The Secrets of Increase and Breakthrough (6)
Pastor Bankie
THE PRACTICE OF FAITHFULNESS
"He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much." Luke 16:10 NASB
"And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, be in authority over ten cities.’" Luke 19:17 NASB
Today I want to explain something about the practise of greatness.
The verse quoted above from the 19th chapter of Luke’s gospel is part of the parable of the minas, or talents, that the Lord Jesus told. In this particular parable we read about the Lord who went to take a kingdom for himself. Before he left he gave one mina each to some of his servants, asking them to do business with what he gave them until he would return. When he returned and settled accounts with them, he awarded each person a position is his new kingdom according to what they did with the mina given to them. The man that was able to multiply his mina ten times was given a new position as lord over ten cities.
The lesson in that parable is that it was never about the mina in itself but about the servant’s abilities. That ability was demonstrated in the use of money. As we can easily see, the servants did not know this until the day of reckoning, and until that day what they were actually doing was practising their own greatness.
That is the situation with us today; most of us do not realize that it how we handle the little things that we have now that is deciding whether breakthrough and increase will come to us or not.
Have you ever heard people, or yourself, brag about what they will do when they have a lot of money? They brag about what they will do for the gospel or for their parents or the needy. In the midst of all the bragging they are doing nothing because, according to them, they do not have much yet. The truth is that even if they were to get plenty they still would not do anything. It is he that is faithful in little that will also be faithful in much. The Lord knows this and may not bother to give them the much they are dreaming of.
The practise of greatness is for us to do even in small times what we plan to do when great things would come. We do them in the small fashion possible in our small state.
You may be believing God for a great company worth two billion naira. God is saying to you not to concern yourself much with that yet. The current job you have or small business you own is what the matter is. If you are faithful and demonstrate excellence in this one, He will give you the bigger one that He has prepared.
Many people are so occupied with dreaming about what they are wishing for that they are not successful in the little of today. Just like the servants and the minas, it is the success with which you handle today that determines whether that great thing of tomorrow will come.
So instead of just confessing and waiting for great things, get busy making the small one work. Having prayed about the big things, focus your spiritual and physical energy of making great success of what is there today.
There are those who are trusting that the Lord will provide a well paying job for them, but they are constantly complaining about the one they have now. They do not realize that the seed for the great job is faithfulness in the small one they currently have.
When God was going to find a replacement for Saul, the king of Israel, He chose a man who had proved faithful in taking care of sheep. David was so dedicated to his sheep he risked his life for them. It was faithfulness in sheep-keeping that made him a king when the Lord returned to him.
Like I always say, before Jacob could be enriched by God, he first had to make Laban rich. Jacob was a servant in the house of his uncle, Laban. He took care of Laban’s livestock and caused it to increase abundantly. When Laban went to the diviners, they told him that his wealth was from the blessing and the labour of Jacob (Gen 30:27). Yet he mistreated Jacob and changed his wages ten times (Gen 31:41); but because of the intergrity of the heart of Jacob, God defended him, blessed him and turned over the increase to him.
Don’t worry that you are not well rewarded in the place where you are working now; yes the pay is not much, but it is the very place where God has commanded that you must practice greatness. Greatness is not about having plenty of money and many servants at your beck and call. It is about being resourceful, being the solution to problems and being a blessing to many people. For this cause Joseph was great even in prison, just as he was as a slave in the house of Portiphar. The result? He became prime minister.
In a manner like that of David and Joseph, many of us are being prepared for a breakthrough that is far bigger than what we could ever have imagined, but many are not being careful to be faithful in the little jobs they have currently.
With this understanding one must therefore be thankful to the Lord for the time of smallness. It is because we know that it is a necessary stepping stone to great things.
"Though the fig tree should not blossom ,
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail…
Yet I will exult in the LORD,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation." Hab 3:17-18 NASB
In summary: A secret of increase and breakthrough is to be very diligent in making success of the little things of today.
