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Look up on a clear night. Seeing the estimated 6,000 stars visible on the clearest night is all you need to realize God does things in a big way. And even the magnificence of that is not the whole picture. Science has discovered many millions of stars - far more than what can be seen.

It's just one proof of the fact God never does only enough to satisfy the situation; He always provides more than enough. From turning water into wine to feeding thousands on a hillside, God always provided more than what was necessary. He is the God of abundance.

A knowing that God wants to abundantly provide for us is within the heart of every believer. He wants to be Lord of all and is ready to show His love, power and provision.  God is able and willing to demonstrate His loving and giving nature to all of His children.

To see God's will clearly stated, we need only to look at 3 John 1:2, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."

This verse leaves no question that God wants us to prosper in all things. He has given us the power to receive from Him through faith. But if we are to prosper in all things properly, it is vital that our eyes be on Him and not on natural things.

Knowing God as Our Only Source
If our trust is misdirected and resting on natural things instead of the laws of abundance, we will never rise up in His power to prosper. Jesus made this truth clear one day when a rich young man came to Him. The account is in Mark 10:17-22:

Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, 'Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?' So Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother.' And he answered and said to Him, 'Teacher, all these I have observed from my youth.' Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, 'One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.' But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

This young man lacked the understanding of the power of giving. He followed God's laws for his spiritual relationship, but in natural things his trust was in his wealth. Jesus wanted to teach him to trust God in natural things as well as spiritual.

The man was familiar with the commandments and had lived by the law of Moses. He had a heart hungry to know God, but he needed to grasp a new aspect of God's desire for people. It was an area he never realized God was interested in to this degree. God wants to be our source of supply on every level.

Stop Earth-Bound Thinking
Jesus was pulling this man out of his earth-bound, natural thinking. To give on this level was not natural. He would have to let go of everything he had known and trust God's promises for natural as well as spiritual blessings.

Some have interpreted Jesus' comments to mean He required that the young man must become poor before he could follow Him. Jesus was not telling this man that he must be poor to follow Him. Proverbs 19:17 says, "He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given."

Jesus knew that if this man gave to the poor, God would pay him back just as the Word promised. He would not remain poor, and the wealth that came to him would be the result of God's promises and not human effort. He would be living proof that God was even God over his money.

The problem was that this young man's thinking was still tied to his wealth. Instead of trusting Jesus and obeying Him, he walked away from Jesus sad. His sadness was due to his wrong perspective. He saw his giving as a loss and not a gain. 

When we only see giving in the light of having less, we have missed God's purpose in our giving. Giving our money is our link to bringing His provision into our lives. It unlocks the windows of heaven and brings God into every financial part of our lives.

God is the great giver. He so loved that He gave. Yet, God gave with purpose; He expected to receive back more than He gave. He gave His Son and would receive many sons. His giving was the means to a greater end.

The great evangelist F. F. Bosworth said, "The only purpose of God's promises is their fulfillment." God's purpose in promising to prosper you is to fulfill every word. He is committed to His Word and to watching over His Word to perform it.

Promises Regarding Prosperity
Notice some of His promises regarding prosperity:

  • He will supply your needs on every level including natural and financial: "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19).
  • When God's people were delivered from generations of slavery in Egypt they came out with wealth and health. Psalm 105:37 says, "He also brought them out with silver and gold, and there was none feeble among His tribes."
  • To the one whose heart delights in the Word, He said, "Wealth and riches will be in his house, and his righteousness endures forever" (Ps. 112:3).
  • "If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures" (Job 36:11).

Positioned for the Supernatural
God spoke to the prophet Elijah and sent him the city of Zarephath, a Phoenician city whose religion included the worship of the false gods Baal and Ashtoreth. It was here that God would use a widow to provide for him.
So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, "Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink." And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, "Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." So she said, "As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die." And Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.

For thus says the Lord God of Israel: 'The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.'" So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.
(1 Kings 17:10-16)
Her willingness to give to the man of God positioned her for God to do something supernatural. When you provide the natural, God provides the super and you receive His supernatural.   

It seemed so unreasonable for Elijah to ask her for anything. She was in a desperate situation herself. She saw no future for her or her son - only that they would eat their last cake and die. She had to look beyond the immediate and believe there was more.

Elijah had come to bring provision to her and her son, but first she would have to give to the man of God. The very things she used to make the cake, the flour and oil, were what God multiplied.

She had acted on one of the divine laws of abundance without even realizing it. Jesus said in Luke 6:38, "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

The way this law of God works is that you choose the measure and God will begin to bring increase back to you in that measure. You have the right to prosper in all that you do. The power released when you give in faith will unlock abundant provision and power for you to prosper.

Source: Power to Increase by Dennis Burke.
Excerpt permission granted by Dennis Burke Publications

Author Biography

Dennis Burke, Ph.D.
Web site: Dennis Burke Ministries
 
Since 1979, Dennis Burke has led multitudes of believers into the biblical principles of faith, healing, love, prosperity, and righteousness. Through the Insights: the Way to a New Life magazine, books, eBooks, CDs, and mp3 resources, Dennis has brought revelation knowledge on the truths of God's Word. He has taught Christians everywhere to know God more deeply and overcome the challenges life brings through faith in God's Word.
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