Kenneth Copeland - Managing Gods mutual funds-- yours and His : understanding true prosperity

Managing God's Mutual FundsYours and His Understanding True Prosperity

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 A Blessing or a Curse?

Chapter 2 The Fool's Dozen

Chapter 3 The Gospel to the Poor

Chapter 4 Digging Deeper

Chapter 5 How to Prevent Crop Failures

Chapter 6 The Law of Increase

Chapter 7 Debt

Chapter 8 Living to Give

Chapter 9 Laying Up TreasureFour Ways to Bless and Be Blessed

Chapter 10 The Seasons of Prosperity

Introduction

In a world that believes the only reason for prosperity is to buy bigger cars and finer houses, a new Church is rising up.

These believers are not deceived by greed. They know God's purposes for prosperity.

These believers know God wants to bless His people so they can be a blessing. They know He gives us power to get wealth, so He may establish His covenant (Deuteronomy 8:18) and so we "may have to give to him that needeth" (Ephesians 4:28).

God wants us to minister to a world caught up in the cycle of greed and lack. We can't do that if we are wondering where our next meal is coming from. God knows that. That's why He has provided us "all sufficiency in all things" so we may have enough to "abound to every good work" (2 Corinthians 9:8).

Our part is to learn how to access His resources and how to use what He provides. You've heard people say about their money and their giving, "It all belongs to God anyway." That sounds good, but it isn't true. Your money isn't all God's, and it's not all yours. All wealth comes from God. And He is the One Who has given you the power to get wealth. But He is very specific about what is His, what is yours and what you are to do with what He provides.

The bottom line is this: You are managing God's mutual fundsyours and His. You oversee wealth He has provided for some very specific kingdom purposes.

Silver, gold and all the wealth of the Earth are His. For too long the forces of Satan have controlled those resources, using them to drag men into darkness. Now it's time for the Church to learn what true wealth really is, tap into the riches that spring from the Word instead of the world, and enjoy living as givers in spreading the gospel throughout the Earth.

The most powerful spiritual invasion force the devil has ever had to face since Jesus walked this Earth will be the Church alive to God's purposes for prosperity. They have found more joy in giving than in anything money could buy.

They have allowed themselves to become experts in Managing God's Mutual Funds.

Kenneth Copeland

Chapter 1

A Blessing or a Curse?

Prosperity. Is it a blessing or is it a curse?

The answer should be obvious. But oddly enough, in the minds of many people, it's not.

The reason is simple. Satan has spent years trying to confuse the issue. And, for the most part, he has been successful.

He has frightened people into believing there's something inherently evil about money. He has promoted poverty by spreading lies. Poverty is noble, he has said. Poverty will make you more pious. Poverty is God's way of teaching you a lesson.

How many have been taken in by his deceptions?

Millions.

In fact, in some way, those lies have affected all of us.

That's why it's so important for us to go back to the Word of God and find out what He has to say about the subject.

Because until we do, we'll never be completely free to prosper.

Never.

So let's get it settled right here, right now. What's the real truth about poverty and prosperity? Which is the blessing?

Which is the curse?

You can find the answer to that question in Deuteronomy 28. Beginning with verse 15, let's read what God has to say there:

But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: [Now notice here God is about to list curses, not blessings.]

Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. [This verse is dealing specifically with finances. In today's terms, you wouldn't be too far off if you were to put it this way: Cursed shall be thy checking account and thy savings account.] Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep....Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof: thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face [or, thy car shall be repossessed right in front of thine eyes], and shall not be restored to thee: thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them (verses 15-17,31).

What God has just described here is poverty. And He has called it a curse.

If you'll look over those verses again, you'll see God is actually very clear about that fact. Yet, even so, some people still cling to their religious ideas. "Oh yes, Brother Copeland, poverty is a curse," they'll say, "but it can also be a blessing in disguise because God often uses it to teach His people spiritual lessons. Don't you agree?"

No, I don't. According to the Word of God, there's just one purpose for the curse. You can find it in Deuteronomy 28:20.

There, the scripture says," [There shall come] upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly..."

The curse is meant to destroy. Not to teach people a lesson.

Not to make them more spiritual. But to destroy them.

Proverbs 10:15 confirms that. There King Solomon (one of the richest men who ever lived) says, "...The destruction of the poor is their poverty."

Poverty destroys! When you look at the pictures of African babies with bloated stomachs and flies buzzing around their eyes, it's easy to see there's nothing noble about that. It's obviously the work of Satan. But what we often fail to realize is this: It's just as much the work of the devil when someone in your own town or in your church goes without groceries or falls behind on his rent.

Regardless of how intense the lack is, the nature of poverty remains the same. It is, and will always be, a curse.

Proverbs 6:9-11 sheds even more light on the devilish nature of poverty. It says:

How long will you sleep, O sluggard? When will you arise out of your sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to lie down and sleep; So will your poverty come as a robber or one who travels...and your want as an armed man... (The Amplified Bible).

In that verse, poverty is described as a robber who travels about. There's someone else the Bible describes in much that same way. Do you recall who it is?

Satan himself.

In 1 Peter 5:8, the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Peter warns us to "...be vigilant and cautious at all times, for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour" (The Amplified Bible).

Is it any wonder that Satan has gone to such great lengths to convince God's people poverty is a blessing in disguise?

Poverty is his creation! If he can con believers into passively accepting it as a "gift" from God, he can steal them blind and they won't do one thing to stop him!

So don't buy into his lies. Get your thinking in line with the Word of God. Poverty isabsolutely and alwaysa curse.

Now, I want to stop right here and help you get something straight in your mind. I want you to realize that if you're a born-again child of God, you no longer have to live under the curse of povertyor any other curse for that matter! You simply don't have to put up with it. You have been redeemed!