Godly Financial Increase 101

    2023 has been a crazy year in the financial world.  I am a real estate lawyer and the interest rates and lending climate have definitely impacted the deal flow, and I’m very thankful that God has provided for me and my family during this crazy year.  But I don’t want to just sit back and hope that money comes.  I want to study God’s Word regarding money and God’s systems of provision.  I want to make sure I’m doing my part.  I want to go deeper with God and higher in my finances than ever before.  So I did another big study on money.  Here below are a lot of the key verses and points that I studied.  I know reviewing this and studying these verses will bless you. 

Finances and Seedtime and Harvest Generally

The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it.  (Proverbs 10:22 NKJV)

-God wants you to have easy riches, riches without sorrow, riches without painful toil.

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 ancestors, as it is today.  (Deuteronomy 8:18 NIV)

- God doesn’t drop money on us from the sky.  God gives us the power to produce wealth.

- God gives us the power to produce easy riches.

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.  (Genesis 1:29 KJV)

-Sowing and reaping is God’s method for us to have provision in the earth.

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease. (Genesis 8:22 KJV)

- As long as humans live on earth, this is how we are supposed to obtain provision.

- This was true before the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and it’s true now.

 - It’s true in a farming economy, and it’s true in our modern economy.

'If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. (Leviticus 26:3-5 NKJV)

- God wants to watch over our seedtime and harvest process.

- God wants to bless our harvests.

But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as I did in the past," declares the LORD Almighty. "The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people. (Zechariah 8:11-12 NIV)

- God will protect your seedtime and harvest process.

- God wants you to sow and reap successfully.

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. As it is written: "he has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. (2 Corinthians 9:6-11 NKJV)

- Seedtime and harvest is the appropriate financial mechanism for Christians.

- Christian sowing is giving money or good works as God leads you, usually to ministries or those in need.

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  (2 Corinthians 9:6 NKJV)

- You reap in the measure that you sow.

So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:7 NKJV)

- You need to pray and submit your giving to God.

- Think about how thankful you should be when God calls on a seed.

- Listening for God’s directions on this will help.

- Sowing when you feel the compassion will help.

- It's hard to cheerfully sow when you are focused on the world’s economic system, for it doesn’t work by sowing and reaping.  It’s easier to cheerfully sow when you are focused on God’s economic system.  You are a farmer. 

- You can’t mix systems!

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.  (2 Corinthians 9:8 NKJV)

- As we sow bountifully, as we sow cheerfully, God is going to make all grace abound towards you.

- God wants you to have abundance so you can sow and give to every good work.

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 enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. (2 Corinthians 9:10-11 NIV)

- God will supply seed for you.  Brother Jerry Savelle – you are never without seed.

- God will increase your harvest.

- God wants you always enriched so you can always be generous.

- God will watch over your seedtime and harvest process.

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."  (Luke 6:38 NKJV)

- If you give, God will cause other men to give to you.  This is another form of seedtime and harvest.

Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."  (Matthew 9:37-38 NIV)

- God is the Lord of the Harvest!

Reaping

There are various harvests that God can bring into your life –

- Product sales

- Clients for your service business

- People giving to you

- You get a raise or a bonus

- You get a new job

- You get a return on investment

God may give you various instructions –

- Develop a product

- Start a business or ministry

- Make an investment

- Get a new job

- Ask for a raise or bonus

He who gathers in summer is a wise son; He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.  (Proverbs 10:5 NKJV)

- Harvesting or reaping is not automatic.

The lazy man will not plow because of winter; He will beg during harvest and have nothing. (Proverbs 20:4 NKJV)

- Sowing isn’t automatic either.

- These are both deliberate acts.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.  (Galatians 6:7-9 NKJV)

- If you sow money, you are going to reap money.

- This doesn’t mean reaping is automatic, you still have to get out there and reap.

- But sometimes the harvest can take time.  Be patient, stay in faith.

And He said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."  (Mark 4:26-29 NKJV)

- The seeds will grow.

- We don’t always understand how the seeds grow, but God helps them grow.

- We must remember to reap.

- We are the sower, and we must also be the reaper.

- It can take time for the seeds to grow and produce harvests.

Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. (James 5:4 NIV)

- The harvest itself is crying out. 

- We need to cry out for our harvest.

When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.  (1 Corinthians 15:37-38 NIV)

- The seed doesn’t look like the harvest.

- You may need God’s help to recognize a harvest.

- Some harvests are obvious, some not so much.

- God will take your seed and cause it to grow into the right harvest.

- YOU MUST BE TUNED INTO GOD.

You need to be praying over your harvest!

Miscellaneous Important Points About Sowing and Reaping

In the morning sow your seed, And in the evening do not withhold your hand; For you do not know which will prosper, Either this or that, Or whether both alike will be good.  (Ecclesiastes 11:6 NKJV)

- We should be regularly sowing.

- As Christians, with all of God’s promises available to us, all of our seeds can be good.

He who observes the wind will not sow, And he who regards the clouds will not reap.  (Ecclesiastes 11:4 NKJV)

- You must sow and reap regardless of what’s happening in the world.

- Even if the economy or your business looks down, don’t stop sowing.

- If you believe from God that something is your harvest, then go get it, regardless of what may appear in your way.

Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.  (Psalms 126:5-6 NKJV)

- This verse talks about someone who is sowing rather than eating his seed.  He doesn’t have much, but he knows that he must sow.  So he is sowing in tears, but he is doing the right thing.

- Sometimes we only have so much in our accounts, and we are tempted to use or save the money, but we know that we need to keep sowing.

- Let God’s Spirit lead you during these times, but submit your money to God, and even if you are sowing in tears, you must sow when God tells you to sow.

'You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.”  (Leviticus 19:19 NKJV)

- Be deliberate in your sowing and reaping.

- Name your seed.

- I’m sowing this seed for this kind of harvest.

- We should be deliberate about this like farmers.

Other Types of Giving / Other Types of Seedtime and Harvest

If you help the poor, you are lending to the LORD--and He will repay you!  (Proverbs 19:17 NLT)

And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:9-10 KJV)

- When you reap, you should always have some funds available for the poor and needy.

- Don’t use every single penny that you reap.

- Don’t be worried about watching every single penny, be generous.

- You reap a harvest, don’t be afraid to hand out some here and there, especially in small amounts.

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[.] (Leviticus 23:10 KJV)

- Don’t neglect the first fruits offering.

- When you get a harvest, bring in the first fruits!

- A sheaf is a “heap”, “pile” and an “omer”

- You bring in a pile of it.

- Remember that this offering is another way we honor God with our finances, this is another way we thank God for what He has brought into our lives.

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this," Says the LORD of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.  (Malachi 3:10 NKJV)

- God still wants provision in His house, provision for His churches and ministries.

- The tithe is a specific type of seed that brings in these amazing harvests.

Provision in Famine

The LORD knows the days of the upright, And their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.  (Psalms 37:18-19 NKJV)

- Even if the world is going through hard times and famine, God will still provide for us, God will still make sure we are satisfied.

- Satisfied doesn’t mean just getting by, it means full.

There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in Gerar.  Then the Lord appeared to him and said: "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land of which I shall tell you.  Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father . . . Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him.  (Genesis 26:1-3,12 NKJV)

- Sometimes it may seem like there is a famine.  Maybe our business is slow or maybe we don’t have enough work.  Especially during these times, we need to listen to God.

- God will tell us where to go.

- God will tell us where to find provision.

- God recently told me that everything would be fine, just be patient and the work would come in.

- You don’t have to participate in the famine.

- God can bring you harvests on your seed even if the whole world is in famine.

Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.  (Psalms 1:1-3 NKJV)

- We must delight in God’s Word.

- We must live a righteous life.

- When we are living according to God’s directions, God will cause everything we do to prosper.

Sowing Word Seed along with Money Seed

Mark 4 – Remember the parable of the sower, and make sure to sow the Word of God concerning finances in your heart. 

- You need the verses on prosperity and increase in your heart.

- You need to renovate your mind on this subject.

- Sow your Word seed with your money seed.

- Your money seed goes into a ministry or place of God’s choosing, your Word seed goes into your heart.

