AS IT IS WRITTEN....IN COVENANT - WITH WISDOM COMES RICHES AND HONOUR (1)

 I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD

WHO TEACHES YOU TO PROFIT

(ISAIAH 48:17)

REMEMBER THE LORD YOUR GOD

FOR IT IS HE WHO GIVES YOU THE 

POWER TO PRODUCE WEALTH

AND SO CONFIRMS HIS COVENANT

WHICH HE SWORE TO YOUR FOREFATHERS

(ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB), 

AS IT IS TODAY.

(DEUT 8:18)

THE GOD OF MY FATHER SHALL HELP ME;

AND BY THE ALMIGHTY,

SHALL BLESS ME WITH BLESSINGS FROM HEAVEN ABOVE

(GEN 49:25) 

LET THEM SHOUT FOR JOY, AND BE GLAD, THAT FAVOR MY RIGHTEOUS CAUSE:  YEA, LET THEM SAY CONTINUALLY, LET THE LORD BE MAGNIFIED, WHICH HATH PLEASURE IN THE PROSPERITY OF HIS SERVANT

(PSALM 35:27)



WHEN BLOOD

GETS THICKER THAN WATER

KENNETH COPELAND

BELIEVER’S VOICE OF VICTORY MAGAZINE APRIL 2000

WHEN I WAS A KID, I ALWAYS WANTED A BLOOD BROTHER.  I WANTED ONE SO BAD, I DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO DO.  I NEVER HAD ANY BROTHERS OR SISTERS, SO I TRIED TO GET MY FRIENDS TO BECOME BLOOD BROTHERS.

I REMEMBER THINKING, INDIANS ARE SUPPOSED TO HAVE BLOOD BROTHERS….

I NEVER COULD FIND ANY WHITE BOYS WHO WANTED TO SEE THEIR OWN BLOOD.  IT WAS NEAT IN THE MOVIES, BUT WHEN IT CAME TIME TO MAKE ‘THE CUT’ THEY DIDN’T WANT ANY PART OF IT.

TODAY, IN OUR CIVILISED SOCIETY, WE ARE NOT VERY AWARE OF OR CONSCIOUS OF COVENANTS - AT LEAST, NOT LIKE OUR ANCESTORS WERE - PARTICULARLY, BLOOD COVENANTS.

IN ANCIENT DAYS, AMONG ALL TRIBES OF PEOPLE AND ALL CIVILIZATIONS, THERE WAS THE COMMON PRACTICE OF COVENANTS MADE BY BLOOD.  THESE BLOOD COVENANTS WERE A MATTER OF TOTALLY GIVING ONESELF TO ANOTHER FOR LIFE WITHOUT ANY RESERVATION.  IT MEANT COMPLETE LOYALTY.  WHAT’S MORE, ONCE A BLOOD COVENANT WAS CUT BETWEEN TWO INDIVIDUALS OR FAMILIES, THAT COVENANT WAS AN AGREEMENT THAT LASTED FOR AT LEAST EIGHT GENERATIONS.

WITH THE PASSING OF TIME, HOWEVER, AND THE MORE ‘SOPHISTICATED’ OUR CULTURES BECAME, THE HUMAN FAMILY STRAYED FROM SUCH COVENANTS.  CONSEQUENTLY, TODAY, MANY BELIEVERS ARE UNAWARE OF THEIR OWN BLOOD COVENANT WITH GOD.  THEY HAVE NO REAL UNDERSTANDING OF ETERNAL PROMISES WRITTEN IN THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS.

IN THAT COVENANT OF BLOOD, GOD HAS PROVIDED EVERYTHING WE NEED TO TAKE AUTHORITY OVER OUR FLESH AND LET THE IMAGE OF CHRIST BE FULLY FORMED IN US.  GOD’S COVENANT HAS GIVEN US THE POWER TO SUCCEED IN EVERY TASK AND FULFILL EVERY DREAM HE HAS PUT IN OUR HEARTS.  SO, LET’S TAKE A CLOSE LOOK AT THE RICH DEPTH AND RANGE OF PROMISES GOD MADE IN HIS COVENANT WITH US, SEALED IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS.

IN THE DAYS OF THE ANCIENT HEBREW NATION, FAMILIES CUT COVENANT AS WELL.  IN FACT, THE HEBREW WORD FOR COVENANT  LITERALLY MEANS “A CUT WHERE BLOOD FLOWS”.  THESE BLOOD COVENANTS WERE THE PRINCIPLE BEHIND SCRIPTURES SUCH AS PROVERBS 18:24 WHICH SAYS, ‘…THERE IS A FRIEND THAT STICKETH CLOSER THAN A BROTHER.’  THEY WERE ALSO THE REASONING BEHIND PHRASES SUCH AS, ‘BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER.’ 

THE MOTIVE BEHIND BLOOD COVENANTS WAS QUITE SIMPLY, DIFFERENCES - THAT IS, COVENANTS WERE BASED ON THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE PARTIES INVOLVED.   FOR INSTANCE, ONE FAMILY OR TRIBE MIGHT BE GOOD FARMERS, WHILE A NEIGHBOURING FAMILY OR TRIBE MIGHT BE KNOWN FOR BEING SUPERIOR WARRIORS.  SO, WHY NOT COME TOGETHER AND CUT COVENANT AND ENJOY THE BENEFITS OF EACH OTHER - ESPECIALLY IF THE FARMERS WERE ALWAYS GETTING ROBBED AND THE WARRIORS WERE ALWAYS GOING HUNGRY. 

BEFORE THESE COVENANTS COULD BE MADE, HOWEVER, THERE WERE USUALLY LENGTHY DISCUSSIONS BETWEEN BOTH PARTIES.  AFTER ALL, AN AGREEMENT MADE IN BLOOD SPANNING EIGHT GENERATIONS WAS SERIOUS BUSINESS.

TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BLOOD COVENANTS, AS WELL AS OUR COVENANT WITH GOD, IT WOULD HELP US TO WALK THROUGH THE SEVEN STEPS OF A TRADITIONAL HEBREW COVENANT CEREMONY.

STEP 1 EACH FAMILY, OR PARTY, CHOSE A COVENANT REPRESENTATIVE

THE PERSON REPRESENTING THE FAMILY WAS ALWAYS THE FAMILY’S BEST - THE SMARTEST, THE STRONGEST, THE FLEETEST OF FOOT. 

LIKEWISE THE ANIMALS TO BE USED IN THE COVENANT CEREMONY WERE ALWAYS THE BEST.  THEY WERE CAREFULLY SELECTED AND PREPARED.  THE HEBREW PEOPLE HAD LEARNED THIS EARLY ON WHEN GOD INSTRUCTED THEM TO OFFER ONLY THE BEST WHEN BRINGING SACRIFICES TO HIM.  HE DIDN’T WANT ONE-EYED, DISEASED ANIMALS ON HIS ALTAR.

CONSEQUENTLY, THIS IS WHERE THE TERM THE FATTED CALF COMES FROM.  IN TODAY’S TERMS, WE COMMONLY THINK OF THE FATTED CALF BEING THE BEST OF SOMETHING TO CONSUME OURSELVES. 

ACTUALLY, IT WAS THE CHOICEST ONE SET ASIDE FOR COVENANT CEREMONIES AND SACRIFICES.

FINALLY, A COVENANT SITE WAS CHOSEN, AND THE FAMILIES WOULD COME TOGETHER.  EACH FAMILY’S COUNCIL OF ELDERS WAS PLACED WHERE THEY COULD WATCH CLOSELY, AND HEAR EVERY WORD SPOKEN.

STEP 2 THE COVENANT CUT WAS MADE

IN THE ANCIENT HEBREW COVENANT CEREMONY, THE CUTTING OF THE SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS WAS DONE DIFFERENTLY FROM EVERY OTHER SACRIFICE OR CEREMONY.

THE COVENANT CUTS WERE MADE FROM THE BASE OF THE ANIMAL’S SKULLS, LENGTHWISE DOWN THEIR BACKBONES.  THE ANIMALS WERE SPLIT AND THEN PARTED DOWN THEIR BACKBONES.  EACH HALF WAS MADE TO FALL SIDE TO SIDE, BUT THEN PROPPED UP SO THE BLOOD WOULD FLOW DOWN A PATHWAY.

THE COVENANT ANIMALS USUALLY INCLUDED A CALF AND A LAMB.  THE CALF REPRESENTED MONETARY VALUE.  IT REPRESENTED THE FAMILY’S POSSESSIONS.  THE LAMB REPRESENTED TOTAL DEFENSELESSNESS.  IN FACT, THE LAMB USED IN THE CEREMONY WAS SO YOUNG THAT IT DID NOT YET HAVE TEETH.  IT HAD NO DEFENSE.

BY SACRIFICING THESE ANIMALS, EACH FAMILY WAS SAYING, ‘WE FREELY BRING OUR BLOOD TO THIS COVENANT.  WE COME WITH NO MALICE - TOTALLY FREE, TOTALLY LOYAL.’  ONCE THE ANIMALS WERE CUT AND THEIR BLOOD SHED ON THE GROUND, THE COVENANT CEREMONY BEGAN.

STEP 3 THE REPRESENTATIVES EXCHANGED COATS

EACH REPRESENTATIVE WALKED THROUGH THE PATHWAY OF THE ANIMALS’ BLOOD TWICE, AND THEY DID SO IN A FIGURE OF EIGHT.  AFTER THEY WALKED THROUGH THE BLOOD THE FIRST TIME, THEY STOPPED AND EXCHANGED COATS WHILE MAKING CERTAIN PROMISES ABOUT WHO THEY WERE, WHAT THEY HAD, AND WHAT THEY MEANT TO THE OTHER PERSON.  THIS WAS SIMILAR TO OUR MODERN MILITARY TRADITIONS.

IN OUR SOCIETY, WE KNOW YOU CAN TELL A SOLDIER’S RANK BY THE COAT THAT HE OR SHE WEARS.  THEIR COATS REPRESENT THEIR AUTHORITY, THEIR OCCUPATION OR SPECIFIC TASK, THEIR BRANCH OF SERVICE, AND SO ON.  WE ALSO KNOW WHEN A PRIVATE WALKS INTO A ROOM FILLED WITH SOLDIERS, NOT MUCH HAPPENS.  WHEN A GENERAL WALKS IN, HOWEVER, EVERYONE STOPS EVERYTHING TO JUMP TO ATTENTION AND SALUTE.

BUT NOW, IMAGINE A PRIVATE - WEARING A GENERAL’S UNIFORM - WALKING INTO THE ROOM.  THAT PRIVATE WOULD GET THE SAME RESPONSE AS THE GENERAL.  WHY?  BECAUSE IT’S THE GENERAL’S UNIFORM THAT DOES THE TALKING.

THE SAME HELD TRUE FOR THE BLOOD COVENANT CEREMONY.  A FARMER, FOR INSTANCE, WOULD COME TO THE CEREMONY WITH A COAT REPRESENTING HIS FAMILY AND HIS AUTHORITY.  A WARRIOR WOULD COME WITH HIS.  THEN, AT THIS POINT, THEY WOULD EXCHANGE THEIR COATS, AND THEREBY, THEIR IDENTITIES. 

THIS ADDS GREATER INSIGHT AS TO WHY THE APOSTLE PAUL EXHORTS US TO ‘PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD.’ (EPH 6:11).  IT DOESN’T MATTER WHO IS WEARING IT - IT’S THE ARMOUR THAT DOES THE TALKING!

STEP 4 THE REPRESENTATIVES EXCHANGE WEAPONS

AFTER THE REPRESENTATIVES WALKED THROUGH THE PATHWAY OF THE ANIMALS’ BLOOD IN A FIGURE EIGHT THE SECOND TIME, THEY STOPPED AGAIN AND EXCHANGED WEAPONS.

IN THOSE DAYS, WHEN MEN WENT TO WAR, THEY WORE A GIRDLE, OR BELT.  IT WAS A GIRDLE BECAUSE THEIR OUTER GARMENTS WERE LIKE LONG, FLOWING ROBES.  TO BE ABLE TO FIGHT, RUN, OR WALK COMFORTABLY, THEY HAD TO REACH BETWEEN THEIR LEGS AND PULL THE BACKSIDE OF THEIR ROBE UP TO THE FRONT AND FASTEN IT UNDERNEATH THEIR BELT.  STRAPPED TO THEIR BELTS WERE ALSO THEIR WEAPONS.

NOW, IF THE FARMER DIDN’T HAVE ANY WEAPONS, HE AT LEAST HAD HIS FIGHTING KNIFE, AND MAYBE A GOOD AXE HANDLE TO FIGHT WITH.  THE WARRIOR, MEANWHILE, PROBABLY HAD AN ASSORTMENT OF FEROCIOUS LOOKING WEAPONS STRAPPED TO HIS BELT.

REGARDLESS OF WHAT THEY HAD, THEY EXCHANGED WEAPONS AND BELTS SAYING, ‘HERE’S MY AUTHORITY AND POWER IN WAR.  I GIVE IT TO YOU.  ANY ENEMY THAT COMES AGAINST YOU IS MY ENEMY.  ANYONE WHO CURSES YOU, I CURSE.  ANYONE WHO THREATENS YOU, HAS TO ANSWER TO ME.

JUST AS THIS ANIMAL HAS BLED AND DIED, I WILL BLEED AND DIE FOR YOUR FAMILY THE SAME AS I WOULD MINE.’

STEP 5 THE REPRESENTATIVES CUT THEIR FLESH

ONCE MOST OF THE COVENANT PROMISES AND BLESSINGS WERE MADE, THE TWO REPRESENTATIVES CUT THEIR OWN FLESH SO THEIR BLOOD WAS VISIBLE TO ALL THE COUNCIL OF ELDERS.  THEN THEY BROUGHT THEIR HANDS TOGETHER, MINGLED THEIR BLOOD AND LIFTED THEIR HANDS TO GOD.  THIS WAS WHEN THE MOST PRECIOUS OF THE VOWS WERE MADE BETWEEN THE FAMILIES.

BY LIFTING THEIR HANDS TO GOD, THEY WERE MAKING THE CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH THIRD PARTY TO THEIR COVENANT, BELIEVING ALMIGHTY GOD TO WATCH OVER THEIR AGREEMENT.  EACH SWORE BY GOD TO KEEP THE PROMISES THEY HAD MADE.

BY BRINGING THEIR HANDS TOGETHER AND MINGLING THEIR BLOOD, THEY WERE CALLED ONE FAMILY.

FROM THAT DAY ON, THE SEAL OF THE COVENANT WAS THE SCAR ON THE BODY OF EACH REPRESENTATIVE.  IF YOU SAW SOMEONE WITH A COVENANT SCAR, YOU REALLY DIDN’T KNOW WHO YOU WERE MESSING WITH, AND YOU WOULD PROBABLY THINK TWICE ABOUT STIRRING UP TROUBLE WITH THEM.  THAT SCAR MEANT THERE WAS A BLOOD BROTHER HANGING AROUND SOMEWHERE.

REMEMBER WHAT JESUS SAID IN MATTHEW 18:19-20?  ‘AGAIN I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT IF TWO OF YOU SHALL AGREE ON EARTH AS TOUCHING ANY THING THAT THEY SHALL ASK, IT SHALL BE DONE FOR THEM OF MY FATHER WHICH IS IN HEAVEN.  FOR WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED TOGETHER IN MY NAME, THERE AM I IN THE MIDST OF THEM.’ 

THE CHURCH HAS NEVER REALLY FIGURED OUT WHAT THAT MEANS - BUT IT’S COVENANT.  WHEN JESUS SAID IT, HE MEANT IT.  WE JUST HAVE NTO HAD A COVENANT CONSCIOUSNESS TO UNDERSTAND IT FULLY.

STEP 6 THE COVENANT MEAL

THE MIGHTY CLIMAX OF THE WHOLE COVENANT CEREMONY WAS THE REMEMBRANCE PARTY.

IN THE BIBLE, THE WORD REMEMBER IS POWERFUL.  EXODUS 2 TELLS US THAT GOD REMEMBERED HIS COVENANT WITH ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB.  IT DOESN’T SAY, ‘HE HAPPENED TO REMEMBER IT.’  GOD DOESN’T FORGET.  THE WORD REMEMBER, THERE, LITERALLY MEANS ‘THE CLAW’.  IT REFERS TO THE TALON OF A MIGHTY EAGLE.

AMONG SOME OF THE HEBREW TRIBES, PEOPLE CUTTING COVENANT WERE KNOW TO TAKE AN EAGLE’S CLAW AND PUT IT IN THEIR FACE AND SAY, ‘MY REMEMBRANCE OF YOU IS AS THOUGH I WERE STILL IN THE BLOOD, PROMISING YOU EVERYTHING I HAVE.  MY COVENANT WITH YOU IS LIKE A CLAW IN MY BRAIN.  I CANNOT EVEN SEE EXCEPT FOR SEEING YOU IN MY FACE.’

THIS REMEMBRANCE PARTY OR COVENANT MEAL, WAS WHERE THE FAMILIES BEGAN EATING BREAD, DRINKING WINE, DANCING AND CELEBRATING.  THEY WOULD ACTUALLY FEED BREAD TO ONE ANOTHER, SAYING, ‘THIS IS MY BODY.  I WILL LET YOUR FAMILY HAVE MY BODY, BEFORE I WILL LET THEM STARVE.’ 

THEN, SHARING WINE, THEY WOULD REMIND EACH OTHER THAT IT REPRESENTED THE BLOOD THEY HAD JUST WALKED IN, MAKING THEM ONE FAMILY.

STEP 7 THE FAMILIES EXCHANGED NAMES

BY THE TIME THE COVENANT CEREMONY WAS COMPLETED, BOTH PARTIES OR FAMILIES HAD NEW NAMES.  FOR EXAMPLE, IF THE FARMERS AND THE FIGHTERS CUT COVENANT, PHIL FARMER WAS NOW PHIL FIGHTER-FARMER, AND FRED FIGHTER BECAME FRED FARMER-FIGHTER. 

SUCH COVENANT NAMES WERE ANOTHER INDICATION FOR TROUBLEMAKERS TO LEAVE PHIL, THE FARMER, ALONE.  THAT WAS NOT JUST PHIL FARMER ANYMORE.  THAT WAS PHIL FIGHTER-FARMER.  THAT WAS NOT JUST FRED FIGHER, EITHER.  THE FARMER-FIGHTER FAMILY NOW HAD PLENTY OF FOOD TO SELL.  THEY HAD COVENANTED WITH THE FARMER FAMILY.  THEY WERE NOW ONE LARGE, POWERFUL FAMILY. 

TODAY, WE OFTEN SEE NAMES OF FAMILIES THAT HAVE A HYPHEN IN THE MIDDLE OF THEM.  THAT MEANS, SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY, THOSE TWO FAMILIES CAME INTO COVENANT. 

EPHESIANS 3:15 SAYS ‘THE WHOLE FAMILY IN HEAVEN AND EARTH IS NAMED’ OF JESUS.   BY COVENANT, WE BEAR THE NAME OF JESUS - THAT NAME THAT IS ABOVE EVERY NAME.  AND BY COVENANT, WE GO INTO ALL THE WORLD BEARING THAT NAME (MARK 16:15-18).

YOU HAVE A BIG BROTHER

TO UNDERSTAND JUST HOW PASSIONATE GOD IS ABOUT THIS COVENANT HE HAS MADE WITH YOU IN THE BLOOD OF HIS OWN SON JESUS, LOOK AT 2 CORINTHIANS 6:16-18, ‘…FOR YE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD: AS GOD HATH SAID, I WILL DWELL IN THEM, AND WALK IN THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.  WHEREFORE COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM, AND BE YE SEPARATE… AND I WIL BE A FATHER UNTO YOU, AND YE SHALL BE MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS, SAITH THE LORD ALMIGHTY.’  THIS WAS PAUL QUOTING FROM ISAIAH 52 AND EZEKIEL 20.

OLD TESTAMENT WRITERS USED A COVENANT WORD, WHICH IN HEBREW IS HESED.  IT IS TRANSLATED AS ‘EVER LOVINGKINDNESS; TENDERNESS; MERCY.’  THESE TRANSLATIONS, HOWEVER, MISS THE DEPTH AND POWER OF ITS MEANING.

HESED IS BEST DESCRIBED, PERHAPS, AS WHAT HAPPENS INSIDE A MOTHER OR A FATHER WHEN THEIR CHILD IS THREATENED.  ONLY, IT GOES FAR BEYOND THAT. 

HESED IS THE FORCE THAT RISES INSIDE A COVENANT BROTHER CAUSING HIM TO WANT TO SHOW HIMSELF STRONG FOR THE BENEFIT OF HIS COVENANT BROTHER, OR COVENANT FAMILY.  IT IS A DRIVE THAT FAR EXCEEDS ANY OTHER DRIVE KNOWN TO MANKIND.  WE’VE ONLY TASTED A SMALL BIT OF IT.

FROM GOD’S PERSPECTIVE, HESED MIGHT BEST BE DESCRIBED USING JOHN 3:16: ‘FOR GOD SO HESED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON…’

LONG BEFORE GOD EVER CREATED MAN, HE PROVIDED A COVENANT LAMB, A LAMB WITHOUT SPOT, OR BLEMISH, SO IF MAN DID MESS UP, IT WOULD KEEP HIM FROM LOSING EVERYTHING - AND IT WOULD KEEP GOD FROM LOSING THE FAMILY HE SO LONGED FOR.

AFTER ADAM DID COMMIT HIGH TREASON AND BOWED HIS KNEE TO SATAN, HE LOST THE PRESENCE AND REVELATION OF GOD.  WHEN THAT HAPPENED, THE FIRST THING GOD DID WAS TO KILL AN ANIMAL IN ORDER TO CLOTHE ADAM.  HE HAD BEEN CLOTHED WITH THE VERY GLORY OF GOD, BUT WHEN HE SINNED, THE GLORY LIGHT WENT OUT.

LATER, HOWEVER, GOD FOUND FOR HIMSELF A MAN, ABRAM, A MAN WITH WHOM HE COULD CUT COVENANT, A MAN WHO WOULD TEACH HIS CHILDREN THAT COVENANT (GENESIS 18).

BUT WHY DID GOD REQUIRE THE BLOOD OF ANIMALS? HE DID NOT HAVE ANY BLOOD OF HIS OWN TO SHED.  WHEN ABRAM SINNED, GOD SAID, I’LL TAKE THE BLOOD OF AN ANIMAL, RATHER THAN HIM.  I’LL TREAT HIM AS THOUGH HE DIDN’T SIN.  I’LL ACCOUNT IT TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS - BECAUSE HE BELIEVED ME (GALATIANS 3).

ABRAHAM BELIEVED THE PROMISES OF GOD, THE PROMISES THAT WERE TO HIM AND HIS SEED.

GALATIANS 3:13-14 SAYS, ‘CHRIST [THE ANOINTED ONE AND HIS ANOINTING] HATH REDEEMED US FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW, BEING MADE A CURSE FOR US… THAT THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM MIGHT COME TO THE GENTILES THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.’

THE APOSTLE PAUL GOES ON TO SAY THAT, WHEN GOD MADE THOSE PROMISES TO ABRAHAM, HE WAS ALSO MAKING THEM TO JESUS, WHO HAD NOT YET BEEN BORN INTO THIS EARTH.  GOD WAS MAKING A BLOOD COVENANT WITH A MAN AND HE EXPECTED THAT COVENANT, THOSE WORDS, TO PRODUCE A BODY WITH BLOOD - JESUS- WHEREIN HE COULD SWEAR.

JOHN 1:14 SAYS, ‘THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US…’

YOU AND I ARE ABRAHAM’S SEED.  WE ARE HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE (GAL 3:29).  IT IS NO LONGER BY THE BLOOD OF COWS AND SHEEP, BUT BY THE BLOOD OF ALMIGHTY GOD, HIMSELF.

OURS IS A COVENANT BETWEEN A RESURRECTED, IMMORTAL MAN, JESUS, AND A HOLY AND INFALLIBLE GOD.

WHICH OF THEM DO YOU THINK COULD EVER BREAK THE COVENANT?  NEITHER.

WHAT’S MORE, WE CANNOT BREAK IT.  WE MAY STEP OUT OF FELLOWSHIP WHEN WE SIN.  BUT ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS CONFESS OUR SIN AND STEP BACK INTO THAT FELLOWSHIP (1 JOHN 1:9).

WE’VE BEEN GRAFTED INTO A COVENANT BETWEEN GOD, OUR HEAVENLY FATHER, AND JESUS, OUR BLOOD BROTHER.  KNOWLEDGE OF AND TRUST IN THAT COVENANT WILL REMOVE THE FEARS OF INSUFFICIENCY AND LACK THAT MEN FEED WITH SUCH THINGS AS OVEREATING AND COMPULSIVE SPENDING.  IT WILL REMOVE THE FEARS OF REJECTION THAT HAVE CAUSED SO MANY TO SEEK COMFORT IN WRONG RELATIONSHIPS AND IN WHAT THEY PUT IN THE BODY AND ON THE BODY INSTEAD OF WHAT THEY FEED THE SPIRIT.  GOD’S COVENANT LOVE REMOVES MEN FROM TRUST IN THE WORLD’S WAYS FOR THEIR SECURITY AND SUCCESS AND BUILDS THEIR LIVES ON THE UNSHAKEABLE FOUNDATION OF GOD’S WAY OF DOING THINGS.

