God’s Laws of Finance and Stewardship

“One man gives freely, yet grows all the richer, another withholds
what he should give, and only suffers want.”  (Proverbs 11:24)

“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.” (Mark 4:26 – 27)

Every believer who understands God’s laws of finance and stewardship will revolutionize his financial thinking. If you realize that God has a separate set of financial laws that transcend  the earthly realm, you’ll spend hours and hours studying and meditating on God’s laws of prosperity in order to learn everything that you possibly can about how they work.

Money is not our greatest asset. Wise people invest their money in the future. The blessing of God is what makes you rich, not money. As long as you have God’s blessing, wealth will find you. The key is learning not to spend all of your money on short-lived pleasures but using some of it to help shape your future. Not just on earth, but so multitudes of people will be waiting to welcome you into heaven.

Many things are involved in the process of putting this power to work and seeing financial provision manifest. You need to wholeheartedly seek God and His kingdom first. (Matt. 6:33.) You must trust in Him and start giving. It’s important to understand that there’s always a period of time between sowing and reaping. Also, you must go out and work. There are many, many practical things you can do to actively cooperate with God’s laws of finance and stewardship.

LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY 
Every believer is called to live a life that is abundant, increasing and always expanding. Words like growing, improving, expanding and increasing are the vocabulary of God’s abundant life. Abundant life is about always moving forward and rising higher. When life on earth started in Genesis 1, the Spirit of the Lord started moving across the earth, and He has never stopped since then.

The abundant life of God is a life that grows and moves forward every day. Jesus says in John 10:10 that the devil, the thief, comes to steal, kill and destroy. He wants to keep you from living. He wants to rob from your life. Everything that’s negative, everything that removes, everything that stops and kills is of the thief, the devil.

But Jesus said, “I have come that you may have life and that you may have it more abundantly.” Oh, I love that thought! As we engage in this spiritual process of victorious transformation, we need to put God’s thoughts of abundance in your mind. We need to be inspired with His thoughts of increase, favor and promotion!

What God sees for tomorrow is what He sees every day: exciting, progressing, abundant life.

 The Greek word for life spoken by Jesus in John 10:10 is zoe. It means “absolute life, the purest kind of life, life in its very essence.” I like what the margin note in my Bible reads: “the God kind of life.”

So many “pew warming” Christians have been raised so long in the religious culture of just making a living and trying to hang in there that they don’t know God’s abundance even exists. The negative, sick, sorrowful environment they were raised in keeps them constantly confused. They’re always wondering what’s happening. Their lives are not what God willed. Their vision is not what God planned. What they see for tomorrow is not what God sees for tomorrow.

This is not the abundant life of God; it is the life of religion and the expectation of tradition. This is the attitude of people who don’t know the life that God has called them to.

Jesus didn’t say, “I’ve come for you to exist.” You can exist without Jesus. He didn’t say, “I’ve come for you to survive.” You can survive without Jesus. He didn’t say, “I’ve come for you to make a living.” You can make a living without Jesus. No, Jesus said, “I’ve come that you might have the God kind of absolute life, the purest kind of life, life in its very essence—zoe.”

The Church must teach God’s reality. But before we can do that accurately, we must get the true image of who we are in Him and who He is in us. We’ve got to know first that abundant life is available. Then we’ve got to stop our selfish ways of thinking that major on survival and what we want. We must start living bigger in such a way that we can be a blessing and impact the world around us.

Beloved, above all things I wish that you prosper and be in health, as your soul prospers.  3 John 2

John realized that the prosperity of our whole lives, including the health of our bodies, hinged on the condition of our souls. John understood that what is in us controls what comes out of us and ultimately produces life’s experiences. The apostle is telling us that as our soul prospers, our life prospers.

So many Christians wonder about God’s will when it comes to prosperity and health. It should be obvious to anyone who believes the Bible that John wouldn’t pray a prayer that was contrary to the will of God. Neither would he have said that he prayed this prayer above every other prayer if it weren’t so.

If it weren’t God’s will for His people to prosper and live
in health, the Holy Spirit would never have inspired
John to believe it or record it as a part of holy Scripture.

Many people pray for provision and then expect God to instantly manifest their answer. If it doesn’t happen, then they start doubting and say, “God, why haven’t You done anything?” No, the Lord has already done His part. He’s already commanded financial blessing upon all believers. (Deut. 8:18.) God has already given every Christian power, anointing, and ability to prosper. Psalm 35:27 reveals His delight “in the prosperity of his servant.” In the spirit, there’s abundant supply for every born-again believer. (2 Cor. 8:9.)

