If you're a born-again child of God and you've been struggling financially—scraping along with just barely enough—it's time for that to change. It's time for you to wake up to the riches that belong to you in Jesus, kick the limits off your faith and receive your financial inheritance.

Even if you haven't been struggling, even if your bills are paid and your major needs are met, you need to step up to greater abundance. We all need to do that, because God has more in store for every one of us than we possess right now. He "is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Eph. 3:20). What's more, we are now closer than ever to the end of the age. Jesus is coming soon. God desires to pour out His glory in greater measure than ever before, not just in our hearts, lives and church services, but in our finances as well.

We are in the days of the end-time transfer of wealth about which the Bible prophesies. In these days, God is teaching us how to draw great riches from our heavenly account so we can glorify Him and get the gospel preached to the world. He is revealing to us how we can have more than enough to give to every good work and have plenty left over to enjoy! God doesn't object to us having money. On the contrary, He "takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant." (Ps. 35:27)

What God doesn't want us to do is covet money. He doesn't want us to love money and make it our God. So He gave us a safeguard. He gave us in His Word a foundational instruction about prosperity that enables us to be wealthy and godly at the same time. "Seek for (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom, and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides" (Matt. 6:33 AMP).

That is the foundation of biblical prosperity. It's based on God's way of doing and being right. It comes to those who operate in this earth according to His system of economy instead of the world's system. Money is the world-system's god. It loves and seeks after money. But the kingdom of heaven has the Father for its God. And in His economy, you can't prosper unless you put Him and His ways first place in your life.

You see, God's abundance doesn't just fall out of heaven and hit us on the head. He has designated ways for us to receive it. If we don't know how to operate in those ways, we will miss out on what is ours.

Once you understand you have a heavenly account into which you can make deposits, the next question you need to answer is this: How do I make those deposits? You make them by giving to God's work. The foundation for that giving is the tithe. When you give the first tenth of your income to the Lord, you open the door for God to come into your finances and move supernaturally. Proverbs 3:10 says that when you honor the Lord with the first fruits of your increase, "so shall your storage places be filled with plenty."

In addition to your tithe, you can also deposit to your heavenly account by giving offerings into the work of the gospel. Be sure, however, when you give, you are truly giving into a work of God. You have to put your money in good ground if you want to get a return. Jesus says we can receive a hundredfold return from our heavenly account today, in this time! Although our deposits are going to be bringing us rewards for eternity, we don't have to wait until we die and go to heaven to draw on those resources. We can make withdrawals on our heavenly account here and now!

How do you make those withdrawals? You make them by faith. You believe in your heart and speak with your mouth that "My God supplies all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19). You reach out with the hand of faith and claim what's yours! Many Christians seem reluctant to do that. They remind me of the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son. Do you remember him? His younger brother had asked for his share of the inheritance, so the boys' father divided his estate between them.

The younger brother ran off and squandered his share of the estate on a sinful lifestyle. The elder brother stayed home and faithfully served his father. When the younger brother repented and returned home asking only to be treated as a servant in his father's house, the father received him with open arms. He killed a calf for him so they could celebrate with a feast. He put a robe on his back and a ring on his finger.

The older brother was furious and said to his father, "Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf." (Luke 15:29-30)

The father's answer is very important to us and we need to consider it carefully. He said, "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine" (v. 31). That father had divided his estate between his two boys. Therefore, after the younger brother had taken his goods and departed, everything that was left belonged to the elder son. Everything! He could have eaten a fatted calf every day if he'd wanted. Every cow on the estate belonged to him, but he didn't take advantage of his inheritance!

A multitude of Christians are going to find themselves in the same situation when they get to heaven. They're going to find out after they get there what belonged to them down here. They're going to realize too late that they were cheated and swindled out of their earthly inheritance by religious tradition.

They're going to find out then what you are finding out right now, and it's this: God has always wanted His people to live in abundance, and all He has is ours. He put every good thing in this earth for His family. He didn't put riches here for the devil and his family. He put them here for us. God wants you to live in a good house. He wants you to have the car you need. He wants you to be so blessed you don't even have to think about those things.

He wants you to be able to think about Him instead of thinking about how you're going to buy your next tank of gas. Listen, God isn't anywhere near broke! He has enough wealth to richly supply all of His children. Lack is not His problem. His problem has been getting His people to believe what He says about their prosperity in His Word. His problem has been getting us to be kingdom-of-God minded in our finances.

One thing that has kept us from becoming kingdom-of-God minded is our own human reasoning. Instead of just trusting God to do for us what He promised, we try to figure out how He is going to do it. And if we can't see how it can happen, all too often, we won't believe. Don't do that. Get out beyond what you can reason. God is not reasonable!

Don't base your praying and your faith on what you can see in this natural realm. Base your praying and your faith on what the Word says. For example, stop being content just to believe God for the money to make your house payment each month. Start believing Him for the money to pay off the entire mortgage!

God knows how to do things. You don't have to worry about that. You just focus on your part—believe, speak the Word and walk in the ways of God. Stop limiting God just because you don't understand how He is going to do the things He has promised. If we had to depend on what we could understand, we'd be in great trouble. But we don't! All we have to understand is that God is God and He has all power.

He is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all we can ask or think! That means if you can think of it, God is able to do more than that. If you can dream of it, God is able to do more than that. If you can hope for it, God is able to do more than that.

Whatever needs or godly desires you might have, God is able to satisfy them—and then do much, much more. These are the days when we will see that superabundance. This is the time.

Excerpt permission granted by
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka:  Kenneth Copeland Ministries