ALL WE EVER NEED TO DO, NOW, IS BEING DEVELOPING A CONSCIOUSNESS OF JESUS’ BLOOD, A CONSCIOUSNESS OF OUR BLOOD COVENANT WITH GOD.  WHEN THE DEVIL COMES AGAINST YOU, WHEN SICKNESS AND DISEASE COME AGAINST YOU, WHEN FEAR, WORRY, HARM OR POVERTY COME AGAINST YOU - REMEMBER THE COVENANT!

REMEMBER THE BLOOD.  REMEMBER THE PROMISES.  REMEMBER THE WORD.

YOU HAVE A BLOOD BROTHER, JUST TURN IT OVER TO HIM.  YOU’LL SOON REALISE JUST HOW THICK HIS BLOOD REALLY IS!

BVOV

THE HUNDRED FOLD PRINCIPLE

BY JERRY SAVELLE

KENNETH COPELAND MAGAZINE - BELIEVER’S VOICE OF VICTORY

BROTHER COPELAND HAD BEEN INVITED TO SPEAK AT THE FULL GOSPEL BUSINESSMEN’S CONVENTION IN BIRMINGHAM, ALA., IN 1972.  BEFORE THE MEETING STARTED, BROTHER COPELAND SAID, ‘LET’S YOU AND I FLY TO BIRMINGHAM AND SPEND A COUPLE OF DAYS IN PRAYER TOGETHER BEFORE THAT MEETING GETS UNDERWAY.  GOD’S BEEN DEALING WITH ME ABOUT GOING ON TELEVISION, AND I NEED THE MIND OF CHRIST; I NEED THE WISDOM OF GOD CONCERNING THIS.  NOT ONLY THAT, BUT GOD’S BEEN DEALING WITH ME ABOUT THIS MINISTRY NEEDING A BIGGER AND FASTER AIRPLANE, AND I NEED TO GET THE WISDOM OF GOD ABOUT THAT AS WELL.  SO LET’S YOU AND I GO EARLY.  WE’LL SPEND A COUPLE OF DAYS IN PRAYER TOGETHER.’

SO WE FLEW TO BIRMINGHAM IN BROTHER COPELAND’S LITTLE CESSNA 310.  WE CHECKED IN THE HOTEL IN BIRMINGHAM, AND THE FIRST NIGHT HE SAID, ‘I WANT YOU TO MEET ME IN MY ROOM AT 6 IN THE MORNING, AND WE’RE GOING TO PRAY TOGETHER AND JUST SEE WHAT WE HEAR FROM GOD REGARDING THESE THINGS.’

I WAS REALLY EXCITED BECAUSE IT WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT HE HAD ACTUALLY INVITED ME TO PARTICIPATE IN HIS PRAYER TIME.  I HAD SEEN HIM PRAY PUBLICLY IN MEETINGS, BUT I HAD NEVER BEEN INVITED TO BE IN THE SAME ROOM WITH HIM DURING HIS PRIVATE PRAYER TIME.  USUALLY, HE ISOLATED HIMSELF DURING HIS PRAYER TIME.

PRAYER TIME WITH KENNETH COPELAND

THE NEXT MORNING WE MET AT 6, AND HE SAID, ‘LET’S JUST BEGIN PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT.  IF YOU GET ANYTHING FROM GOD, YOU JUST GO AHEAD AND SPEAK IT OUT.’

WE STARTED PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT.  I WAS SITTING THERE KIND OF IN A CORNER IN THAT HOTEL ROOM, AND I NOTICED BROTHER COPELAND KNELT DOWN BY HIS BED AND HAD HIS NOTEBOOK AND HIS BIBLE OUT.  HE PRAYED IN THE SPIRIT, AND THEN HE FLIPPED THROUGH PAGES OF THE BIBLE EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE.  I THOUGHT, THAT LOOKS GOOD.  SO I GOT DOWN ON MY KNEES IN FRONT OF THE CHAIR AND PRAYED IN THE SPIRIT AND FLIPPED THROUGH MY BIBLE LIKE HE WAS DOING.

HE WOULD PRAY IN THE SPIRIT A LITTLE WHILE, AND THEN HE’D QUOTE A VERSE THAT HE SAW IN THE WORD THAT PERTAINED TO THE WISDOM OF GOD.  FOR INSTANCE, IN CORINTHIANS WHERE IT SAYS, ‘JESUS HAS BEEN MADE UNTO US WISDOM.’  THEN, HE WENT TO JAMES WHERE IT SAID, ‘IF ANY MAN LACKS WISDOM, LET HIM ASK IN FAITH NOTHING WAVERING, BECAUSE GOD GIVES LIBERALLY.’

HE STARTED OFF FINDING VERSES THAT PERTAINED TO WHAT HE WAS BELIEVING GOD FOR, AND THEN HE QUOTED THEM.  AS HE SPOKE THEM OUT, I WOULD TURN TO THOSE VERSES AND READ THEM AS WELL.  NOT OUT LOUD, BUT I WOULD FOLLOW ALONG AND READ THEM AS HE SPOKE THEM OUT LOUD.

THEN THERE WERE QUIET TIMES.  I NOTICED HE WOULD GET REAL QUIET AND LISTEN.  WE DID THAT FOR ABOUT TWO HOURS THAT FIRST MORNING.  THEN HE SAID, ‘WELL, LET’S GO AHEAD AND CLEAN UP AND GO HAVE SOME BREAKFAST.’

THE NEXT MORNING, WE DID THE SAME THING.  WE MET AT 6 AM AND WENT THROUGH BASICALLY THE SAME PROCESS.

AFTER BREAKFAST THAT MORNING, HE CALLED ME TO HIS ROOM, AND HE SAID, ‘I BELIEVE I’VE GOT THE MIND OF CHRIST ON HOW WE’RE GOING TO START THIS TELEVISION MINISTRY.  I’VE GOT THE BASIC FORMAT.’

THEN HE SAID, ‘I’M BELIEVING GOD TO PAY CASH FOR THIS.  IT’S GOING TO TAKE A LOT OF MONEY FOR US TO GO TO THE TELEVISION STUDIO IN DALLAS.  BUT I BELIEVE I’VE GOT THE MIND OF GOD ON THIS.  BUT FIRST, WE’VE GOT TO PLANT A SEED IN ORDER TO GET A HARVEST TO PAY FOR THIS.’

OF COURSE, I WAS AGREEING TO EVERYTHING, BUT I WAS REALLY LISTENING TO HOW HE PLANNED TO DO THIS MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE.  I WAS LEARNING HOW TO TAP INTO THE WISDOM OF GOD,  AND I WAS LEARNING HOW TO APPROPRIATE THAT WISDOM ONCE I RECEIVED IT.

HE SAID, ‘NOW, WE’VE GOT TO HAVE THE MONEY FOR THE TELEVISION PROGRAMS, AND WE’VE GOT TO HAVE THE MONEY FOR A NEW AIRPLANE.  YOU KNOW I DON’T BORROW MONEY.  WE PAY CASH FOR EVERYTHING WE DO.  OBVIOUSLY, THERE’S NO WAY TO DO THIS EXCEPT THAT WE FIRST PLANT SEED.  I’VE GOT TO PLANT MY BEST SEED.  THE BEST SEED I’VE GOT IS MY AIRPLANE.  I’M GOING TO GIVE MY AIRPLANE AWAY.’

HOW ARE WE GONNA GET HOME?

USUALLY WHEN HE SAID HE WAS GOING TO GIVE SOMETHING AWAY, HE DID IT RIGHT THEN.  SO, I WAS CONCERNED ABOUT MY RIDE HOME.  I DIDN’T SAY, ‘PRAISE GOD!’  I JUST KEPT QUIET AND ACTED LIKE I WAS IN TOTAL AGREEMENT.  SOMETIMES PEOPLE WON’T KNOW YOU’RE IGNORANT IF YOU’LL JUST BE QUIET.

HE SAID, ‘GOD TOLD ME THE NAME OF THE PREACHER HE WANTS ME TO GIVE IT TO.  I’M GOING TO CALL HIM RIGHT NOW, AND I’M GOING TO TELL HIM WHAT GOD TOLD ME.’

HE CALLED A PREACHER FRIEND OF OURS WHO LIVED IN ARLINGTON.  I HEARD HIM SAY, ‘JOE NAY, THIS IS KENNETH.’

I KNEW JOE WAS BELIEVING FOR AN AIRPLANE.  I COULDN’T HEAR JOE’S RESPONSE UNTIL BROTHER COPELAND TOLD HIM THAT.  IN FACT, BROTHER COPELAND HELD THE PHONE AWAY FROM HIS EAR BECAUSE YOU COULD HEAR JOE SCREAMING.  HE WAS SHOUTING.  I COULD JUST PICTURE HIM DANCING AND RUNNING AROUND IN CIRCLES.

THEN BROTHER COPELAND SAID, ‘NOW, JOE, WE’RE GOING TO FLY IT BACK HOME, AND THEN WE’LL MAKE ALL THE NECESSARY ARRANGEMENTS TO GET IT TO YOU.  BUT BEFORE I GIVE IT TO YOU, I’M GOING TO REDO THE ENGINES FIRST.’

I WAS SITTING THERE SPEECHLESS.  MY NEXT THOUGHT WAS, IF YOU’RE GOING TO GIVE IT AWAY, WHY SPEND ANY MORE MONEY ON IT?  LET JOE REPAIR THE ENGINES.  BROTHER COPELAND PERCEIVED MY THOUGHTS.  HE SAID, ‘I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE THINKING.’ 

I SAID, ‘WHAT?’

HE SAID, ‘YOU’RE THINKING, IF I’M GOING TO GIVE IT AWAY, WHY SPEND ANY MORE MONEY ON IT.’

I SAID, ‘WELL, THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I’M THINKING.  I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE.’  HE DIDN’T JUST PREACH PROSPERITY; HE DIDN’T JUST PREACH SOWING AND REAPING; HE LIVED IT - EVERY DAY OF HIS LIFE.  NOT JUST FROM THE PULPIT, BUT IN EVERY AREA OF HIS LIFE.

YOU’VE GOT TO UNDERSTAND, I WASN’T ON BROTHER COPELAND’S LEVEL FINANCIALLY.  I WAS STILL BELIEVING FOR FOOD ON MY TABLE, AND I WAS BELIEVING FOR A SUIT TO WEAR.  I WAS BELIEVING FOR MONEY TO GIVE CAROLYN AND THE BABIES WHILE I WAS GONE.  I WAS BELIEVING FOR RENT MONEY, AND HE’S GIVING AIRPLANES AWAY.  I SAID, ‘WELL, WHY WOULD YOU SPEND MORE MONEY ON THE AIRPLANE IF YOU’RE GOING TO GIVE IT AWAY?’

THE HUNDREDFOLD PRINCIPLE

HE SAID, ‘BECAUSE I BELIVE IN THE HUNDREDFOLD PRINCIPLE.’

I KNEW WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT BECAUSE I HAD READ MARK 10:29-30 ABOUT THE HUNDREDFOLD .  I SAID, ‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN ABOUT THAT?’  HE SAID, ‘I DON’T WANT TO GIVE AN AIRPLANE AWAY WITH BAD ENGINES BECAUSE IF I DO, I’LL RECEIVE A HUNDREDFOLD RETURN ON THAT SEED, AND I’LL WIND UP WITH A BIGGER, FASTER AIRPLANE THAT NEEDS THE ENGINES REBUILT.  I WANT TO GIVE ONE AWAY THAT’S FIRSTCLASS.  I’M GOING TO DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO MAKE THAT AIRPLANE FIRST- CLASS WHEN I GIVE IT AWAY SO THAT THE ONE THAT I GET IN RETURN WILL BE FIRST-CLASS.

GIVE GOD YOUR BEST

APPROXIMATELY 11 DAYS AFTER HE SOWED THE AIRPLANE INTO JOE NAY’S MINISTRY, I RECEIVED A PHONE CALL AROUND 10.30 ONE NIGHT.  IT WAS BROTHER COPELAND, AND HE SAID, ‘DO YOU AND CAROLYN AND THE GIRLS WANT TO SEE A MIRACLE?’

I SAID, ‘WE’D LOVE TO SEE A MIRACLE.’

HE SAID, ‘THEN MEET ME AT OAK GROVE AIRPORT.  YOU’RE GOING TO SEE A MIRACLE.’

WE DROVE OUT TO THE AIRPORT AND SAW BROTHER COPELAND, GLORIA, KELLIE AND JOHN STANDING AROUND THE TAXI AREA, JUST LOOKING DOWN THE RUNWAY.  WE WALKED UP BEHIND THEM AND SAID, ‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?’

HE SAID, ‘I’M WATCHING FOR MY MIRACLE.  JUST KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE END OF THAT RUNWAY DOWN THERE.  YOU’RE GOING TO SEE A MIRACLE.’

WE JUST STOOD THERE AND LOOKED WITH THE REST OF THEM.  IN A LITTLE WHILE, I SAW SOME LIGHTS IN THE DISTANCE, AND I COULD TELL IT WAS AN AIRPLANE MAKING ITS FINAL APPROACH.  ELEVEN DAYS AFTER HE SOWED THAT SEED, HE RECEIVED A BIGGER, FASTER AIRPLANE COMPLETELY PAID FOR!  WE ALL SAT IN IT AND PRAISED GOD OVER IT.  IT WAS QUITE A MIRACLE.

FAITH VS FOOLISHNESS

I WAS IMPRESSED.  I JUST WANTED TO GIVE SOMETHING AWAY - ANYTHING.  I HAD BEEN GIVING BUT NOT TO THAT LEVEL.  I THOUGHT, I’M GOING HOME AND FIND SOMETHING I CAN GIVE AWAY.  I NEED A NEW CAR - I’LL GIVE THE CAR AWAY.

THE LORD ALWAYS PROTECTED ME.  HE KNEW WHEN I WAS ABOUT TO MAKE A MISTAKE.  HE KNEW I WAS SINCERE, BUT SINCERELY WRONG.  THE LORD TOLD ME, NOW BEFORE YOU JUMP OUT HERE AND DO THIS, LET’S MAKE SURE THAT THIS IS A REVELATION TO YOU, LIKE IT IS TO BROTHER COPELAND.  YOU’RE NOT READY FOR THIS, BUT I’LL GET YOU READY IF YOU’LL LISTEN TO ME.

YOU CAN’T LIVE ON SOMEBODY ELSE’S REVELATION; IT’S GOT TO BE A REVELATION TO YOU.  I HAD SEEN PEOPLE TRY TO DO WHAT BROTHER COPELAND DID, AND IT DIDN’T WORK FOR THEM THE SAME WAY.  THEY WOULD WIND UP BLAMING THE MESSAGE OR THE MESSENGER.  THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH THE MESSAGE, AND THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH THE MESSENGER - IT SIMPLY WAS NOT A REVELATION TO THEM. 

A REVELATION TO JERRY

I LEARNED NOT TO JUST JUMP UP AND GIVE EVERYTHING AWAY JUST BECAUSE I SAW THIS MIRACLE WORK IN BROTHER COPELAND’S LIFE.  FAITH COMES BY HEARING AND HEARING THE WORD OF GOD.  SO I KEPT FEEDING MY SPIRIT, LISTENING TO BROTHER COPELAND’S TAPES ON THE LAWS OF PROSPERITY, SOWING AND REAPING, AND WATCHING HIM DEMONSTRATE IT THROUGH HIS LIFE.  AND AFTER A WHILE, IT DID BECOME MY REVELATION.

I BEGAN TO SEE GOD BLESS CAROLYN AND ME.  AND NOW, EVERYTHING IN OUR MINISTRY HAS COME THAT WAY.  EVERY AIRPLANE I’VE EVER OWNED IN THIS MINISTRY CAME THAT WAY.  I’VE GIVEN SEVERAL AIRPLANES AWAY IN THIS MINISTRY, AND GOD BLESSES ME WITH BETTER ONES.  IT’S JUST THE WAY MY FAMILY AND I OPERATE.  IT BECAME A REVELATION TO ME MANY YEARS AGO, AND IT’S STILL WORKING IN MY LIFE TODAY.  I LEARNED THE LAWS OF SOWING AND REAPING WATCHING BROTHER COPELAND LIVE IT AND DEMONSTRATE IT. 

I ENCOURAGE YOU RIGHT NOW TO FEED YOUR SPIRIT THE WORD OF GOD, STUDY THE LAWS OF PROSPERITY (GOD’S ETERNAL LAWS) UNTIL THEY REALLY BECOME A REVELATION TO YOU.  AND THEN PUT THEM TO WORK IN YOUR LIFE.  GOD WILL MEET YOUR EVERY NEED.  HE IS FAITHFUL.

BVOV

 the keys are coming!

Kenneth Copeland

(April 1986 dear partner BOOK)

Dear partner,

Have you ever been in a situation where, no matter how hard you tried, there just wasn’t any way out?  Every direction you looked you saw the same answer - none at all?

You may be in the middle of something like that right now.  I’ve been in that kind of spiritual box canyon more than once, and the holy spirit has taught me a bible faith principle of deliverance that I believe will help you receive your miracles when you need them.  So study what I’m about to share with you carefully.

Let’s begin by looking at matthew 16:19: And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Everything has a key!  Did you know that?

There is no problem so carefully planned by the forces of darkness that the kingdom of god does not have a key that will unlock it and solve it with kingdom power.  Every situation has a key issue, a vital spot, that is important to you as a target for your faith.

You can see an example of that in matthew 14:28-30.  There, peter, who had just seen jesus walking on the water, had called out to him and said,

28: Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

29: And [jesus] said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

30: But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

Now, what happened in that situation?  What caused peter to stop walking and start sinking?

Without realizing it, peter took his eyes off the key issue - jesus’ word.  What was the word?  Come.  peter suddenly thought the key issue was the wind.  It wasn’t.  the wind had nothing to do with his being able to walk on the water. 

In luke 6:46-49 we see a similar example in jesus’ parable about the men who built their houses, one on rock, and the other on sand.  Let’s read it:

Luke 6:

46: And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

47: Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:

48: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.

49: But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Notice the key issue there.  It may first appear that the storm destroyed the house.  But the storm wasn’t the real problem.  If it were, it would have destroyed both houses.  The key issue was the foundation (rock = god‘s word - hear and obey). 

By determining the key issue and applying your faith, you can turn any situation in your life around!

Let me show you what I mean.  years ago, there was a time when our ministry was 1 million dollars in the red.  When I first went to god in prayer about the situation, I was convinced that the money to pay off that deficit was what I needed.  But as I prayed and sought god for the key, he instructed me to begin giving the top 10 percent of our income into ministry for the poor. 

You see, the money I needed was a side issue - not the key.  The key issue was ministry to the poor.  Had god just provided the money, the problem that allowed the devil to steal from us would have still been there.  Even if we’d paid that million dollar deficit off, we’d have still been in trouble.  We probably would have ended the next year even further behind!

Instead, we began to better understand how to change and improve what we were doing.  We were not only delivered from the deficit, but gave 10 percent more than ever before - all on the same yearly income!  We found the key issue! (god’s wisdom - revelation knowledge that the gates of hell cannot prevail against).

Every situation has a key.

As you pray for members of your family and friends, you need to realise there is a key to every person’s salvation and healing.  That key may be a special scripture or a special thought from god.  It may be a particular person who can speak to them in a way they can more fully understand.  That’s why it is so important to pray according to the word that says,  matt 9:38: Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.  god holds the key to every person.

Start praying in faith now that god will reveal the keys you need to unlock your situation.

I know there are things that need to be completed in your life - things you’ve been standing in faith for that need to come on through.  Well, I’m setting myself in faith with you now, that in jesus’ mighty name you’ll receive the kingdom keys that will unlock god’s truth.  His miracle power will lock the devil up tight.

Now is the time to rise up together like champions of faith! 

There comes the moment when champions rise up and seize the victory.  It’s the fourth-quarter drive, the ninth-inning surge, the great invasion into enemy territory that wins the war.  This is that moment!  I am releasing my faith now to help you get the kingdom keys you need to rise up and overcome!

Here’s what I want you to do:

1.      Write down the situations in which you need kingdom keys revealed to you.

2.      Pray and ask god to reveal to you what he would have you do about planting seeds in his kingdom.

3.      Lay your hands on your seed and declare it planted.  Once it’s planted in faith, you’re in a position to receive.  Wrap your seed in words of faith.  Say out loud, ‘it is finished!  I have the key!’

Take heart, your keys are coming!

Your brother and partner in jesus’ service

Kenneth

SMITE YOUR DEBT

JERRY SAVELLE

ADVENTURES IN FAITH

OCT-NOV-DEC 2001

IT’S GETTING CLOSE TO THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN.  THE STORES ARE PACKED OUT.  PEOPLE ARE STRESSED OUT.  AND THE BANK ACCOUNTS ARE EMPTIED OUT!

HOW DO YOU FEEL WHEN YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR FAMILY WHAT YOU WANT TO DO?  HOW DO YOU FEEL AFTER YOU’VE BALANCED YOUR CHECKBOOK?  ARE YOU TIRED OF NOT HAVING ENOUGH?  HOW BAD?  WILL YOU TOLERATE IT FOR A FEW MORE YEARS?

WHAT IF GOD TOLD YOU THAT YOU ARE ENTITLED TO SO MUCH MORE, BUT YOU JUST HAVEN’T REACHED OUT AND TAKEN HOLD OF IT?  PERHAPS YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE ENTITLED TO OR YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO GET IT.

IN EPHESIANS 1, PAUL IS EXPRESSING GOD’S LOVE FOR US AND THE PRICE JESUS PAID TO FORGIVE US OF OUR SINS THROUGH HIS BLOOD.  HE CONTINUES TO EXPLAIN THAT NOT ONLY ARE WE REDEEMED, BUT “…IN WHOM ALSO WE HAVE OBTAINED AN INHERITANCE…” 

PAUL IS SPEAKING IN PAST TENSE.  THIS INHERITANCE IS NOT SOMETING WE WILL RECEIVE WHEN WE GET TO HEAVEN.  IT’S ALREADY OURS NOW… ON EARTH.

THE SPIRIT OF GOD ASKED ME A QUESTION RECENTLY.  HE SAID, ‘WHEN ARE MY PEOPLE GOING TO BEGIN TO WALK IN THE FULLNESS OF THEIR INHERITANCE?’

THE WORD INHERIT MEANS TO TAKE POSSESSION.  I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT IF I HAVE A RIGHT TO SOMETHING RIGHT NOW, THEN I WANT IT RIGHT NOW.

I ASKED THE LORD, ‘SHOW ME WHAT I AM MISSING AND I WILL CORRECT IT NOW.’

HOSEA 4:6 SAYS, MY PEOPLE ARE DESTROYED FOR A LACK OF KNOWLEDGE.

THE WORD DESTROYED IN THIS PARTICULAR VERSE MEANS RUINED OR DEVOURED.  SATAN IS THE DEVOURER AND HE’S LOOKING FOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO DEVOUR AT ALL TIMES.  GOD IS TELLING US THAT A LACK OF KNOWLEDGE WILL CAUSE US TO BE DEVOURED.  I’M FED UP WITH SATAN DEVOURING MY STUFF!

LET’S READ A STORY SIMILAR TO HOW THE BODY OF CHRIST IS LIVING TODAY.  JOSHUA 18:2-3 SAYS, AND THERE REMAINED AMONG THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SEVEN TRIBES, WHICH HAD NOT YET RECEIVED THEIR INHERITANCE.

AND JOSHUA SAID UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, HOW LONG ARE YOU SLACK TO GO AND POSSESS THE LAND, WHICH THE LORD GOD OF YOUR FATHERS HATH GIVEN YOU?

HE SAID, ‘HOW LONG WILL YOU BE SLACK?’  THE WORD SLACK MEANS TO BE SLOW TO MOVE, TO BE IDLE, INACTIVE, SLUGGISH OR SLOTHFUL, TO BE EASILY INFLUENCED AND EASILY CHANGED.  GOD IS SAYING, ‘HOW MUCH LONGER ARE YOU GOING TO ALLOW PEOPLE TO EASILY INFLUENCE YOU AND TALK YOU OUT OF YOUR INHERITANCE?’ 

MANY TIMES WE’RE A LITTLE SLOW TO BELIEVE GOD’S WORD.  WHY?  BECAUSE IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.  YOUR PASTOR TELLS YOU THAT YOU CAN BE OUT OF DEBT AND SHOWS YOU FROM THE WORD OF GOD, YET YOU BEGIN TO LOOK AT YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES AND HOW LONG YOU’VE BEEN IN DEBT.  YOU DON’T HAVE ANYBODY IN YHOUR FAMILY WHO’S EVER BEEN OUT OF DEBT SO THAT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.