God, why didn’t You answer my prayer? He did! He’s blessed you with all spiritual blessings.  He’s commanded His favor upon you. He’s given you power to get wealth. All of these things are real in the spiritual realm. But you need to cooperate in faith!

The world prospers by hoarding, but God reveals that the way to supernatural prosperity is through giving.

God doesn’t operate by this world’s system, and it’s more important for us to understand how God’s financial system works than it is to understand Wall Street.

God’s laws of prosperity always keep God first while the world’s system of prosperity always puts money first.

In God’s economy, you move closer toward your goals by giving than you do by clinging to everything you have. It all comes down to faith. 

If we want God to prosper us, we must give ourselves wholly to continual study and meditation in His Word.  “Meditate upon these things, give yourself wholly to them, that your profiting may appear to all.” (1 Timothy 4:15)

God’s Word will only grow in our hearts to the degree that we constantly meditate on it. Head knowledge isn’t sufficient to activate any of God’s laws. God’s laws come from a spiritual realm that is completely different from the natural world that we live in. We can’t receive revelation of God’s laws with our minds.

 Our Father doesn’t want us trying to figure out His laws with our human understanding. The key to activating His laws is to get them down inside of our heart. Our Father wants us to fill our hearts and our minds with His Word.

“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”  (Proverbs 23:7)
“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) 
“Lay up these My words in your heart and in your soul.”  (Deuteronomy 11:18)

Everyone wants to prosper, but few people are willing to pay the necessary price of study and meditation in God’s Word which is necessary in order for His laws of prosperity to be manifested.

We renew our minds through constant study and meditation in God’s Word. 
If we want God to prosper us, we must give ourselves wholly to continual study and meditation in His Word.

None of us should expect our Father to prosper us unless we are willing to pay the price of working hard at studying His Word….. Only a small percentage of Christians are willing to pay the price of constant study and meditation that God requires in 2 Timothy 2:15, Psalm 1:1–3 and Joshua 1:8.

The key to prosperity isn’t a better salary; the key to prosperity is to renew your mind so that when you do make more money, you will be able to manage it using God’s wisdom.

MEDITATE DAY AND NIGHT
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”  (Joshua 1:8)

This is one of the most important verses of Scripture in the entire Bible for anyone who is interested in prosperity and success. In fact, it is the only verse of Scripture in the entire Bible which contains the words “prosperous” and “success.” This verse of Scripture shows us the three things that our Father tells us to do if we intend to be prosperous and successful:

• We must speak His Word constantly – His Scriptures should constantly come out of our mouths.
• We should constantly study His Word and meditate “day and night” on what it says.
• We should live our lives exactly as His Word tells us to live them. We should know His Word so well that we conduct our lives “according to all that is written therein.”

As you go through the process of meditating on these verses of Scripture and speaking them with your mouth, go slowly. Don’t rush. Wait on the Lord. Turn these great laws over and over in your mind. Do this slowly, thoroughly and thoughtfully.

As this process continues day after day, week after week and month after month, your mind will become more and more renewed to God’s laws of prosperity. One at a time, these great laws will drop from your mind into your heart. Soon, your heart will be overflowing with our Father’s great truths.

The second place that we find Scripture that ties meditation and prosperity together is at the very start of the book of Psalms.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”   (Psalm 1:1–3)

First, God tells us that, if we want to prosper in everything we do, he will bless “the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.”  God will bless us if we will follow His laws of prosperity instead of following the world’s methods of prosperity. God doesn’t want us living the way the sinful world lives. He doesn’t want us looking at things the way worldly people do. We have already seen in Romans 12:2 that He tells us not to conform to the world’s way of doing things, but, instead, to transform our lives by following His laws.

Psalm 1:2 told us that we should meditate day and night in God’s Word because we “delight” in His laws. What will happen to us if we “delight” in God’s Word and “meditate day and night” in it? Here is the answer:

Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendants will be mighty on earth; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches shall be in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.  (Psalm 112:1 – 3)

THE GREATEST FINANCIAL GENIUS
In the world, people study the Wall Street Journal and all the stock market tips to decide how to handle their money.  This is fine for man’s system of prosperity, but Christians should study God’s laws of prosperity which are found in the greatest instruction book that this world has ever known – the Holy Bible.

