Give More—Not Less There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. - Proverbs 11:24 When money gets tight, its always a temptation to cut down on your giving. After all, it seems like the logical thing to do. Dont do it! Youll end up cutting off the flow of Gods financial blessings just when you need them most. I faced that kind of situation just a few years ago. This ministry had fallen behind financially—$1 million to be exact. Gloria and I had been living by faith for 20 years at that time. We knew firsthand that God would meet our needs—according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). Wed seen God prove that over and over again, not only in our personal lives but in the life of our ministry as well. Yet this particular time, all the prayers and the faith that had brought us victory before just didnt seem to get the job done. In fact, as time went on, the situation grew worse instead of better. By the end of the year our deficit had grown to be $1 million. Frustrated and weary, I finally went to God one day and laid the situation out before Him. Lord, I said, You see the condition of this ministry. I need $1 million just to break even. Oh no, you dont! the Lord replied. I could hardly believe it. How could He possibly be telling me that I didnt need $1 million? Hadnt He looked at the books? Hadnt He talked to my accountant? I was stumped. All I could figure was that Id misunderstood something. So I went through it all again. Again He said, Oh no, you dont. Despite my initial confusion, as I kept asking and listening, I began to understand what the Lord was telling me. He was saying that the red ink on the books wasnt the only thing wrong. There was a bigger problem behind it. Then He showed me what I needed to do was to start giving 10 percent of the ministrys income into ministering to the poor. To the natural mind that looked like no solution at all. How do you solve a deficit by giving away what money youve got? But when I applied that solution, the $1 million deficit began to disappear. Remember that next time the devil tries to put the squeeze on you. Break his hold on your finances by giving more instead of less. It wont be long until the prosperity of God is poured out on you! Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 17:1-16 By Kenneth Copeland
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 08:25:07 +0000