God Does Not Help Those Who Help Themselves

Many people think that prosperity comes through hard work. Many people think that success is through human effort. There’s a big of fallacy that most things, if not everything is a result of one’s hard work. Well, that’s pure lie. Prosperity is given not earned.

There is a wrong notion that goes round mostly on social media that says, “God Helps Those Who Help Themselves.” Can any human help themselves? Who in their power can make their heart pump? Who in their power can order their ways? So how can a human being help themselves?

Everything is spiritual. Yes everything. A pen lying on a table – that is spiritual. You leaving your house and going about your day is spiritual. You do not protect yourself against accidents, diseases or bad luck. There is a whole new realm many people do not see. There is a power aside of human strength that sustains him.

No Science, no knowledge or intellect can explain things like healing or someone surviving a tragic accident and left unscathed. They simply leave it as, “It is a miracle”. When something cannot be explained by humans, it becomes a miracle. Humans forget that it is also a miracle that they can simply breathe.

The phrase, “God helps those who help themselves” is unbiblical. It is nowhere in the Bible and it is totally against the Gospel of Christ. No man can help himself/herself in anything. The phrase renders useless the reason why Christ came and why He left us the Holy Spirit because He said in John 14:15-18 that

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

Jesus knew that we would do nothing on our own and that’s why He said, “Apart from me you are nothing.” If the one who created us saw it fit to give us a helper, how would we in our own power try to help ourselves? He says that the world cannot receive Him because it neither sees Him or knows Him.

The world came with the phrase, “God Helps Those Who Help Themselves” because they know not of this helper that we have. But it is sad that most Christians more so Church leaders have adopted what the world says and not what Christ says.

Cursed is He Who Trusts on Man or Himself

Man has taught himself to rely on other human beings. You would hear people say things like, “If it were not of my uncle or mother or friend or of so and so, I would not be here.” People would speak highly of their godfathers and godmothers and completely forget that the air they breath is God’s.

I am not saying it is bad to thank them. I am saying that instead of seeing them as the sole purpose why you are where you are, you should thank God that He used them to help you.

Jeremiah 17:5 (NKJV) says

Thus says the Lord: Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.

Do you trust that your uncle/auntie/friend holding a higher position will catapult you to glory? You are cursed. Do you trust that there is a human being somewhere who hold the keys to your destiny, you are cursed.

To make it even scarier to the faithless and those depending on the knowledge of the world that tell them to ‘Believe in themselves’ Proverbs 28:26 (NKJV) says:

He who trusts in his own heart is a fool,

Closer home, NIV says – Those who trust in themselves are fools. Do those Godless books and movies tell you to trust in yourself? Then the Bible says you are a fool if you do. In the past, I used to write development plans and goals every year, but I was always stuck, stagnant year after year. This was because I got knowledge from self-help books and movies and not from God. I stamped God later to seal my plans.

The secular world will tell you all sorts of ‘proven knowledge’ and best practices to face life but the knowledge of truth will reveal to you things that no man has seen or heard.

Why Do Underdogs Make it?

It is funny that almost everyone in the Bible was an underdog. They were normal people who did not have the supernatural powers we see in fiction movies.

Away from the Bible; let us look at some real world scenarios. How many Billionaires never had a college degree? The list is long I cannot even start writing them here. How many multi-millionaires and billionaires came from very humble backgrounds? Coco Chanel (an orphan), Jan Koum the founder of WhatsApp, Roman Abramovich the owner of Chelsea FC?

How many self-made Kenyan billionaires with no primary school education run this nation? How many elite professors with state of the art education languish in poverty?

How many celebrities became popular with one low quality video while there were many who invested heavily in high quality videos, marketing and branding and still they haven’t had any of their videos trending?

Who would have thought that Baby Shark, such a simple baby song would be the world’s most watched video? Is it hard work? Is it quality? Now there is a trending Kikuyu song titled ‘Firirinda’ done 36 years ago by one Dick Njoroge who has now lost his voice.

Why is the song trending 36 years later? Maybe 36 years ago he thought the song would have been a national sensation. King Solomon, the wisest man on earth affirms in Ecclesiastes 9:11 (NIV) that.

I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all.

We tend to think that the race is for the swift but we are even too blind to remember our childhood tales of the, “Hare and the Tortoise.” We think the battle is for the strong but completely forget that David killed Goliath and Gideon with 300 men armed with trumpets and pots killed thousands of Midianites. We forget that in this day and age even the wisest sleep hungry and the rich also cry.

