On The Path Of Winners BY BAYO OGUNMUPE How To Protect Your Wealth

On The Path Of Winners

BY BAYO OGUNMUPE

How To Protect Your Wealth

THE first key of abundance means letting go of what you have enables God to release what He has. That exchange guarantees you abundance in income and investment. The second key is that in the process of possessing your abundance you have to engage satan in a battle of faith.

  By knowing and trusting the will of God, you are transformed into a giant killer, the one Satan runs away from.

  We have now come to the third key to abundance. It is how to protect your abundance. It is the one who is wealthy till the day of death that is successful. The one who allows himself to be ensnared by the devil, losing his riches midway is called a failure. Actually he is worse than a mediocre, who was too timid to try at all. Thus, the great man does not allow his treasure to be devoured by his enemy, the devil. God provides both the protection and possession of your treasures.

  But we are in a disposable world. From diapers to dishes, people go through life throwing things away. After two years you are bored with your car and you trade it for ones with more bells and whistles. That’s why Nigeria is flooded with second hand goods, from American jeans, through cars, books, handsets, to 10 year old Thailand rice. Preaching during church service to mark the Queen of the Commonwealth’s diamond jubilee anniversary recently, the Archbishop of Counterbury decried the high rate of divorce today. Seventy per cent of those who make wedding vows break them and toss their mates aside. Nowadays, when couples face the slightest confrontation – such as keeping late nights, they begin looking for an exit. One fellow quipped: “When my wife is forty, I’m going to trade her in for two twenties.” All too often it isn’t a joke.

  Which is why you should protect your treasures. The favour of Allah is contingent upon our action. They conquer who believe they can. There are conditions God attached to our greatness. He said, I will bless you if you do what I command. “If thou shalt harken diligently unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth,” Deutoronomy 28:1. Jehovah does not have any problem transferring the wealth of the wicked into the hands of the righteous. He promises, “Ask of me, and I shall give thee the hearthen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession,” Psalm 2:8. God is not worried on how much money you won. He wants to know about your productivity. He knows you are investing in your future.

  There is no guarantee life will be easy. The problem of being in the valley, that is of being poor, is that we think we will be poor forever. And when we reach the top of the mountain that we shall never be down again. Thus, we need to realize that circumstances are part of God’s process of bringing us into his realm. If every moment was a bed of roses, the scriptures would not have told us to rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep,” Romans 12:15. The overall plan of Jehovah is to prosper us and do us no harm. But you must not allow anything to threaten your harvest, not people, not opinions, not thoughts, not doubt. Jehovah shammah, the winner of battles will stand by  you as you tell your enemies, “stop, don't ever come closer.” Jehovah will provide protection that even Satan won’t know your address. God provides both prosperity and protection. His favour is contingent on your attitude and action. What you produce is more important than what you own. There may be temporary setbacks, but God’s lasting plan is for your abundance. Never shy away from attackers. God is your sentry, watching over what He has entrusted to you. Defend your treasures from the enemy. Allow God to be your refuge and fortress, Psalm 91.

  Our champion for today is James Byrnes, the U.S. Democratic Party politician and administrator who, during World War II, was popularly known as assistant president for domestic affairs, in his capacity as U.S. director of war mobilization, 1943-45. He was U.S. secretary of state between 1945 and 1947.

  A self-educated lawyer who never went to school. He entered politics in 1908 as public prosecutor in South Carolina. Byrnes served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 14 years and 10 years in the senate where he emerged as the majority leader. As a member of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Brain Trust, he helped pilot numerous New Deal measures through parliament.

  Byrnes was a key figure in launching important defence preparedness legislation on the eve of World War II.

  After serving briefly as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1941-42), Byrnes was appointed head of the office of War Mobilisation. He was thus vested with power over production, procurement and distribution of goods, manpower allocation and economic stabilization. After attending the Yalta Conference of the Big Three: Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin in 1945, Byrnes resigned. He was however recalled by President Harry Truman who succeeded Roosevelt. He was appointed the U.S. Secretary of State. Thereafter, he accompanied Truman to the Potsdam Peace Conference of the same year.

  Byrnes’ experiences in dealing with the Soviet Union over German unification converted him from an advocate of peaceful cooperation to a hardline fighter in the Cold War. He urged the United States to maintain a military establishment in Europe to checkmate the Soviets. That heralded the birth of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). He resigned from the cabinet in 1947 in a disagreement with Truman.

  As an illustrious native of South Carolina, Byrnes was drafted and served as governor of his state from 1951 to 1955. This walking encyclopaedia died in his home, Columbia, South Carolina in April 1972, aged 93 years.