There are 2 storms blowing across the world. 2 storms battling for supremacy. One storm is called lawlessness and 1 storm is called righteousness.

These 2 storms give us a grid for understanding the world. It is an age old battle that goes back to the origins of man. The daily question is will we eat from the tree of life (righteousness) or the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (lawlessness). Everything else flows from this decision. Let me define these two words. 

Lawlessness is when you decide what is right and wrong, what to do, and what not to do. Your decision may not be overtly evil. It can even by ‘good’, but is still lawless in God’s eyes. It is lawless because you are deciding what to do and not God.

1 John 3:4 (NIV1984) Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

Righteousness is living right, by choosing right, as defined by Holy Spirit and the Bible. 

Revelation 19:7-9 (GW) Let us rejoice, be happy, and give him glory because it’s time for the marriage of the lamb. His bride has made herself ready. She has been given the privilege of wearing dazzling, pure linen.” This fine linen represents the things that God’s holy people do that have his approval.

Lawlessness always leads to poverty and chaos. Righteousness always leads to prosperity and order. 

Here is the detailed progression of each of the 2 choices:

Lawlessness > Deception > Foolishness > Poverty & Chaos

Righteousness > Insight > Wisdom > Prosperity & Order

Lawlessness Progression

Lawlessness starts at the individual and then continues all the way to the national level, effecting an entire nation. America is experiencing an unprecedented level of lawlessness. It is important to realize why. It is because there is an unprecedented level of individuals doing what they want to do and not consulting God.

When you do your own thing, it leads to deception. Over time, you think your way is right and you start drifting away from God’s thinking.

Isaiah 5:20 (GW) How horrible it will be for those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn what is bitter into something sweet and what is sweet into something bitter.

Deception leads to foolishness. This is ideas that are far from God’s way of thinking. The scary thing about being a fool is once you think this way, you don’t realize you have become foolish. You think you’re smart. That is why we see such crazy things in our world and wonder what people are thinking.

Romans 1:21-22 (NLT) Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.

Foolishness leads to poverty. This may or may not include money. It includes poverty in your spirit, mind, emotions, body, and your destiny. The spirit of poverty steals your future destiny by getting you to take less than what God wants. Choosing your way leads to an end that is never prosperous and becomes chaotic in the areas that you have chosen lawlessness.

Righteousness Progression

When you choose to go God’s way, you are choosing righteousness which is right living. This leads to insight. Insight is learning to think like God thinks. Walk in his ways and think like him. As you continue to walk right, think right, you will become wise. The opposite of deception is wisdom. Wisdom is seeing life correctly. Knowing what to do and how to react is wisdom. Wisdom is reacting like the Father reacts. As you walk wisely, you will become prosperous and your life will take on order. Order of the Father.

Prosperity is having a healthy spirit, a renewed soul that thinks and feels like Jesus, memories healed, and hope for the future. It is having enough of whatever you need to do God’s will for your life. This includes money, time, friends, or other resources needed to carry out God’s will. Prosperity is good marriages, good parenting, and good jobs.

Summary

When you see in yourself, others, and the world chaos, ask God what areas have I chosen my way and not his? In the areas that you want order and prosperity, ask Father, “what areas do I need to choose your way?” It is simple as that to understand. Doing it though, requires walking closely with Holy Spirt. But you can be a prosperous person!