No, he is very sneaky. He came into the Garden of Eden where Eve was standing with all the abundance all around her. Then he came and tempted her to become greedy.

Isn't that a bit stupid? How can you become greedy when you have everything?

Well that was Satan's cleverness because he was saying,

"You don't have everything. You see God didn't give you everything. Yes He has given you all this good stuff, but He has withheld something from you.

You see that beautiful tree there; the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? God is too stingy to give that to you."

He began to stir up in her a greed, a lust and a desire for that thing.

Do you know what the key to poverty is? It is giving into Satan's temptation to be greedy. And the more greedy you are for too much, the less you end up with. That doesn't make sense though does it?

You say, "But now hang on, you have been telling me that God wants to bless me; that He wants me to have abundance, and He wants me to have the best. Is it not greedy for me to want that?"

No it is not greedy for you to want what God already gave you. It is greedy to want what God told you not to have.

Your Motive for Wealth

There are three original temptations that Satan brought to Eve. And in the New Testament they are described in a verse in this way:

1. The lust of the flesh

2. The lust of the eyes

3. The pride of life

The lust of the flesh is our fleshly desires. The lust of the eyes is the things that we see that we want. And the pride of life is getting things that will make me look like a hotshot.

You see it is our motive that is all wrong. Our motive is one of greed, covetousness and lust.

When we do that, instead of us walking into the blessing that God has for us, we actually license Satan to take away from us all the good things God already gave us.

Then as soon as we do that we get all bitter and twisted and say,

"But that is not fair. Why did God allow this to happen to me?"

He allowed it to happen because He gave you the freedom to choose, and you chose that. You chose to obey Satan and to give him license in your life. And Satan has stolen every cent that God had for you.

You are fighting the wrong enemy. You are getting bitter against the wrong one.

Satan has a whole doctrine built out of this you know. He has a whole doctrine of how it is unspiritual for us to want things. Then on the other hand he makes us lust for things. He's so clever isn't he?

The Effects of Sin

When man sinned he lost everything. He lost the provision that God had given. He had to be driven out of the Garden of Eden, that place where the abundance was.

He lost the security and protection that was there. The moment Adam sinned he began to hide away because he was afraid. He was full of fear.

They even lost the harmony that they had between each other. There were now barriers between him and Eve, whereas before they were open and transparent with each other.

All of that came as a result of sin. And the sin came as a result of listening to the voice of the enemy and submitting to it.

Going Against the Ground

After that time nothing came naturally anymore. Before the ground produced everything that it needed naturally. Adam didn't have to work hard for this; it just came naturally. All he had to do was take care of it.

You know it is pretty hard work picking fruit. Wouldn't you love to have that job of just picking the fruit that you eat?

He didn't have to work hard. He didn't have to really try and make the ground produce. It produced naturally. But the moment they sinned and allowed Satan license in their lives and in this earth a curse came upon the earth.

Adam had to now work against the curse. Nothing came naturally. He had to work hard in the sweat of his face to make the ground produce.

Ability to Overcome the Curse

There were forces that were working against it. There was no sitting back and waiting for it to come naturally. I am afraid the world has been that way ever since.

Jesus came as the last Adam and He bought back what Adam had handed over to Satan. But this earth has not been redeemed yet.

This earth is still under that curse, and God has given us the power now to overcome that curse on a daily basis. And if you don't overcome the curse it is going to overwhelm you.

Have you noticed that you don't have to do much for a house to get dirty? All you need to do is do nothing, and before you know it there is dust and dirty everywhere. Things just seem to fall apart.

You have to work at it and you often say,

"I don't feel like doing it. Can't I just rest and sleep? I have to get up and dust everything. Where on earth does this dust come from?"

You see that is part of the curse. If you have ever tried planting a garden you don't have to plant weeds. The seeds came from who knows where.

Blaming God for Poverty

You have to work against them and get them out of the ground. That is the curse that we are operating in.

You might say to me,

"I can't understand it; why does God allow the dust to settle on my nice furniture? It's not fair. What kind of God do I serve that He can't even keep my furniture clean?"

Wouldn't that be stupid? Or you might say,

"What kind of God do we serve that He allows weeds to grow in my garden?"

You wouldn't be so stupid as to say that. But you are stupid enough to say,

"Why does God allow me to be poor and to suffer financially? Why doesn't God do something?"

It is the same thing. God has put it in your hands to do something. He has given you the power over the curse and it is up to you now to overcome that curse.

Blessing Takes Work

You were designed to prosper, and God gave you all the resources, the power and the abilities to overcome the curse in this world. He made you to prosper financially, to succeed and to walk in wealth and prosperity.

You say, "Well it is fine for that guy who just inherited from his dad and walked in it."

He inherited a lot more from his dad than the money. Because if he didn't learn how his dad made the money in the first place, that business would be gone in a couple of years.

No he inherited a lot more than that. He learned from his father how that business was built up out of nothing through hard work and sweat. And he learned that if he wanted to keep that business going, it would cost him hard work and effort.

That is the business that keeps going and thriving. But we stand in jealousy, envy and hatred against such a person and say,

"Yeah, he just fell in the wealth."

No he didn't just fall into the wealth. Yes he was blessed to be born into such a family, but it was still not automatic.

And you know most of these people don't even know the Lord but they can become wealthy. Then you say,

"For me as Christian I can't become wealthy."

Well I don't see these wealthy people wringing their hands and saying,

"I wish God would do something."

They don't even believe He exists. They just get in there and they do the work.

Well God has given you what He gave them. But actually He has given you a lot more. So strictly speaking as a believer you should be doing better than these people, because you have more than they do.

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