God is the greatest financial genius of all time. He always has been and he always will be.

The Holy Spirit is the world’s best salesman, the world’s best mechanic, the world’s best factory worker, the world’s best engineer, the world’s best nurse, the world’s best doctor, the world’s best dentist, etc. etc.  There is no limit to what he can do through us in any occupation. Our job is to do the very best we can with the human abilities that He has given us and then to trust in Him for the rest.

Our Father wants us to prosper financially. However, this prosperity isn’t “automatic” just because we’re Christians. We have to follow His laws of prosperity which are carefully laid out in the Word. If we follow these laws, God won’t withhold any good thing from us.

“No good thing will He withhold from them who walk along His paths.” (Psalm 84:11)  Each day he loads us down with benefits. “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits.”  (Psalm 68:19)

GOD IS OUR SOURCE, WE ARE STEWARDS
Two important steps toward prosperity are to realize that God is your source, and to develop the mindset of a steward. Once you do those two things, the Word of God will cause you to prosper. 

When you know God is your source, you won’t cling to assets. This mindset will help you sleep at night! It will completely transform your life to learn to rely on God instead of trusting in assets or other people. You can actually live your life without being tied to, or a servant of, your money. 

It is important to develop the mindset of being a steward – over God’s money, not yours.

You have to rely on God and trust that He is your source. It has to be a heart–level revelation, not just a conclusion you arrive at mentally. But once you grab hold of this, it will revolutionize your life. You will be completely transformed once you believe that by putting God first, he will begin to supernaturally take care of you. It will bring you a tremendous amount of peace and confidence.

The way God gets you to trust Him with your finances is by asking you to give a portion of what you earn back to him, and He promises to bless you back in return. It helps to remember that the power to get wealth comes from God, and it teaches you to trust God as your true source of prosperity.

ABRAHAM SAW GOD AS HIS SOURCE
Regardless of the economy or marketplace, God is a God of abundance. He told Abraham, “I am El Shaddai,” the God who is more than enough. Abraham became a very rich man as he walked with God. (Gen. 12-17.)

God’s Word clearly tells us that we are heirs to Abraham. This means that the blessings God gave to Abraham are available to us. Our Father wants us to receive the same blessings that He gave to Abraham, and we can receive these blessings if we will follow His laws of prosperity.

Abraham saw God as his source. He trusted in God, and because of that, God prospered him supernaturally. God is the one who opens doors of opportunity. God is our source, and just like Abraham, we need to recognize that the money we have belongs to God.

It was purely the favor of God that made Abraham rich. In the
same way, your efforts are not the source of prosperity in your life.

PRESCRIPTION FOR GOD’S PROSPERITY
If I had to boil everything that I have learned down to just four words, this four-word prescription for God’s prosperity would be, “always keep God first.”

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)
They that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. (Psalm 34:10)
As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.  (2 Chronicles 26:5)

We should say, “God, I’m going to put you first and keep you first every hour of every day of my life. I’m going to study and meditate constantly in your Word and do exactly what it tells me to do, trusting completely in you to supply every one of my needs.”

“True humility and respect for the Lord lead a man to riches, honor and long life.” (Proverbs 22:4) Our Father does want us to enjoy riches, honor and long life as long as we reach these goals as a result of keeping Him first by always humbling ourselves before Him. This is God’s “prescription” for prosperity in every area of our lives.

When you put the wrong things first in life, you fail. There is no way around the reality of right priorities.  Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matt. 6:33).

If you will make Jesus the top priority of your life, He will enable you to succeed in business, family and every other area of your life.

I recognize that I am not the one who has caused my success.
It isn’t my great wisdom or ability that has caused our
                                                              ministry to succeed, it’s the blessing of God.  (Andrew Wommack)                                                             

OUR HEART FOLLOWS OUR TREASURE
“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). By telling us that our hearts follow our treasure, Jesus is saying, “Show me your bank records and your Visa statement, and I will show you where your heart is.” What we do with our money doesn’t simply indicate where our hearts are. According to Jesus, it determines where our hearts go.

As surely as the compass needle follows north, your heart will follow your treasure. This is a remarkable truth. If I want my heart somewhere, all I need to do is put my money there.

You can see where a person’s heart is by where their money goes. Someone who is really trusting in the Lord will prove it by tithing and giving out of their resources.

