Greetings in the Name of Jesus and welcome to the PLN Sunday Night Bible Fellowship!

 

In this series we've been discussing the key ways that are available to Christian Believers for OVERCOMING Hard Times. Indeed, Hard Times come to everyone but it's not God's intention that Believers stay in them. The fact is though a lot of Christians think that God sends the Hard Times to get people's attention when the Bible actually says that under the New Covenant, Hard Times come because of the Curse, the devil, the World, other people and our own choices and decisions. God has NOTHING to do with sending the Hard Times, but He has EVERYTHING to do with helping us OVERCOME them. And He has EVERYTHING to do with turning them into a learning experience even as He is busy providing the means of escape from every negative situation and circumstance (Romans 8:28).

 

Hard Times are prolonged by both our passivity to them and when we try to overcome them in our own strength. Both of those approaches make us anxious and fearful. But we're supposed to be OVERCOMERS (1 John 5:4-5) and we do that by coming out from the World's ways of doing things and into the Kingdom of God where things are done much differently. Hard Times are overcome most effectively and quickly when it's God who's providing the power. That's why I can do all things through Christ, because He's the One who's providing my empowerment (Philippians 4:13). And trusting Him to do the heavy lifting in my life makes it possible for me to abide with Him so that He will do whatever I ask Him to do (John 15:7). Where does Jesus abide? Friend, clearly Jesus abides in the Kingdom of God and if I want to abide with Him, I have to learn how to live my life there with Him in the Kingdom. He's not operating in the World anymore: He already overcame it (John 16:33), He's left it (Luke 24:51), He's seated at the right of the Father (Mark 16:19) and He's rested from His works (Hebrews 4:10). That puts Him inside the Kingdom of God and we've been invited to come there and abide with Him.

 

In the Kingdom of God there are NO hard times. In fact, in the Kingdom of God there are NEVER any hard times. There are no down times, no defeat times, no weak times, no victim times, no helpless times, no loser times, no sick times, no insufficiency times and no distressed or depressed times. The Kingdom of God is a place of VICTORY in all things at all times and the purpose of this message is to point out that by FAITH we can LIVE there NOW in the very midst of any situation or circumstance or Hard Times.

 

A Conflict of Financial Strategies

 

When Hard Times come around, a lot of people start getting fearful. And one of the things they begin to do is conserve and protect their possessions thinking they might need them down the road if/when they start experiencing shortage and lack in the midst of their difficulties. Even many Believers suspend or reduce their tithing and giving so they can hold onto their money in case they lose their jobs or their income is reduced. It's interesting that many national ministries and churches reported reductions in their revenues during the last Recession on the order of at 20-30% which was much greater than the negative impact of the Recession on individual incomes. As a result Believers revealed their TRUE inner priorities as they put themselves ahead of God and ahead of His Kingdom.

 

Unfortunately the financial strategy of conserving and withholding that so many people resort to during Hard Times is the exact OPPOSITE of biblical counsel. Please consider the following verses:

 

"One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. Whoever trusts in his riches will fall" (Proverbs 11:24-25, 28).

 

This Old Testament scripture says that by conserving and withholding your substance (e.g. your tithes and offerings) you'll actually wind up with less. The more you try to hoard money and possessions, the more they get away from you. But the generous giver, the one who continues to trust God even during Hard Times, that person will grow and prosper. And we can also find this same principle expressed in the New Testament when the Apostle Paul was pursuing the taking up of an offering from the Corinthian church on behalf of Believers in Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16:2) who had been affected by a famine in the late 40's AD:

 

"He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully, and God is able to make all grace abound to the cheerful giver, so you will always have all sufficiency in everything" (2 Corinthians 9:6-8).

 

Please take the time to read all these verses; because of limited Newsletter space they've been excerpted for this article and you'll want to meditate on them in their entirety to get the full meaning and revelation for yourself. In sum though, both the Old and New Testaments make the very clear point that a financial strategy of conserving and withholding one's giving will be disastrous in an environment of Hard Times. And the strategy that would actually be GOOD to follow relatively speaking is to INCREASE one's proportion of giving in order to qualify for a more bountiful harvest that will be more than sufficient to overcome those Hard Times.  

 

The Law of Sowing and Reaping

 

The principles of life expressed in these scriptures flow out of the biblical Law of Sowing and Reaping which is one of the basic factors that interact with the financial prosperity of the Believer. It's a LAW because it always works in a certain way: first you sow, you wait a while and then you reap a harvest. The Law of Sowing and Reaping can only work in this one way; there's no other way. It's absolute and it's also eternal: "While the earth remains, seed time and harvest - shall not cease" (Genesis 8:22).