IF YOU CAN’T BELIEVE IT IN YOUR HEART, THEN YOU WILL NEVER HOLD IT IN YOUR HAND.  IF YOU ARE DULL OF PERCEPTION, YOU WILL NEVER WALK IN IT.  WHEN YOU’RE SLOW TO BELIEVE, YOU’LL WALK IN A PART OF YOUR INHERITANCE BUT NOT THE FULLNESS OF IT.

THE LORD ASKED ME RECENTLY, ‘DO YOU BELIEVE THAT PART OF YOUR INHERITANCE IS ABRAHAM’S BLESSINGS?’  I SAID, ‘I DO BECAUSE GALATIANS 3:29 SAYS, …IF YE BE CHRIST’S THEN ARE YE ABRAHAM’S SEED, AND HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE.’

HE SAID, ‘THERE’S A PORTION OF THOSE BLESSINGS THAT YOU’VE NEVER ASKED ME TO DO FOR YOU.’

WHEN HE SAID THAT TO ME I WENT TO DEUTERONOMY 28 AND BEGAN READING AGAIN TO SEE WHAT AREA I WAS MISSING.

VERSES 2-8 SAYS, 2: AND ALL THESE BLESSINGS SHALL COME ON THEE, AND OVERTAKE THEE, IF THOU SHALT HEARKEN UNTO THE VOICE OF THE LORD THY GOD.

3: BLESSED SHALT THOU BE IN THE CITY, AND BLESSED SHALT THOU BE IN THE FIELD.

4: BLESSED SHALL BE THE FRUIT OF THY BODY, AND THE FRUIT OF THY GROUND, AND THE FRUIT OF THY CATTLE, THE INCREASE OF THY KINE, AND THE FLOCKS OF THY SHEEP.

5: BLESSED SHALL BE THY BASKET AND THY STORE.

6: BLESSED SHALT THOU BE WHEN THOU COMEST IN, AND BLESSED SHALT THOU BE WHEN THOU GOEST OUT.

7: THE LORD SHALL CAUSE THINE ENEMIES THAT RISE UP AGAINST THEE TO BE SMITTEN BEFORE THY FACE: THEY SHALL COME OUT AGAINST THEE ONE WAY, AND FLEE BEFORE THEE SEVEN WAYS.

8: THE LORD SHALL COMMAND THE BLESSING UPON THEE IN THY STOREHOUSES, AND IN ALL THAT THOU SETTEST THINE HAND UNTO; AND HE SHALL BLESS THEE IN THE LAND WHICH THE LORD THY GOD GIVETH THEE.

I SAID, ‘LORD, I’VE CONFESSED THOSE FOR THIRTY-TWO YEARS.  WHAT AM I MISSING HERE?’  HE SAID, ‘VERSE 7: THE LORD SHALL CAUSE THINE ENEMIES THAT RISE UP AGAINST THEE TO BE SMITTEN BEFORE THY FACE:…’

THE LORD SAID, ‘WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO ASK ME TO DO THAT?’

THEN HE ASKED ME THIS QUESTION: ‘WHAT ARE THE GREATEST ENEMIES OF MY PEOPLE?’  NOTICE, ENEMIES, PLURAL.

AFTER I PRAYED OVER IT I CAME UP WITH THE ANSWER:  DEBT AND LACK.  IF YOU HAVE DEBT AND LACK, SATAN CAN LIMIT YOU, CONFINE YOU AND RESTRICT YOU.

GOD SAID, ‘WHY DON’T YOU ASK ME TO SMITE THEM?’

I’VE NEVER ASKED GOD TO SMITE THE ENEMY OF DEBT AND LACK BEFORE.  NEVER.  THE WORD SMITE MEANS A QUICK, SUDDEN, DECISIVE BLOW WITH THE INTENT TO DESTROY.  THAT’S WHAT GOD CAN AND WILL DO TO YOUR DEBT AND LACK. 

WE DON’T HATE LACK ENOUGH.  WE TOLERATE IT.  WE PUT UP WITH IT.  IT’S OUR DEADLIEST ENEMY.  WHY ARE WE LACKING?  IT’S BECAUSE WE’VE BEEN TOO SLACK IN POSSESSING OUR INHERITANCE.

WHEN YOU CAN’T DO FOR YOUR FAMILY LIKE YOU WANT TO DO AND YOU CAN’T GIVE TO GOD LIKE YOU WANT TO GIVE, THEN YOU’RE LIMITED.  YOU’RE RESTRICTED.

DO YOU HATE LACK?  DO YOU REALLY HATE LACK?  I WANT THAT TO SIN K DOWN IN TO YOUR SPIRIT – LATE LACK.  HATE DEBT.  WORK UP A GOOD HATE, PLEASE!  ACT LIKE YOU DO WHEN YOU REALLY HATE SOMETHING!

GOD SAID, ‘ARE YOU GOING FROM MIRACLE TO MIRACLE OR WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE IN DIVINE PROSPERITY?’

I’D RATHER HAVE DIVINE PROSPERITY.  BUT HOW DO YOU GET INTO DIVINE PROSPERITY?  WHEN LACK AND DEBT HAVE BEEN SMITTEN.

THE REST OF THAT SCRIPTURE SAYS, ‘I WILL SMITE YOUR ENEMY BEFORE YOUR FACE.’  WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?  ‘I’LL GIVE YOU EVIDENCE OF IT.  I’LL GIVE YOU PROOF THAT IT’S DONE.’

WE SEE AN ILLUSTRATION OF GOD’S ABILITY AND POWER TO SMITE IN EXODUS 12:13-14: 

AND THE BLOOD SHALL BE TO YOU FOR A TOKEN UPON THE HOUSES WHERE YE ARE: AND WHEN I SEE THE BLOOD, I WILL PASS OVER YOU, AND THE PLAGUE SHALL NOT BE UPON YOU TO DESTROY YOU, WHEN I SMITE THE LAND OF EGYPT.

14: AND THIS DAY SHALL BE UNTO YOU FOR A MEMORIAL…

A MEMORIAL MEANS THAT WHICH PRESERVES A MEMORY OF SOMETHING SPECIAL; A SPECIAL EVENT.

TODAY, YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE A SPECIAL EVENT TAKE PLACE IN YOUR LIFE.  GOD IS GOING TO SMITE YOUR DEBT AND LACK….IF YOU BELIEVE IT.

IN THE BIBLE WHEN YOU SEE MAJOR MIRACLES, THERE IS USUALLY A POINT OF CONTACT PRECEDING IT.  THE WOMAN WITH THEISSUE OF BLOOD SAID, ‘I WILL TOUCH HIS CLOTHES AND I SHALL BE MADE WHOLE.’  TOUCHING HIS CLOTHES WAS HER POINT OF CONTACT.

A POINT OF CONTACT IS A REFERENCE POINT.  IT IS A POINT IN WHICH YOU RELEASE YOUR FAITH AND IT ALSO CREATES A MEMORIAL.  MEMORIAL ALSO MEANS A WRITTEN REPRESENTATION OF FACTS ACCOMPANIED WITH A PETITION. 

MOST OF THE TIME WHEN YOU SEE THE WORD PETITION IT REFERS TO A FORMAL, WRITTEN REQUEST.  I WANT TO ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO WHAT GOD INSTRUCTED ME TO DO.  I WANT YOU TO TAKE OUT A SHEET OF PAPER THAT YOU CAN KEEP, THAT YOU CAN CARRY WITH YOU.

AT THE TOP OF THAT SHEET OF PAPER I WANT YOU TO WRITE THESE WORDS: ‘FATHER, IN THE NAME OF JESUS, AS ON EOF MY COVENANT RIGHTS AND AS PART OF MY INHERITANCE, I ASK YOU TO SMITE MY DEBT AND SMITE MY LACK.’

UNDERNEATH, WRITE D-EB-T.  UNDERLINE IT.  AND THEN WRITE DOWN THE AMOUNT OF DEBT THAT YOU’D LIKE TO SEE SMITTEN IN YOUR LIFE – WHATEVER IT IS.  INCLUDE YOUR HOUSE, YOUR CAR, YOUR CREDIT CARD BILLS.

UNDER THAT, WRITE THE WORD L-A-C-K.  UNDERLINE IT.  I WANT YOU TO WRITE HOW MUCH YOU NEED.

PUT IT IN YOUR RIGHT HAND.  RAISE YOUR LEFT HAND AND AS YOU SAY, ‘FATHER, SMITE MY DEBT AND SMITE MY LACK IN THE NAME OF JESUS,’ COME DOWN WITH YOU RLEFT HAND WITH A QUICK, SUDDEN, DECISIVE BLOW ON TOP OF THAT SHEET OF PAPER.

WRITE AT THE BOTTOM OF THAT SHEET OF PAPER THE DATE AND TIME THAT YOU BELIEVE GOD HAS SMITTEN YOUR DEBT AND YOUR LACK.

CARRY IT WITH YOU.  DO IT FAITHFULLY.  EVERY TIME THE DEVIL SAYS, ‘YOU DON’T REALLY BELIEVE THAT,’ TAKE IT OUT, SHOVE IT IN HIS FACE AND SAY, ‘IT IS WRITTEN!’

DON’T TAKE THIS LIGHTLY.  GOD INSPIRED IT AND GAVE ME A MANDATE TO DO THIS IN MY OWN LIFE AND TO SHARE IT WITH YOU.  A MEMORIAL HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED IN THE SPIRIT REALM AND YOUR DEBT AND LACK HAVE BEEN SMITTEN IN THE NAME OF JESUS.

JSMI

SPIRIT-LED PRAYER

TO RELEASE FROM SLAVERY

POINTERS

q ANOINTING FOR BREAKTHROUGH

q NOT BY MIGHT, NOR BY POWER, BUT BY GOD’S SPIRIT

q NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST YOU CAN PROSPER AND EVERY TONGUE THAT RISES AGAINST YOU WILL BE CONDEMNED.  THIS IS THE HERITAGE OF THE SERVANTS OF THE LORD, AND THEIR VINDICATION IS FROM ME, DECLARES THE LORD.

q SMITE DEBT/SICKNESS - CANCELLED (JERRY SAVELLE’S ARTICLE)

q AUTHORISED TO WIN

q GOD IS NO RESPECTER OF PERSONS

q ANOINTING BREAK BONDAGE TO SLAVERY

q LIFT UP HEAD - HEAD NOT TAIL (DEUT 28:13)

q TAIL FALL IN THE ANOINTING

q HEAD ONLY IN CHRIST JESUS

q CAPTIVES SET FREE

q SPIRIT OF TRUTH SETS YOU FREE - IF YOU OBEY JESUS COMMAND THEN YOU ARE HIS DISCIPLES INDEED AND YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE.  THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH LEADS AND GUIDES INTO ALL TRUTH.  IT IS FOR FREEDOM THAT CHRIST HAS SET YOU FREE.  STAND FIRM, THEN, AND DO NOT LET YOURSELF BE BURDENED AGAIN BY A YOKE OF SLAVERY (GAL 5:1).

q GOD MAKES A WAY FOR YOU

q SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS IN ABUNDANCE

q SPEAK / DECREE : WEALTH, HOUSES, RICHES, LAND ETC

q SATAN CRASHED TO THE GROUND - I SAW SATAN FALL LIKE LIGHNING FROM HEAVEN.

q SPIRIT OF FIRE CONSUME ALL THAT IS NOT OF GOD.  ONLY GOD’S WILL WILL STAND.

q SPEAK / DECREE RICH BLESSINGS, SATISFYING LIFE

q YOU ARE IN THE PALM OF GOD’S HAND

q NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST YOU WILL PROSPER.

q NOT BY MIGHT, NOR BY POWER, BUT BY GOD’S SPIRIT

q CUT AGREEMENT BETWEEN PERSON AND BONDAGE TO SLAVERY AGREEMENT WITH THE GRAVE - ISA 28:18 - YOUR COVENANT WITH DEATH WILL BE ANNULLED, YOUR AGREEMENT WITH THE GRAVE WILL NOT STAND.

q PUT PERSON IN LIFE CYCLE - YOU ARE A SON OF GOD - OPERATE BY THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST, NOT THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH.

q SPEAK THE SPIRITUAL LAW OF INCREASE START OPERATING IN THE PERSON‘S LIFE- GIVE AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN, REMIND GOD OF WHAT THE PERSON HAS SOWN.  LIFT WHAT THE PERSON HAS SOWN TO HEAVEN, ASK GOD TO BLESS IT AND MULTIPLY THE SEED SOWN BACK IN A 100 FOLD HARVEST

q GOD IS MIGHTY TO SAVE - ZEPHANIAH 3:17, ISA 63:1

q SPEAK / DECREE INCREASE, WEALTH, RICHES, ABUNDANT BLESSINGS

q CUT GENERATIONAL SPIRITS / CURSES OF POVERTY, BONDAGE TO SLAVERY, ETC. PASSING DOWN FROM ANCESTORS

q TAKE ANOINTED COMMUNION, (LIFT UP BREAD AND WINE TO GOD, GIVE THANKS, ASK HIM TO ANOINT IT) THAT DEBT SMITTEN, BONDAGE TO SLAVERY BROKEN ETC (SPIRIT-LED PRAYER)

q ALL UNEQUAL YOKES SMASHED

q POWER OF THE DEVIL SMASHED.  IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST, IN THE AUTHORITY OF HIS WORD GIVEN TO ME IN BLOOD COVENANT, IN THE POWER OF HIS BLOOD THAT DEFEATED SATAN AT THE CROSS AND FOREVERMORE (REV 12:11), I BREAK THE POWER OF THE DEVIL OVER ____‘S LIFE.   I GIVE THE ORDER. BE BROKEN NOW!  IN JESUS NAME THAT IS ABOVE EVERY NAME.  FALL LIKE LIGHTNING SATAN. 

q CHIEF DESIRES OF PERSONS HEART GRANTED - WHAT GOD MADE HIM TO BE AND DO - PURPOSE ON EARTH - GOD GIVES YOU THE POWER TO CREATE WEALTH

q NO WORD UNFULFILLED - GOD’S WORD COMES TO PASS - GOD FAITHFUL TO WATCH OVER IT TO PERFORM IT

q ENFORCE AND DECREE DEVIL DEFEATED AS LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD

q PSALM 112 - RIGHTEOUS MAN BLESSED, WEALTH IN HIS HOUSE

q ZEPHANIAH 3:17- THE LORD YOUR GOD IS WITH YOU, HE IS MIGHTY TO SAVE

q PS 37:4 - DELIGHT YOURSELF IN THE LORD AND HE WILL GIVE YOU ALL THE DESIRES OF YOUR HEART

q WEALTH AND RICHES IN HOUSE

q GOD IS MIGHTY TO SAVE - ZEPHANIAH 3:17, ISA 63:1

q DESIRES OF HEART GRANTED.

GOD HAS A PLAN

SENIOR PASTOR GEORGE PEARSONS

EAGLE MOUNTAIN INTERNATIONAL CHURCH TEXAS

GOD'S PLAN TO GET THE PLAN

I WANT TO GIVE YOU GOD’S ‘PLAN TO GET THE PLAN’ EXACTLY THE WAY HE GAVE IT TO ME.  READ THIS OUT LOUD AND ALLOW THAT SAME CONFIDENCE AND REST TO SWEEP OVER YOUR SOUL AS IT DID AND STILL DOES FOR ME:

1. GOD HAS A PLAN FOR ME

   ‘FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU,’ DECLARES THE LORD, ‘PLANS TO PROSPER YOU AND NOT TO HARM YOU, PLANS TO GIVE YOU HOPE AND A FUTURE’ (JER 29:11).

2. I RECEIVE GOD’S PLAN BY FAITH - NOTHING WAVERING - SIGHT UNSEEN’

   ‘IF ANY OF YOU LACK WISDOM, LET HIM ASK OF GOD, THAT GIVETH TO ALL MEN LIBERALLY, AND UPBRAIDETH NOT; AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN HIM.  BUT LET HIM ASK IN FAITH, NOTHING WAVERING.  FOR HE THAT WAVERETH IS LIKE A WAVE OF THE SEA DRIVEN WITH THE WIND AND TOSSED.  FOR LET NOT THAT MAN THINK THAT HE SHALL RECEIVE ANYTHING OF THE LORD.  A DOUBLE MINDED MAN IS UNSTABLE IN ALL HIS WAYS’ (JAMES 1:5-8).

3. GOD'S PLAN WILL COME OUT OF THE REALM OF THE SPIRIT AND NOT THE NATURAL

   ‘EYE HATH NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NEITHER HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN, THE THINGS WHICH GOD HATH PREPARED FOR THOSE THAT LOVE HIM.  BUT GOD HATH REVEALED THEM UNTO US BY HIS SPIRIT: FOR THE SPIRIT SEARCHETH ALL THINGS, YEA, THE DEEP THINGS OF GOD’ (1 COR 2:9-10).

4. I HAVE THE ABILITY TO HEAR GOD'S PLAN

   ‘I WILL HEAR WHAT THE GOD THE LORD WILL SPEAK: FOR HE WILL SPEAK PEACE UNTO HIS PEOPLE, AND TO HIS SAINTS, BUT LET THEM NOT TURN AGAIN TO FOLLY’ (PSALM 85:8).

5. I AM OBEDIENT TO GOD’S PLAN - WHATEVER HE TELLS ME TO DO - I WILL DO. 

   ‘IF YE BE WILLING AND OBEDIENT, YE SHALL EAT THE GOOD OF THE LAND…’ (ISAIAH 1:19).

IT’S TIME TO CRY OUT

BY JERRY SAVELLE

KENNETH COPELAND MAGAZINE - BELIEVER’S VOICE OF VICTORY

FROM ALL THE SEED YOU’VE SOWN,

YOUR HARVEST IS CRYING OUT TO GOD.

BUT ARE YOU?

WHEN GOD CREATED THE FIRST MAN AND WOMAN, HE GAVE THEM AND ALL OF MANKIND ALL THEY WOULD EVER NEED TO REAP A BOUNTIFUL HARVEST EVERY TIME THEY SOWED A SEED.  THIS IS REVEALED IN GENESIS 1:28-29:

28: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29: And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

ALL MANKIND HAS EVER NEEDED TO REAP A FULL HARVEST IS REVEALED IN THESE TWO VERSES.  FIRST, IN VERSE 28, GOD GAVE MAN DOMINION, WHICH IS AUTHORITY.  SECOND, IN VERSE 29, HE GAVE MAN EVERY HERB BEARING SEED.

THE TWO GIFTS FROM GOD THAT EVERY BELIEVER MUST HAVE IN ORDER TO RECEIVE A HARVEST IN ANY AREA OF THEIR LIVES ARE SIMPLY AUTHORITY AND SEED.

FROM THE BEGINNING, GOD ESTABLISHED THAT HE FULLY INTENDED FOR MAN TO HAVE HIS LIFE SUSTAINED BY THE SEED HE SOWED, AND THAT SEED WOULD BE FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVISION, FOR THE PURPOSE OF MEETING HIS EVERY NEED.

FROM THE BEGINNING, HE ALSO ESTABLISHED THAT MAN WOULD HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO REAP HIS HARVEST.

CONCERNING THIS, THE SPIRIT OF GOD SPOKE TO ME AND MADE IT CLEAR WHAT HE HAS GIVEN TO YOU AND ME: I’VE GIVEN YOU THE AUTHORITY TO DETERMINE YOUR OWN DESTINY, YOUR OWN OUTCOME BASED UPON THE SEEDS THAT YOU SOW.  YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR DESTINY, YOUR OUTCOME AND YOUR FINANCIAL FUTURE. 

GOD INSTITUTED THE LAW OF SOWING AND REAPING WITH ADAM, BUT THIS LAW IS ACTIVE FOR EVERY PERSON FOR THE DURATION OF PLANET EARTH - AND THAT INCLUDES YOU AND ME.

GENESIS 8:22 SAYS:

22: While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

THIS (SCRIPTURE PROMISES) THAT IF IT WILL WORK FOR (ADAM) IT WILL WORK FOR YOU AND ME, BECAUSE THIS LAW IS STILL ACTIVE THIS VERY HOUR.

THE NATURE OF SEED

GOD HAS GIVEN EVERY BELIEVER … FUL GIFTS OF HIS AUTHORITY AND … THEIR HARVESTS.  BUT FOR SEED TO P… HAS TO BE HANDLED CORRECTLY.  JESUS INSTRUCTS US SAYING,

MATT 13:31-32:

…The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:

Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

JESUS SAID FOR SEED TO EVEN BEGIN TO BRING IN A HARVEST IT HAS TO BE SOWN FIRST.  ONCE IT IS SOWN, ITS VERY NATURE TAKES OVER, AND THAT NATURE IS SIMPLY TO GROW UP.  IN FACT, THAT’S ALL A SEED KNOWS HOW TO DO - JUST GROW UP.  IF YOU PLANT AN ACORN, ALL IT KNOWS TO DO IS GROW UP INTO AN OAK TREE.

THE SEED YOU SOW IS THE SAME WAY.  WHEN YOU SOW FINANCES INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD, ALL YOUR SEED KNOWS HOW TO DO IS GROW UP…. GROW UP INTO ABUNDANCE, GROW UP INTO OVERFLOW, GROW UP INTO PROVISION, GROW UP INTO MORE THAN ENOUGH!

FOR YOU TO GET BACK ONLY WHAT YOU SOW, IS A VIOLATION OF GOD’S LAW.  FOR EXAMPLE, NO FARMER WOULD SOW A KERNEL OF CORN IF HE KNEW IN ADVANCE THAT ALL HE’D REAP WAS ONE KERNEL.  NO, HE WOULDN’T WASTE TIME (PREPARING) THE SOIL AND PLANTING THE SEED IF HE KNEW HIS HARVEST WAS SO SMALL.  A FARMER KNOWS THAT SEED IS DESIGNED TO GROW UP INTO ABUNDANCE.

(THAT’S) WHY THE BIBLE SAYS GOD LOVES A CHEERFUL GIVER (2 COR 9:7).  A CHEERFUL GIVER IS SOMEONE WHO KNOWS AND UNDERSTANDS GOD’S PRINCIPLES OF INCREASE.  I HEARD A PREACHER ONCE SAY THAT EVERY TIME OFFERING IS RECEIVED, GOD IS GIVING YOU AN OPPORTUNITY TO INCREASE YOUR …(HARVEST?).  IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND THESE PRINCIPLES THEN YOU WILL BE A SAD GIVER.  …LIKE THE GUY WHO SAID, ‘YEAH, MONEY TALKS, AND ALL MINE EVER SAYS IS GOODBYE.’

KNOWING YOUR HARVEST

I CAN HEAR YOU THINKING RIGHT NOW… SO, IF MY SEED KNOWS IT’S SUPPOSED TO GROW UP, WHY HAVEN’T I RECEIVED MY HARVEST YET? 

GOOD QUESTION.  I’VE BEEN SOWING FOR 30 YEARS MYSELF - EVER SINCE I LEARNED THESE PRINCIPLES FROM BROTHER COPELAND - AND I KNOW I HAVEN’T REAPED ALL THAT I’VE SOWN.  I KNOW I HAVEN’T REAPED MY HUNDREDFOLD RETURN ON EVERY SEED.

SO, I’VE DUG INTO THE WORD TO FINDOUT HOW TO GET IT, BECAUSE I NEED IT.  THE GOSPEL NEEDS IT.  THERE ARE PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD WHOM YOU AND I NEED TO REACH, AND WE NEED OUR FINANCIAL HARVESTS TO DO IT.

FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS, EVER SINCE I RECEIVED REVELATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF SEEDTIME AND HARVEST, I HAVE BEEN AN AGGRESSIVE SOWER.  MY WIFE, CAROLYN, AND I HAVE ALWAYS GIVEN.  BUT AS I PRESSED INTO GOD CONCERNING ALL OF THIS, HE SAID TO ME, SON, YOU HAVE BEEN AN AGGRESSIVE SOWER, BUT YOU HAVEN’T ALWAYS BEEN AN AGGRESSIVE HARVESTER.

HE WENT ON TO ASK ME HOW MUCH HARVEST I HAD COMING BASED ON MY GIVING THAT YEAR.  I HAD TO SAY THAT I DIDN’T KNOW.

THEN HE SAID, WELL, IT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE YOU’RE VERY INTERESTED.

THAT GOT MY ATTENTION.

I ASKED MY ACCOUNTING STAFF TO PUT TOGETHER A REPORT OF JERRY SAVELLE MINISTRIES’ GIVING FOR THE YEAR.  I INSTRUCTED THEM TO PLACE THE TOTAL AT THE BOTTOM, AND THEN TO MULTIPLY IT BY ONE HUNDRED SO I WOULD KNOW THE HUNDREDFOLD RETURN I SHOULD BE EXPECTING.

FOR MY PERSONAL GIVING, I BEGAN KEEPING A PERSONAL SEEDTIME AND HARVEST JOURNAL.  TO THIS DAY, I WRITE IN EVERY ENTRY WHAT I SOWED, AND WHAT THE HUNDREDFOLD RETURN WILL BE.  WHEN THERE’S A MANIFESTATION OF HARVEST, I RECORD THAT TOO.