God wants your heart. He isn’t looking for dispassionate “philanthropists” for His kingdom. He’s looking for disciples so filled with a vision for eternity that they wouldn’t dream of not investing their money, time, and prayers where they will matter most.

The act of giving is a vivid reminder that it’s all about God, not
about us. It’s saying I’m not the point, He is the point. He does
not exist for me. I exist for Him. God’s money has a higher
purpose than my affluence. Giving is a joyful surrender to a
greater Person and a greater agenda. Giving dethrones me
and exalts Christ. It breaks the chains of the Money–God
that would enslave me.

If you give a little, you get a little – but when you give liberally, you get liberally. When you sow a lot, you reap a lot.  Nearly everyone wants to reap a lot, but they try sowing as little as possible, it doesn’t work that way. You can’t give by the teaspoon and expect to receive by the truckload. If you want to receive by the truckload, then you have to give by the truckload.

He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  (2 Corinthians 9:6–8)

If we sow sparingly, we will reap a modest harvest. If we sow bountifully, cheerfully and ungrudgingly, God will supply abundantly so that we will always have everything that we need with enough left over to contribute to every good work.

God’s Word clearly teaches that He put us on this earth not to see how much we can get, but to see how much we can give. Untold millions of people have this backwards. When we are reborn spiritually, our new nature wants to give, but our old nature wants to hang onto what we have.

How will God give back to us? Will he just pour money down from heaven? No. Luke 6:38 tells us that “men” will give unto us. “Men shall give unto your bosom.”  What does this mean? It means that our Father has arranged it so that His children who follow His laws of giving will receive – from men. As we give generously to others, our Father will inspire other men and women to give to us.  (to do biz with us, to show us favor)

We determine exactly how much others give to us. How do we do this? The closing words of Luke 6:38 tell us how. “For with the same measure that you meet, it will be measured to you again.”

Why shouldn’t we give cheerfully if we know that our money
is going to be put to good use and, in addition if we know that
God is going to see to it that every bit of our gift is given back
to us plus more? Who wouldn’t be cheerful if they fully
comprehended that, in addition to doing God’s work, they
would receive a bountiful harvest from the seeds they had sown?

 Many people give faithfully for a while and then when financial problems come up, they cut down on their giving. If we fall into this trap, we fail a financial test that God has allowed to come into our lives. When financial problems come, if we make any change in our giving, it should be to increase our giving, not to decrease it. In times of difficulty, it’s more important than ever to put God first and to keep him first.

 BLESSINGS WILL OVERTAKE US
God’s Word tells us that we can actually put ourselves in a position where His blessings will “pursue” us and “overtake” us. We don’t have to chase after God’s blessings! His Word says that they will actually pursue us and overtake us.

“Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy 28:1 – 2)

He will place us in a realm of spiritual knowledge that will put us above the way most people on earth live their lives. If we do what our Father’s Word tells us to do, we are told that His blessings will come after us and overtake us.

If you can look at all your assets and say, “I produced all of this,” then you haven’t tapped into God’s abundance yet. When you put God’s kingdom first, the Lord will prosper you supernaturally. And it will be abundant.

If you aren’t embarrassed by your level of prosperity, then there is a good chance you aren’t depending on God as your source.

THE POWER TO GET WEALTH
If someone says that God doesn’t want us to prosper, how can they possibly explain this verse of Scripture? “You shall remember the Lord thy God, for it is He that gives you the power to get wealth, that he may establish His covenant which he gave to our fathers, as it is this day.” (Deut 8:18) If it’s wrong to be prosperous, why does God give us the power to become wealthy as part of His covenant?

God is the source of our prosperity but notice the Scripture doesn’t say God gives us wealth. God doesn’t send us checks in the mail; He gives us the power to get wealth. He releases an anointing on whatever you do and causes it to prosper – and the blessing of God is so powerful that it cannot be reversed.

Gifts also have an effect in the spiritual realm. When you give, it opens up doors for you. It can create opportunities and bring you before powerful people.

God evaluates prosperity by how much of a blessing you are to others.

Financial success isn’t about you – it’s really about how much money is flowing through you.

By fixing your heart, you deal with the root cause of financial situations, and then money will take care of itself. Once your heart is right, using wisdom in how you spend/invest your money comes naturally.

Without the blessing of God upon your life, you wouldn’t even have the ability to prosper.

GOD’S FAVOR
Once you begin trusting God for that which is seen – money – then you will be able to trust him for that which is unseen: health, peace, joy, prosperity, and God’s favor in your life.

