Are You Afraid of Abundance?
Out of God’s word comes an understanding of abundance, of the abundant life. You know, most people are afraid of abundance because they think others will talk about them and point fingers at them and declare that they are greedy and hoarders and don’t care about the poor. God is a God of abundance. He doesn’t know what lack means. He only knows multiplication and increase. He will increase you more and more, you and your children, if you will allow Him to do so.
I have heard so many people give so many reasons to justify their lack in various areas of their lives. I have done the same thing sometimes. In fact, I have had to look at choke points in my life and ask God to help me to address these points of backing off from what He has for me and my family and the ministry He has given me. There are many things God cannot do in our lives if we are not willing to be a place of increase, a place where He can deposit the fullness of His Life. Many people are praying for more power and for more anointing. It’s here. He is here. All the power, all the anointing, all the fullness we need is right here with us. He is called the Holy Spirit, the member of the Godhead Who is here now to deposit the fullness of God in us.
Jesus Himself told us in John 10:10 that He had come that we might have and enjoy life, have it in abundance, to the full, until it overflows. May I ask you a question today? Are you overflowing? How about it? Are you overflowing in your finances? Are you overflowing with health? Are you overflowing in your soul? Are your emotions, mind and will overflowing with God’s perfection? If not, why not? Jesus told us that He came to give us abundance.
The 1828 Dictionary definition of abundance is this: great plenty; an overflowing quantity; fullness; abounding. Fullness is the state of being filled, so as to leave no part vacant; the state of abounding or being in great plenty; abundance; completeness; the state of a thing in which nothing is wanted; perfection.
To me abundance is a full supply, a never-ending fountain of God’s Blessing flowing to me, in me and through me to others. The Blessing of the Lord, it makes rich and He adds no sorrow with it (Proverbs 10:22). God’s abundance is His Blessing flowing for all of us as human beings to partake of by becoming His children through accepting Jesus as our Savior.
I once heard a minister friend of mine say this: If people only knew what God had for them, they would run to the altar without hesitation. But there is an enemy called satan in this world. He has a job to do and it is this: he continually convinces people that God is not real, and even if He is real, He doesn’t care about them. Or in the case of Christians, it goes like this: God is real; He does care for you, but there are certain things that He allows to keep you humble on this earth. And, of course, these things may involve hardships and suffering, but you must bear with it, because it will be worth it all when we get to heaven. That is a mentality that God never authored. His enemy authored that mentality.
God is not a man that He should lie. He doesn’t speak two ways. On the one hand, He gives, but on the other hand, He takes it away because you can’t handle it. Phooey! God is a giver. Every good and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning (James 1:17). God is not fickle. He is accurate, orderly and precise. He says what He means and He means what He says. If Jesus as the Son of God says that He has come that we might have and enjoy life to the abundance until it overflows, then that is what we are supposed to have. If we have anything less, it not His fault. There is something in us that is stopping the flow. What we need to do is ask God to reveal the clogs in our lives so that He can remove them.
We have a sink in our bathroom that gets severely clogged sometimes because of stuff I put on my face and wash off and it goes down the drain. Over a period of time the drain gets more and more clogged, until there is just a trickle flowing down the drain, and it takes what seems like forever to drain. Our spirits are like that. Sometimes we have allowed “stuff” to go into us. “Stuff” is fear, doubt, unbelief, religion, tradition of men, and yes, sin, to clog our pipe. The greatest sin is fear because fear activates satan’s realm like faith activates God’s Kingdom. And we all know that the solution to fear is love, God’s perfected Love, which casts out, flushes out fear.
We are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10). Of His fullness have we all received (John 1:16). He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3,4). Jesus has come and given us abundant life (John 10:10). We have been given an abundance of grace (Romans 5:17). God shows us the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7). This is all ours. What we must understand is that our life is not to revolve around or focus on an abundance of riches on this earth (Luke 12:15). We focus on God. The fullness all comes from God. He is our source. It is His to give to us. He delights in blessing His children. His fullness fills all in all (Ephesians 1:23). We are to be filled with the fullness of God and come to the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians3:19; 4:13). In Jesus Christ all fullness dwells; in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead (Colossians 1:19; 2:9).
Don’t be afraid of increase and abundance. It all comes from God. Let Him manage it for you. He is a delightful manager of our accounts. It is His to give us and it is ours to enjoy. He will teach us stewardship and make us good stewards of His accounts. Remember the story of the talents. Those who were given, were expected to increase. The one who did not use what he had been given was cast away. God is a God of multiplication. Increase and multiplication is ever on His mind. It is called a Garden of Eden mentality. God’s first words to His man were: Fruitful be, multiply, fill up the earth, subdue it and have dominion over every living creature that moves on the earth. That is The Blessing. That is God placing Himself in you and me with His multiplication factor, His increase ability, His fruitfulness. We will talk more about this next time.