Some of Jesus Teachings on Money

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21 NKJV)

“He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own? "No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."”  (Luke 16:10-13 NKJV)

I want to acknowledge that these are hard verses.  I don’t think they are necessarily hard to understand, but I do think they are hard to put into practice in one’s daily economic life.  When we encounter verses like this we have no choice but to just slow down, break them apart, and figure out what God is telling us.

First of all, our goal cannot be the accumulation of worldly wealth.  There is nothing wrong with the accumulation of wealth, but that cannot be our goal.  It must be a biproduct of our true goal, which is serving God. 

We must serve God first and foremost.  Serving God and advancing His Kingdom must be our goal.  We understand that money is a part of reality and it must be used appropriately.  God wants to know who we are serving.  Are we serving God or are we serving mammon?  If your goal is to accumulate wealth, you are serving mammon.  If you say your goal is serving God, well that’s great, but we’re going to find out.

Do you give when God tells you to give?  That’s how we are going to find out.  I want you to feel zero, I mean zero, compulsion from me to give.  I have taught you the Word of God on giving, now what do you feel the Spirit of God telling you to do.  Don’t run to your wallet.  Don’t empty your bank account.  Take some time.   Pray.  Get to a place of peace in your heart.  Then give what God tells you to give.  Get started in the seedtime and harvest process.

If you are faithful to sow, the Lord of the Harvest will start bringing you harvests.  He will tell you to sow more and more, and as you give faithfully and stay tuned into Him, He will help you reap more and more.  That’s serving God.  That’s accumulating wealth as a byproduct of serving God, and that’s how it’s supposed to work.

"Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? "So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:25-34 NKJV)

- God doesn’t want us to worry about provision, God wants to take care of our provision.

- God wants us to focus on His Kingdom and His righteousness.

- As we serve God correctly, God is going to provide for us.

- God will provide for you.

Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.  (Psalms 37:4 NKJV)

- We must delight ourselves in God and His plan for our lives.

- We must look to God for direction and even for our desires.

- We must be tuned in.

When you see someone working in the world’s system and winning, it doesn’t mean they are sowing and reaping in God’s economic system.  They might just be succeeding in the world’s economic system.  You can try to do that.  Or, you could begin sowing and reaping in God’s economic system.  These are two separate systems.  If you look at someone sowing sparingly but reaping bountifully – they are winning in the world’s economic system.  But the world’s economic system has many threats, moths, rusts, thieves, etc., as Jesus taught us.  We should operate in God’s economic system.

It's hard to cheerfully sow when you are focused on the world’s economic system, for it doesn’t work by sowing and reaping.  It’s easier to cheerfully sow when you are focused on God’s economic system.  You are a farmer.  This is the way it works.  You are delighted when God tells you to sow because you are focused on your harvest.  And you know that you have to sow because you live this way.

You can’t mix systems.  Most Christians try to mix systems.  Don’t mix the systems.  Just because you have a job doesn’t mean you are mixing systems.  You are mixing systems when that job is your system, when that job is your source.  You are mixing the systems when you say you love God and you throw a few bucks in the offering plate but really you are trying to accumulate wealth, when you are really serving mammon.  Look in your heart.  You know the truth.  You need to be a farmer in the Kingdom of God economic system first and foremost.  This is your personal economic system.  You need to be serving God and letting Him increase you.

Remember always what Jesus said, you can’t do anything for yourself by worrying.  You want to get to the place where you aren’t providing for yourself, where God is providing for you.  You are a sower, and the Lord of the Harvests is bringing harvests into your life.

You need to win in God’s economic system.  If you are sowing bountifully, you should be reaping bountifully.  But in the same way you sow deliberately, you need to reap deliberately.  Reaping must be as deliberate and intentional and sowing.  You need to speak over your seed.  You need to water your seed.  You need to reap by faith.

I know this might sound extreme, but we are in extreme times.  God also wants us extremely blessed, and God wants us to be an extreme blessing for others.  Submitting all your money to God, submitting all your financial desires and goals to the Kingdom of God, I know it’s a big step.  I know it feels crazy.  But now that you understand seedtime and harvest, now that you understand God really does want to bring you wealth, both for you and for others, it’s easier to start living God’s way.   

God has given you the power to produce easy wealth in your life, for you and for His Kingdom, through sowing and reaping.