THIS KIND OFJOURNALING WILL MAKE YOU EXPECTANT. IT WIILL KEEP YOU FOCUSED AND CAUSE YOU TO BECOME AGGRESSIVE.

KEEPING TRACK OF YOUR SEED IS KEY TO GETTING YOUR HARVEST.  IN GALATIANS 6:7, PAUL SAID, ‘BE NOT DECEIVED; GOD IS NOT MOCKED: FOR WHATSOEVER A MAN SOWETH, THAT SHALL HE ALSO REAP.’  AND THE PHILLIPS TRANSLATION SAYS, ‘A MAN’S HARVEST IN LIFE WILL DEPEND ENTIRELY ON WHAT HE SOWS.’

SO, YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR FINANCIAL DESTINY.  SEED IS FOR PROVISION.  FROM IT, YOU CAN DETERMINE YOUR OUTCOME.  NO, YOU MAY NOT HAVE THE PROVISION YOU NEED RIGHT NOW.  BUT YOU DO HAVE SEED.  YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE THE SEED TO SOW TO PRODUCE WHAT YOU NEED.  GOD PROMISES YOU THAT IN 2 COR 9.

DON’T EVER STOP SOWING.  DON’T GROW WEARY IN WELL DOING (FOR IN DUE SEASON YOU WILL REAP, IF YOU FAINT NOT).  YOUR LABOUR OF LOVE AND FAITH IS NOT IN VAIN, BECAUSE GOD NEVER FORGETS A SEED.

GETTING AGGRESSIVE

JOURNALING MY GIVING AND KEEPING TRACK OF MY HARVEST WAS ONLY ONE WAY GOD WANTED ME TO GET AGGRESSIVE ABOUT MY HARVEST.  THE SECOND WAY WAS TO CRY OUT. 

GOD HAS PROPHESIED THAT IN THE LAST DAYS THERE WILL BE A FINANCILA INVERSION OF WEALTH FROM THE WORLD INTO THE HANDS OF THE BELIEVERS.  HE HAS SAID THAT THE FAITHFUL WILL ABOUND WITH BLESSING.  BUT TO REAP THAT WEALTH, WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING. 

JAMES 5:3-4 KJV SAYS:

3: Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

4: Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

JAMES 5:3-4 NIV SAYS:

3. Your gold and silver are corroded.  Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire.  You have hoarded wealth in the last days.

4. Look!  The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you.  The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

IN THESE VERSES, GOD IS HEARING TWO PARTIES CRYING OUT FOR HARVEST: (1) THE WAGES ARE CRYING AND, (2) THE PEOPLE TO WHOM IT BELONGS ARE CRYING.

SO, FROM ALL THE SEED YOU’VE SOWN, YOUR HARVEST IS CRYING OUT TO GOD.  BUT ARE YOU? 

TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE NOT CRYING OUT.  THEY AREN’T BEING AGGRESSIVE.  ALL THE WHILE THAT THEIR HARVEST IS CRYING OUT, THEY ARE NOT - AND SO THEY ARE NOT REAPING THEIR HARVEST. 

WHEN THE HARVEST CRIES AND THE HARVESTERS CRY OUT, GOD CAUSES A DIVINE APPOINTMENT.  HE BRINGS THE TWO TOGETHER.  I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I WOULD LOVE A DIVINE APPOINTMENT WITH MY HARVEST!

NOW, CRYING OUT DOESN’T MEAN TO LET TEARS OF SORROW FLOW.  NO.  I’M TALKING ABOUT CRIES OF AGGRESSIVENESS!

I’M TALKING ABOUT GETTING IN THE DEVIL’S FACE UNTIL HE FINALLY DECIDES YOU HAVE BECOME AN INTOLERABLE ANNOYANCE TO HIM AND HE’S GOING TO RELEASE WHAT BELONGS TO YOU.  BUT YOU WILL NEVER BECOME AGGRESSIVE TO THAT POINT UNTIL YOU GET FED UP WITH YOUR LACK.  YOU’VE GOT TO GET FED UP WITH GOING WITHOUT YOUR HARVEST TO BECOME TRULY AGGRESSIVE.

THAT’S WHAT MOSES AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID.  MOSES STAYED IN PHARAOH’S FACE SO LONG WITH ONE PLAGUE AFTER ANOTHER, THAT PHARAOH FINALLY GREW TIRED OF MOSES AND HE LET THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL LEAVE EGYPT.  IN EXODUS 2, MOSES STOOD ON THE WORD GOD HAD SPOKEN PROPHETICALLY TO ABRAHAM IN GENESIS 15:13-14:

13: And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

14: And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

GOD PROPHESIED TO ABRAM THAT THE ISRAELITES WOULD NOT COME OUT OF EGYPT EMPTY HANDED, AND MOSES STOOD ON THE PROMISE.  THAT PROPHETIC WORD HAD BEEN PASSED DOWN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION, AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL CAME OUT OF EGYPT WITH THE HARVEST OF ALL THE SEED THAT HAD BEEN SOWN FOR GENERATIONS!  THEY GOT THE HARVEST OF THEIR ANCESTORS COVERING 400 YEARS WITH INTEREST!  NOW, THAT’S A HARVEST (EX 12:35).

BUT THEY CRIED OUT FOR IT.

PHARAOH IS A TYPE AND SHADOW OF SATAN.  HE REFUSED TO LET GO OF THE ISRAELITES’ HARVEST.  EVEN AFTER THE PLAGUES BEGAN, HE RESISTED.  HE KEPT NEGOTIATING, WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT SATAN DOES.  THE DEVIL WILL NEGOTIATE WITH YOU AS LONG AS HE CAN JUST WAITING TO SEE HOW MUCH LACK YOU WILL ACCEPT.  IF YOU ARE NOT INSISTENT ON HAVING EVERYTHING THAT BELONGS TO YOU LIKE MOSES WAS TO PHARAOH, THEN YOU WON’T RECEIVE YOUR FULL HARVEST.

EVENTUALLY, PHARAOH GAVE IN TO MOSES’ DEMANDS… ALL BECAUSE MOSES AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL NEVER QUIT CRYING OUT FOR THEIR HARVEST.

WHAT DO YOU THINK GOD WILL DO IF YOU START CRYING OUT FOR YOUR HARVEST?  YOUR WAGES ARE ALREADY CRYING OUT, AND IF YOU WANT A DIVINE APPOINTMENT WITH THEM, THEN YOU WILL CRY OUT.

AS BELIEVERS IN THE EARTH TODAY, IT’S TIME TO CRY OUT!  WE HAVE 2000 YEARS OF GOSPEL SEED TO HARVEST - WITH INTEREST!  SO, GET IN THE DEVIL’S FACE.  SPEAK THE WORD OF GOD ABOUT YOUR SEED.  RECORD YOUR SOWING.  FIGURE OUT THE HUNDREDFOLD AND PROCLAIM IT COMING TO YOU.  GET EXPECTANT.  GET AGGRESSIVE!  AND CRY OUT FOR YOUR HARVEST!

BVOV

PRAYER OF PETITION

KOBUS VAN RENSBURG

EXCERPTS FROM TAPE TRANSCRIPTION

10 NOVEMBER 2004 (WEDNESDAY)

DURBAN CHRISTIAN CENTRE

LUKE 11:2 - OUR FATHER

LUKE 11:5 - SHAMELESS PERSISTENCE AND INSISTENCE

LUKE 11:9 - ASK, SEEK, KNOCK

SHAMELESS PERSISTENCE AND INSISTENCE.  I WANT IT O GOD AND I WANT IT NOW.  I’M GOING TO PERSIST AND INSIST THAT I NEED IT, I WANT IT, I GOTTA GET IT AND I WANT IT NOW.  I’M GOING TO ASK AND KEEP ON ASKING… KNOCK AND KEEP ON KNOCKING.

LUKE 18 - ALWAYS PRAY AND NOT GIVE UP - WORDS OF JESUS

I AM PRAYING IN THE WILL OF GOD.  I AM RIGHTEOUS, WASHED IN THE BLOOD, I AM JUST.  GOD IS MY FATHER, JESUS IS MY LORD AND THE HOLY SPIRIT IS MY GUIDE AND INTERCESSOR.  SO I’M ON MY WAY TO GET ANSWERS TO PRAYER.  “YET BECAUSE THIS PERSON CONTINUES TO BOTHER ME, LEST SHE GIVE ME INTOLERABLE ANNOYANCE, I BETTER GIVE TO HER WHAT SHE ASKS LEST SHE WEAR ME OUT BY HER CONTINUAL COMING OR COME AND RAIL ON ME AND ASSULT ME OR STANGLE ME.”  THIS IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST TELLING US WHAT TYPE OF PRAYERS HE WOULD DESIRE.  JESUS TOLD THEM THIS PARABLE (VERSE 1) AND TOLD THEM THIS IS THE TYPE OF PRAYER HE WOULD EXPECT FROM HIS PEOPLE.  THIS IS ROUGH.  THIS IS GOD SAYING YOU MUST ANNOY HIM.  IF YOU ASK FOR A ….  YOU GET IT X 1000... YOU ARE NOT GOD’S FAVOURITE.  YOU ARE DOING WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS - ANNOYING GOD!  “GOD, I DON’T CARE, BUT THE WORD SAYS THIS, I GOTTA HAVE IT”.  CONFESS IT.  GOD YOU HEARD WHAT I SAID… NOW I GOTTA HAVE IT.  NOW I’M GOING TO ANNOY YOU TILL… I’M GOING TO BE SHAMELESS, I’M GOING TO PERSIST, I’M GOING TO INSIST, I’M GOING TO SAY I WANT IT… GOD, I NEED… LORD, THE BIBLE SAYS… WILL NOT OUR JUST GOD DEFEND AND PROTECT AND AVENGE HIS ELECT WHO CRY TO HIM DAY AND NIGHT?  WILL HE NOT DEFEND THEM, PROTECT AND AVENGE THEM SPEEDILY?  GOD WILL ANSWER YOU AS SURE AS HE IS GOD BECAUSE JESUS SAID ‘THIS IS THE WAY I WOULD LOVE FOR YOU TO PRAY’.  HE SAID THIS IS THE TYPE OF PRAYER I WOULD LIKE. 

HEBREWS 4:16:

LET US THEN FEARLESSLY AND CONFIDENTLY AND BOLDLY, SHAMELESSLY, DRAW NEAR TO THE THRONE OF GRACE, GOD’S UNMERITED FAVOUR (YOU CANNOT EARN IT, YOU CANNOT DESERVE IT, YOU CANNOT WORK FOR IT) THAT WE MAY RECEIVE MERCY AND FIND GRACE TO HELP US IN OUR TIME OF NEED. 

MAKE A DECISION NOW.  I NEED… 

I’M GOING TO INSIST

I’M GOING TO PERSIST

I’M GOING TO BE SHAMELESS

I’M GOING TO BE FEARLESS

I’M GOING TO BE CONFIDENT

I’M GOING TO BE BOLD

I’M GOING TO HAVE A NAGGING, ANNOYING TYPE OF FAITH THAT WILL SAY ‘JESUS, O GOD, I WANT IT, AND I WANT IT NOW.’  AND I WANT THE PEOPLE TO KNOW THE CHRISTIANS CAN PAY THEIR BILLS (…).   I KNOW I’VE TITHED, MY SEED IS IN THE GROUND, I’M DOING MY DUTIES.  THEREFORE I CAN BOLDLY COME AND SAY ‘O GOD, I’VE PUT IN THE HEAVENLY BANK ACCOUNT.  NOW I PRAY THAT THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN BE OPENED AND THAT GOD WILL POUR OUT BLESSINGS THAT I CANNOT CONTAIN.’

‘GOD, YOU ARE GOD.’  (SPOKE ABOUT DIAMONDS, NUGGETS FALLING ON PEOPLE.  WHY DO YOU LIMIT GOD?  DON’T PRAY AND THINK NORMALLY).  EXPECT A MIRACLE.  CAN GOD SET A TABLE IN THE WILDERNESS?  OF COURSE HE CAN SET A TABLE IN THE WILDERNESS. 

IF YOU ARE FAITHFUL, HE’S MORE THAN FAITHFUL.  IF YOU CAN STAY TRUE TO YOUR WORD, HE’S MORE THAN TRUE TO HIS WORD. 

HEBREWS 4 - … ENTER GOD’S REST.  THEREFORE GOD AGAIN SET A CERTAIN DAY, CALLING IT TODAY… FOR ANYONE WHO ENTERS GOD’S REST ALSO RESTS FROM HIS OWN WORK… FOR THE WORD OF GOD IS LIVING AND ACTIVE… TIMING IN GOD FOR YOU TO GET IT.

PS 62:8 - TRUST IN HIM AT ALL TIMES, O PEOPLE;  POUR OUT YOUR HEARTS TO HIM, FOR GOD IS OUR REFUGE. 

TRUST IN, RELY ON GOD AT ALL TIMES.  HE IS FAITHFUL TO PERFORM IT. 

2 COR 6:2  FOR HE SAYS, AT THE TIME OF MY FAVOUR I HEARD YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.

ISA 58:9  THEN YOU WILL CALL AND THE LORD WILL ANSWER; YOU WILL CRY FOR HELP, AND HE WILL SAY ‘HERE AM I.’

YOU SHALL CRY OUT AND THE LORD SHALL SAY, ‘HERE AM I’.  HE’S THERE PRAYING WITH YOU WHETHER YOU SEE HIM OR NOT. 

JER 33:3  CALL TO ME AND I WILL ANSWER YOU AND TELL YOU GREAT AND UNSEARCHABLE THINGS YOU DO NOT KNOW.

YOU CALL, NOW IS THE TIME FOR ME TO ANSWER. 

O GOD, YOUR WORD SAYS NOW IS THE ACCEPTED TIME.  I AM YOUR CHILD.  O HEAVENLY FATHER, THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST IS IN ME, AND IF YOU ARE MY FATHER, AND I KNOW HOW TO GIVE GOOD GIFTS TO MY CHILDREN, I DON’T WANT THEM TO BE LEFT BEHIND, I DON’T WANT THEM TO STRUGGLE, I DON’T WANT THEM TO HAVE SECOND HAND CLOTHES, I WANT THEM TO JUST HAVE THE BEST.  GOD HELPS ME HERE.  AND O GOD IF I FEEL LIKE THAT, HOW MUCH MORE DO YOU FEEL LIKE THAT?  NOW I WANT THIS GOD, AND I WANT IT NOW IS THE TIME, NOW IS THE TIME.  I’M COMING SHAMELESSLY, BOLDLY, FEARLESSLY, INSISTING, PERSISTING, ANNOYING GOD AND SAYING, ‘I’VE GOTTA HAVE IT GOD!’  AND GOD SAYS TO THE ANGELS ‘YOU BETTER ANSWER HIM BECAUSE WE CAN’T STRUGGLE WITH THIS PRAYER ALL DAY LONG.’ 

AND GOD, YOU ARE NO MAN’S DEBTOR.  GOD YOU GOTTA DO THIS.  JOHN 7.  GOD, DON’T YOU JUST WANT TO CALL IT SUMMER NOW?  SHE MADE THE APPOINTMENT.  I’M GONNA MAKE SOME APPOINTMENTS. 

JOHN 2 - WEDDING FEAST.  WOMAN, IT’S NOT MY TIME YET.  AND HIS MOTHER SAID TO THE SERVANTS, ‘WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU TO DO, DO IT.’  JOHN 7 - MY TIME IS NOT YET.  BUT IT’S ALWAYS THE CONVENIENT TIME FOR YOU.  NOW IS THE TIME.  YOU SET THE TIME FOR YOUR MIRACLE.  HOW LONG DO YOU WANT TO PRAY?  I WANT IT AND I WANT IT NOW.  TELL THE CONGREGATION… O GOD, I TOLD THEM, YOU’RE NOT GOING TO LET ME DOWN… (YOU CAN’T SPEAK TO GOD LIKE THAT) - WELL, THAT’S WHY YOU’RE NOT ON TV! 

MARK 10  BLIND BARTIMEOUS SHOUTED.  THEY SAID: DON’T ANNOY THE MASTER.  BUT HE SHOUTED THE LOUDER.  JESUS SAID, WHAT IS THAT?  BRING HIM HERE. 

MARK 5  WOMAN SET HER TIME - TOUCHED HIS CLOAK. 

STOP JESUS AS HE IS PASSING BY.  LORD, I GOTTA HAVE IT.  WHY WAIT?  THAT MOMENT IS GONE FOREVER.  ‘GOD IN HEAVEN, I AM YOUR CHILD.  YOU ARE IN ETERNITY, BUT I AM IN TIME.  I HAVEN’T ALWAYS GOT TIME, SO I NEED IT AND I NEED IT NOW!’

JAMES 5:4  LOOK!  THE WAGES YOU FAILED TO PAY THE WORKMEN WHO MOWED YOUR FIELDS ARE CRYING OUT AGAINST YOU.  THE CRIES OF THE HARVESTERS HAVE REACHED THE EARS OF THE LORD ALMIGHTY.

START SHOUTING PETITIONS TO GOD.  GOD THIS THING FOR MY… I GOD, I AM YOUR CHILD, I GOTTA HAVE IT AND I GOTTA HAVE IT NOW.  I’M NOT GOING TO WASTE MY TIME, I’M NOT GOING TO WASTE YOUR TIME, BUT I’M GOING TO PRAY MY PRAYER INSISTENTLY, PERSISTENTLY, SHAMELESSLY WITH FAITH AND BOLDNESS.  WHY DO WE PRAY?  WE WANT ANSWERS!  FEARLESSLY!  ANSWER US AND ANSWER US NOW.  WE GOTTA HAVE IT.  DO IT, O LORD!

I CAN JUST SEE GOD SLIDING OPEN THE DOORS / WINDOWS OF HEAVEN AND SAYING ‘GO, HELP THEM’. 

WE CALL THE PROMISES.

WE PRAY FOR THE PROMISES / PROPHETIC UTTERANCES.

WE PRAY O GOD THAT IT WILL HAPPEN NOW!  WE’RE NOT GOING TO WAIT ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER MONTH.  WE’VE GOTTA HAVE IT NOW.

FOCUS ON THE GREAT ETERNAL GOD.  FOCUS ON JESUS.  THE DEVILS ARE NOT WELCOME IN OUR PRESENCE.  THEY JUST GO.

HOLY SPIRIT MOVE IN THE MOST PRECIOUS WAY OVER… TO WAKE UP IN … HEART A PRAYER PETITION SPIRIT IN THE HEARTS OF … THAT WILL HAVE THAT ANNOYING, PERSISTING LUKE 11, LUKE 8:43, LUKE 18 TYPE OF FAITH, THAT NOW IS THE TIME.  LET ME GET A HOLD OF ALMIGHTY GOD LIKE NEVER BEFORE AND I PRAY THAT I WILL BE ABLE TO SAY ‘GOD HAS DONE THIS FOR ME, GOD HAS DONE THAT, ANSWERED THIS PRAYER.’  GOD IS NO MAN’S DEBTOR - HE IS A REWARDER OF THEM THAT DILIGENTLY SEEK HIM.

BELIEVE YOU RECEIVE

BY KENNETH E HAGIN

IF WE WILL BELIEVE WE RECEIVE WHAT WE ASK FOR WHEN WE PRAY,

WE WILL HAVE WHAT WE ASKED FOR!

 

FAITH BEGINS WHERE THE WILL OF GOD IS KNOWN

 

BELIEVING THAT I RECEIVED WHAT I ASKED FOR WHEN I PRAYED, EVEN THOUGH I DIDN’T YET SEE THE MANIFESTATION OF IT, WAS THE KEY TO RECEIVING MY HEALING OF A TERMINAL BLOOD DISEASE AND HEART CONDITION MORE THAN SIXTY FIVE YEARS AGO.  I FINALLY BELIEVED WHAT GOD SAID IN HIS WORD OVER WHAT MY PHYSICAL SENSES TOLD ME.  AND THAT BROUGHT ME OFF MY DEATHBED.  THIS MONTH I WANT TO LOOK AT FAITH FOR RECEIVING, WHETHER IT’S HEALING OR ANYTHING ELSE GOD PROMISES US IN HIS WORD.

LET’S START BY LOOKING AT WHAT JESUS SAID ABOUT FAITH IN MARK CHAPTER 11.  HIS WORDS HERE ARE THE MOST ILLUMINATING ON THE SUBJECT OF FAITH OF ANY IN THE FOUR GOSPELS.

MARK 11:22-24:

22: And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

23: For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

24: Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

BEFORE I WAS HEALED - AND IT WILL BE SIXTY-SIX YEARS AGO THIS COMING AUGUST - I HAD BEEN BEDFAST FOR SIXTEEN MONTHS.  I HAD TWO SERIOUS HEART CONDITIONS, MY BODY WAS ALMOST TOTALLY PARALYSED, AND I HAD AN INCURABLE BLOOD DISEASE.  SO SERIOUS WAS MY ILLNESS THAT MY BLOOD WAS ORANGE INSTEAD OF RED!

ONE OF THE DOCTORS TOLD ME, ‘WE’RE NOT TRYING TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.  IN FACT, THERE’S NOTHING WE CAN DO.  GO DOWN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD AND STAY READY TO GO.’  WELL, I KNOW WHAT HE MEANT, AND I WAS READY TO GO FROM THE STANDPOINT OF BEING SAVED.  BUT I WASN’T INTERESTED IN GOING TO HEAVEN RIGHT THEN.  THE DESIRE TO LIVE IS STRONG IN THE HEART OF A SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD.

SO I BEGAN READING THE BIBLE.  AND THESE VERY SCRIPTURES IN MARK 11:23 AND 24 ARE THE ONES THAT BROUGHT ME OFF OF THAT DEATHBED. 

I REMEMBER THAT ON THE EIGHTH DAY OF AUGUST 1934, I WAS STILL HELPLESS ENOUGH THAT MAMA HAD TO BATHE ME.  I WEIGHTED JUST 89 POUNDS.  SHE HAD BATHED AND DRESSED ME THAT DAY AND LEFT ME PROPPED UP ON A COUPLE OF PILLOWS.  I HAD THE BIBLE OPEN TO MARK CHAPTER 11, AND I WAS STUDYING THESE SCRIPTURES - PARTICULARLY VERSE 24, ‘… WHAT THINGS SOEVER YOU DESIRE…’ I WAS ALSO TAKING TO THE LORD, AND THE HOLY GHOST IN ME WAS TEACHING ME. 

NOW A WELL BODY WAS THE GREATEST DESIRE OF MY LIFE.  I MEAN, I FELT LIKE I DESIRED THAT MORE THAN I DESIRED TO GO TO HEAVEN WHEN I DIED!  I SAID, ‘DEAR LORD JESUS, YOU SAID WHEN YOU WERE HERE ON EARTH, ‘…WHATSOEVER THINGS YOU DESIRE, WHEN YE PRAY, BELIEVE THAT YE RECEIVE THEM, AND YE SHALL HAVE THEM.’  (MARK 11:24).  NOW I DESIRE A WELL BODY.  I’VE NEVER HAD A WELL BODY.  I’VE NEVER BEEN WELL IN MY LIFE.  I’VE NEVER RUN AND PLAYED LIKE OTHER LITTLE CHILDREN.  I HAVEN’T HAD A NORMAL CHILDHOOD. 

“YOU SAID, ‘WHEN YOU PRAY…’ AND I HAVE PRAYED.  AND YOU SAID, …BELIEVE…’ AND I HAVE BELIEVED.  NOW IFYOU STOOD HERE BY MY BEDSIDE AND SAID TO ME, ‘SON, YOU PROBLEM IS, YOU DON’T BELIEVE,’ DEAR LORD JESUS, I WOULD HAVE TO SAY YOU’RE LYING ABOUT IT.  I DO BELIEVE.”  I SAID THOSE WORDS IN TONES OF KINDNESS, NOT ARROGANCE. 

WHEN I SAID THAT, HE SPOKE TO ME.  YOU SEE, GOD SPEAKS TO US THROUGH HIS WORD - AND I WAS TALKING TO HIM ABOUT HIS WORD AND FELLOWSHIPPING WITH HIM THROUGH AND AROUND HIS WORD.  BUT HE ALSO SPEAKS TO US IN OUR HEARTS - OUR SPIRITS - THROUGH THE HOLY GHOST.

JESUS SAID ABOUT THE HOLY GHOST,

JOHN 14:16-17:

16: And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

17: Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

AND A LITTLE LATER IN JOHN’S GOSPEL, SCRIPTURE SAYS:

JOHN 16:13-15:

13: Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

14: He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

15: All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

SO AS I TALKED TO THE LORD, DOWN ON THE INSIDE OF ME, JUST AS CLEAR AND PLAIN AS COULD BE, I HEARD THESE WORDS: ‘YOU DO BELIEVE ALL RIGHT, AS FAR AS YOU KNOW.’  IT WASN’T AUDIBLE.  NO ONE ELSE WOULD HAVE HEARD A THING IF THEY WERE STANDING IN THE ROOM.  THE HOLY SPIRIT DIDN’T DISPUTE AT ALL THAT I BELIEVED, BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE TO BE BORN AGAIN. 

