opposites dispel. If you decide to wear your pains and struggles on your forehead as a batch, then expect a band of sympathizers that may help to push you lower into the pit. If you choose to walk around suffocated with anger and resentment against your perceived enemies, then expect to remain miserable for some time to come.

I have written a lot about Joseph in this book. But do you know that the fruits He bore in the dungeon were the reasons people assembled around him? He had every right to become depressed and go about with so much anger toward God and man for the many injustices he suffered. But he chose not to; rather, he became a rallying point, an encouragement to others who were going through a similar ordeal. He decided to bear his fruits upward, sweet fruits at that. By these fruits, the spirit of excellence, the anointing of the head was released upon him by God. Does it surprise you why Pharaoh’s cupbearers went to him for counseling and interpretation of their dreams?

Chapter 5

Deep Knowledge Unravels Mysteries

Chapter Five: Deep Knowledge Unravels Mysteries

Deep knowledge of God does not only help you to grow with God, weather the storms of life and bear good fruits, but it also helps you unravel mysteries that are not readily available to others. It places you in a privileged position to understand the mind of God, to better discern things that are alien to casual believers. This position enables you to instinctively understand what lies behind every action of people and events in your life, past, present, and future. It clothes you with uncommon wisdom to understand the things of the spirit and decipher them as appropriate.

It is like being granted special access to the maximum-security chamber of God. By the way, do you know that there’s a secret place place of the Most High (Psalm 91:1) or a place called His Holy Hill (Psalm 24)? Yes, there is! It is that place or that state of divine presence or abode of God where mysteries of God are locked up and access granted only to the divinely directed friends of God. This is the Mount Zion of God where there’s holiness, deliverance, and divine possession (Obadiah 17).

The State of His Divine Presence

This state of divine presence is where the friends of God are privileged to be admitted. This is where divine mysteries are unraveled. In Daniel 2:28, when King Nebuchadnezzar seriously needed answers to his dreams, Daniel made a very profound statement, No wise man, enchanter, medium, or magician can explain to the king the mystery of which he inquires. But there is a God in Heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. Divine mysteries do not only dwell with God, but He also reveals them to whomever He pleases.

It is difficult for you as a child to know all your father’s secrets, as much as he loves you. Either because you are too young to understand them, or they may be too dangerous and may harm you if you are exposed to them too soon. But your father’s best friend would know most of his secrets. And until you are progressed from a child to a friend, most secrets will remain buried forever. Jesus had twelve disciples, but not all of them were His closest confidants. He had the disciple whom He loved (John 21:24). He had His inner circle friends (Peter, Andrew, James, and John).

Jesus told his disciples that He no longer called them servants because