Kenneth Copeland - Giving and receiving

Giving and Receiving

Would you like to know how you can increase your income? Regardless of your status in life, there is a way. My purpose in writing this book is to bring you the revelation that will show you how.

Once you receive the Word of God, then you are responsible for putting it to work.

I was talking with a man by telephone one day, and we were praying together for his business.

The Lord spoke to me right in the middle of my prayer and said, Ask him why General Motors didn't pay him anything last year.

I hesitated a moment, but then I did it out of obedience to God. I said, "How come General Motors didn't pay you anything last year?" He was quiet for a second and replied, "Well, they didn't owe me anything."

And the Lord said, Tell him that's how come I didn't pay him anything either.

That really opened my eyes! The Word says very plainly, "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again" (Proverbs 19:17). If we haven't been giving, then God has nothing to work with to increase us financially.

I want the Word to change your thinking from giving to giving and receiving. Don't just think in terms of giving. The Apostle Paul told the church at Philippi that they alone communicated with him in giving and receiving (Philippians 4:15).

"Well, I don't think I should desire to receive anything back when I give, Brother Copeland." If this is what you are thinking, then your thinking is wrong! You wouldn't think well of a farmer who kept planting seeds and then let his crop rot in the field. Giving financial seeds and not receiving a harvest is just as irresponsible. There are people in this world starving to hear the saving message of the gospel. God wants you to receive a harvest from the financial seeds you plant. You need to have an abundance of finances so that you can help finance the preaching of the gospel.

The Body of Christ should be the wealthiest, most powerful and most influential people in all the world.

But what have we done? We have turned the management of the world's finances over to the devil, and believing his lies is an indictment against us all.

One of the ways the devil has deceived us and controlled our finances is through debt. We live in a debt culture. In the book of Deuteronomy God made a direct connection between Israel's possessing the Promised Land and lending to many nations while borrowing from none. Debt is a way of possessing. We have allowed Satan to flip the coin over on the other side and put the Body of Christ in debt to the world. In doing this, we have allowed them to possess us. The borrower is servant of the lender.

Many Christians are in so much debt that they cannot give into the ministry. When are we going to turn things around and give and receive from God as our source so much that we no longer need go any further into debt?

Giving Is the Basis of Redemption

Giving is the key element in the Father's character. The whole plan of redemption revolves around giving and receiving. Let's look at His attitude in the face of seemingly total failure.

God lost His top-ranked, most anointed angel.

In addition to that, He was deprived of at least a third of His angels when Lucifer fell. He lost the man and the woman He created. And because of man's fall, He lost the whole earth and all of the fullness thereof. When you add it all up, that is a lot of real estate gone down the drain! The Father didn't do anything to cause this huge loss, but He took the blame for it. Why? Because the buck stopped with Him. He is the Creator of the ones who did it. Therefore, the Father accepted the responsibility for turning the whole mess around (Isaiah 54:8-17).

When the serpent seduced Eve and caused the Fall of Man, God prophesied the plan of redemption. Speaking to the devil He said, One is coming Who will put His heel on your head. Then He set out to get the job done. God searched until He found Abraham, the man through whom He could legally bring the Redeemer, a faith man.

It's interesting to note that in His effort to redeem His possessions, God could have chosen from a number of options. But He elected to give.

Giving is the most powerful tool that God has at His command. Giving is the cardinal law.

Now, the next question is, what is He going to give? He still has two-thirds of the angels. He still has all of heaven and, of course, He still has His Son, Jesus.

I can almost hear His thoughts. If I risk the angels and lose them through it, I can always create more. But, I sure wouldn't want to take a chance on losing Jesus. He's all I have left. If I lost My Son, I would be all alone. There are other things I could give.

If God had taken that attitude, He would not have really been giving. He knew that to really give, He had to give something that cost Him.

Why? Because, if it didn't cost anything, He hadn't really put His faith on the line. The Father knew that it would take faith to turn the situation around. He knew that He had to give all that He had in order to be in a position of faith. He was giving to receive. He gave His best to receive the best.

Jesus put it this way. He said, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16).

Can you see the faith God released in sending His only Son? Man had proven that he didn't have to accept anything that he didn't want. He had already chosen the devil over God. From this viewpoint, we can see the magnitude of the price that was paid for our redemption. God gave the best He had.

For a moment Jesus was separated from God.

The Supreme Sacrifice walked into the place of the damned to answer for Adam's treason. At that very instant, all that God had to give was given for man and given to man.

What guarantee was there that the Father would ever get His Son back? The guarantee was the power of faith in His own Word, released through the law of giving and receiving. God's own Word and its power to bring itself to pass.

This spiritual principle is by far the greatest promise there is.

When you plant a seed, it will produce a harvest. It's guaranteed. No one can stop it. The devil may try, but there is nothing Satan can do that is powerful enough to block the law of giving and receiving.

The whole plan of redemption revolves around giving. Did you ever stop and think that in giving, God also received? In fact, that is why He gave His Son, so that He could receive many more sons!

(See Hebrews 2:10.) Hallelujah! Jesus did not just hang on the cross for nothing. He was the seed.

You and I are the harvest.

Giving and Receiving

One of the exciting benefits of this revelation is that financial harvests are not seasonal. If you give, you will receive! You may not receive the harvest for several months, but if you are planting, you will always be on the receiving end.

The Word says, Cast your bread on the water and after many days it will return (Ecclesiastes 11:1).

If you keep casting it out there, then eventually you will have something coming in on every wavesteady income from the steadiest source of all, God the Father by Christ Jesus according to His riches in glory.

God is leading us to change the way we live our lives. The most important change is in the way we give.

"Well, yes, Brother Copeland, but I've given all I can." You haven't given all you can until you have given all you have.

Some might say, "Well, I don't think we are required to do that!" I am not talking about what we have to do. God has given me much more than I require to live, but that's because I stepped out and gave beyond what God required of me a long time ago! The more I study tithing, giving, receiving, etc., the more I'm saying, "How much can I get God to receive of mine?"