Firstfruits – Opportunity for Prosperity – Part V
IT CAN!!! (in your business and in your home)
Ecclesiastes 5th Chapter:11"As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owner
except to feast his eyes on them?”
When Veronica and I went into premarital counseling with our
pastor, he asked this question: “How much money is enough money?” I replied, “I don’t know.” He then answered, “For some people it’s one
more dollar.” A very interesting way to
start financial counseling, yet very effective. That one question and answer spoke something to my heart which I
will never forget, and that is, we need to learn the purpose of money.
Here’s a definition for money that you probably have never heard: “Amplifier.”
Whatever you do or whatever you are “about,” money will amplify that thing(s).
For example, if a person has a habit of spending $50 a week on clothes, if given
more money, he/she will do what? Spend more of what he/she has because he/she
now has more to spend. So whatever you are “about,” more money will make that
habit/hobby more noticeable.
Our text tells us that as goods increase, so do those who consume them. In other
words, when people’s wealth increases, if they are all about themselves, then
their increase will go toward making themselves more comfortable and not toward
fulfilling God’s purpose. So what is God’s purpose? To get us more increase
so we can be a blessing to others. If you have enough to be comfortable then
excuse my English but, “That ain’t enough.” [Let me share this with you, Please!]
I intend on God moving us (you included) to a point of
wealth where it won’t be a strain for us to pick up the mortgage of someone who
lost his/her job. And in the process,
we will minister to him/her the goodness of Jesus. Or (and I want to do this one this Christmas) go to a family with
children and tell them, “Santa Claus is dead!
This Christmas, Jesus will be bringing your gifts! Now, what do you want?!” —and then go out
that same day and get everything on the list, PLUS GROCERIES! This is what that increase is for. Yes, you will benefit from the increase, but
God will only consistently/continually provide you with increase as long as you
are a good and trustworthy steward.
I know I’m switching gears here, but I’ve got to flow in the anointing. Here
is a word of confirmation from the Spirit of God for those of you who God has
given a vision of starting your own business.
“Get ready because my anointing is upon you, and it’s time to go! That business
that I’ve placed within you — it’s your time for it in the physical realm. It’s
been inside of you long enough — Go!”
Does this mean you have to quit your full-time job? No!! But it’s time for you
to put things into motion. If you’ve been putting off looking into grants, then
begin to look into grants. If you have said, “I’ll research this or that one
day”— One day is here! Go! This is what the spirit of God is telling me, “Go!”
Now once you go and you get that first dollar, what are you
supposed to do with it? Stick it on the
wall!!?? Absolutely, positively
not! That money belongs in the hands of
a priest so that he/she can cause the blessings of God to fall on your business
and your house.
Ezekiel 44:30 – ” And the
first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every
sort of your oblations, shall be the priest’s: ye shall also give unto the
priest the first of your dough, that he may cause THE BLESSING to
rest in thine house.”
What good is that dollar going to do you on the wall? The only thing it can do for you is to hang
there. Our text (Ecclesiastes 5:11)
states, “[a]nd what benefit are they to the owner except to feast his eyes on
them?” The purpose of your increase is
to get you more increase, not to be put in a frame and never multiply. If you never put seed into the ground, it
will never produce a harvest. We
desperately need to put seed into the ground so that our harvest will
come. And believe me, your harvest is
coming! Let me rephrase that correctly,
Our continual harvest is coming! It is
time that we not only get a harvest, but also live in one.
I tell you, Thanksgiving changed my perspective on the way we should live. This
Thanksgiving I really looked at all the food my wife cooked for just the three
of us. I experienced overflow, and I saw that meal as being a new standard, not
a special event. I asked the Lord, “why can’t it be this way all the time?”
He spoke only two words back: “IT CAN!!!!” So as you meditate on increase, remember
two words: “IT CAN!” Can the land of “more than enough” be your dwelling place?
— IT CAN! Can my check book be so abundant that I can write checks and not have
to worry about balancing out? — IT CAN. Can my circumstances change so dramatically
for the positive that God can use me to change someone else’s? — IT CAN; IT CAN;
IT CAN!!!