 

Now the New Testament shows us that essentially the ENTIRE Kingdom of God operates out of this basic Law: "The Kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil - when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." (Mark 4:26, 29). In other words, EVERYTHING that goes on in the Kingdom of God is connected to the Law of Sowing and Reaping; and this Law requires Believers to be BOTH the sowers of the seed and the reapers of the Harvest.

 

The basic idea is that in order to reap (harvest) something desirable for our lives, like for example biblical prosperity sufficient to overcome Hard Times, we have to sow (plant) something (seeds) of value INTO the Kingdom of God. Then, whatever we sow of value will be multiplied back to us many times over as a harvest. A key point is to sow something that's important and valuable to us like our money, or something that causes us to make a sacrifice, and we do that in expectation by faith of a harvest of greater value in the future. In other words, if we sow bountifully we'll reap bountifully; conversely, if we sow sparingly (something of little value to us) we'll reap sparingly (2 Corinthians 6:6).

 

Now there are five key requirements that are necessary to produce the right conditions for bible-based sowing and reaping that will produce biblical prosperity sufficient to overcome HARD TIMES:

 

* We need to have some seeds to plant. God provides seed to the sower (2 Corinthians 9:10) for the express purpose of sowing. Therefore, after a crop is harvested we must be careful not to consume on ourselves our future seed for replanting. There will always be a future planting season and there will be no harvest if we're caught with no seed to sow.

 

* We need to sow our seed into the Kingdom of God instead of into the idea of receiving a harvest to consume on our own agenda. If our hearts are wrong the harvest will not come in the abundance God wants us to have. If we put the Kingdom of God first in our sowing, we'll come to reap the prosperity we need to avoid HARD TIMES (Matthew 6:33).

 

* We need to sow our seed into good ground in order to receive the harvest of prosperity we're hoping for. Accordingly, we should consider our options and choose carefully. We consult with the Lord and find out where He wants us to sow our seed. If we sow into poor ground our harvest will be sparse; but if we sow into the ground God directs us to, our harvest will be bountiful (Mark 4:13-20).

 

* We need to walk by the Spirit in faith believing that the seed we've sown will produce the harvest we're seeking (Romans 1:17 and Hebrews 11:6). Every time we sow seed, we need to attach our faith to it. We should speak out that we're expecting the seed to be multiplied back to us as God has promised in His Word and then believe that we have ownership over that multiplication before it actually manifests (Mark 11:23-24).

 

* We have to know HOW to reap the harvest which requires us to be familiar with the Word and recognize when the harvest season is at hand. Not only do we do the sowing of the seed, we're also responsible for performing the harvest; in between, God performs the multiplication (Mark 4:26-29). Many Believers have a harvest all around them but don't realize it and are still standing around waiting for it to manifest. Each of us must be able to discern the harvest and then "put in the sickle" to bring it in.

 

Cheerful Givers Overcome Hard Times

 

Many Believers are experiencing financial shortage these days. And the truth is the majority of them were experiencing it BEFORE the recession of 2007-2011. Why was God withholding His prosperity? Why did the trial of financial shortage never seem to end? Now they have a worldwide recessionary environment and some recent inflation to blame, so some have embraced these explanations for their shortage and have joined themselves to the World environment instead of resisting it and taking responsibility for failing to take possession of the prosperity Jesus won for them at the Cross of Calvary. We should stop blaming the World for our Hard Times and instead find out what we need to change so that the World can no longer touch us.

 

Friend, could it be that many of these Believers who're suffering Hard Times are reaping according to what they've sowed? Or according to the attitude they had when they sowed? Or according to the priorities they had when they sowed? Did those Christians decrease or suspend their giving of tithes and offerings out of FEAR that they would wind up at some point with no resources in the midst of the Hard Times? According to the scriptures we saw above in 2 Corinthians 9:6-8, God is prepared to make ALL grace (unmerited favor) abound (overflow) to the CHEERFUL giver who should then be expected to ALWAYS enjoy ALL sufficiency in EVERYTHING. The question is: do we believe the Bible or not?

 

In order to fully appreciate these verses we need to understand that a cheerful giver is someone who gives enthusiastically and quickly and who looks for opportunities to give of his/her substance and be God's blessing to other people. Cheerful givers are full of joy when they're faced with an opportunity to make disbursements of their valuable property even when personal sacrifice will be involved. They disregard their environment; they ignore the evaluation of their five physical senses and proceed according to the Word. If the Word says a bountiful harvest will come back from bountiful planting, they believe and trust what the Word says even though their Flesh is trying to tell them something entirely different. Then they wait for the harvest to come.

