The Wealthy Place - 1 by Apostle Joshua Selman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Jeremiah 29:11 — God declared that His thoughts toward His people are thoughts of peace and not of evil, to bring them to an expected end. There is surely an end for everything that has a beginning, and God's intention for that end is good.

Psalm 112:1–3 — Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. His seed shall be mighty upon the earth; the generation of the upright shall be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in his house.

Psalm 35:27 — God has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.

God is genuinely interested in human prosperity. Prosperity is not a fringe doctrine — it is part of the tools responsible for building the kingdom of God. Like the anointing, prosperity equips believers to fulfill their assignment on earth.

Defining the Terms

Financial prosperity means freedom from poverty, lack, and the negative effects that come with them.

The negative effects of poverty include:

• Fear
• Insecurity
• Greed
• Self-centeredness
• Unrighteousness

A second dimension of financial prosperity is having abundant financial supplies alongside the means to replenish, multiply, and sustain its availability. To have financial supplies is not enough — there must be in a person the ability to replenish, multiply, and sustain that supply. That is the mark of true financial prosperity.

Poverty is a perpetual state of lack and insufficiency of financial resources, often characterized by lack of productivity.

It is God's will for every person to come to a point of abundance — with the capacity to replenish, multiply, and sustain that abundance.

The Church's Financial Blind Spot

The church has largely suffered from what can be called incomplete teaching on wealth and prosperity. Most preachers do not have financial literacy, and because the church is an institution — a platform for the transference of knowledge — the lack of financial intelligence in its leaders has produced lopsided results in its members.

People spend five years in school, but they are in the church for the rest of their lives. That makes the church a stronger institution of knowledge formation than formal education. The financial mindsets of an entire generation are shaped by what is taught from pulpits.

The problem is this: how a man of God became blessed is how he will teach others to be blessed. And many of the methods by which men of God are blessed only work for preachers — they cannot produce the same result for someone who is not in ministry.

The result of lopsided financial teaching in the church has been:

• Lust — a carnal obsession with money at any cost
• Greed — a desperate hunger that has no spiritual foundation
• Impatience — a rejection of the law of process in favour of sharp, immediate results
• Materialism and carnality — measuring God's blessing by outward displays of wealth

Many sincere believers have done everything they were taught — tithing faithfully, giving offerings, attending services — and yet remain in financial lack. The issue is not the unfaithfulness of God. It is the incompleteness of the teaching they received.

Why So Many People Are Poor

1. They have not decided to be wealthy

   Many people are born and will remain poor not because of their circumstances but because they have never made a concrete decision to be wealthy. They hate poverty, they wish for prosperity, but they have never decided.

2. They do not have a goal to be wealthy

   A desire without a clearly defined goal remains a wish. Poverty persists in the lives of many because wealth has never been set as a measurable, pursued objective.

3. Lack of understanding of the real formula for wealth and abundance

   There is a real formula for wealth. Many people surround the subject with mysticism — hoping their spirituality will somehow translate into financial abundance. But wealth operates by laws, just as every predictable outcome in life operates by a formula.

   Consider: everyone knows how to wear a trouser, how to put on a shirt, how to answer a phone. These actions are predictable because they follow formulas. Any time the law governing an operation is not known, mysticism fills the gap. The same is true with wealth. There is a formula — one that is beyond gender, race, educational qualification, and background. Those who do not know it will never be sustainably wealthy.

4. Lack of the mental transition from poverty to wealth

   The most significant barrier to wealth is not external — it is internal. A person's physical condition is a direct reflection of their thinking. The mental transition that moves a person from a poverty mindset to a wealth mindset must happen before the physical reality can change.

Myths and Mindsets That Keep People Poor

1. Money and abundance is carnal, evil, or unnecessary

   1 Timothy 6:10 — Many preachers have twisted this scripture to suggest that any desire to be blessed is carnal. But the Bible never says money is the root of all evil. It says the love of money — the word used is eros, an ungodly attachment to money that causes a person to lose their faith and pierce themselves with many sorrows. Money itself is not evil. This myth has kept entire generations of Africans and well-meaning Christians locked in poverty.

   When people try and try and nothing works, they unconsciously create a theology that excuses the failure. Finding a scripture to back up their frustration gives it a spiritual coating. But the coating does not change the poverty.

2. If God really wants me rich, He will make me rich

   Psalm 84:11 — Many people have interpreted this scripture to mean that remaining poor is a sign God has not ordained prosperity for them. This has become a comforting but dangerous illusion — especially because many of the preachers who teach this have their own financial needs fully met.

