John Avanzini - Seven Unfailing Steps to Increase

Seven Unfailing Steps to Increase

Giving Releases Power in Your Life

When you give to God, your gift allows God the opportunity to bless you, to keep His promises, and to give you more than enough. By your faithful obedience in giving your tithes and offerings, you set into motion God's principles of biblical economics. Your precious gifts unleash God's power in several areas of your life.

1. Your gift will prosper you. God promises that when you are a giver, your gift will increase and multiply.

A gift ... whithersoever it turneth , it prospereth .

Proverbs 17:8

2. Your gift will provide you a place in life, and will bring you before great (godly) men in society.

A mans gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.

Proverbs 18:16

3. Your gift will bring you friends.

... every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts.

Proverbs 19:6

This does not advocate buying friends with your money. It simply means that your giving sets up a magnetism that draws others to you.

4. Your gift will stop anger.

A gift in secret pacifieth anger....

Proverbs 21:14

Just for fun, try this when someone is angry with you. Send that person a secret gift and watch his anger calm down. Don't ask me how it works; I don't know. But it does work, for I have seen it do so again and again.

Do you understand what God intends to do to your life when you give? When you are a cheerful giver, God will bless you and give you back many blessings out of His abundance!

God cares about you, and He ministers to you in many areas when you unleash the biblical process of giving. Not only does He minister to you in the area of finances, He also ministers spiritually to you, and to those around you. Being a great giver produces a positive, cooperative atmosphere all around you!

Step 1Give Expecting to Receive

God gave His greatest gift with full expectation of receiving something in return. He gave His precious Son, because He knew He would receive sons and daughters.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16

By understanding His actions, you can see that giving is the first step toward God's abundance in your life. You cannot achieve prosperity just by knowing you must give. You must actually do some giving, and expect to receive something in return.

I hope you have already planted a liberal field of money seed in the name of Jesus. Now expect to reap a money harvest from each and every seed you planted.

Remember, you reap what you sow. If you sow peach seeds, you will reap peaches. If you sow (give) money, you will reap a money harvest.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth , that shall he also reap.

Galatians 6:7

If you have believed God's Word and planted money seed, keep on believing God's Word. The Bible clearly states you will reap if you don't give up.

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Galatians 6:9

Isn't that wonderful? You can give, expecting a harvest. While you are waiting for your first harvest, you can be planting even more money seed toward your second harvest. Think of it! You can have a perpetual harvest if you have faith for perpetual planting!

Remember, God's Word guarantees that you will reap what you sow. So give, expecting a return.

Be Willing to Receive

Acts 3:5 tells us the lame man at the gate called "Beautiful" was expecting to receive something from Peter and John before they brought him to his feet. Then he was healed, and he went away leaping and praising God.

Jesus must have walked by the man many times as he lay crippled at the gate. He had never received before, because he never expected to receive anything. However, when Peter and John came by, the man was ... expecting to receive something of them, and he was healed. The only difference was his anticipation. Those who are expecting to receive something are the ones who will receive.

For example, have you ever heard of a farmer who planted his precious seed and didn't expect a return? Of course not. Farmers expect to receive something. They are willing to receive a harvest.

Jesus, our role model, was willing to receive. Once when He visited the home of a Pharisee, He allowed a woman to wash His feet with expensive ointment. When His host criticized the woman, Jesus said ... thou gavest me no water for my feet ... but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment (Luke 7:44,46).

Jesus was a good receiver. Countless times in Scripture we see Him receive food, lodging, gifts, and even the use of a donkey. Jesus freely gave, but He also freely received.

When you are not willing to be a good receiver, you stop the abundant blessings God wants to flow into your life. Many times pride keeps us from receiving, but the Word gives us a strong warning about pride.

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs 16:18

Do not let your false pride harden your mind and keep you from receiving from God or from others. When Jesus said it was more blessed to give than to receive, He didn't say we were not supposed to receive. Unless you begin to develop a receiving mentality, God cannot bring prosperity into your life.

Remember:

You must expect to receive. You must be willing to receive.

Pride and a hardened mind will restrict the flow of God's prosperity into your life.

Step 2Bank on Gods Promises

Every day we hear various commercial banks waging economic war with their competitors. They try to offer us something that will convince us to deposit our money in their bank. Some offer higher interest rates on savings accounts. Others offer checking accounts with no service charges. They sometimes even offer free gifts, just to lure us into investing our funds in their institution.

But God offers us the best banking program ever. Read the generous return He gives for your investments.

But remember thisif you give little, you will get little. A farmer who plants just a few seeds will get only a small crop, but if he plants much, he will reap much.

God is able to make it up to you by giving you everything you need and more, so that there will not only be enough for your own needs, but plenty left over to give joyfully to others.

It is as the Scriptures say: "The godly man gives generously to the poor. His good deeds will be an honor to him forever."

For God, who gives seed to the farmer to plant, and later on, good crops to harvest and eat, will give you more and more seed to plant and will make it grow so that you can give away more and more fruit from your harvest.

Yes, God will give you much so that you can give away much....

2 Corinthians 9:6 ,8 -11 TLB

Now that you are putting your money in God's bank, you can expect to receive God's promises which assure you of the provision of everything you need and more.

You literally cannot give away too much money when you give in the name of the Lord. Each time you give an offering, God will return it to you multiplied. Just as an earthly banker knows the world's secrets of abundance, you can literally bank on God and His promises. He will see that you have abundant treasures in heaven and on the earth, even more than enough!

Step 3Choose Faith Over Fear

The only way the devil can stop you from receiving your God-ordained portion of wealth is by getting you to accept his lies about your ability to break through into abundance. He will try to make you so afraid of failure, you will give up your newfound liberty in giving. Satan will desperately attempt to convince you that giving is foolish.