Once the favor of God is on our lives, it cannot be stopped! The only thing that can derail the blessing of God is our own unbelief and negativity. As long as we keep believing, the blessings of God will keep coming.

The wealth you amass in life isn’t important. The focus of your life should be your relationship with God, which is what causes wealth to accumulate. Money isn’t that significant. On the other hand, God’s favor on your life is priceless.

Most people judge their worth by their savings and retirement fund, but those things are just a physical manifestation of the real asset – which is God’s favor. Wealth is just a byproduct of God’s favor.

The blessing and favor of God are what make you rich – not money. His true wealth was the favor of God. God gives us resources, but the resources aren’t our real asset.

Money is nothing! It’s the blessing and favor of God on you that is the real asset. The true power of money is in using it to bless others and help grow the kingdom, which will also change your future.

When we follow God’s laws of prosperity, we receive His
wisdom in our finances and in  every area of our lives because
His laws of prosperity apply to much more than just our finances.

God’s kind of prosperity results from faith. When you work so that you can have money to give, God takes care of you. It’s a mindset and a heart condition, not a get rich scheme. 

The highest form of giving is to help share the gospel. When you start helping the good news to be shared, demonstrating the love of God in word and deed, there is a divine flow that takes place. God starts supernaturally supplying your needs.

There’s nothing wrong with being prosperous. God wants you to have nice things, but your heart attitude should be that prosperity isn’t about you – it’s really about how much is flowing through you.

God gave us two hands: one hand to receive, and one hand to give. If God can get the money through you to other people, then he will get it to you – and as the money flows through there will be plenty left over for you.

God’s kind of prosperity comes when you shift your focus from getting and maintaining stuff, to living to give.

Many people will have had $1 or $2 million pass through their hands in this life, but they won’t have anything to show for it in eternity. They will have spent all of their money on cars, clothes, and food. Right now, we have the privilege of taking something that will eventually be completely destroyed and converting it into something that will never pass away.

Once you understand this truth, you realize what an incredible blessing it is to be able to give. It’s the investment opportunity of a lifetime.

Prosperity isn’t about indulging your flesh, that’s not it at all. Prosperity is about giving. When you get that attitude, God will get money to you – and there will be plenty left over for you.

Prosperity is having such an abundant supply that you are able to abound unto every good work, which means that blessings will flow your way when you are living to give.  “Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness” (2 Corinthians 9:10)

The Lord is searching the earth, looking for people who will believe His promises and put first the kingdom of God. He is looking for people who will give genuinely, from the heart, not as a form of manipulation – not giving just to get. God is literally searching the world for people He can give finances to, people who are givers.

You could turn this around and say that if you are consistently short on money, if you always have more month then you have money, then maybe God doesn’t see you as a giver.

Sowers are the people God is searching the world to find.

It’s only what you give away that you get to keep, and
no one is a fool to give away something they can’t
keep in order to get something they can never lose.

Selfishness short-circuits prosperity because it causes us to consume all of our resources. It turns us into a vacuum cleaner that sucks up everything in sight. We ought to be just the opposite. Christians should be like leaf blowers, giving money left and right. We should be imitating God by searching for opportunities to give and asking him to show us how we can be a blessing.

When you get the attitude of a giver and walk it out over time, God will increase your finances. If God can get money through you, He will get it to you – and it won’t be long before you have plenty left over for yourself.

God won’t let you outgive him. God always blesses you back when you show faith in Him by giving of your substance. You will never be more faithful to God than He is to you.

THE MOTIVE FOR GIVING
Giving is a powerful part of tapping into God’s prosperity. Several different things help determine the harvest you get from your giving – like the attitude you give with, where you give, and trusting God as your source – so there isn’t a formula. But you can’t really prosper in God’s economy until you start sowing into his kingdom.

Giving with the right attitude, and in the full knowledge that God is your source, will really prosper you.

The motive behind your gift is more important than the gift itself. You have to plant your financial seed with a cheerful heart, motivated by love, because your gift is ruined when you give with the wrong motive.

As you become a deliberate, on purpose giver – and you do it motivated by love – it will start a flow of God’s blessings into your life that will cause you to prosper like never before.

Eventually you want to get to where you are thinking, God, this is your money. What do you want me to do with it?  It all comes down to the motive of your heart.

When you honor God by giving the firstfruits of your increase, then the Lord turns around and says, “so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” The way we would say that today is, “I’m going to fill up your checking account, and your savings account is going to burst.” 