 

Another point is this: since without faith it's impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6), in order for God to LOVE someone for the manner of their giving, it would mean that faith has to be involved. Therefore, cheerful givers are those people who give in faith trusting God to replenish their seed and for multiplication back to them in the form of a future harvest, a harvest of favor and blessing, a harvest of biblical prosperity. Sometimes we forget to attach faith to our giving but the truth is, without faith it isn't possible to please God and it isn't possible to be a cheerful giver. Without faith you can't give freely unencumbered by concern and anxiety for the future, but by faith you can even INCREASE your giving in the face of Hard Times and be assured of coming soon into the victory of Christ.

 

Some Final Thoughts

 

IMPORTANT: I've noticed a trend these days in many of our churches around the country to avoid talking about finances for fear of offending people. Consequently MOST Believers aren't receiving instruction on the very subject that the Bible and Jesus talk about more than any other subject by a VERY wide margin. Do you think Jesus was concerned about offending people when He laid out His instructions for financial stewardship in the Kingdom of God in more than 20 parables? Do you think He might have wanted us to learn all those principles for some good reason? And do you think that the lack of instruction these days could at least partially explain why so many people in the Body of Christ are experiencing financial Hard Times? THE LOCAL CHURCH NEEDS TO TEACH, MUST TEACH BIBLICAL FINANCIAL PRINCIPLES AND HAS BEEN INSTRUCTED BY GOD TO DO SO! Church-goers need to stop getting so easily offended and let their teachers know that they actually want to hear financial instruction so they can learn how to be financially victorious in the Kingdom of God. The reluctance of churches to teach biblical financial principles coupled with church-goer resistance to financial teaching is producing a financial downturn in the Body of Christ and God is NOT pleased with it. Finances are needed to build the Kingdom of God; the devil has figured out how to keep the church from teaching and believers from learning what they desperately need to know. 

 

It's very possible that a number of our readers won't recognize the theology I've summarized in this article even though I've simply quoted scriptures and arranged them in a particular sequence to make a point. In short, here is what those scriptures say: to enjoy victory in Hard Times we need to persevere at being cheerful givers of the substance God has given us. Don't allow the devil to come and convince you to conserve and protect your money and reduce the percentage of your giving because of such a "terrible" environment we're all supposedly living through. Reducing your giving in Hard Times is the exact opposite strategy that we need to pursue. If anything we should give a higher percentage of our income during Hard Times expecting by Faith a multiplied harvest that's totally independent from the World's environment. It's to God's glory that Believers prosper and walk in victory when times are difficult. Cast fear out of your home and out of your finances and trust in the Word of God to perform as it was written. Test God by generous giving to your local church and see if He won't open the windows of Heaven for you in response (Malachi 3:10).

 

Thanks for stopping by tonight. We'll be looking for you again NEXT Sunday night on September 14. In the meantime may the Lord bless you with every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3), compelling you to PROSPER in every area of life!

 

Sinners' Prayer

 

If you've never invited Jesus to be the Lord of your life, you need to and you can do it today just by saying out loud the following simple prayer:

 

Jesus I declare today with all my heart that I believe in you and that God raised you from the dead. I acknowledge that my sins have been forgiven and I ask you to come into my life today and be my Lord and Savior. Thank you for salvation and eternal life.

 

If you were sincere as you prayed this prayer, God has already come into your life and you are a new creation, a totally new species recreated in His image. Now ask the Lord to lead you to a good faith-based, bible-teaching church where you can be equipped to fulfill your potential in the Kingdom of God.

 

And, when you get a chance have someone help you look up the following scriptures because they confirm what you've done by saying this prayer today and believing what you said:

 

Romans 10:9

2 Corinthians 5:17

Ephesians 2:8

 

Prayer Requests

 

If you have a Prayer Request, please connect to the Link below and follow the promptings. The PLN staff members pray over Prayer Requests every Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM eastern time. Agree with us for God to answer your petition.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/prayer-request.aspx 

     

Donations

 

If you've been edified by Prosperous Life Newsletter, you may want to consider making a SEED FAITH offering to support the Ministry (Galatians 6:6-7). God has instructed us to simply provide folks with an opportunity to sow seed into good ground so in due season you'll be eligible to reap a harvest and the rest is up to you as the Spirit leads. For your information PLN is a nonprofit gift to the Body of Christ so your financial offerings will usually be tax deductible (consult your tax advisor). Just go to the secure Shopping Cart on the Cornerstone web site by connecting through the following link. We appreciate your support and generosity.

 

http://www.creditcounseling.net/shop/item.aspx?itemid=1

   

About Prosperous Life Newsletter

 

PLN is an outreach ministry of Make A Way Ministries domiciled in Miami, Florida. It is in its 17th year of distribution and has been published continuously since January 1998. It's an e-publication about life in the Kingdom of God and is sent ONLY to our email list of MINISTRY MEMBERS. If you're reading this and aren't yet on our growing email list, please let us know and we'll be so very happy to add you to the list.

 

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