ROMANS 10:10:

10: For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

HE SAID, ‘YOU DO BELIEVE ALL RIGHT, AS FAR AS YOU KNOW.  BUT THAT LAST CLAUSE GOES WITH THAT VERSE OF SCRIPTURE.’  AND THEN HE QUOTED IT: ‘… AND YE SHALL HAVE THEM.’  (MARK 11:24). 

I KNEW THAT WAS THE LORD SPEAKING TO ME.  AND WHEN HE SAID THAT INSIDE ME, LIKE A FLASH I SAW IT.  I UNDERSTOOD IN MY SPIRIT MAN.  I SAID, ‘I SEE IT!  I SEE IT!’  I SAW NOT ONLY WHAT I MUST DO, BUT ALSO WHERE I’D BEEN MISSING IT.  IT WAS SO CLEAR, SO SIMPLE.

NO MATTER WHAT IS WRONG WITH A PERSON, IF HE WILL LISTEN TO HIS SPIRIT, HE CAN BE HEALED WITHOUT ANYONE LAYING HANDS ON HIM OR ANOINTING HIM WITH OIL.

HERE IS THE FIRST INSIGHT, AND ONE OF THE GREATEST, THAT I RECEIVED ON THE SUBJECT OF FAITH.  WHERE DID I GET IT?  INDIRECTLY FROM MARK 11:23-24, WHICH I WAS READING, BUT I GOT IT IN MY SPIRIT WHEN THE HOLY GHOST TAUGHT ME. 

NOTICE THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT SAID TO ME, ‘YOU DO BELIEVE, ALL RIGHT, AS FAR AS YOU KNOW.’  I REALISED THAT I COULDN’T BELIEVE BEYOND ACTUAL KNOWLEDGE.  ANOTHER WAY TO SAY IT IS, FAITH BEGINS WHERE THE WILL OF GOD IS KNOWN. 

DO YOU SEE WHERE MANY PEOPLE FAIL?  THEY ARE TRYING TO BELIEVE SOMETHING BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE BELIEVED IT.  NO, YOU MUST KNOW AND ACT ON GOD’S WORD FOR YOURSELF BECAUSE YOU BELIEVE IT, NOT BECAUSE SOMEONE ELSE BELIEVED IT.

YOU SEE, WE TRY TO ACT BEYOND WHAT WE KNOW, BUT FAITH IS BASED ON FACTS - THE FACTS OF GOD’S WORD.  UNBELIEF IS FOUNDED ON THEORIES.

BELIEVE THAT ‘HIMSELF TOOK YOUR INFIRMITIES AND BARE YOUR SICKNESSES’ (MATT 8:17).  OR DO WHAT MARK 11:24 SAYS Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.  IF IT IS HEALING YOU DESIRE, SUBSTITUTE THE WORD ‘HEALING’ FOR THE WORD ‘THEM’.  when ye pray, believe that ye receive HEALING, and ye shall have HEALING. 

‘YES, BUT I’M NOT HEALED YET!’ SOMEONE MIGHT SAY. 

BUT YOU WOULDN’T HAVE TO BELIEVE YOU RECEIVE SOMETHING YOU ALREADY HAVE. 

YOU’D KNOW YOU HAVE IT.  when ye pray, believe that ye receive HEALING, and ye shall have HEALING.  WHEN DO YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU RECEIVE HEALING?  BEFORE YOU HAVE HEALING.  AND WHEN DO YOU HAVE HEALING? AFTER YOU BELIEVE YOU RECEIVE HEALING. 

THINK ABOUT THAT!  IF YOU THINK ON IT AND MEDITATE ON IT LONG ENOUGH, IT WILL EVENTUALLY DAWN ON YOUR SPIRIT. 

WHEN I WAS THERE ON THAT BED OF SICKNESS, I SAW THAT I’D MISSED IT BY SUBSTITUTING HOPE FOR FAITH.  I KEPT BELIEVING THAT I WAS GOING TO GET HEALED, AND THEN I’D EXAMINE MY BODY TO SEE IF I WAS HEALED.  AND IF I COULD TELL THAT I WAS HEALED, THEN I WOULD BELIEVE I WAS HEALED. 

NOW YOU CAN’T PRAY WITHOUT GETTING BLESSED AND FEELING GOOD.  I’D PRAY, AND I’D GET BLESSED AND THINK GOD HEARD ME. ‘OH, I BELIEVE HE HEARD ME THIS TIME!  I’VE GOT IT!’  I’D SAY.  BUT AFTER I PRAYED, I WOULDN’T FIND ANY CHANGE IN MY BODY.  I’D START CRYING AND SAY, ‘I THOUGHT YOU HEARD ME, GOD, BUT YOU DIDN’T.’  AND I’D START ALL OVER AGAIN.  I DID THAT FOR WHAT SEEMED LIKE A THOUSAND TIMES.

MY FAITH WAS NOT BASED ON WHAT GOD SAID, BUT ON HOW I FELT.  YOU SEE, WHAT I REALLY BELIEVED WAS, ‘I’LL GET HEALING SOMETIME.  I DON’T HAVE IT YET, BUT I’LL GET IT.’  THEN I FINALLY SAW WHAT MARK 11:24 MEANT.  I SAID OUT LOUD, ‘I SEE IT!  WHAT I HAVE TO DO IS START BELIEVING I’M HEALED WHILE I’M STILL LYING HERE BEDFAST AND HAVEN’T MOVED A PEG.’  (THAT’S A GOOD TEXAS COLLOQUIAL EXPRESSION!).  ‘I MUST BELIEVE I’M HEALED WHILE I HAVEN’T MOVED AN INCH.  I MUST BELIEVE I RECEIVE HEALING WHIE MY BODY IS STILL PARALYSED.  I MUST BELIEVE I RECEIVE HEALING FOR A DEFORMED HEART WHILE MY HEART IS STILL NOT BEATING RIGHT.  I MUST BELIEVE I RECEIVE HEALING FOR THE INCURABLE BLOOD DISEASE EVEN THOUGH I CAN’T SEE WHAT’S HAPPENED WITH MY BLOOD.  AND GOD SAYS IF I’LL BELIEVE THAT, THEN I’LL HAVE IT.’ 

I SAW SOMETHING ELSE TOO.  MY PART WAS NOT TO HAVE MY HEALING.  MY PART WAS TO BELIEVE I RECEIVE.  GOD’S PART WAS TO SEE THAT I HAD IT.  I NEEDED TO LET HIM TEND TO HIS PART, AND I NEEDED TO TEND TO MY PART.  SO MANY PEOPLE TRY TO TEND TO THEIR PART, GOD’S PART, AND EVERYONE ELSE’S PART.  AND THEY GET THE WHOLE THING IN A MESS. 

I KNEW THAT IT WOULDN’T TAKE LONG FOR ME TO SEE THE MANIFESTATION AFTER I BELIEVED I RECEIVED MY HEALING.  WHEN I WOULD ACTUALLY SEE THE MANIFESTATION DIDN’T BOTHER ME. YOU SEE, WHEN YOU REALLY BELIEVE GOD, TIME DOESN’T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE!  I SAID OUT LOUD, ‘IF I’M LYING HERE ON THIS BED FIFTY YEARS FROM NOW, I’LL STILL BELIEVE THAT I RECEIVED MY HEALING AT THIS MOMENT.’ 

BUT WHEN YOU REALLY BELIEVE, THE MANIFESTATION OF YOUR FAITH DOESN’T TAKE LONG TO APPEAR.  WITHIN THE HOUR, I WAS STANDING OUT OF THE BED ON MY FEET.  EVERY SYMPTOM HAD DISAPPEARED!  AND IVE BEEN HEALED EVER SINCE, PRAISE GOD, AND GOING AT A HOP, SKIP AND JUMP TELLING PEOPLE THE GOOD NEWS THAT THEY CAN BE HEALED TOO.  ISN’T THAT GOOD NEWS?  SURE IT IS!  EVERYONE CAN BE HEALED! 

I BELIEVE IN SPECIAL ANOINTINGS AND THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT.  VERY OFTEN THEY HAVE MANIFESTED .. AND A FEW PEOPLE MAY BE HEALED… BUT THE WORD OF GOD WORKS FOR …IT ALWAYS WORKS!  I KNOW… HAVEN’T HAD A SICK DAY ..NEARLY SIX YEARS.  NOW I DON’T MEAN TO SAY I HAVEN’T BEEN ATTACKED WITH SYMPTOMS, BEFORE THE DAY IS OVER, I’VE EITHER BEEN ON TOP OF THE SITUATION OR PERFECTLY WELL.

NOW YOU CAN VIOLATE RULES OF NATURE AND HAVE TO PAY THE PENALTY FOR IT.  THEN YOU HAVE TO REPENT FOR BEING FOOLISH…

SO I SAID AS I WAS LYING THERE ON THAT BED OF SICKNESS, ‘I SEE WHAT I HAVE TO DO WHILE I’M STILL LYING HERE ON THE BED.  I HAVE TO BELIEVE.’  BELIEVE WHAT?

AGAIN, THAT IS WHERE WE MISS IT.  WE NEED TO BELIEVE WHAT GOD SAYS IN HIS WORD. 

THE LAST HEADACHE I HAD WAS IN AUGST OF 1933 (NOW MAY 2000).  WHEN I WAS A PASTOR, A NEIGHBOURING PASTOR WOULD HAVE MIGRAINE HEADACHES JUST ABOUT EVERY OTHER WEEK.  HE WOULD GO TO BED AND STAY TWO OR THREE DAYS WITH HIS WINDOW SHADES DRAWN, BECAUSE LIGHT WAS SO PAINFUL TO HIM.  I FELT SO SORRY FOR HIM.

I PASTORED FOR TWELVE YEARS, AND I REALISE THAT YOU CAN HAVE MEMBERS WHO WILL GIVE ANYONE A HEADACHE!  BUT I LEARNED TO CAST MY BURDENS ON THE LORD.  SCRIPTURE SAYS TO CAST ALL YOUR CARES ON HIM (1 PETER 5:7).  BUT MY NEIGHBOURING PASTOR, BLESS HIS HEART, NEVER LEARNED TO DO THAT.

‘WHY DIDN’T YOU GET HIM HEALED?’ SOMEONE ASKED.

I COULDN’T GET HIM TO LISTEN TO THE BIBLE.  SO OFTEN WE SUBSTITUTE SOMETHING ELSE FOR WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS.  IN OTHER WORDS, WE BELIEVE SOMETHING OTHER THAN WHAT THE WORD OF GOD SAYS. 

REMEMBER OUR TEXT: ‘…What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.’ (MARK 11:24).  IN THIS PASTOR’S CASE, ‘THINGS’ MEANT HEALING.  AND WHEN DO YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU RECEIVE HEALING?  BEFORE YOU HAVE HEALING.  THIS PASTOR SUFFERED WITH MIGRAINE HEADACHES AND OTHER PHYSICAL PROBLEMS AND FINALLY DIED AT AN EARLY AGE.  I TOLD HIM THESE SAME THINGS I’M TELLING YOU, BUT HE SAID, ‘I’M NOT GOING TO BELIEVE I’VE GOT SOMETHING I CAN’T FEEL OR SEE.’

I ASKED HIM, ‘DO YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE ANY BRAINS?’

‘WHY, CERTAINLY.’

‘DID YOU EVER SEE THEM?  DID YOU EVER FEEL THEM?’

‘OH, THAT’S DIFFERENT.’

ISN’T THAT STRANGE?  EVEN OUT IN THE WORLD FOLKS BELIEVE EVERY DAY IN THINGS THEY CAN’T FEEL OR SEE.  A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO, THE WHOLE WORLD BECAME CONCERNED ABOUT NUCLEAR BOMBS EXPLODING AND RELEASING RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL INTO THE AIR.  YOU CAN’T SEE OR FEEL THAT RADIOACTIVITY, BUT IT WILL KILL YOU.  THEY ALL BELIEVED IN THE UNSEEN, DIDN’T THEY?

PEOPLE CIRCULATED MANY PETITIONS TO STOP THE EXPLODING OF THE BOMBS BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED IN THE UNSEEN.

BUT WHEN GOD COMES ALONG AND ASKS PEOPLE TO BELIEVE IN SOMETHING THEY CAN’T SEE, THEY SAY, ‘THAT’S TOO MUCH!  WE DON’T BELIEVE IN THINGS LIKE THAT.’  YET THEY DO IT ALL THE TIME.

‘THAT’S DIFFERENT,’ THIS PASTOR SAID.  BUT IT WASN’T ANY DIFFERENT.  YOU SEE, HIS FAITH WAS NOT BASED ON THE WORD.  HE WAS A GOOD MAN.  HE LOVED GOD WITH ALL OF HIS HEART.  THERE WAS NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT.  BUT UNLESS YOU HAD SOME KIND OF SPECIAL MANIFESTATION OF THE HOLY GHOST TO MINISTER TO HIM, YOU SIMPLY HAD TO TEACH HIM THE WORD, JUST LIKE YOU DO EVERYONE ELSE.  HE DIDN’T BELIEVE IT, AND, I’M SAD TO SAY, HE DIED.

WE OUGHT TO SO TRAIN OURSELVES THAT, NO MATTER WHAT THE SITUATION, WE ALWAYS ASK OURSELVES, ‘WHAT DOES GOD SAY?  WHAT DOES HIS WORD SAY?’ 

I’VE SAID IT FOR MORE THAN SIXTY FIVE YEARS AND I’M GOING TO KEEP ON SAYING IT.  WHATEVER IT IS YOU’RE PRAYING FOR - WHATEVER IT IS YOU’RE ENDEAVORING TO BELIEVE GOD FOR - FIND SCRIPTURES THAT COVER YOUR CASE.  FIND SCRIPTURES THAT PROMISE YOU THOSE THINGS OR SAY THEY’RE YOURS.  THEN YOU HAVE A SOLID FOUNDATION FOR YOUR FAITH.

THAT’S WHY THE LORD SAID TO ME WAY BACK THEN, ‘YOU DO BELIEVE, ALL RIGHT, AS FAR AS YOU KNOW.’  THAT MEANT I DIDN’T KNOW ENOUGH.  HOW COULD I KNOW ENOUGH?  BY LISTENING TO WHAT THE WORD OF GOD HAD TO SAY.

WHILE I WAS BEDFAST AS A TEENAGER, THE HOLY SPIRIT SHOWED ME THAT, ACCORDING TO MARK 11:23, I HAD TO BELIEVE I RECEIVED MY HEALING WHEN I PRAYED, NOT AFTER I SAW THE MANIFESTATION.  ONCE I BELIEVED I RECEIVED MY HEALING, THE MANIFESTATION WOULD COME.  YOU WILL HAVE YOUR HEALING OR YOUR FINANCES OR WHATEVER YOU NEED AFTER YOU BELIEVE YOU RECEIVE. 

I SAW THIS PRINCIPLE WORK MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS AGO WHEN WE STARTED HEALING SCHOOL AT KENNETH HAGIN MINISTRIES IN BROKEN ARROW, OKLAHOMA.  THE VERY FIRST WEEK, A 27 YEAR OLD MAN CAME WHO WASN’T EVEN A CHIRSTIAN.  HIS MOTHER, A PRESBYTERIAN, HAD RECEIVED THE BAPTISM IN THE HOLY GHOST AND HAD BECOME CHARISMATIC.  THEMAN HAD ALREADY GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE, BUT HAD DECIDED TO GO BACK TO STUDY LAW AND BECOME A LAWYER. 

A GROWTH ON ONE OF HIS LIMBS SUDDENLY FLARED UP, SO HE WENT TO SEE A DOCTOR, WHO SENT HIM TO A CANCER CLINIC.  AFTER TAKING A BIOPSY, DOCTORS THERE TOLD HIM HE HAD THE VERY WORST KIND OF CANCER.  THEY WANTED TO AMPUTATE HIS LIMB IMMEDIATELY AND GIVE HIM CHEMOTHERAPY.

HE SAID, ‘I’M NOT GOING TO DO IT.’  THEY SAID, ‘YOU’LL BE DEAD IN THIRTY DAYS.’

HIS MOTHER WAS QUITE WEALTHY, SO HE WENT TO A WORLD-RENOWNED CANCER CLINIC.  HE DIDN’T TELL THEM WHAT THE DOCTORS AT THE FIRST CLINIC HAD SAID.  THEY RAN THE SAME TESTS AND IMMEDIATELY WANTED TO REMOVE HIS LIMB AND START CHEMOTHERAPY.  THEY GAVE HIM A FIFTY-FIFTY PERCENT CHANCE TO LIVE.

HE SAID, ‘I’M NOT GOING TO DO IT.’  THEY SAID, ‘YOU’LL BE DEAD IN THIRTY DAYS.’

HE WENT TO A CANCER CLINIC IN ANOTHER CITY.  THEY TOLD HIM THE SAME THING, AND HE GAVE THEM THE SAME RESPONSE.  HE CALLED HIS MOTHER.  SHE TOLD HIM I’D STARTED A HEALING SCHOOL IN BROKEN ARROW AND ASKED HIM TO ATTEND WITH HER.  SO HE CAME.

NOW HE WAS NOT A CHRISTIAN, AND DIVINE HEALING WAS NEW TO HIM.  I TAUGHT THESE SAME THINGS …AND AFTER THE TEACHING, I LAID HAND ON PEOPLE FOR HEALING.  HIS MOTHER WANTED HIM TO GO FORWARD FOR THE LAYING-ON OF HANDS, BUT HE SAID, ‘NO, I’M NOT GOING.  THERE’S NO USE HAVING ANYONE LAY HANDS ON ME.  I UNDERSTAND WHAT HE TAUGHT.  NO, I JUST BELIEVE.  I BELIEVE I RECEIVE.  I’VE ALREADY BELIEVED THAT I RECEIVE HEALING.  I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING THAT WENT ON, BUT I UNDERSTOOD THAT I’VE GOT THAT.  I’VE GOT IT!’

HE LEFT AND WENT BACK TO THE DOCTORS.  THEY EXAMINED HIM AND WANTED HIM TO COME BACK AFTER A FEW MONTHS.  HE RETURNED A YEAR LATER.  THE DOCTORS SAID, ‘WE DON’T UNDERSTAND IT.  SOMETIMES A CANCER WILL GO INTO REMISSION.  BUT THIS CANCER HAS DISAPPEARED.  THERE’S JUST NO USE COMING BACK ANYMORE.  JUST FORGET IT.’

HE CALLED HIS MOTHER TO GIVE HER THE GOOD REPORT.  UP UNTIL THEN, HE HAD MADE NO COMMITMENT TO THE LORD IN ANY WAY.  HIS MOTHER TOLD HIM, ‘REMEMBER JESUS DID THAT FOR YOU.  JESUS IS YOUR HEALER.’ 

‘YES,’ HE SAID, ‘AND I’LL TELL YOU SOMETHING ELSE.  HE’S MY SAVIOUR TOO.’ 

SHE WAS GLAD TO HEAR THAT!  YEARS LATER, HE WAS STILL ALIVE, AND HAD ALL OF HIS LIMBS, AND WAS SUPPORTING OUR MINISTRY.  HIS MOTHER ONCE WROTE US AND SAID HE HAD CALLED HER LONG DISTANCE AND PREACHED FAITH TO HER FOR NEARLY AN HOUR.  SHE COULD HARDLY GET HIM OFF THE PHONE!

THANK GOD FOR HIS WORD!  JESUS SAID, MARK 11:24: Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

IF YOU NEED HEALING TODAY, BELIEVE THAT YOU RECEIVE IT, FROM THE TOP OF YOUR HEAD TO THE SOLES OF YOUR FEET.  BELIEVE THAT YOU RECEIVE HEALING, OR FINANCES, OR WHATEVER ELSE GOD SAYS IN HIS WORD BELONGS TO YOU, WHEN YOU PRAY FOR IT.  BELIEVE GOD’S WORD OVER YOUR FEELINGS.  THEN CONFESS OUT LOUD

THAT YOU HAVE WHAT YOU ASKED FOR.  WHEN YOU DO THAT, YOU WILL HAVE IT! 

KENNETH HAGIN MINISTRIES

MAKE ROOM FOR THE ANOINTING

RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE

PARTNER TEACHING

2 KINGS 4:8-10:

8: And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread.  And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread.

9: And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually.

10: Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.

THERE WAS A RICH AND INFLUENTIAL WOMAN IN SHUNEM WHO RECOGNISED ELISAH AS A HOLY MAN OF GOD.  SHE RECOGNISED BOTH HIS CALL AND HIS ANOINTING.  SHE STARTED OFF BY OFFERING HIM A MEAL, BUT AS HE PASSED THAT WAY OFTEN, SHE FELT COMPELLED TO DO MORE TO BLESS AND HELP HIM.  SHE SUGGESTED TO HER HUSBAND THAT THEY PROVIDE A SMALL, FURNISHED ROOM ON THEIR ROOFTOP FOR ELISHA.

2 KINGS 4:11-13:

11: And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there.

12: And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite.  And when he had called her, she stood before him.

13: And he said unto him, Say now unto her, Behold, thou hast been careful for us with all this care; what is to be done for thee?  wouldest thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the host?  And she answered, I dwell among mine own people.

AS ELISHA LAY IN HIS ROOM ONE DAY, HE BEGAN TO THINK OF WHAT HE COULD DO FOR THIS HOSPITABLE WOMAN.  HE OFFERED TO SPEAK ON HER BEHALF TO THE KING OR THE COMMANDER OF THE ARMY, BUT SHE TOLD HIM SHE HAD ALL SHE NEEDED.

2 KINGS 4:14-17:

14: And he said, What then is to be done for her?  And Gehazi answered, Verily she hath no child, and her husband is old.

15: And he said, Call her.  And when he had called her, she stood in the door.

16: And he said, About this season, according to the time of life, thou shalt embrace a son.  And she said, Nay, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie unto thine handmaid.

17: And the woman conceived, and bare a son at that season that Elisha had said unto her, according to the time of life.

GEHAZI TOLD ELISHA THAT SHE HAD NO SON AND HER HUSBAND WAS OLD.  ELISHA CALLED HER AND TOLD HER THAT SHE WOULD GIVE BIRTH TO A SON IN ABOUT A YEAR’S TIME, AND IT CAME TO PASS JUST AS HE HAD SAID.

BECAUSE THIS WOMAN MADE ROOM FOR THE ANOINTING, THE ANOINTING MADE ROOM FOR HER.  BECAUSE SHE HONOURED GOD BY HONOURING HIS SERVANT, GOD GAVE HER THE DEEPEST DESIRE OF HER HEART - SOMETHING THAT SHE HAD NOT EVEN DARED TO HOPE FOR.  IF WE WILL MAKE ROOM FOR THE ANOINTING, THE ANOINTING WILL MAKE ROOM FOR US.

RODNEY HOWARD-BROWNE

FIRSTFRUIT

THE PATHWAY TO PROSPERITY

THE BARRIER BREAKING POWER OF FIRSTFRUIT OFFERINGS

DR CREFLO A DOLLAR JNR

CHANGING YOUR WORLD MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2001

AS BELIEVERS, YOU AND I ARE EMPOWERED TO BREAK THROUGH THE BARRIERS OF CHALLENGING CIRCUMSTANCES AND PRESS ON TO FULFILL GOD’S PERFECT WILL FOR OUR LIVES.  THERE IS NO DILEMMA TOO GREAT THAT WE CANNOT COME OUT OF … EQUIPPED TO …

GOD DOES NOT WANT YOU TO STRUGGLE TO REACH YOUR PROMISED LAND OF PROSPERITY.  HE HAS PROVIDED SWEATLESS DELIVERANCE FROM EVERYTHING THAT WOULD KEEP YOU FROM ENJOYING THE GOOD LIFE HE PREARRANGED FOR YOU (EPH 2:10 AMP).  HE NEVER DELIVERS YOU OUT OF ONE SITUATION WITHOUT BRINGING YOU INTO SOMETHING BETTER.  WHEN GOD DELIVERS YOU FROM A DRY, PLACE OF DEBT, LACK OR SICKNESS, HE BRINGS YOU INTO A PLACE BLOSSOMING WITH TOTAL LIFE PROSPERITY - SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY.  YOUR PROSPERITY BRINGS HIM PLEASURE (PS 35:27, 3 JOHN 2).

THE WORD OF GOD SAYS, ‘FOR THOU, O GOD, HAST PROVED US: THOU HAST TRIED US, AS SILVER IS TRIED, …BUT THOU BROUGHTEST US OUT INTO A WEALTHY PLACE’ (PS 66:10,12).  THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE REFERS TO THE WEALTHY PLACE AS A ‘MOIST PLACE’ OF ABUNDANCE.

YOU MAY BE EXPERIENCING A DROUGHT IN YOUR FINANCES RIGHT NOW.  PSALM 66, HOWEVER, PROMISES THAT IF YOU’RE FAITHFUL TO GOD, HE WILL BRING YOU INTO A MOIST PLACE OF ABUNDANCE.  KEEP IN MIND THAT ABUNDANCE IS NOT LIMITED TO MONEY.  IT IS HAVING MORE THAN ENOUGH OF WHATEVER YOU NEED AND THE ABILITY TO BE A BLESSING TO OTHERS. 