Giving is how you wind up with a huge savings – not by hoarding. When you take a portion of what you have and trust God with it, then it becomes a seed that yields greater increase in the future.

As our Father keeps giving us an increase, we need to keep putting it back into His kingdom. He gives us the increase. We plant this increase. He gives us more increase. We plant this additional increase. On and on it goes.

We can’t out give God! However, we need to give Him a channel by which He can give to us, and that channel is given to Him by the seeds that we plant through our giving. We shouldn’t ever “eat” all of our seeds. No farmer would do this, and we shouldn’t either. We shouldn’t ever use up all of our income. We need to continuously “replant” from our income. As God gives us a harvest, we should plow it back again, and again, and again. As we give freely to God, he will give freely back to us.

Planting seed ensures that you have a crop in the future to feed your family and provide for your needs. Most people are short-term thinkers. They don’t see the wisdom in giving because the natural mind can’t understand the things of the spirit.

The liberal soul shall be made fat is another way of saying that when you are a giver, you will have more money than you need. You’ll have riches in reserve. God will bless you and multiply you.

The blessings that we receive from our Father will be in direct proportion to the degree of our true, deep and lasting commitment in Him.

Prosperity is a byproduct of seeking God, it shouldn’t be the goal.
God blesses us because Christ made us righteous, not because of our performance.

Our Father has more than enough to meet every one of our needs. Too many of God’s children are focusing on inflation, interest rates and unemployment instead of meditating constantly upon his promises. Heaven’s economy isn’t dependent in any way upon the condition of a man-made economic system!

This is what “separates the men from the boys” spiritually. Strong faith demands action. If we really believe, then we’ll do exactly what our Father’s Word tells us to do.

God doesn’t give you wealth directly; He gives you power to get it instead.  “But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant” (Deut. 8:18).

As a born-again believer, you already have God’s wealth anointing and prosperity power. However, you must believe in your heart that you already have it and then put it to work by faith.

Once you believe that God—by grace—has already provided prosperity, you’ll begin to reach out in faith and take it. You’ll start cooperating with the power and anointing to get wealth that is already in your born-again spirit.

Instead of just praying and asking God to dump a bunch of money in your lap while you sit at home watching “As the Stomach Turns” on television, you’ll get up, go out, and start touching things. Why? Because you know that God has promised to bless all the work of your hands! (Deut. 28:8, 12.)

When you start doing things—believing for that anointing to manifest and prosperity to come—then you’ll start seeing it. If you just sit at home, pray, and wait for God to magically put money in your wallet, you’ll never receive it. God said He’d bless the work of your hands. One hundred times zero is zero (100 x 0 = 0).

You need to believe that God has already done His part, and then do something. It’s not, “God, did You see that I worked? Now, release Your power!” No!  You’re working because you believe that God has already given you this anointing to get wealth, and you’re acting in faith to release that power to manifest the prosperity the Lord has already provided. Can you see the difference?

God doesn’t fulfill our needs according to the condition of the stock market. It’s not according to what your boss wants to pay you. It’s not according to the contracts your union fought for. It’s not according to your company’s profits. It’s according to His riches in glory. You may want to trust in the Dow Jones industrial average or in the Teamsters or in your boss and company. But I’m going to trust God. He is the One who promises to meet all my need and yours according to His riches in glory.

The Amplified Bible says, My God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. You won’t find any of this “barely enough” stuff in Scripture. What you will find is phrases like, liberally supply…fill to the full…according to His riches.

If Paul were just talking about what we need to survive—air, water, food and shelter, we wouldn’t need to call on His riches in glory. But Paul is talking abundant-life talk. He’s talking about God’s giving you what you need to live this abundant life so you can fulfill your destiny. And to do this, the apostle says that God will use His riches in glory to make sure you have a liberal supply.

THE BLESSING OF THE TITHE
The prophet Malachi tells us to bring our tithes, a tenth of our income, into the Church so there will be food in God’s house. When we believe this promise is connected to our destiny and do it, the Lord can open the windows of heaven to pour out a blessing on us.

Unless you factor faith in God into the equation, it makes no sense to take 10% of what you make and give it away. This is foolish to the natural mind – and that is exactly why God asks us to do it! God isn’t broke. He doesn’t need our 10%. Giving is a way of demonstrating that we are in God’s economy, not the worlds. (That we are not living on our own power and intellect!!)

