Today I want to share from Kenneth and Gloria Copeland's "From Faith To Faith" devotional!
Give More—Not Less
There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is
that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty. Proverbs 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 just a few years ago. This
ministry had fallen behind financially—$1 million 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" (Philippians 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 $1
million.
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 $1 million just to break even."
"Oh no, you don't!" the Lord replied.
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 $1 million 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!
AMEN! I have found this to be so true! At any time of need I have chosen to GIVE MORE and HE has ALWAYS come through for me in a greater way than I ever even imagined! Learn to dream big and give big! We can NEVER outgive GOD! HALLELUJAH! Here is Hillsong with "Echoes (Til We See The Other Side)":
VERSE 1:
We will sing
We will dance
Till the earth echoes the heavens
Sing His praise
Till we see the other side
VERSE 2:
‘Cause we belong to the light
So when the night is at its darkest
Just hold on for the dawn will soon arrive
CHORUS 1:
Can you feel the winds are changing
There’s a new day on the rise
And the atmosphere is breaking
As the new world comes to life
We will sing
We will dance
Till the earth echoes the heavens
Sing His praise
Till we see the other side
TAG:
I’ve got a feeling
The darkness won’t last very longCHORUS 2:
Let a sleeping world awaken
There’s a new day on the rise
And the enemy is shaking
As the graveyards spring to life
We will sing
We will dance
Till the earth echoes the heavens
Sing His praise
Till we see the other side
Shalom in Him!