MAKE NO MISTAKE, IT IS GOD’S WILL FO RHIS PEOPLE TO EXPERIENCE BREAKTHROUGH IN THEIR FINANCES AND REACH THE ‘WEALTHY PLACE.’  THE KIND OF BREAKTHROUGH HE WANTS YOU TO HAVE INVOLVES TOTAL DELIVERANCE FROM DEBT.  IN FACT, THE WORD BREAK COMES FROM THE GREEK WORD LUO,  WHICH MEANS ‘TO LOOSEN, DEMOLISH, DESTROY, DISSOLVE, SEVER.’  LUO IS SYNONYMOUS WITH THE WORD ‘DESTROY’ USED IN 1 JOHN 3:8, ‘…FOR THIS PURPOSE THE SON OF GOD WAS MANIFESTED, THAT HE MIGHT DESTROY THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL.’

POVERTY IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE WORK OF THE DEVIL.  JESUS’ JOB IS TO LOOSEN AND DEMOLISH THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL AND GIVE YOU THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENJOY TOTAL LIFE FREEDOM.

YOUR FINANCIAL FREEDOM IS INCLUDED IN JESUS’ PLAN TO DESTROY THE DEVIL’S WORKS.  FOR THIS REASON, YOU MUST STAND FIRM ON THE PROMISES FOUND IN GOD’S WORD.  THE APOSTLE PAUL SAID, ‘IN [THIS] FREEDOM CHRIST HAS MADE US FREE [AND COMPLETELY LIBERATED US]; STAND FAST THEN, AND DO NOT BE HAMPERED AND HELD ENSNARED AND SUBMIT AGAIN TO A YOKE OF SLAVERY [WHICH YOU HAVE ONCE PUT OFF]’ (GALATIANS 5:1 AMP). 

THE MISSING LINK TO BREAKTHROUGH

BEING FINANCIALLY FREE IS CONTINGENT ON YOUR WILLINGNESS TO HANDLE YOUR FINANCES GOD’S WAY.  NOT DOING SO WILL CAUSE YOU TO REMAIN IN A FINANCIAL RUT.  MALACHI 3, FOR EXAMPLE, SHOWS US THE CONSEQUENCES OF MISHANDLING YOUR FINANCES BY FAILING TO TITHE CONSISTENTLY.  IT TELLS US THAT A CURSE (OR AN EMPOWERMENT TO FAIL) RESULTS FROM STEALING FROM GOD (VERSES 8-9).

IN MY OPINION, ALTHOUGH MANY CHRISTIANS TITHE, THEY ARE TRAPPED IN ‘POVERTY MODE.’  IN OTHER WORDS, THEY NEVER SEEM TO CROSS THEIR FINANCIAL HUMP.  THEY EXPERIENCE ONE SETBACK AFTER ANOTHER; THEIR BILLS DON’T GET PAID ON TIME; AND THEY SINK DEEPER INTO DEBT.

ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF GOD, THERE IS SOMETHING THAT WILL PROPEL YOU FURTHER THAN THE TITHE CAN.  WITHOUT A DOUBT, TITHING CONNECTS YOU TO YOUR COVENANT WITH GOD AND OPENS THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN OVER YOUR LIFE.  BUT FINANCIALLY, IT ONLY TAKES YOU SO FAR.  FOR THIS REASON, GOD ESTABLISHED A FORM OF GIVING THAT GUARANTEES TO BRING YOU A BARRIER-BREAKING HARVEST - THE FIRSTFRUIT OFFERING.

MANY OF THOSE WHO HAVE HEARD OF FIRSTFRUITS AUTOMATICALLY THINK THAT IT IS THE SAME AS THE TITHE.  HOWEVER, SCRIPTURE TELLS US THAT THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO.  SECOND CHRONICLES 31:5 SAYS, ‘…THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL BROUGHT IN ABUNDANCE THE FIRSTFRUITS OF CORN, WINE, AND OIL, AND HONEY, AND OF ALL THE INCREASE OF THE FIELD; AND THE TITHE OF ALL THINGS BROUGHT THEY IN ABUNDANTLY.’  NOTICE THAT THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL UNDERSTOOD THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN FIRSTFRUITS AND TITHES.  NEHEMIAH 12:44 SAYS, ‘AND AT THAT TIME WERE SOME APPOINTED OVER THE CHAMBERS FOR THE TREASURES, FOR THE OFFERINGS, FOR THE FIRSTFRUITS, AND FOR THE TITHES…’  AGAIN, THE DISTINCTION IS MADE BETWEEN FIRSTFRUITS AND THE TITHE. 

SOMEONE MIGHT ASK, ‘WHAT IS A FIRSTFRUIT OFFERING?  IS IT EVEN SCRIPTURAL?’  FIRST, LET’S STUDY THE COMPOUND WORD FIRSTFRUIT.   THE WORD FIRST IS DEFINED AS ‘PRIMARY, INITIAL, FOREMOST, COMING BEFORE ALL OTHERS, RANKING ABOVE ALL OTHERS IN IMPORTANCE OR QUALITY.’  A BASIC DEFINITION FOR FRUIT IS ‘THE OUTCOME OR RESULT.’  THEREFORE FIRSTFRUIT REFERS TO THE PRIMARY RESULT OF YOUR LABOUR, OR THE FIRST TO BE PRODUCED FROM YOUR HARVEST.  FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU PLANT A ROW OF CORN SEED, THE FIRST RIPE BATCH OF CORN YOU GATHER IS CONSIDERED FIRSTFRUIT.

FIRSTFRUIT GIVING AND TITHING WORK HAND IN HAND.  NEITHER OVERRIDES THE OTHER IN IMPORTANCE.  WHEN YOU OFFER GOD FIRSTFRUITS, INCREASE BEGINS TO FLOW.  TITHING MAINTAINS THE FLOW OF INCREASE INITIATED BY GIVING FIRSTFRUITS.  FOR EXAMPLE, TO START YOUR CAR’S ENGINE YOU TURN ON THE IGNITION USING THE KEY.  BUT TO START DRIVING YOU HAVE TO PUT THE GEAR IN DRIVE AND PRESS THE ACCELERATOR.  THE SYSTEM IS THE SAME WITH FIRSTFRUITS AND THE TITHE.

ACCORDING TO LEVITICUS 27:32, THE TITHE EQUALS THE TENTH OR TEN PERCENT OF YOUR INCOME.  WHEN YOU RECEIVE A PAYCHEQUE, FOR EXAMPLE, TEN PERCENT OF THAT INCOME BELONGS TO GOD.  IF YOU EARN A GROSS OF 2000 DOLLARS BIWEEKLY, 200 DOLLARS WOULD BE YOUR BIWEEKLY TITHE.

UNLIKE TITHING, FIRSTFRUIT GIVING IS NOT CENTERED ON GIVING A PERCENTAGE OF YOUR INCOME. IT HAS MORE TO DO WITH INCREASE.  THERE CAN BE NO FIRSTFRUIT IF THERE HAS NOT BEEN AN INCREASE.  AN INCREASE CAN COME IN THE FORM OF A RAISE, INCOME RECEIVED FROM A BUSINESS TRANSACTION OR A FINANCIAL GIFT.

LET’S SAY YOU EARN 3000 DOLLARS BIWEEKLY THEN YOUR SALARY INCREASES TO 4000 DOLLARS BIWEEKLY.  OBVIOUSLY, THERE IS A 1000 DOLLAR INCREASE, CORRECT?  THE FIRST 1000 DOLLAR OF THAT 4000 IS THE FIRSTFRUIT.  WHY?  BECAUSE IT IS THE FIRST RIPE ONE OF INCREASE TO APPEAR FROM YOUR LABOUR.  IF YOUR SALARY INCREASES TO 6000 DOLLARS, THE FIRST 2000 DOLLARS IS THE FIRSTFRUIT.  KEEP IN MIND THAT YOU DON’T HAVE TO GIVE FIRSTFRUITS EVERY PAY PERIOD, UNLESS THERE IS AN INCREASE.

THE PRINCIPLE OF FIRSTFRUIT GIVING IS CLEARLY SEEN IN PROVERBS 3:9: ‘HONOUR THE LORD WITH THY SUBSTANCE, AND WITH THE FIRSTFRUITS OF ALL THINE INCREASE.’  THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE SAYS, ‘HONOUR THE LORD WITH YOUR CAPITAL AND SUFFICIENCY [FROM RIGHTEOUS LABOURS] AND WITH THE FIRSTFRUITS OF ALL YOUR INCOME.’  TO HONOUR THE LORD WITH YOUR MONEY SIMPLY MEANS TO ALLOW HIM TO DIRECT YOU WHERE YOUR FINANCES ARE CONCERNED.

BY OFFERING YOUR FIRSTFRUIT OF INCREASE TO GOD, PROVERBS 3:10 GUARANTEES, ‘SO SHALL THY BARN BE FILLED WITH PLENTY; AND THY PRESSES SHALL BURST OUT WITH NEW WINE.’  BARNS AND PRESSES REPRESENT BANK ACCOUNTS.  BY HONOURING GOD WITH FIRSTFRUITS, YOU OPEN THE FLOODGATE FOR FINANCIAL INCREASE TO FLOOD YOUR ACCOUNTS.  IT IS THE BREAKTHROUGH OFFERING!

LET’S SAY YOU OPEN A NEW BUSINESS AND RECEIVE PAYMENT FROM YOUR FIRST CUSTOMER.  TRADITIONALLY, AS A BUSINESS OWNER YOU MIGHT FRAME THE FIRST DOLLAR BILL YOU EARN TO COMMEMORATE YOUR GRAND OPENING.  THAT MAY BE MEMORABLE, BUT THAT DOLLAR DOESN’T BELONG ON THE WALL; IT BELONGS TO GOD.  WHY?  IT’S THE FIRSTFRUIT OF YOUR LABOUR; THE FIRST PORTION OF HARVEST TO COME INTO YOUR HANDS.  IF YOU HONOUR THE LORD WITH THE FIRSTFRUIT OF YOUR FINANCES, THEN HE’S OBLIGATED TO BRING CONSTANT INCREASE INTO YOUR LIFE.

ACCORDING TO EXODUS 22:29 (29: Thou shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me), GOD WANTS US TO TRANSFER OWNERSHIP OF OUR FIRSTFRUITS TO HIM.  AS WITH ANYTHING WE DO AND ANYTHING WE POSSESS, HE WANTS US TO PRESENT HIM WITH THE FIRST AND BEST.  UNFORTUNATELY, MANY BELIEVERS HAVE BEEN CONDITIONED TO RESERVE THE FIRST AND THE BEST OF EVERYTHING THEY OWN FOR THEMSELVES.  CONSEQUENTLY, GOD USUALLY GETS THEIR SECOND BEST.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

EZEKIEL 44 SHOWS US HOW TO PRESENT THE FIRSTFRUIT OFFERING AND ITS USE.  VERSE 30 SAYS, ‘AND THE FIRST OF ALL THE FIRSTFRUITS OF ALL KINDS, AND EVERY OFFERING OF ALL KINDS FROM ALL YOUR OFFERINGS, SHALL BELONG TO THE PRIESTS.  YOU SHALL ALSO GIVE TO THE PRIEST THE FIRST OF YOUR COARSE MEAL AND BREAD DOUGH. ‘(AMP).  FIRSTFRUIT OFFERINGS WERE ORIGINALLY PRESENTED TO TEMPLE PRIESTS WHO, IN TODAY’S TERMS, ARE MEN AND WOMEN OF GOD - APOSTLES, PROPHETS, EVEANGELISTS, PASTORS AND TEACHERS.

SOMEONE MIGHT SAY, ‘MOST MINISTERS ALREADY MAKE A LOT OF MONEY.  WHY SHOULD THEY RECEIVE FIRSTFRUITS AS WELL?‘  FIRST, GOD ESTABLISHED FIRSTFRUIT GIVING AS AN EVERLASTING ORDINANCE (NUMBERS 18:8: 8: And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever).  SECONDLY, WHEN YOU SOW FIRSTFRUITS INTO THE LIFE OF YOUR MAN OR WOMAN OF GOD, YOU ARE GUARANTEED THE BLESSING - GOD’S ENDOWMENT OF POWER TO PROSPER AND SUCCEED IN EVERY AREA OF LIFE.  THE LATTER PART OF EZEKIEL 44:30 PROVES IT.  IT SAYS WHEN YOU PRESENT THE PRIEST WITH FIRSTFRUITS, HE CAUSES ‘THE BLESSING TO REST IN THINE HOUSE.’  LEVITICUS 23:10 CONFIRMS THAT FIRSTFRUITS BELONG TO THE PRIEST: 10: Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest:.

THINK FOR A MOMENT.  WOULD YOU PREFER A ONE TIME FINANCIAL INCREASE, OR AN EVER-INCREASING FINANCIAL FLOW?  MOST PEOPLE WOULD CHOOSE A CONTINUOUS INCREASE.  AND IT IS GOD’S DESIRE THAT YOU EXPERIENCE IT.  THAT’S WHY ROMANS 11:16 SAYS, ‘FOR IF THE FIRSTFRUIT BE HOLY, THE LUMP [THE REMAINING PORTION] IS ALSO HOLY.’ [NB.  HOLY = SET APART TO GOD IE DEVIL CANNOT TOUCH IT]

IN OTHER WORDS, WHEN YOU SET APART THE FIRSTFRUITS OF YOUR INCOME TO GIVE TO GOD, THE REST OF YOUR INCOME WILL BE BLESSED.  DON’T BE CONCERNED WITH HOLDING ONTO THE FIRST AMOUNT OF MONEY YOU RECEIVE AS AN INCREASE.  SOW IT AS GOD DIRECTS AND EXPECT TO RECEIVE YOUR BREAKTHROUGH!

THE FIRSTFRUIT IN AND OF ITSELF DOESN’T CONTAIN THE POWER TO PRODUCE BREAKTHROUGH IN YOUR LIFE; GOD DOES.  HE WANTS TO RELEASE THE BLESSING IN YOUR LIFE, BUT WILL NOT DO SO UNTIL YOU LEARN THE “FIRST PAGE” OF PROSPERITY - GOD IS YOUR SOURCE!

PERHAPS FIRSTFRUIT GIVING IS A NEW SUBJECT TO YOU, AND YOU MAY BE INCLINED TO DISREGARD IT.  DON’T.  WHEN GOD FIRST DEALT WITH ME ON THE SUBJECT, IT CHALLENGED MY REASONING AS WELL.  HOWEVER, I KNEW THAT HE WAS SHARING IT WITH ME FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE BODY OF CHRIST.

I HAVE RECEIVED NUMEROUS TESTIMONIES FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE APPLIED THE PRINCIPLES OF FIRSTFRUIT GIVING AND ARE NOW EXPERIENCING TREMENDOUS BREAKTHROUGH IN THEIR FINANCES.  THE EVIDENCE IS UNDENIABLE!

CDM

 FAITH SPEAKS

CONFESSION

THE WORD OF GOD PROMISES YOU CAN HAVE WHATEVER YOU SAY IN FAITH (MARK 11:23-24).  (CONDITIONS MET).  IF YOU DESIRE A BREAKTHROUGH IN YOUR FINANCES, MAKE THE FOLLOWING WORD BASED CONFESSION DAILY, AND SPEAK YOUR FINANCIAL PROSPERITY INTO EXISTENCE TODAY! 

IN THE NAME OF JESUS, I DECLARE THAT GOD’S DESIRE FOR ME IS TO PROSPER FINANCIALLY.  I POSSESS THE POWER TO SEIZE WEALTH AND LAY HOLD OF MY COVENANT RIGHT TO BE FREE FROM BONDAGE TO … LACK AND INSUFFICIENCY.  ABUNDANCE, PROSPERITY AND THE GOOD LIFE ARE MINE!

I SPEAK TO THE MOUNTAIN OF CIRCUMSTANCES AND COMMAND IT TO BE REMOVED FROM MY LIFE NOW.  GOD IS MY SOURCE:  HE IS THE GOD OF BREAKTHROUGH.  THEREFORE, BY FAITH I DECLARE THAT THIS IS MY RECEIVING DAY AND THE DAY OF MY FINANCIAL BREAKTHROUGH!  AMEN.

CREFLO DOLLAR MINISTRIES

PRAYER FOR A JOB

KENNETH COPELAND MINISTRIES

Father, in Jesus Name, I seek your wisdom and trust You to direct me in seeking the job that is best for me.  I will walk in mercy and truth and lean not unto my own understanding.  Thank You for opening wide a door which no man can shut, and for giving me favour.

It is my desire, Father, to be debt free and owe no man anything except to love him, according to Your Word.  I am willing to work with my own hands, so that I lack nothing.  I praise You that it is Your will that I am self-sufficient financially and have an abundance to meet all of my needs, with enough left over to give generously to others.

I will not fret or have anxiety about anything, Father, for Your peace mounts guard over my heart and mind.  Because You are my source, I have confidence, comfort and encouragement in Your provision.  I thank You, Father, for supplying my need of employment according to Your riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Scripture ref: Proverbs 3:3-5, Revelation 3:8, Psalm 5:12, Romans 13:8, 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, 2 Corinthians 9:8, Philippians 4:6-7 (Amp), 2 Corinthians 1:3 (Amp), Philippians 4:19 (Amp).

BLESSING PRAYER

BY BISHOP T D JAKES

‘WHEN YOU ARE DOWN TO NOTHING… GOD IS UP TO SOMETHING’

FATHER, IN THE NAME OF JESUS, BLESS ME EVEN WHILE I’M READING THIS PRAYER… OPEN SUPERNATURAL DOORS IN OUR LIVES TODAY.  SAVE AND SET FREE!  GIVE US A DOUBLE PORTION OF YOUR SPIRIT AS WE TAKE BACK EVERYTHING THAT THE DEVIL HAS STOLEN:

EMOTIONAL HEALTH, PHYSICAL HEALTH, FINANCES,

RELATIONSHIPS, CHILDREN, JOBS, HOMES, MARRIAGES.

I CANCEL EVERY PLOT, PLAN AND SCHEME THE ENEMY HAS DEVISED AGAINST US IN THE

MATCHLESS NAME OF JESUS

AND I DECLARE:

NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST US WILL PROSPER.

I SPEAK LIFE INTO EVERY DEAD SITUATION.  AND, I THANK YOU THAT NOTHING IS OVER UNTIL YOU SAY IT’S OVER!  I SPEAK PROPHETICALLY INTO OUR LIVES AND TO OUR SITUATIONS:

OUR HOUSEHOLDS ARE BLESSED

OUR HEALTH IS BLESSED

OUR MARRIAGES ARE BLESSED

OUR FINANCES ARE BLESSED

OUR BUSINESSES ARE BLESSED

OUR JOBS ARE BLESSED

OUR CHILDREN ARE BLESSED

OUR GRANDCHILDREN ARE BLESSED

OUR PARENTS ARE BLESSED

OUR SIBLINGS ARE BLESSED

OUR MINISTRIES ARE BLESSED

AND, OUR DECISIONS ARE BLESSED

HUSBANDS ARE ON THE WAY; WIVES ARE ON THE WAY;

MORTGAGES ARE PAID AND DEBTS ARE CANCELLED;

OUR HEARTS’ DESIRES ARE ON THE WAY; ACCORDING TO

YOUR PERFECT WILL AND PLAN FOR OUR LIVES.

IN JESUS NAME!  AMEN!

PRAYING OUT YOUR FUTURE

BY MARK BRAZEE

KENNETH COPELAND MAGAZINE: BELIEVER’S VOICE OF VICTORY

  

INSTEAD OF RUNNING INTO DISASTERS

AND WONDERING WHAT TO DO,

YOU CAN PRAY OUT YOUR FUTURE

AND LET THE GOD WHO GOES BEFORE YOU

PREPARE THE WAY

GOD IS A GOOD INVESTOR.  HE DOESN’T JUST LIVE FROM DAY TO DAY - HE IS ALWAYS PLANNING AHEAD TO BE PREPARED FOR THE FUTURE.

THE BIBLE SAYS JESUS WAS THE LAMB SLAIN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD.  WHAT DOES THAT TELL US?  EVEN BEFORE SIN CLAIMED ITS FIRST CAPTIVE, GOD THE FATHER HAD ALREADY PREPARED A WAY OF ESCAPE. 

GOD IS ALWAYS RELEASING HIS FAITH TO MEET A FUTURE NEED.  SINCE WE ARE TO BE IMITATORS OF GOD, WE NEED TO DO THE SAME THING: PLANT FAITH FOR THE FUTURE.

YEARS AGO, I BEGAN TO UNDERSTAND THAT TWO THINGS MUST OCCUR BEFORE FAITH CAN GROW:  FIRST, WE MUST FEED ON THE WORD OF GOD TO HAVE THE CAPACITY FOR GROWTH.  SECOND, WE MUST PLANT OUR FAITH WHERE IT CAN GROW.  WHEN I SAW THAT TRUTH, I THOUGHT, WELL, IF I WANT MY FAITH TO WORK OUT THERE AHEAD OF ME IN A SITUATION 10 YEARS DOWN THE ROAD, I MIGHT AS WELL GO AHEAD AND PLANT THAT SEED NOW AND GIVE IT 10 YEARS TO GROW.

HOW DO WE PLANT OUR FAITH?  BY SAYING.  WHEN GOD REVEALED THAT TO ME, I STARTED PLANTING MY FAITH FOR OPEN DOORS THROUGH EASTERN EUROPE NATIONS.  I PLANTED MY FAITH FOR WISDOM AND DIRECTION, BUILDING FACILITIES, TRANSPORTATION OF EVERY KIND AND FINANCES IN ABUNDANCE, SAYING: ‘MY GOD SHALL ALWAYS SUPPLY ALL MY NEED.  GOD IS WORKING IN ME BOTH TO WILL AND TO DO HIS GOOD PLEASURE.  I SAY THAT ACCORDING TO MARK 11:23, I ALWAYS KNOW WHAT TO DO, WHERE TO GO AND WHAT TO SAY.  I ALWAYS KNOW THE WILL OF GOD.’ 

I STARTED SAYING THAT LONG BEFORE I HAD ANY IDEA WHAT IN THE WORLD I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DOING!  I PLANTED MY FAITH ALL OVER THE WORLD.  TODAY, MORE THAN 20 YEARS LATER, I’M STILL REAPING THE HARVEST FROM THOSE SEEDS.  WE PRAYED OUT NEARLY EVERY CITY IN THE NATION WHERE WE CURRENTLY HAVE BIBLE SCHOOLS.  IN MOST CASES, WE KNEW THE NAME OF THE CITY SIX TO 12 MONTHS BEFORE IT WAS EVEN TIME TO START THE SCHOOL.  BUT I’VE LEARNED THAT JUST AS YOU CAN PLANT FAITH FOR YOUR FUTURE, YOU CAN SEND OUT PRAYER AHEAD INTO YOUR FUTURE.

A STEP AHEAD IN PRAYER

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN CRUISING ALONG IN LIFE AND ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU RUN STRAIGHT INTO A BRICK WALL SOMEWHERE IN A SITUATION OR PROBLEM?  AT ONE POINT IN MY LIFE, I BEGAN TO FEEL AS THOUGH I WAS GETTING A FLAT SPOT ON THE TOP OF MY HEAD FROM JUST RUNNING ALONG AND HITTING THOSE BRICK WALLS.  THEN, I’D HAVE TO BACK UP, FALL ON MY FACE AND START CALLING OUT TO GOD, ‘LORD, WHAT AM I TO DO?’. 

WE’VE ALL HAD TO PRAY THROUGH ‘BRICK WALL-LIKE’ SITUATIONS.  BUT I’VE DISCOVERED THAT GOD WILL MEET YOU ON WHATEVER LEVEL YOU CHOOSE TO TRUST HIM.  I DECIDED THAT INSTEAD OF REPEATEDLY RUNNING INTO BRICK WALLS, FALLING ON MY FACE SAYING, ‘OH, WE’VE GOT TO PRAY THROUGH THIS THING!’ I WOULD BACK UP AND FIND OUT WHERE GOD HAD ALREADY BEEN KNOCKING A HOLE THROUGH THAT WALL FOR ME.

A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO, THE SPIRIT OF GOD SPOKE QUIETLY TO MY HEART AND SAID, YOU’RE A HALF STEP BEHIND.  I KNEW EXACTLY WHAT HE MEANT.  I WAS A HALF STEP BEHIND IN PRAYER.  LATER HE SAID, YOU’RE A STEP BEHIND.  WELL, AT THAT POINT, WE GATHERED SOME FRIENDS TOGETHER AND HAD A TWO DAY PRAYER MEETING.  WE NOT ONLY CAUGHT UP THE STEP, WE GOT A STEP AHEAD.  THEN IT OCCURRED TO ME, IF I CAN CATCH UP TO WHERE I NEED TO BE IN PRAYER, WHY NOT JUST GET MY PRAYERS WORKING AHEAD OF ME?

