“There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty” (Prov. 11:24).
When money gets tight, it’s always a temptation to cut down on your giving. After all, it seems like the logical thing to do. Don’t do it! You’ll end up cutting off the flow of God’s financial blessings just when you need them most.
I faced that kind of situation several years ago. This ministry had fallen behind financially – one million dollars 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 (Phil. 4:19). We’d 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 didn’t 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 a million dollars.
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 a million dollars just to break even.”
“Oh no, you don’t!” the Lord replied.
I could hardly believe it. How could He possibly be telling me that I didn’t need a million dollars? Hadn’t He looked at the books? Hadn’t He talked to my accountant? I was stumped. All I could figure was that I’d misunderstood something. So I went through it all again.
Again He said, “Oh no, you don’t.”
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 wasn’t 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 ministry’s 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 you’ve got? But when I applied that solution, the million dollar 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 won’t be long until the prosperity of God is poured out on you!
Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 17:1-16
Excerpt permission granted by
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka: Kenneth Copeland Ministries
For the last 50 years Kenneth and Gloria Copeland have been passionately teaching Christians all over the world how to apply the principles of faith found in God's WORD to their lives.
They have seven ministry offices around the world: United States, Canada, Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Ukraine and Latin America. Their God-given directive is to preach and teach the uncompromised WORD of God on every available voice, which is being accomplished through a variety of channels, including our Believer's Voice of Victory TV and radio broadcasts, podcast and magazine; Believers' Conventions, Victory Campaigns and Living Victory meetings; published books, website, and social media channels, to name a few.
With the expansion of technology, they have more work to do now than ever. They are determined to let the world know Jesus is LORD, and they are not slowing down anytime soon!