Once we fully comprehend these concepts, the 10% figure becomes purely academic. We can stop at 10% if we want to, but what Christian with a renewed mind would willingly stop at that level knowing that God will bless him more if he increases it? Tithing merely “primes the pump.” The real blessings of God will pour out in proportion to the offerings that we cheerfully give on top of our 10% tithes.

Malachi 3:11 is the only place in the Bible where God himself says that he will rebuke the devil for us. We have the authority to do this ourselves (Luke 10:19 – Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you) but when it comes to the matter of receiving blessings from our tithes and offerings, God himself makes certain that Satan doesn’t steal our blessings.

Imagine how Satan must feel when God himself stands in his way!!! How can any of us fail to give liberally if we fully understand what Malachi 3:10–11 says that God will do in return?

If you aren’t giving to God, then you either don’t know His promises
to give back to you, or you don’t really believe those promises are true.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but if you aren’t tithing, then you aren’t trusting God. Giving is a step of faith that turns your focus to God and moves you into position to receive from Him.

People who don’t trust God with their finances are not mature, stable Christians – and won’t become stable until they start trusting God in this area. If that describes you, just keep in mind that sowing and reaping takes time. Likewise, learning to trust God with your finances and moving into maturity and stability in this area is a process.

CONSIDER YOUR WAYS
God’s Word clearly speaks of people who have “sown much and bring in little.” Therefore, an abundant return obviously isn’t automatic. We don’t “automatically” receive bountifully just because we sowed bountifully. If we’re sowing abundantly and not receiving abundantly, what does God’s Word tell us to do? Our Father tells us twice to “consider your ways.” He is actually telling us that we need to take a good look at what we’re doing if we’re sowing seeds bountifully and if we’re still not receiving bountifully.

After planting our financial seeds, we must cultivate them. We must continue to study and meditate constantly in God’s Word. We must constantly express our faith in an abundant return by our words and our actions. No matter how bad a situation might appear, we must not block God in any way by lack of faith, or by lack of patience.

Lack of patience blocks more Christians from receiving from God than many of us realize. A farmer wouldn’t dream of planting seeds and expecting an immediate harvest. We can’t rush this process. God’s laws of sowing and reaping always take time. God has a time for everything. “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

If we are to prosper under God’s laws of prosperity, we must be patient. God doesn’t lie. All of His promises are real. We will reap – if we are patient. We can’t rush God. The carnal part of us wants answers and it wants them now! We must counteract this tendency by developing ourselves spiritually so that we will have the strength and the patience to wait for the harvest.

“And let us not be wary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.” (Galatians 6:9)

If we aren’t receiving an answer, we need to speak out the promises of Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:1–3, Malachi 3:10–11, Luke 6:38, 2 Corinthians 9:6–8 and many others. We need to praise God and thank him for supplying abundantly.

Too many Christians waiver after a while and allow their doubts to come out of their mouths. This negative confession cancels the results that would have been forthcoming if they had continued to cultivate their crops with faith and patience.

Meditating day and night on God’s laws of prosperity,
speaking them with your mouth and acting on them
in your life, will activate God’s laws of prosperity. (Josh 1:8)

Virtually every one of God’s instructions on giving is combined with a promise of receiving. See for yourself in Luke 6:38, 2 Corinthians 9:6–8, Malachi 3:10–11, etc. If God himself places an emphasis on receiving, why should we feel that there is anything wrong with expecting to receive?

God has already commanded blessing and the power to get wealth upon you.
You just have to learn how to reach out in faith and receive it!

We should expect a return on our giving. All Christians should release their faith for a great return, not to “feather their own nests,” but to finance worldwide Christian revival.

It’s wrong to give selfishly, but it’s not wrong to give believing. Money that is constantly given is like a clear, bubbling brook – always fresh and new, always cool and refreshing. This continual giving, backed up by unwavering faith and patience, will continually activate God’s laws of receiving and put us in His perfect will for our finances.

WE ARE ALREADY BLESSED

Once you see in Ephesians 1:3 that God has already blessed you with  everything heaven has to offer, it is easy to receive from heaven. It is  also easy to give, because understanding that every spiritual blessing in the heavens is yours leaves very little limitation on what you have.

Paul is telling us here that God has already blessed you with everything heaven has to offer. So stop right here for a second and say, “I’m already blessed!” So many Christians are trying to get God to do something, without knowing He has already done it. That’s right—God has already provided whatever you need. Right now, you’re blessed with everything heaven has to offer. And if you can see this image of total blessing, it will change the way you live.

