We are living in a time of increase. There is no doubt in my mind about that. We are living in a day in which God is going to bring phenomenal increase to bear in the earth. His Church is going to increase. His body is going to increase. His people as a whole are going to experience supernatural increase on an unprecedented level.
The only question that remains for you and me is, Are we as individuals going to be in the flow of that increase? As we move into the time in which the end-time harvests come in (both souls and finances), are you and I going to be a part of it or will we be standing on the sidelines watching other believers experience supernatural blessing?
You see, just because God is bringing increase to His people, that doesn’t mean every believer will automatically experience it just because they’re saved. Those who passively say, God, it’s up to you. If you want me to be blessed, then bless me, are probably not going to see God’s highest and best in these last days.
Keep in mind, when I say increase, I’m talking about more than just financial blessing (although that certainly is an important element of the end-time plan of God). I’m also talking about an increase of peace, an increase of joy, an increase of good health and an increase in harmonious relationships. How will individuals experience all these wonderful facets of supernatural increase? Only as they align themselves with God’s plan for increase in the local church.
The local church? you ask. Yes. You can only experience the power of God to the degree that you align yourself with His purposes. (God never dispenses His power apart from His purpose.) And God is going to fulfill His purposes in these last days largely through local churches.
It is primarily through churches that the lost are going to be reached and discipled. It is primarily through the agency of churches that the end-time harvest of souls predicted in the Word of God will be brought in. God is pouring out His power in and through churches because increase in these local bodies is central to His end-time plan.
So, the first key to getting in the flow of supernatural increase in the last days is to have your life firmly planted in a local body of believers. The second key once you’re plugged into a church is to make sure you are giving what the Bible calls your supply of the Spirit there. Look with me at Ephesians 4:16, and you’ll see what I mean: Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Now, when this passage speaks of the whole body, it is referring to the universal, invisible church of the body of Christ. But I believe it is equally applicable to the local body of individual groups of believers that constitute the larger Church universal. In fact, I’m convinced that anytime the New Testament refers to the universal church, what is said is also applicable to the local church. You and every member of your church have something the corporate body needs.
Types of Supply
Supply is the key word here. It’s the cornerstone of increase. Particularly the kind of increase God wants to see in His churches and His people in these last days. What is this supply? There are actually a number of different types. First, there is financial supply. We see a reference to this type of supply in Ephesians 4:28: Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. According to this verse, if you’re laboring for any reason other than to be able to give to him that needeth, you are, in a sense, a thief.
Of course, we know that God wants us to have things to enjoy. Don’t doubt that for a moment. The Word says God wants to give us all things richly to enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17). But the primary reason God wants to bring increase to you is to enable you to be a blessing to others, especially by financing the spread of the Gospel.
This is part of the supply you bring to the church body to which you have been joined. If you’re laboring only to acquire things, you’re robbing others of your supply and robbing yourself of the blessings of being a giver. There is also a supply of service. Clearly as each person in a church finds his or her place and gives of his or her time, talent and creativity, increase comes to that body. Important as these two types of supply are to the health of a church and the carrying out of God’s plan, I want to suggest to you that they are not the most important forms of supply you have to give.
I’m convinced the major key to seeing the body of Christ increase and built up in love is a supply of the Spirit. There is a supply you have within you that is spiritual, rather than natural in nature. If you can learn to give of that supply you will have your greatest impact for the kingdom of God and, as a result, experience the greatest level of power and blessing in your own life.
Find Your Company
We see another aspect of this truth in the fourth chapter of Acts. There we read about Peter and John being reprimanded and beaten for preaching the Gospel publicly. We are told the rulers called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus (Acts 4:18). What I want you to notice is what they did after they were released; and being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them(Acts 4:23). They went to their own company.
Peter and John had a company of people with whom they were joined. They were people who belonged together. People who had been divinely knit together. Keep in mind, at this point in time there were several thousand believers living in Jerusalem. (More than three thousand were saved on the day of Pentecost alone.) But Peter and John didn’t return to just any group of believers. It says they went to their own company. You have a company, too. Somewhere there is a group of believers where you belong. One of the most important things you can do as a Christian to experience God’s best is to find your company and get hooked up with them.
In several places in scripture God makes it clear that you have a place in the body of Christ that is your own company. There are a lot of good companies out there and one isn’t necessarily better than another. But only one is right for you. Just as there was a group of believers in Jerusalem for Peter and John, there is a group where you belong. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that God places every member where it pleases Him. But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him (1 Cor.12:18).
There is a place where you fit. A place where your supply your gifts, your talents, abilities and anointing is most needed. It’s also the place where God knows you’ll receive the supply you need in your life. It’s where the anointing is most readily available to you. Every time you see a significant move of God, you’ll find a company of people who have come together in one accord. We can’t allow schism, division and competitive jealousy to divide us from one another. We do so at the expense of experiencing the power of God the power to bring increase.
The second thing I want you to notice is that they prayed. You’ll remember, we just read in Philippians chapter one that Paul’s confidence in his deliverance was because of his ministry partner’s prayers and supply of the Spirit. Likewise, here in Acts we see prayer playing a vital role in bringing down the power of God in a remarkable way. These are the two elements you’ll always have in place before you see a move of God. You’ll find a like-hearted company of people coming together in one accord. And you’ll find them engaged in anointed corporate prayer.
Be Yielded and Bold
In the midst of the shouting, laughing, running, jumping, rolling and dancing God is training us. He’s teaching us to be sensitive and obedient to the promptings and nudges of the Spirit. He’s making us yielded and bold. My friend, the glorious reality at the heart of all this unusual activity is this: God is raising up an army in these last days. An army that is free from the fear of man. An army that will do what God says to do without reluctance, question or hesitance. A people that will share their faith, pray for the sick, cast out devils and utterly give themselves in the cause of Christ.
In the safety of the church sanctuary the nurturing, accepting environment of the believers’ meeting God is training us to flow naturally in the spirit of seeing and knowing. Then, when lives and eternal souls are at stake as we go out into the marketplace, we will know the voice of the Spirit and reflexively obey it. What I’m telling you isn’t mere hypothesis and theory. I’m seeing it lived out in my own life and in the lives of my congregation. As you live it out, you’re going to experience increase and blessing beyond your capacity to imagine.
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Mac Hammond is the senior pastor of Living Word, a large and growing church in Brooklyn Park (a suburb of Minneapolis), Minnesota. He is the host of the Winner's Minute, which is seen locally in the Minneapolis area on KMSP Channel 9 at 6:44 a.m. and 11:11 a.m. He is also the host of the Winner's Way broadcast and author of several internationally distributed books. Mac is broadly acclaimed for his ability to apply the principles of the Bible to practical situations and the challenges of daily living.
Between 1970 and 1980, Mac was involved in varying capacities in the general aviation industry, including ownership of a successful air cargo business serving the Midwestern United States. A business acquisition brought the Hammonds to Minneapolis, where they ultimately founded Living Word in 1980 with 12 people in attendance. Today, after 40 years, that group of twelve people has grown into a church body of more than 10,000 members.