I DISCOVERED THAT IN DEUTERONOMY 1:30-33 GOD TOLD ISRAEL HE WAS THE GOD WHO WENT BEFORE THEM, DRIVING OUT THE ENEMY AND SHOWING THEM WHERE TO PITCH THEIR TENTS.  FINALLY, I REALISED THAT GOD HAD NEVER CHANGED.  HE IS THE GOD WHO WILL GO BEFORE ME!  AND HE WILL GO BEFORE YOU, TOO!

SINCE GOD IS THE ONE WHO GOES BEFORE YOU, THE WAY TO FIND THIS PREPARED PATH IS BY PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST.  YOU CAN PRAY OUT YOUR FUTURE BEFORE YOU GET THERE BY GETTING INTO THE SPIRIT, PRAYING IN OTHER TONGUES.  WHEN YOU START CO-OPERATING WITH THE HOLY GHOST, HE WILL HELP YOU PRAY THINGS OUT DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS, EVEN YEARS AHEAD OF TIME. 

THE HOLY GHOST WILL HELP YOU PRAY THINGS OUT IN ADVANCE.  AS A RESULT, LIFE GETS A LOT EASIER.  INSTEAD OF PANIC ATTACKS GOING ON ALL THE TIME, LIVING FROM DISASTER TO MIRACLE TO DISASTER TO MIRACLE, YOU CAN JUST WALK WITH GOD AND WALK IN THE MIRACULOUS. 

I’VE FOUND THAT IF I KEEP MY PRAYER LIFE ACTIVELY FOCUSED ON THE FUTURE, WHEN I ARRIVE IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS, INSTEAD OF COLLAPSING IN A PANIC MY FAITH STANDS STRONG.  WHY?  BECAUSE I’M CONFIDENT IN THE GOD WHO GOES OUT BEFORE ME.  I KNOW THAT HE HAS ALREADY BEEN THERE AHEAD OF ME WORKING IT OUT.

THE GOD WHO GOES BEFORE

IN THE EARLY 1980’S, GOD GAVE MY WIFE, JANET, AND ME A VISION FOR THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE.  HE SHOWED US A MAP OF EUROPE WITH FIRES BURNING THROUGHOUT THE NATIONS.  GOD BEGAN DEALING WITH US TO ESTABLISH A NETWORK OF TRAINING SCHOOLS FOR MINISTERS THROUGHOUT EUROPE. 

GOD HAD ALREADY GONE BEFORE ME TO SET THE WHOLE THING UP.  BUT WHEN HE WAS DEALING WITH ME, I TOLD HIM, ‘GOD, I THINK YOU’VE GOT THE WRONG PERSON THIS TIME.  I’VE NEVER SET UP A SCHOOL BEFORE.  I DON’T KNOW HOW TO DO IT.  I AM CLUELESS. ‘  THEN GOD SPOKE UP AND SAID, THAT’S WHY I TOLD YOU TO DO IT. 

I ONCE HEARD A MINISTER SAY, ‘IF GOD GIVES YOU SOMETHING TO DO THAT YOU CAN DO OR THAT YOU CAN EASILY FIGURE OUT, YOU PROBABLY HAVEN’T HEARD FROM GOD YET.  GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD!’  GOD LIKES FAITH.  HE WILL ALWAYS GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO DO THAT YOU HAVE TO TRUST AND DEPEND ON HIM IN ORDER TO ACCOMPLISH.  THEN, HE ALONE WILL GET THE GLORY.

WHEN GOD EVENTUALLY DEALT WITH ME THAT WE WOULD ACTUALLY  DO MORE THAN ONE SCHOOL, I DIDN’T SAY MUCH.  BUT INSIDE I WAS THINKING, LORD, I DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO DO ONE SCHOOL AND NOW YOU’RE PUTTING 12-15 SCHOOLS IN MY HEART!  IF YOU WANT US TO DO IT, YOU WILL HAVE TO SHOW US HOW TO DO IT, LORD.  I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO PUT A SCHOOL.

SUDDENLY, IT DROPPED INTO MY SPIRIT THA THE FIRST SCHOOL NEEDED TO BE IN TALLINN, ESTONIA.  SO, WE WENT TO TALLINN.  BUT WHAT DO YOU DO, CATCH A TAXI AND TELL THE DRIVER, ‘TAKE ME TO THE NEAREST PLACE THAT WOULD BE GOOD FOR A SCHOOL’?

WE DIDN’T KNOW WHAT TO DO, SO WE JUST STOOD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TOWN OF TALLINN, ESTONIA.  I WASN’T PANICKING, SAYING, ‘OH GOD, WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?’  NO.  WE HAD BEEN PRAYING IT THROUGH.  I STOOD THERE SAYING, ‘ALL RIGHT, GOD, WHICH WAY DO WE GO?  YOU ALREADY HAVE THIS THING FIGURED OUT.  WE’VE BEEN TALKING TO YOU, LORD.  YOU ARE ALREADY AT WORK HERE AND HAVE BEEN FOR A LONG TIME.  LEAD US ALONG THE PATH YOU HAVE ALREADY PREPARED FOR US.’

EARLIER THAT DAY, BACK AT THE HOTEL, WE HAD PRAYED IN THE HOLY GHOST FOR A FEW HOURS.  SINCE WE HAD ALREADY PRAYED THE MATTER THROUGH LONG AGO, WE PRAYED IN THE HOLY GHOST THAT DAY TO ‘SHARPEN OUR HEARING’ BY GETTING OUR SPIRITS SENSITIVE TO THE WILL OF GOD. 

AS WE STARTED WALKING, WE CAME TO A BUILDING THAT WAS OBVIOUSLY WAY TOO BIG FOR WHAT WE NEEDED.  BURT WHEN WE STEPPED INSIDE THE BUILDING, WE SAW A DINGY OLD STAIRWAY GOING DOWN.  IT LOOKED LIKE AN ANCIENT DUNGEON.  WE WALKED UP A HUGE WOODEN DOOR AND TURNED THE HANDLE.  WE WALKED IN AND FOUND OURSELVES STANDING IN A GORGEOUS ROOM - WITH STAINED GLASS WINDOWS, PANELING, A FIREPLACE - CAPABLE OF SEATING 50 PEOPLE.  WHEN WE FOUND AND SPOKE WITH THE MANAGER OF THE BUILDING, WE LEARNED THAT PARTICULAR ROOM WAS FOR RENT.  IT BECAME THE PERFECT FACILITY FOR OUR FIRST YEAR OF CLASSES. 

GOD HAD GONE AHEAD OF US TO HAVE THE ROOM REMODELED, READY AND WAITING FOR US.  AND EVERYWHERE WE’VE GONE - EIGHT YEARS AND SIXTEEN SCHOOLS LATER - GOD HAS PREPARED THE WAY.  WHY?  BECAUSE WE PRAYED THROUGH THOSE SITUATIONS AHEAD OF TIME.  WE STILL HAD TO ASK HIM, BUT WE STARTED TO ASK NOT JUST FOR THE NEEDS OF TODAY, BUT ALSO FOR THE FUTURE.

CALL UNTO ME

JUST BY PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST, WE CAN PRAY OUT THE PLAN OF GOD AND PRAY OUT THE WILL OF GOD LONG BEFORE WE EVER ARRIVE AT A DESTINATION.  GOD IS NOT IN TIME, THEREFORE, HE IS NOT LIMITED TO IT.  GOD INHABITS ETERNITY, THEREFORE, HE CAN GO BACK A THOUSAND YEARS OR HE CAN MOVE FORWARD A HUNDRED YEARS TO WORK THINGS OUT FOR US WHEN WE PRAY.  BUT WE MUST ASK.

IN JEREMIAH 33:3, THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE, GOD SAYS, ‘CALL TO ME AND I WILL ANSWER YOU AND SHOW YOU GREAT AND MIGHTY THINGS… WHICH YOU DO NOT KNOW.’  IN THE MARGIN OF MY BIBLE, IT READS, ‘CALL UNTO ME AND I’LL ANSWER THEE AND I’LL SHOW THEE GREAT AND HIDDEN THINGS.’

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT IS HIDDEN FROM YOU, SUCH AS DIRECTION CONCERNING THE FUTURE?  WELL, GOD SAID IF YOU WILL CALL UNTO HIM, HE WILL ANSWER YOU AND SHOW YOU GREAT AND HIDDEN THINGS.  THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION SAYS, ‘I WILL SHOW YOU GREAT AND INACCESSIBLE THINGS THAT YOU KNOW NOT.’

SOME THINGS ARE INACCESSIBLE EXCEPT THROUGH PRAYER.  INSIGHT INTO THE FUTURE, INSIGHT INTO THE PLAN OF GOD, INSIGHT INTO WHY THINGS ARE OR ARE NOT WORKING IS OFTEN AN INACCESSIBLE THING.  BUT GOD HAS GIVEN THE CHURCH A MIGHTY KEY TO ACCESS SUCH REVELATION KNOWLEDGE.  PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST.

SECRET TRUTHS AND HIDDEN THINGS

IN 1 COR 14:2 THE APOSTLE PAUL SAID, ‘FOR HE THAT SPEAKETH IN AN UNKNOWN TONGUE SPEAKETH NOT UNTO MEN, BUT UNTO GOD: FOR NO MAN UNDERSTANDETH HIM; HOWBEIT IN THE SPIRIT HE SPEAKETH MYSTERIES.’  OR, AS THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE STATES, HE UTTERS SECRET TRUTHS AND HIDDEN THINGS.’  GOD SAID WHEN YOU CALL UNTO HIM THROUGH PRAYER, HE WILL ANSWER YOU AND HE WILL SHOW YOU THOSE MYSTERIES OR SECRET TRUTHS AND HIDDEN THINGS.

YOU HAVE THE ABILITY TO TAP INTO THE SECRET TRUTHS AND HIDDEN MYSTERIES CONCERNING YOUR FUTURE BY PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST.  AND WHEN YOU START UTTERING THOSE SECRET THINGS IN PRAYER, THE MYSTERIES BECOME DIVINE REVELATION - REVELATION WHICH WAS HIDDEN AND RESERVED FOR YOU TO HELP YOU WALK OUT THE PLAN OF GOD FOR YOUR LIFE. 

I HEARD A STATEMENT YEARS AGO THAT HAS STAYED WITH ME.  QUOTING JOHN WESLEY, A CERTAIN MINISTER SAID, ‘IT SEEMS GOD IS LIMITED BY OUR PRAYER LIFE.  GOD CAN DO NOTHING FOR MANKIND UNLESS SOMEONE ASKS HIM.’  THAT IS WHY GOD TELLS US TO ASK, TO CALL UNTO HIM, IN ORDER THAT HE MIGHT MAKE KNOWN THE MYSTERIES HE HAS RESERVED FOR US CONCERNING OUR DESTINY IN HIM. 

PROBABLY THE GREATEST NEED ANYONE HAS IS TO HEAR FROM HEAVEN AND TO KNOW THE PLAN OF GOD.  WHEN YOU ENTER INTO THE SPIRIT AND START PRAYING OUT MYSTERIES TO GOD, YOU STEP INTO A REALM WHERE YOU CAN HEAR DIRECTLY FROM GOD CONCERNING YOUR FUTURE.  IN THAT PLACE, YOU CAN START DOING BUSINESS WITH GOD.

THE MAJORITY OF THE DIRECTION I HAVE RECEIVED IN THE PAST 20 YEARS HAS COME TO ME EITHER IN A TIME OF PRAYER OR IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARD.  THAT’S WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT FOR US TO MAKE A PRACTISE OF GETTING INTO THE SPIRIT IN PRAYER, TO ALLOW OUR SPIRIT MAN TO BECOME MORE DOMINANT THAN OUR MIND.  THEN IT BECOMES MUCH EASIER TO PRAY OUT AND TO RECEIVE DIRECTION FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT REGARDING OUR FUTURE.

I’VE LEARNED THAT IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO WRITE DOWN THE IMPRESSIONS THAT RISE UP OUT OF OUR HEARTS IN TIMES OF PRAYER.  IF IT’S DIRECTION WE NEED FOR LIFE, EITHER FOR TODAY OR SOMETIME DOWN THE ROAD, IT HELPS IF WE WRITE DOWN THOSE IMPRESSIONS WE RECEIVE IN PRAYER AND KEEP TRACK OF THEM.  OVER A PERIOD OF TIME, WE CAN GO BACK AND SEE THAT A PATTERN HAS BEGUN TO EMERGE AND THE INSIGHT AND DIRECTION WE NEED HAS BEGUN TO SURFACE.

YOU CAN PRAY OUT YOUR FUTURE.  YOU CAN ESTABLISH HIS WILL FOR THE DAYS AHEAD, EVEN BEFORE YOU GET THERE.  PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST IS A GOD-GIVEN KEY THAT WILL OPEN TO YOU THE STOREHOUSE OF HIDDEN TRUTHS OF GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE.  INSTEAD OF RUNNING INTO DISASTERS AND WONDERING WHAT TO DO, YOU CAN PRAY OUT YOUR FUTURE AND LET THE GOD WHO GOES BEFORE YOU PREPARE THE WAY.  THEN, IF YOU HAPPEN TO BUMP INTO A BRICK WALL, INSTEAD OF PANICKING,YOU CAN SMILE AND START LOOKING FOR THE OPENING GOD’S ALREADY PREPARED SO YOU CAN PASS SAFELY THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE.

BVOV

 

DECLARATION

FINANCES GOD'S WAY

EXCERPTS FROM

CREFLO DOLLAR

KENNETH COPELAND

AND OTHERS

ABRAHAMIC COVENANT
REMEMBER THE LORD YOUR GOD FOR IT IS HE WHO GIVES YOU THE POWER TO PRODUCE WEALTH AND SO CONFIRMS HIS COVENANT WHICH HE SWORE TO YOUR FOREFATHERS (ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB), AS IT IS TODAY.	DEUT 8:18
GOD IS UNDER COVENANT COMMITMENT.
THE PROMISES WERE SPOKEN TO ABRAHAM AND TO HIS SEED.	GAL 3:15-16
IF YOU BELONG TO CHRIST YOU ARE ABRAHAM’S SEED AND HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE PROMISE.	GAL 3:29
THE SCRIPTURES FORESAW THAT GOD WOULD JUSTIFY THE GENTILES BY FAITH … SO THAT THOSE WHO HAVE FAITH ARE BLESSED ALONG WITH ABRAHAM.	GAL 3:8-9 ROM 4:16
I HAVE A COVENANT OF BLESSING.	GEN 12:1-13
ALL THE PROMISES GOD HAS MADE ARE ‘YES’ AND ‘AMEN’ IN CHRIST.	2 COR 1:20

 

TITHE
BE SURE TO SET ASIDE A TENTH OF ALL YOUR FIELDS PRODUCE EACH YEAR.	DEUT 14:22-29
THAT IS WHY THE LEVITES HAVE NO SHARE OR INHERITANCE AMONG THEIR BROTHERS; THE LORD IS THERE INHERITANCE, AS THE LORD GOD TOLD YOU.	DEUT 10:9
THE PRIESTS, WHO ARE LEVITES – INDEED THE WHOLE TRIBE OF LEVI – ARE TO HAVE NO ALLOTMENT OR INHERITANCE WITH ISRAEL.  THEY SHALL LIVE ON THE OFFERINGS MADE TO THE LORD BY FIRE, FOR THAT IS THEIR INHERITANCE.  THEY SHALL HAVE NO INHERITANCE AMONG THEIR BROTHERS; THE LORD IS THEIR INHERITANCE, AS HE PROMISED THEM.	DEUT 18:1-2
I GIVE TO THE LEVITES ALL THE TITHES IN ISRAEL AS THEIR INHERITANCE IN RETURN FOR THE WORK THEY DO WHILE SERVING AT THE TENT OF MEETING…. THEY WILL RECEIVE NO INHERITANCE AMONG THE ISRAELITES.  INSTEAD, I GIVE TO THE LEVITES AS THEIR INHERITANCE THE TITHES THAT THE ISRAELITES PRESENT AS AN OFFERING TO THE LORD.   WHEN YOU RECEIVE FROM THE ISRAELITES THE TITHE I GIVE YOU AS YOUR INHERITANCE, YOU MUST PRESENT A TENTH OF THAT TITHE AS THE LORD’S OFFERING…. YOU AND YOUR HOUSEHOLDS MAY EAT THE REST OF IT ANYWHERE, FOR IT IS YOUR WAGES FOR YOUR WORK AT THE TENT OF MEETING.	NUMBERS 18:21-31
WHEN YOU HAVE FINISHED SETTING ASIDE A TENTH OF ALL YOUR PRODUCE IN THE THIRD YEAR, THE YEAR OF THE TITHE, YOU SHALL GIVE IT TO THE LEVITE, THE ALIEN, THE FATHERLESS AND THE WIDOW, SO THAT THEY MAY EAT IN YOUR TOWNS AND BE SATISFIED … I HAVE NOT EATEN ANY OF THE SACRED PORTION … I  HAVE OBEYED THE LORD MY GOD.  … LOOK DOWN FROM HEAVEN , YOUR HOLY DWELLING PLACE, AND BLESS YOUR PEOPLE ISRAEL AND THE LAND YOU HAVE GIVEN US …	DEUT 26:12-15
“WILL A MAN ROB GOD? YET YOU ROB ME.  BUT YOU ASK, HOW DO WE ROB YOU?’ IN TITHES AND OFFERINGS.  YOU ARE UNDER A CURSE – THE WHOLE NATION OF YOU – BECAUSE YOU ARE ROBBING ME.  BRING THE WHOLE TITHE INTO THE STOREHOUSE, THAT THERE MAY BE FOOD IN MY HOUSE.  TEST ME IN THIS,” SAYS THE LORD ALMIGHTY, “AND SEE IF I WILL NOT THROW OPEN THE FLOODGATES OF HEAVEN AND POUR OUT SO MUCH BLESSING THAT YOU WILL NOT HAVE ROOM ENOUGH FOR IT.  I WILL PREVENT PESTS FROM DEVOURING YOUR CROPS, AND THE VINES IN YOUR FIELDS WILL NOT CAST THEIR FRUIT,” SAYS THE LORD ALMIGHTY.	MAL 3:8-11

   

FIRSTFRUIT
THE FIRSTFRUIT OFFERING IS DIFFERENT TO THE TITHE.  WHEREAS THE TITHE IS THE TENTH, THE FIRSTFRUIT IS THE FIRST INCREASE OF PRODUCE FROM YOUR LABOUR.  THE FULL INCREASE IS GIVEN.  THIS OFFERING IS NOT REPEATED WITH THE REST OF THE PRODUCE OF THAT SEASON, UNLESS THERE IS INCREASE.

FIRSTFRUIT
AT THAT TIME, MEN WERE APPOINTED TO BE IN CHARGE OF THE STOREROOMS FOR THE CONTRIBUTIONS, FIRSTFRUITS AND TITHES.	NEH 12:44
BRING THE BEST OF THE FIRSTFRUITS OF YOUR SOIL TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD YOUR GOD.	Ex 23:19 EX 34:26
THE BEST OF ALL THE FIRSTFRUITS AND OF ALL YOUR SPECIAL GIFTS WILL BELONG TO THE PRIESTS.  YOU ARE TO GIVE THEM THE FIRST PORTION OF YOUR GROUND MEAL SO THAT A BLESSING MAY REST ON YOUR HOUSEHOLD.	EZEK 44:30
WHEN YOU ENTER THE LAND I AM GOING TO GIVE YOU AND YOU REAP ITS HARVEST, BRING TO THE PRIEST A SHEAF OF THE FIRST GRAIN YOU HARVEST.	LEV 23:10
THE PRIESTS, WHO ARE LEVITES – INDEED THE WHOL TRIBE OF LEVI – ARE TO HAVE NO ALLOTMENT OR INHERITANCE WITH ISRAEL.  THEY SHALL LIVE ON THE OFFERINGS MADE TO THE LORD BY FIRE, FOR THAT IS THEIR INHERITANCE.  THEY SHALL HAVE NO INHERITANCE AMONG THEIR BROTHERS; THE LORD IS THEIR INHERITANCE, AS HE PROMISED THEM.	DEUT 18:1-2 DEUT 26:1-11
YOU ARE TO GIVE THEM THE FIRSTFRUITS OF YOUR GRAIN, NEW WINE AND OIL, AND THE FIRST WOOL FROM THE SHEARING OF YOUR SHEEP, FOR THE LORD YOUR GOD HAS CHOSEN THEM AND THEIR DESCENDANTS OUT OF ALL YOUR TRIBES TO STAND AND MINISTER IN THE LORD’S NAME ALWAYS.	DEUT 18:4
I GIVE YOU (THE PRIESTS) ALL THE FINEST OLIVE OIL AND ALL THE FINEST NEW WINE AND GRAIN THEY GIVE THE LORD AS THE FIRSTFRUITS OF THEIR HARVEST.  ALL THE LAND’S FIRSTFRUITS THAT THEY BRING TO THE LORD WILL BE YOURS.	NUM 8:12-13 NUM 18:8 EX 22:29
IF THE PART OF THE DOUGH OFFERED AS FIRSTFRUITS IS HOLY, THEN THE WHOLE BATCH IS HOLY; IF THE ROOT IS HOLY, SO ARE THE BRANCHES.	ROM 11:16
HONOUR THE LORD WITH YOUR WEALTH, WITH THE FIRSTFRUITS OF ALL YOUR CROPS; THEN YOUR BARNS WILL BE FILLED TO OVERFLOWING, AND YOUR VATS WILL BRIM OVER WITH NEW WINE.	PROV 3:9-10

FIVE FOLD MINISTRY OFFERINGS
IF WE HAVE SOWN SPIRITUAL SEED AMONG YOU IS IT TOO MUCH IF WE REAP A MATERIAL HARVEST FROM YOU?	1 COR 9:14
THE ELDERS WHO DIRECT THE AFFAIRS OF THE CHURCH  WELL ARE WORTHY OF DOUBLE HONOUR, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHOSE WORK IS PREACHING AND TEACHING.  FOR THE SCRIPTURE SAYS, ‘DO NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE IT IS TREADING OUT THE GRAIN,’ AND ‘THE WORKER DESERVES HIS WAGES.’	1 TIM 5:17-18
ANYONE WHO RECEIVES INSTRUCTION IN THE WORD MUST SHARE ALL GOOD THINGS WITH HIS INSTRUCTOR.	GAL 6:6
FOR EVEN WHEN I WAS IN THESSALONICA, YOU SENT ME AID AGAIN AND AGAIN WHEN I WAS IN NEED.  NOT THAT I AM LOOKING FOR A GIFT, BUT I AM LOOKING FOR WHAT MAY BE CREDITED TO YOUR ACCOUNT.  I HAVE RECEIVED FULL PAYMENT AND EVEN MORE; I AM AMPLY SUPPLIED, NOW THAT I HAVE RECEIVED FROM EPAPHRODITUS THE GIFTS YOU SENT.  THEY ARE A FRAGRANT OFFERING, AN ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE, PLEASING TO GOD.  AND MY GOD WILL MEET ALL YOUR NEEDS ACCORDING TO HIS GLORIOUS RICHES IN CHRIST JESUS.	PHIL 4:16-19

SEEDTIME AND HARVEST
SO IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AS IF A MAN CAST A SEED INTO THE GROUND.	MARK 4:26-32
DO NOT APPEAR BEFORE THE LORD EMPTY HANDED.	EX 34:20
PLANT A SEED BY SOWING (GIVING), EXPECT A HARVEST BACK.
BE LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.
WHOEVER SOWS SPARINGLY WILL ALSO REAP SPARINGLY AND WHOEVER SOWS GENEROUSLY WILL ALSO REAP GENEROUSLY.	2 COR 9:6
NOW HE WHO SUPPLIES SEED TO THE SOWER AND BREAD FOR FOOD WILL ALSO SUPPLY AND INCREASE YOUR STORE OF SEED AND WILL ENLARGE THE HARVEST OF YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.  YOU WILL BE MADE RICH IN EVERY WAY SO YOU CAN BE GENEROUS ON EVERY OCCASION.	2 COR 9:10-11
GOD CALLS THE CORN.	EZEK 36:29
I CRY OUT FOR MY HARVEST, AND MY CRIES HAVE REACHED THE EARS OF THE LORD ALMIGHTY.	JAMES 5:4
CALL THINGS THAT BE NOT AS THOUGH THEY WERE.	ROM 4:17
AT YOUR DUE SEASON YOU SHALL REAP IF YOU FAINT NOT.	GAL 6:9
SPIRITUAL SEED IS IMPERISHABLE.	1 PETER 1:23
AND EVERYONE WHO HAS LEFT HOUSES OR BROTHERS OR SISTERS OR FATHER OR MOTHER OR CHILDREN OR FIELDS FOR MY SAKE WILL RECEIVE A HUNDRED TIMES AS MUCH AND WILL INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE.	MATT 19:29
AS LONG AS THE EARTH ENDURES, SEEDTIME AND HARVEST … WILL NEVER CEASE.	GEN 8:22
THE SECRET OF THE OPERATION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS GIVEN IN THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER SOWS THE SEED.	MARK 4:11 LUKE 4:13