There are PhD holders with no job whatsoever and we have very street smart individuals who have tried everything and failed. I usually ask, why was Paul, a persecutor of Christians used by God? Weren’t there any holier people? Why was Jesus, the king of kings who came to set the world free born in a manger?

Most underdogs make it because they do not rely on their intellect. Underdogs would buy luxury cars and live in posh houses and people would accuse them of corruption and Satanism. Most would think that they are not worthy of what they have because they are not swift nor strong.

Most ‘underdogs’ have greater faith than top dogs. Top dogs mostly tend to trust in themselves. They know they are not going to win with their own power. The wise, the intellectuals, the swift and the strong prepare enough because their faith is in their own power. They feel qualified by the papers that define who they are and the little information in their heads. Underdogs make themselves available.

Simply put, most underdogs submit themselves to God because they know that whoever has Him has everything but the wise and strong submit to what they have. They know what they have to help themselves so that God can help them. They know that they have to play their part first so that they can please God.

You Do Not Belong To Yourself. Just Submit!

Do you know that you do not belong to yourself? Do you know that you were bought at a price? Religion teaches that you that you are your own man. It falsely teaches about freedom and not being under the law. It simply says, “You need to be free first and add God to the result of your freedom.” True faith teaches that you submit to God to be free.

Job 22:21

 “Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.

Did the above verse say that prosperity comes by working hard? Does it say that it comes by being righteous and by trying so hard to please God? You are righteous – know that. Do you know God helps you resist the Devil? Does it tell you to give? Religion will tell you to give to receive more but it won’t tell you how to give. It tells you to submit. To submit to a higher power. To submit to someone who has the best plans for you.

Religion will teach you that there is something you need to offer to God so that He may bless you. Do you know that God doesn’t need your money? Silver and Gold are his and so is cattle on a thousand hills. Do you think God really needs your few thousands?

Most people do not know why they give and that’s why when giving to God, they give Him pocket change. They give because it is time to give. They treat God just like another person they met on the street who needs their help. I would urge you today, if you do not know why you give, stop giving and go figure out why you give.

The ministry doesn’t need your money. With or without your money God’s word shall prevail. We give because we love. We give because we obey. We give to receive – ironical right? Yes! We give to receive and that’s why it is written blessed is the hand that gives. And God doesn’t look at the amount you give. He looks at the heart that gives and that’s why the poor woman in Mark 12:41 pleased Jesus.

How Do You Prosper?

Matthew 6:25-34

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Most Christians have come across this verse but have really never put it into action. Sometimes, they try to, but the devil will affirm to them that maybe they are not being realistic. The devil will tell them that the Lord needs to see effort they keep and they slowly bow to what the devil is whispering to them.

Most Christians just read the Bible and they feel good. They cram the Word and preach it to their counterparts so that others may see their prowess. The Word of God if just read for the sake becomes another novel or Wikipedia article. I still meditate on this word and every time I do so, I get another revelation proving that the word is sharper than a double-edged sword.

You prosper by seeking first God’s kingdom. And how do you seek God’s kindgom? Most think that it is about fasting and praying and being righteous. No it is not by our own power. Seeking the Kingdom involves submission to the Holy Spirit. And how do you submit? Desire. Just desire. The Bible says that when we draw close to Him He will draw close to us. Desire being close to Him and everything will fall into place.

Conclusion

I wrote about The Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. It is sad that we are still eating from the tree of the Knowledge of Good and evil. We are consuming and submitting to the knowledge of the world and not the truth of God.

We still think that people prosper because they had amazing backgrounds, they have relatives who are rich and powerful or because they are brilliant and smart. And from our thoughts, the devil, the master deceiver will stamp and seal those thoughts. This will in turn make us look down upon ourselves.

What is stopping you from owning several houses in the leafy suburbs in Nairobi? What is stopping you from hiring a pilot who will be taking your kids to school every day? Your thoughts, what you have subscribed to and what you believe is what is limiting you. This is why the Bible keeps saying, “Ye of Little Faith!”

Welcome to this new realm where nothing is impossible where you realize that you are righteous and you do not need to sacrifice anything to be saved or gain favor of God – Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice. Desire this new realm, desire to commune and learn from the Holy Spirit, desire to have a new set of eyes because:

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” – Matthew 6:22

The ultimate secret is this – Prosperity is not found in books, not in knowledge of the world and neither in hard work. Prosperity is from God who dwells in us, who searches all things even the deep things of God.

These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. – John 14:25-26