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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, you need to step up to greater abundance. We all need to, because God has more in store for 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.

Some months ago, the Lord began to speak to me about that. "Do you know what time it is?" he said. "It's exceeding-abundantly-above-all-that-you-can-ask-or-think-time!"

I don't mind telling you, I was thrilled when I heard those words! And I've gotten even more excited about them as the months have passed, because the Holy Spirit has continued to say them to me. I believe it, too! I believe it with all my heart!

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 how we can have more than enough to give to every good work and have plenty left over to enjoy!

God's Financial Safeguard
The very idea of that kind of wealth scares some Christians. They think having a lot of money is ungodly - but that's not what the Bible says.

God doesn't object to us having money. On the contrary, He "takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant" (Ps. 35:27 AMP). 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 (God's) 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.

The world's system has money for its 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.

Granted, there are times when godly people begin to prosper and then get off-track. Those people pass the poverty test, but fail the prosperity test. They start out seeking first God's kingdom. But when they begin to experience the financial blessings of that kingdom, they become overly occupied with the things that have been added to them. Their hearts begin to grow cold toward God because they don't continue to give Him first place in their lives.

God doesn't want that to happen to His people. That's why He told the Israelites not to forget Him when they entered the Promised Land, started living in goodly houses and enjoying material abundance. "But you shall (earnestly) remember the Lord your God, for it is He Who gives you power to get wealth" (Deut. 8:18 AMP).

Your Heavenly Account
Notice God didn't say, "Since you might forget Me if you get rich, I'm going to keep you poor." No, He said, "Always remember that I'm the One Who gives you the power to get wealth." Remember where you got it!

Hallelujah! As born-again believers, you and I are God's people just as surely as those Israelites were. Since we are Christ's, then we are "Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (Gal. 3:29). Therefore, we can expect God to anoint the work of our hands. We can expect Him to bless us and give us the power to get wealth!

"But Gloria," you may say, "I know people who have served God and put Him first all their lives, yet, they were always broke. God didn't give them the power to get wealth!"

Yes, He did. They just didn't know how to use it.

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.

That's really not surprising when you think about it. Even things on earth work that way. For example, you can have a million dollars in a bank account, but if you don't know it's there or if you don't know how to make a withdrawal on your account, you won't be able to enjoy that money.

The same thing is true in the kingdom of God. The Bible says you have a heavenly account. The Apostle Paul referred to it when he wrote to his Partners and thanked them for giving into his ministry. "Not because I desire a gift," he said, "but I desire fruit that may abound to your account" (Phil. 4:17).

Your heavenly account is much like an earthly bank account in that you can make deposits in it. Not only is it possible to make deposits there, Jesus told us it is very important for us to do so. In Matthew 6, He said:
Lay not up for yourselves treasure upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
(Matt. 6:19-21)
It's a wonderful thing to have an account in heaven! It's a wonderful thing to know, like Paul's Partners did, that "God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19 AMP).

Headquarters for heaven's economy is not in the impoverished system of this world, but in Glory! The government of heaven has for its source El Shaddai, the One Who is more than enough!

That's good news because the governments of this world are, for the most part, broke. They print money that doesn't have gold to back it up. They borrow money from other governments. They even borrow it from you.

But God doesn't have to print money He can't back up. His streets are gold. He owns everything. God has the greatest real estate conglomerate that ever existed. He has a lot of land leased out, but He can repossess it whenever He wants.

That's what He did for the nation of Israel. He repossessed the land of Canaan, the Promised Land, from the wicked.

He said to the Israelites, "Here, you can have this land. I'm giving it to you. All you have to do is go in there and take it." (Other times, He told them they couldn't have certain places because He had already given it to "so and so.")

Think about that! The Canaanites had dug wells and built houses on that land. But God gave it away right from under them. He had a right to do it. It all belonged to Him. As Psalm 50:10 says, "He owns the cattle on a thousand hills." ("And the 'taters under them, too!" as one fellow added.)

The Bottom Line
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 firstfruits of your increase "so shall your storage places be filled with plenty" (AMP).

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.

If you're like me, you're already getting eager to get to the bottom line here. You're saying, "OK, I know that I have an account. I know where it is, and I know how to make deposits. But when can I get the money? When can I write a check on this account?"

You find the answer to that question in Mark 10. Jesus was answering the disciples, who had asked Him what they were going to get in return for the giving they had done for the gospel's sake. He said:
Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
(Mark 10:29-30)
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 reward 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!

Don't Let Tradition Cheat You
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" (verse 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.

God's Hand Is Not Short
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 to 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!

"But, Gloria, I just don't know how God would ever get that kind of money to me."

So what! Moses didn't know how God was going to bring in enough meat to feed over a million Israelites for a month either. So when God said He was going to do it, Moses said, "It would take all our herds and flocks to feed this bunch! It would take all the fish in the sea! It's impossible!"

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand waxed short?" (Num. 11:23a). Then He proved He was able to do what He said by raining so much quail out of heaven the Israelites actually got sick of it!

When you have a need in your life that seems impossible to meet, think about that. Remember the question God asked Moses. "Is the Lord's hand waxed short?"

No! It wasn't short then and it isn't short now. God knows how to get the job done. He knows how to get you everything you need. So look to Him as your Source. Become expectant. Become miracle-minded, blessing-minded, supernatural increase-minded.

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. And as I said before, these are the days when we will see that superabundance. This is the time.

"What time is it?" you ask.

It's-exceedingly-abundantly-above-all-you-can-ask-or-think time!

I plan to make the most of it. Don't you?

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

Author Biography

Gloria Copeland
Web site: 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.
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