GOD’S PURPOSE FOR WEALTH	Creflo Dollar
I WILL BLESS THOSE WHO BLESS YOU AND WHOEVER CURSES YOU I WILL CURSE; AND ALL PEOPLES ON EARTH WILL BE BLESSED THROUGH YOU.	GEN 12:3
COMMAND THOSE WHO ARE RICH IN THIS PRESENT WORLD NOT TO BE ARROGANT NOR TO PUT THEIR  HOPE IN WEALTH, WHICH IS SO UNCERTAIN, BUT TO PUT THEIR HOPE IN GOD, WHO RICHLY PROVIDES US WITH EVERTHING FOR OUR ENJOYMENT.  COMMAND THEM TO DO GOOD, TO BE RICH IN GOOD DEEDS, AND TO BE GENEROUS AND WILLING TO SHARE.  IN THIS WAY THEY WILL LAY UP TREASURE FOR THEMSELVES AS A FIRM FOUNDATION FOR THE COMING AGE, SO THAT THEY MAY TAKE HOLD OF THE LIFE THAT IS TRULY LIFE.	1TIM 6:17-19
THEREFORE GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS …	MATT 28:19-20
FOR WE ARE THE TEMPLE OF THE LIVING GOD.  AS GOD HAS SAID, ‘I WILL LIVE WITH THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM, AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD AND THEY WILL BE MY PEOPLE.’	2 COR 6:16

HOW TO SEEK WEALTH	Creflo Dollar
WHEN YOU HAVE EATEN AND ARE SATISFIED, PRAISE THE LORD YOUR GOD FOR THE GOOD LAND HE HAS GIVEN YOU.  BE CAREFUL THAT YOU DO NOT FORGET THE LORD YOUR GOD …	DEUT 8:10-17
WHY SHOULD I FEAR WHEN EVIL DAYS COME, WHEN WICKED DECEIVERS SURROUND ME, THOSE WHO TRUST IN THEIR WEALTH … NO MAN CAN REDEEM THE LIFE OF ANOTHER OR GIVE TO GOD A RANSOM FOR HIM - …	PS 49:6-7
DISHONEST MONEY DWINDLES AWAY, BUT HE WHO GATHERS MONEY LITTLE BY LITTLE MAKES IT GROW.	PROV 13:11
BUT THE WORRIES OF THIS LIFE, THE DECEITFULNESS OF WEALTH AND THE DESIRES FOR OTHER THINGS COME IN AND CHOKE THE WORD, MAKING IT UNFRUITFUL.	MARK 4:19
COMMAND THOSE WHO ARE RICH IN THIS PRESENT WORLD NOT TO BE ARROGANT NOR TO PUT THEIR  HOPE IN WEALTH, WHICH IS SO UNCERTAIN, BUT TO PUT THEIR HOPE IN GOD, WHO RICHLY PROVIDES US WITH EVERTHING FOR OUR ENJOYMENT.	1 TIM 6:17
WHAT GOOD IS IT FOR A MAN TO GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD, YET FORFEIT HIS SOUL?	MARK 8:36
NO ONE CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS.  EITHER HE WILL HATE THE ONE AND LOVE THE OTHER, OR HE WILL BE DEVOTED TO THE ONE AND DESPISE THE OTHER.  YOU CANNOT SERVE BOTH GOD AND MONEY.	MATT 6:24

   

FINANCIAL CHALLENGES	Creflo Dollar
DEAR FRIEND, I PRAY THAT YOU MAY ENJOY GOOD HEALTH AND THAT ALL MAY GO WELL WITH YOU EVEN AS YOUR SOUL IS GETTING ALONG WELL.	3 JOHN 1:2
I WAS YOUNG AND NOW I AM OLD, YET I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE RIGHTEOUS FORSAKEN OR THEIR CHILDREN BEGGING BREAD.	PS 37:25
THE LIONS MAY GROW WEAK AND HUNGRY, BUT THOSE WHO SEEK THE LORD LACK NO GOOD THING.	PS 34:10
THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD I SHALL NOT BE IN WANT.	PS 23:1
ALL THESE BLESSINGS SHALL COME UPON YOU AND ACCOMPANY YOU IF YOU OBEY THE LORD YOUR GOD:  YOU WILL BE BLESSED IN THE CITY AND BLESSED IN THE COUNTRY.  THE FRUIT OF YOUR WOMB WILL BE BLESSED, AND THE CROPS OF YOUR LAND AND THE YOUNG OF YOUR LIVESTOCK – THE CALVES OF YOUR HERDS AND THE LAMBS OF YOUR FLOCKS.  YOUR BASKET AND YOUR KNEADING TROUGH WILL BE BLESSED.  YOU WILL BE BLESSED WHEN YOU COME IN AND BLESSED WHEN YOU GO OUT.  THE LORD WILL GRANT THAT THE ENEMIES WHO RISE UP AGAINST YOU WILL BE DEFEATED BEFORE YOU.  THEY WILL COME AT YOU FROM ONE DIRECTION BUT FLEE FROM YOU IN SEVEN.  THE LORD WILL SEND A BLESSING ON YOUR BARNS AND ON EVERYTHING YOU PUT YOUR HAND TO.  THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL BLESS YOU IN THE LAND HE IS GIVING YOU.	DEUT 28:2-8
THE LORD WILL ESTABLISH YOU AS HIS HOLY PEOPLE, AS HE PROMISED YOU ON OATH, IF YOU KEEP THE COMMANDS OF THE LORD AND WALK IN HIS WAYS.  THEN ALL THE PEOPLES ON EARTH WILL SEE THAT YOU ARE CALLED BY THE NAME OF THE LORD AND THEY WILL FEAR YOU.	DEUT 28:9-10
THE LORD WILL GRANT YOU ABUNDANT PROSPERITY … IN THE LAND HE SWORE TO YOUR FOREFATHERS TO GIVE YOU.  THE LORD WILL OPEN THE HEAVENS, THE STOREHOUSE OF HIS BOUNTY, TO SEND RAIN ON YOUR LAND IN SEASON AND TO BLESS ALL THE WORK OF YOUR HANDS.  YOU WILL LEND TO MANY NATIONS BUT WILL BORROW FROM NONE. THE LORD WILL MAKE YOU THE HEAD NOT THE TAIL.  IF YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THE COMMANDS OF THE LORD YOUR GOD THAT I GIVE YOU THIS DAY AND CAREFULLY FOLLOW THEM, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE AT THE TOP, NEVER THE BOTTOM.	DEUT 28:11-13
GIVE AND IT WILL BE GIVEN UNTO YOU.  A GOOD MEASURE, PRESSED DOWN, SHAKEN TOGETHER AND RUNNING OVER, WILL BE POURED INTO YOUR LAP.  FOR WITH THE MEASURE YOU USE, IT WILL BE MEASURED TO YOU.	LUKE 6:38

FINANCIAL CHALLENGES	Creflo Dollar
DEAR FRIEND, I PRAY THAT YOU MAY ENJOY GOOD HEALTH AND THAT ALL MAY GO WELL WITH YOU EVEN AS YOUR SOUL IS GETTING ALONG WELL.	3 JOHN 1:2
I WAS YOUNG AND NOW I AM OLD, YET I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE RIGHTEOUS FORSAKEN OR THEIR CHILDREN BEGGING BREAD.	PS 37:25
THE LIONS MAY GROW WEAK AND HUNGRY, BUT THOSE WHO SEEK THE LORD LACK NO GOOD THING.	PS 34:10
THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD I SHALL NOT BE IN WANT.	PS 23:1
ALL THESE BLESSINGS SHALL COME UPON YOU AND ACCOMPANY YOU IF YOU OBEY THE LORD YOUR GOD:  YOU WILL BE BLESSED IN THE CITY AND BLESSED IN THE COUNTRY.  THE FRUIT OF YOUR WOMB WILL BE BLESSED, AND THE CROPS OF YOUR LAND AND THE YOUNG OF YOUR LIVESTOCK – THE CALVES OF YOUR HERDS AND THE LAMBS OF YOUR FLOCKS.  YOUR BASKET AND YOUR KNEADING TROUGH WILL BE BLESSED.  YOU WILL BE BLESSED WHEN YOU COME IN AND BLESSED WHEN YOU GO OUT.  THE LORD WILL GRANT THAT THE ENEMIES WHO RISE UP AGAINST YOU WILL BE DEFEATED BEFORE YOU.  THEY WILL COME AT YOU FROM ONE DIRECTION BUT FLEE FROM YOU IN SEVEN.  THE LORD WILL SEND A BLESSING ON YOUR BARNS AND ON EVERYTHING YOU PUT YOUR HAND TO.  THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL BLESS YOU IN THE LAND HE IS GIVING YOU.	DEUT 28:2-8
THE LORD WILL ESTABLISH YOU AS HIS HOLY PEOPLE, AS HE PROMISED YOU ON OATH, IF YOU KEEP THE COMMANDS OF THE LORD AND WALK IN HIS WAYS.  THEN ALL THE PEOPLES ON EARTH WILL SEE THAT YOU ARE CALLED BY THE NAME OF THE LORD AND THEY WILL FEAR YOU.	DEUT 28:9-10
THE LORD WILL GRANT YOU ABUNDANT PROSPERITY … IN THE LAND HE SWORE TO YOUR FOREFATHERS TO GIVE YOU.  THE LORD WILL OPEN THE HEAVENS, THE STOREHOUSE OF HIS BOUNTY, TO SEND RAIN ON YOUR LAND IN SEASON AND TO BLESS ALL THE WORK OF YOUR HANDS.  YOU WILL LEND TO MANY NATIONS BUT WILL BORROW FROM NONE. THE LORD WILL MAKE YOU THE HEAD NOT THE TAIL.  IF YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THE COMMANDS OF THE LORD YOUR GOD THAT I GIVE YOU THIS DAY AND CAREFULLY FOLLOW THEM, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE AT THE TOP, NEVER THE BOTTOM.	DEUT 28:11-13
GIVE AND IT WILL BE GIVEN UNTO YOU.  A GOOD MEASURE, PRESSED DOWN, SHAKEN TOGETHER AND RUNNING OVER, WILL BE POURED INTO YOUR LAP.  FOR WITH THE MEASURE YOU USE, IT WILL BE MEASURED TO YOU.	LUKE 6:38

 

ON THE FIRST DAY OF EACH WEEK, EACH ONE OF YOU SHOULD SET ASIDE A SUM OF MONEY IN KEEPING WITH HIS INCOME, SAVING IT UP, SO THAT WHEN I COME NO COLLECTIONS WILL HAVE TO BE MADE.	1 COR 16:2
BRING THE WHOLE TITHE INTO THE STOREHOUSE, THAT THERE MAY BE FOOD IN MY HOUSE.  ‘TEST ME IN THIS’, SAYS THE LORD ALMIGHTY, AND SEE IF I WILL NOT THROW OPEN THE FLOODGATES OF HEAVEN AND POUR OUT SO MUCH BLESSING THAT YOU WILL NOT HAVE ROOM ENOUGH FOR IT.  I WILL PREVENT PESTS FROM DEVOURING YOUR CROPS, AND THE VINES IN YOUR FIELDS WILL NOT CAST THEIR FRUIT,’ SAYS THE LORD ALMIGHTY.  ‘THEN ALL THE NATIONS WILL CALL YOU BLESSED, FOR YOURS WILL BE A DELIGHTFUL LAND,’ SAYS THE LORD ALMIGHTY.	MAL 3:10-12
REMEMBER THIS: WHOEVER SOWS SPARINGLY WILL ALSO REAP SPARINGLY, AND WHOEVER SOWS GENEROUSLY WILL ALSO REAP GENEROUSLY.  EACH MAN SHOULD GIVE WHAT HE HAS DECIDED IN HIS HEART TO GIVE, NOT RELUCTANTLY OR UNDER COMPULSION, FOR GOD LOVES A CHEERFUL GIVER.  AND GOD IS ABLE TO MAKE ALL GRACE ABOUND TO YOU, SO THAT IN ALL THINGS AT ALL TIMES, HAVING ALL THAT YOU NEED, YOU WILL ABOUND IN EVERY GOOD WORK.	2 COR 9:6-8
AND EVERYONE WHO HAS LEFT HOUSES OR BROTHERS OR SISTERS OR FATHER OR MOTHER OR CHILDREN OR FIELDS FOR MY SAKE WILL RECEIVE A HUNDRED TIMES AS MUCH AND WILL INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE.	MATT 19:29
DO NOT LET THIS BOOK OF THE LAW DEPART FROM YOUR MOUTH, MEDITATE ON IT DAY AND NIGHT, SO THAT YOU MAY BE CAREFUL TO DO EVERYTHING WRITTEN IN IT.  THEN YOU WILL BE PROSPEROUS AND SUCCESSFUL.	JOSHUA 1:8
TO THE MAN THAT PLEASES HIM, GOD GIVES WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE AND HAPPINESS, BUT TO THE SINNER HE GIVES THE TASK OF GATHERING AND STORING UP WEALTH TO HAND IT OVER TO THE ONE WHO PLEASES GOD.	ECCL 2:26
BUT REMEMBER THE LORD YOUR GOD, FOR IT IS HE WHO GIVES YOU THE ABILITY TO PRODUCE WEALTH, AND SO CONFIRMS HIS COVENANT, WHICH HE SWORE TO YOUR FOREFATHERS, AS IT IS TODAY.	DEUT 8:18
SO DO NOT WORRY, SAYING, WHAT SHALL WE EAT?’ OR ‘WHAT SHALL WE DRINK?’ OR ‘WHAT SHALL WE WEAR?’  FOR THE PAGANS RUN AFTER ALL THESE THINGS, AND YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER KNOWS THAT YOU NEED THEM.  BUT SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE GIVEN TO YOU AS WELL.	MATT 6:31-33
AND MY GOD WILL MEET ALL YOUR NEEDS ACCORDING TO HIS GLORIOUS RICHES IN CHRIST JESUS.	PHIL 4:19

 

INCREASING IN ABUNDANCE OF PROSPERITY DECLARATION
I OPERATE ACCORDING TO THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS.  CHRIST REDEEMED US FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW. FOR OUR SAKES HE BECAME POOR THAT WE MIGHT BECOME RICH.  I CLAIM ALL THE BLESSINGS OF ABRAHAM AND THE BLESSINGS LISTED IN DEUT 28:1-14 AND NUMBERS 6:22.	GAL 3:13 2 COR 8:9
BUT REMEMBER THE LORD YOUR GOD, FOR IT IS HE WHO GIVES YOU THE ABILITY TO PRODUCE WEALTH, AND SO CONFIRMS HIS COVENANT, WHICH HE SWORE TO YOUR FOREFATHERS, AS IT IS TODAY.  I THANK YOU LORD THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN ME THE ABILITY TO PRODUCE WEALTH.  I STAND ON BLOOD COVENANT.  I AM A SON OF GOD LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD.	DEUT 8:18
I PRAY THAT THE EYES OF MY HEART BE ENLIGHTENED THAT I MAY KNOW THE HOPE TO WHICH HE HAS CALLED ME, THE RICHES OF HIS GLORIOUS INHERITANCE IN THE SAINTS, AND HIS INCOMPARABLY GREAT POWER FOR US WHO BELIEVE.  THANK YOU GOD FOR EMPOWERING ME TO PROSPER.  LEAD ME, IN JESUS NAME, AMEN.	EPH 1
I DECLARE THAT JESUS IS MY HIGH PRIEST FOREVER, AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEC.  I PRESENT THE FULL TITHE TO MY HIGH PRIEST.  I EXPECT THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN TO BE THROWN OPEN AND TO RECEIVE SUCH A BLESSING I WILL NOT HAVE ROOM ENOUGH TO CONTAIN IT.	MAL 3:10
I WILL HONOUR THE LORD WITH THE FIRSTFRUITS OF ALL MY INCREASE.  I EXPECT THAT MY BARNS WILL BE FILLED TO OVERFLOWING AND MY VATS BRIM OVER WITH NEW WINE.	PROV 3:9-10
I GIVE AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN UNTO ME: GOOD MEASURE, PRESSED DOWN AND SHAKEN TOGETHER WILL BE POURED INTO MY LAP.	LUKE 6:38
WHOEVER CAN BE TRUSTED WITH VERY LITTLE CAN ALSO BE TRUSTED WITH MUCH.  I ENSURE THAT I CAN BE TRUSTED WITH LITTLE.
FOR IF THE WILLINGNESS IS THERE, THE GIFT IS ACCEPTABLE ACCORDING TO WHAT ONE HAS, NOT ACCORDING TO WHAT ONE DOES NOT HAVE.  MEN LOOK ON THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE BUT GOD LOOKS ON THE HEART (EXAMPLE: LUKE 21:1-4).	2 COR 8:12 LUKE 21:1-4
LORD, I WILL NOT APPEAR BEFORE YOU EMPTY HANDED.	EX 34:20
I LEND WITHOUT EXPECTING TO GET ANYTHING BACK. I DO UNTO OTHERS AS I WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO ME.
HE WHO IS KIND LENDS TO THE POOR AND THE LORD WILL REWARD ME FOR WHAT I HAVE DONE.	PROV 19:17

HE WHO REFRESHES OTHERS WILL HIMSELF BE REFRESHED.  LORD, I THANK YOU THAT YOU SAID IF I SPEND MYSELF ON BEHALF OF THE HUNGRY AND SATISFY THE NEEDS OF THE OPPRESSED, … YOU WILL SATISFY MY NEEDS IN A SUN SCORCHED LAND.  … I WILL BE LIKE A WELL WATERED GARDEN.	PROV 11:25 ISA 58:10-11
I HAVE SOWN IN TEARS.  I WILL REAP WITH JOY.  RESTORE MY FORTUNES LORD.  LIKE THE WIDOW AT ZAREPHATH, I HAVE GIVEN ALL THAT I HAVE OUT OF MY LACK.  I HAVE GIVEN TO GOD. I THANK GOD THAT I SHALL NOT RUN DRY.	PS 126:4-5 1 KINGS 17:12-16
YOU KNOW WHAT I NEED BEFORE I ASK OF YOU.  I SEEK FIRST YOUR KINGDOM AND YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS AND ALL THESE THINGS WILL BE GIVEN TO ME AS WELL.	MATT 6:8 MATT 6:33-34
GOD IS ABLE TO MAKE ALL GRACE ABOUND TO ME, SO THAT IN ALL THINGS AT ALL TIMES, HAVING ALL THAT I NEED, I WILL ABOUND IN EVERY GOOD WORK.  AS IT IS WRITTEN: ‘HE HAS SCATTERED ABROAD HIS GIFTS TO THE POOR; HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS ENDURES FOREVER.  NOW HE WHO SUPPLIES SEED TO THE SOWER AND BREAD FOR FOOD, WILL ALSO SUPPLY AND INCRASE MY STORE OF SEED AND WILL ENLARGE THE HARVEST OF MY RIGHTEOUSNESS.  I WILL BE MADE RICH IN EVERY WAY SO THAT I CAN BE GENEROUS ON EVERY OCCASION.
LET MY GIFTS TO YOUR SERVANTS IN THE MINISTRY BE A FRAGRANT OFFERING, AN ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE, PLEASING TO GOD.  AND MAY THEIR GOD SUPPLY ALL MY NEED ACCORDING TO HIS RICHES IN GLORY BY CHRIST JESUS.  AND LORD, I PRAY, WHOEVER IS USED TO BRING ME AID AND AMPLY SUPPLY ME, LET IT BE CREDITED TO THEIR ACCOUNT.	PHIL 4:16-19
LORD I THANK YOU THAT I HAVE SOWN SEED AND I EXPECT A HUNDREDFOLD RETURN.  WHOEVER SOWS GENEROUSLY WILL ALSO REAP GENEROUSLY.  MY WAGES ARE CRYING.  I CRY OUT FOR MY HARVEST, AND MY CRIES HAVE REACHED THE EARS OF THE LORD ALMIGHTY.	MATT 19:29 MATT 13:2—23 2 COR 9:6 JAMES 5:4
LORD YOU HAVE COMMANDED THAT THOSE WHO PREACH THE GOSPEL SHOULD RECEIVE THEIR LIVING FROM THE GOSPEL.  IF I HAVE SOWN SPIRITUAL SEED, IS IT TOO MUCH IF I RECEIVE A MATERIAL HARVEST FROM PEOPLE?  I HAVE THIS RIGHT OF SUPPORT.	1 COR 9:14 1 COR 9:11-12
GIVE ME THIS DAY MY DAILY BREAD.  LORD, LIKE THE PARABLE, BECAUSE OF MY BOLDNESS, YOU WILL GIVE ME AS MUCH AS I NEED.  I ASK AND KEEP ON ASKING AND IT WILL BE GIVEN UNTO ME.  FOR YOU DECLARED EVERYONE WHO ASKS, RECEIVES.	LUKE 11:2-10 PS 35:27 PS 37:4
I TELL YOU THE TRUTH, I WILL RECEIVE WHATEVER I ASK IN JESUS NAME.  I ASK AND I WILL RECEIVE AND MY JOY WILL BE FULL.  FOR IF I REMAIN IN JESUS AND JESUS IN ME, I ASK WHAT I WISH AND IT WILL BE GIVEN UNTO ME.	JOHN 16:23-24 JOHN 15:7
AND WILL NOT GOD BRING ABOUT JUSTICE FOR HIS CHOSEN ONES WHO CRY TO HIM DAY AND NIGHT?  I TELL YOU, HE WILL SEE THAT I GET JUSTICE, AND QUICKLY.	LUKE 18:7-8
I BIND THE DEVOURER, THE STRONGMAN.  I LOOSE SATAN OFF MY WEALTH.  WHAT I BIND ON EARTH IS BOUND IN HEAVEN.  WHAT I LOOSE ON EARTH IS LOOSED IN HEAVEN.  A MAN REAPS WHAT HE SOWS.	GAL 6:7
THE BLESSING OF THE LORD MAKES RICH AND ADDS NO SORROW (PROV 10:22).  I SPEAK THE BLESSING OF THE LORD UPON ME (DEUT 28:1-14; NUMBER 6:23; DEUT 8:18).	PROV 10:22 DEUT 28:1-14 NUM 6:23 DEUT 8:18
SPECIFIC REQUESTS.
I PRAISE YOU LORD GOD FOR ANSWERING MY PRAYER AND MEETING MY NEED.   AMEN.

THE PRAYER OF THE BLESSED

Dear Friends,
Today I want to share with you a very special prayer that was recently written by my friend, Dr. Mark Chironna. I have been praying this prayer in my own life... and it is a wonderful declaration of the promises of God that have been made available to each and every one of us through Christ Jesus. I invite you to join together with me in decreeing these blessings over our lives... 
In His Great Love,
Joshua Mills.

Heavenly Father,

I bless You and I thank You with a heart of overflowing praise.

You allowed Christ to become a curse for me and now I am redeemed from every curse under the law. All confusion, frustration, and every curse of the enemy shall have no power over me. No curse will overtake me or destroy me because I obey Your voice.  I walk in Your ways, and I abide in You and in Your Word.

I serve You with joyfulness and gladness of heart because I live in the abundance of all things. I will not go hungry. I will not go thirsty. I will lack no good thing. You cause all my enemies that rise up against me to be defeated before me.
My enemies come out against me one way and they flee seven ways. Every time the thief seeks to steal what is my portion and my inheritance, You require a seven-fold return to me from my enemy.

You cause me to abound in prosperity. All the fruit of my hands and my life, and all the fruit of my family is blessed abundantly and ever increasing, because my fruit is holy and sacred to You. You continue to open the good treasury of the heavens as I continue to honor you with all the first things of my increase. You pour out blessings on me that I do not have room to contain. I have proven you again and again, and I know I cannot out-give You!

You have made me the head and not the tail. I only go up and I do not go down. I am blessed in my going out and my coming in. I am blessed in the city. I am blessed in the field. I am blessed with the power to increase. I am blessed with the power
to multiply. I am blessed to be productive. The work of my hands is blessed. I am a generous sower even in times of famine because You have proven Yourself to me again and again. I sow bountifully and therefore I reap bountifully. I am cheerful in my heart at the privilege of operating in the grace of giving, because every time I give, I increase. You make all grace abound to me. I have all sufficiency because You are more than enough and You have conquered the spirit of NEVER ENOUGH over my life. I refuse to bow to the spirit of poverty. I abound in every good work.

I am faithful to establish Your covenant, and you are therefore faithful to confirm Your covenant in my life with every blessing. You have blessed me to possess heaven and earth in Christ. You supply seed for me to sow. You supply bread for me to eat.  You enrich me in every way to be generous in every way.

There is a surpassing grace from You on my life that causes others to want to know the secret to my success. You are my secret and You hide me in Your secret place and tell Me about all the secret treasures You have hidden for me.

Thank You Father. Yours is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor. Everything in Heaven and Earth is Yours, and Christ is Yours, and I am Yours, therefore I belong and everything belongs to me.

In Jesus Name,

Amen.

(Written by Dr. Mark Chironna, copyright 2013 (www.MarkChironna.com)

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