I have heard so many people give so many reasons to justify their lack in various areas of their lives. I have done the same thing sometimes. In fact, I have had to look at choke points in my life and ask God to help me to address these points of backing off from what He has for me and my family and the ministry He has given me. There are many things God cannot do in our lives if we are not willing to be a place of increase, a place where He can deposit the fullness of His Life. Many people are praying for more power and for more anointing. It’s here. He is here. All the power, all the anointing, all the fullness we need is right here with us. He is called the Holy Spirit, the member of the Godhead Who is here now to deposit the fullness of God in us.
Jesus Himself told us in John 10:10 that He had come that we might have and enjoy life, have it in abundance, to the full, until it overflows. May I ask you a question today? Are you overflowing? How about it? Are you overflowing in your finances? Are you overflowing with health? Are you overflowing in your soul? Are your emotions, mind and will overflowing with God’s perfection? If not, why not? Jesus told us that He came to give us abundance.
The 1828 Dictionary definition of abundance is this: great plenty; an overflowing quantity; fullness; abounding. Fullness is the state of being filled, so as to leave no part vacant; the state of abounding or being in great plenty; abundance; completeness; the state of a thing in which nothing is wanted; perfection.
To me abundance is a full supply, a never-ending fountain of God’s Blessing flowing to me, in me and through me to others. The Blessing of the Lord, it makes rich and He adds no sorrow with it (Proverbs 10:22). God’s abundance is His Blessing flowing for all of us as human beings to partake of by becoming His children through accepting Jesus as our Savior.
I once heard a minister friend of mine say this: If people only knew what God had for them, they would run to the altar without hesitation. But there is an enemy called satan in this world. He has a job to do and it is this: he continually convinces people that God is not real, and even if He is real, He doesn’t care about them. Or in the case of Christians, it goes like this: God is real; He does care for you, but there are certain things that He allows to keep you humble on this earth. And, of course, these things may involve hardships and suffering, but you must bear with it, because it will be worth it all when we get to heaven. That is a mentality that God never authored. His enemy authored that mentality.
God is not a man that He should lie. He doesn’t speak two ways. On the one hand, He gives, but on the other hand, He takes it away because you can’t handle it. Phooey! God is a giver. Every good and every perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning (James 1:17). God is not fickle. He is accurate, orderly and precise. He says what He means and He means what He says. If Jesus as the Son of God says that He has come that we might have and enjoy life to the abundance until it overflows, then that is what we are supposed to have. If we have anything less, it not His fault. There is something in us that is stopping the flow. What we need to do is ask God to reveal the clogs in our lives so that He can remove them.
We have a sink in our bathroom that gets severely clogged sometimes because of stuff I put on my face and wash off and it goes down the drain. Over a period of time the drain gets more and more clogged, until there is just a trickle flowing down the drain, and it takes what seems like forever to drain. Our spirits are like that. Sometimes we have allowed “stuff” to go into us. “Stuff” is fear, doubt, unbelief, religion, tradition of men, and yes, sin, to clog our pipe. The greatest sin is fear because fear activates satan’s realm like faith activates God’s Kingdom. And we all know that the solution to fear is love, God’s perfected Love, which casts out, flushes out fear.
We are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10). Of His fullness have we all received (John 1:16). He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3,4). Jesus has come and given us abundant life (John 10:10). We have been given an abundance of grace (Romans 5:17). God shows us the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7). This is all ours. What we must understand is that our life is not to revolve around or focus on an abundance of riches on this earth (Luke 12:15). We focus on God. The fullness all comes from God. He is our source. It is His to give to us. He delights in blessing His children. His fullness fills all in all (Ephesians 1:23). We are to be filled with the fullness of God and come to the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians3:19; 4:13). In Jesus Christ all fullness dwells; in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead (Colossians 1:19; 2:9).
Don’t be afraid of increase and abundance. It all comes from God. Let Him manage it for you. He is a delightful manager of our accounts. It is His to give us and it is ours to enjoy. He will teach us stewardship and make us good stewards of His accounts. Remember the story of the talents. Those who were given, were expected to increase. The one who did not use what he had been given was cast away. God is a God of multiplication. Increase and multiplication is ever on His mind. It is called a Garden of Eden mentality. God’s first words to His man were: Fruitful be, multiply, fill up the earth, subdue it and have dominion over every living creature that moves on the earth. That is The Blessing. That is God placing Himself in you and me with His multiplication factor, His increase ability, His fruitfulness. We will talk more about this next time.
posted by Rev. Kialeen Potterton @ 3:27 PM
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