   God being sovereign does not mean human beings have no role to play. The exclusive sovereignty mindset — the belief that God is entirely responsible for the outcome of one's financial life — is an irresponsible reading of Scripture.

3. Tithing is the one and only key to abundance

   Malachi 3:10 — Tithing is real, powerful, and scriptural. It is the law of open heavens — it opens heavens so that everything done under those open heavens prospers. But it is not the only key.

   God said He would give "the keys of the kingdom" — keys, plural. Tithing and giving open the treasure from the spirit realm, but there must also be wisdom, skill, and understanding to make it manifest in the physical realm. There are people who have tithed faithfully for decades without seeing a corresponding financial change — not because God is unfaithful, but because they lack the formula to receive what open heavens make available.

4. All I need is a business idea and start-up capital

   This is one of the most widespread and deceptive myths. Many people believe that if they had a good idea and some money, they would be rich. But capital and ideas alone do not produce lasting wealth. Without a transformed mindset, any money received — whether through a gift, a loan, or a business — will eventually return to the level of the mindset that received it.

   The same mindset applies to employment: many people believe that getting a job will make them financially free. But a worker who cannot survive four months without a salary after years of employment is not financially free — they are financially dependent.

5. Entitlement mentality

   Entitlement mentality is the feeling that someone somewhere is responsible for your success and prosperity. It is the belief that a rich uncle, a connected parent, a generous government, or a blessed pastor owes you your financial breakthrough.

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   This mentality is one of the greatest killers of wealth potential in Africa. It transfers the responsibility of one's financial destiny to another person. The tragedy is that when a wealthy person gives to someone with an entitlement mindset, nothing changes — because the mindset has not changed. The person returns the following year with the same request.

   Entitlement mentality also produces resentment toward wealthy people. There is a natural inclination to resent the blessed, because seeing them reveals a gap the resentful person does not know how to close. Rather than humbling oneself to learn, the response becomes gossip, criticism, and bitterness — all of which guarantee that the person never crosses into the wealthy place.

The Three Realms of Mindset and Wealth

Every person can be placed into one of three categories in relation to wealth:

1. Poor mindset — poor physical reality

   This person's thinking and circumstances are aligned in poverty. They blame witches, family curses, government, employers, and relatives for their situation. They hate rich people and secretly admire what they resent. They want to change but take no responsibility. Any money that comes into their life — favor, gifts, salary — is quickly lost, because their mindset destroys whatever their circumstances provide. Giving this person money without changing their mindset is like pouring water into a basket.

2. Wealthy mindset — poor physical reality

   This is the transitional realm — and the hardest part of the journey. The person has begun to change their thinking. They have read the books, heard the teachings, and made the decision. When they speak to a wealthy person, the wealthy person is impressed. But their physical circumstances have not yet caught up with their mind.

   This is where many people give up, because there is no visible proof of progress. But the change has happened. The plane has begun to lift. The transition is real, even when it is not yet visible.

   When a person moves from a poor mindset to a wealthy mindset, they will experience:

   • Internal war — the old mentality resists the new decision
   • Social friction — friends and peers push back against the shift
   • Isolation — the rich cannot fully receive them yet, and the poor begin to distance themselves

   This pressure must not be read as failure. It is the system acknowledging that the transition is happening.

3. Wealthy mindset — wealthy physical reality

   This is the wealthy place. Psalm 66:12 — "Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place."

   This is a place of rest. A place where financial pressure no longer controls decisions, where God can be served with full peace of mind, and where the assignment He has given can be funded. It is a place void of fear, because the wealth here was not built by dishonest means. This is God's destination for every believer.

How to Be Wealthy — The First Key: Decision

The decision to be wealthy is the first and most foundational step.

There is a difference between a wish and a decision:

• A wish is a general desire — a craving with no commitment behind it
• A decision is a strong desire backed by the willingness to pay the price and take responsibility for the outcome

A decision can be proven. Show what is currently being done to support the decision. If someone has decided to grow spiritually, there are visible sacrifices — they run from clubs, they fast, they buy study materials instead of clothes. The decision produces actions. A decision is never a decision until there is a willingness to accept the responsibility that makes that decision come to pass.

Many people have not decided to be wealthy. They have decided to get jobs, to get married, to raise children — and they got those things, because the decisions were backed by action. But they have never applied that same force of will to their finances, because they were taught that financial blessing would come automatically through spirituality.

Decisions are free. Every person has the right to decide — and the right to remain poor if they never do.

A true decision must then be set as a goal. A goal is a clearly defined expectation — a desire converted into a project that one channels energy and time toward. Without setting wealth as a goal, the mind is never trained toward it. Goals give focus; they weed out distractions. Anything accomplished in life was first set as a goal.