How you see God is how you see your world. If your image of God sounds like, “Well, God might heal, but you never know,” “God might bless, but you can never be sure,” “God touches some, but He doesn’t touch others,” or “God prospers some, but others, He wants to be poor,” then these images will become the controlling factor in your life and you will act that way. Sometimes you will be generous; sometimes you will be stingy. You might be nice to some and unkind to others, because your image of God is your image of yourself.

When your mind is renewed in the revelation that you are already blessed, you will just flow. You won’t be selfish or guarded. You won’t be defensive. You will be a big, open, generous, liberal person. Because God is big, you will see big.

So if you say things like, “Well, we’ve just been in debt, I was born in debt, my parents were in debt, I was raised in debt; I can’t afford that” and so forth, you just framed your world with debt upon debt. And as long as you keep talking that way about finances, you will live that way.

But if you observe how God’s kingdom operates, you will speak light to the darkness. You will prophesy light to that big hole in your checkbook. You will raise that thing from the dead! Because God calls things that are not as though they were, and because you are made in His image, you can too!

So when you begin to say, “I’m financially prospering, I don’t live in debt, I pay off my debts, my home is paid for, I have a car paid for, I have money in the bank, God gives me the power to get wealth, money is coming to me,” you are only obeying what God’s Word says and framing your life with God’s supernatural best.

YOU CAN SEND IT ON AHEAD
God’s riches are infinite. When you serve Him and others, you store up treasures in Heaven. (Matt 6:20) Why? Because it’s right? Not only that, but because it’s smart. Jesus makes not an emotional appeal, but a logical one: invest in what has lasting value.

You’ll never see a hearse pulling a You-haul. Why? Because you can’t take it with you.

Jesus takes that profound truth, “you can’t take it with you,” and adds a stunning qualification. By telling us to store up treasures for ourselves in Heaven, He gives us a remarkable corollary:  You can’t take it with you – but you can send it on ahead.

Anything we try to hang on to here will be lost. But anything we put into God’s hands will be ours for eternity. If that doesn’t take your breath away, you don’t understand it!

If we invest in the eternal instead of in the temporal, we store up treasures in Heaven that will never stop paying dividends. Whatever treasures we store up on Earth will be left behind when we leave. Whatever treasures we store up in Heaven will be waiting for us when we arrive.

Don’t ask how your investment will be paying off in just 30 years.
Ask how it will be paying off in 30 million years?

When the Lord returns, what will happen to all the money sitting in bank accounts, retirement programs, estates, and foundations? It will burn like wood, hay, and straw, when it could have been given in exchange for gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Corinthians 3:12 – 13). Money that could have been used to feed the hungry and fulfill the Great Commission will go up in smoke.

AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
We will each part with our money. The only question is when. We have no choice but to part with it later. But we do have a choice whether to part with it now. We can keep earthly treasures for the moment, and we may derive some temporary enjoyment from them. But if we give them away, we’ll enjoy eternal treasures that will never be taken from us. This is what missionary Jim Elliott was talking about when he wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

When you leave this world, will you be known as one who accumulated treasures on Earth that you couldn’t keep? Or will you be recognized as one who invested treasures in Heaven that you couldn’t lose?

(When they get to heaven…) They’ll still be blessed and overwhelmed by the love of God because we aren’t saved according to our works, but there won’t be anybody waiting to welcome them into heaven because they never used their money to spread the gospel and change lives.

You won’t know how many lives you have touched by giving to support the preaching of the gospel until you get to heaven and see everyone lined up to greet you.

In order to experience this joy, I invite you to transfer your assets from Earth to Heaven. I encourage you to give humbly, generously, and frequently to God’s work. Excel in giving so that you may please God, serve others, find new meaning and pleasure in your present life, and enjoy treasures one day in Heaven.

I urge you to embrace Christ’s invitation: “Give, and it will be given to you” (Luke 6:38). Then when He gives you more, remind yourself why: that you may be more generous than ever before.

I invite you to send your treasures on to Heaven, where they will safely await you. When you do, you’ll embrace the freedom, experience the joy, and sense the smile of God.

People achieving excellence always strive for improvement, and they learn to love change.
When you learn to love the transformation process—you will change!

 For Scripture References, refer to “God’s Laws of Finance & Stewardship” in the “Word of God” section of www.phlibrary.com

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