31 Faith-Building LessonsSample

LESSON 28

Sowing in Famine

The Body of Christ has arrived at the place where God is revealing the secrets that have been hidden from the ages. All the seals have been taken off God’s Word. There is an outpouring of revelation knowledge in our generation that began in the 1960s and continues to this day, cleansing and maturing the Body of Christ.

In October 1981, while I was ministering with Brother Kenneth Copeland in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Lord came into my room and spoke these words to me: “Son, I don’t want my people in financial famine, and I’m giving you the assignment to tell them.”

God revealed to me the keys to deliverance from financial famine. This is not something I searched the Word for. God came into my room supernaturally and said, “GO, TELL MY PEOPLE.”

Third John 2 is a very familiar scripture, Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

We have the ability to walk in DIVINE PROSPERITY. I am convinced, and I see from the authority of God’s Word that there were people, even in the Old Testament, who walked the earth without financial bondage. I believe that we, as New Testament people, can and should walk in divine prosperity.

The Spirit of God shared this with me about prosperity: God’s best is more than just having a financial miracle from time to time. It is to walk and live in divine prosperity. PROSPERITY MEANS BEING IN CONTROL. God provided this for His people in both the Old and New Covenants. Let’s take Abraham, for example. In Genesis the 12th chapter, even before God made a Covenant with Abraham, he had a natural inheritance of wealth.

Abraham’s father dwelt in a city named Haran, a place of great wealth and commercial influence. Abraham’s father was a man wealthy in both land and goods. When Abraham was seventy-five years old, God said to him, Get thee out. God told him to leave his natural inheritance of wealth, to leave his country and his family. I’m sure everyone who knew Abraham thought he was crazy to leave all the property and wealth that was his.

KEY 1: BE WILLING TO GIVE YOUR ALL FOR GOD. Abraham was. The first thing God wants from you is not your money, not your cars, not your house, or your clothes. He wants YOU! First, give yourself to God. God said to Abraham, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land which I will shew thee: And I will make thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing (Genesis 12:1-2).

Abraham was obedient and departed; he left all to obey God.

Abraham walked out of his father’s house in obedience to God’s Word, and then, notice verse 9-10, 9And Abraham journeyed, going on still toward the south. 10And there was a famine in the land…Abraham left all his wealth and walked right into a famine! You know he hadn’t counted on that. Don’t you know he wondered if he’d missed God?

But look at chapter thirteen, verses 1 and 2: 13And Abraham went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. 2And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

Giving yourself to God pays off!

I have heard all my life about all the things you have to give up to serve God, and there is some truth to that. But observe here that God will give all that and much more back to you. What God wants from each of us is TOTAL COMMITMENT.

Notice this, Abraham disregarded his natural prospects for riches, departed from his father’s house and his own country, obeyed God, reached the land which God spoke of, and there was a great famine in that land.

KEY 2: ABRAHAM REFUSED TO TURN BACK WHILE UNDER PRESSURE. That’s one of the first things the devil hits you with when you give yourself to God. Just stay put; do all God has told you to do. Cast down imaginations and resist all efforts of the devil to move you from that which God has given you to do. God hadn’t forgotten Abraham’s obedience, and He made Abraham a very rich man. Praise God! Abraham refused to turn back while under the pressure of famine.

KEY 3: ABRAHAM MADE GOD HIS ABSOLUTE SOURCE OF SUPPLY. Abraham rejected the riches or bounty offered to him from any man. His attitude was, “Don’t ever let it be said that any man, made Abraham rich, but Almighty God” (Genesis14:23 Author’s paraphrase). God was Abraham’s absolute source of supply.

KEY 4: ABRAHAM WAS A GIVER. Notice in Genesis 14:19-20 when he approached Melchizedek. Melchizedek said, 19Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: 20And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.

Abraham was very rich, and he gave God tithes of all. There are going to be people in these last days who will do what Abraham did; they’re going to forsake all and give themselves totally to God. They’re going to refuse to turn back under pressure, and they’re going to give as they’ve never given before. God will cause them to walk in divine prosperity.

Now, let me share this with you. The covenant of prosperity worked for whosoever would obey the laws of God.

6Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. 7For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills…9A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it…

Deuteronomy 8:6-9

That’s divine prosperity – no lack and no scarcity when the recipient of it never forgets God. Here is one caution about entering into the realm of divine prosperity. In the following verses, warnings are issued against forgetting the Lord.

10When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. 11Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: 12Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; 13And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; 14Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt…

Deuteronomy 8:10-20

Many people, when they enter into the realm of divine prosperity and lack financial pressures, are relieved and forget God. They don’t spend as much time in the Word. They aren’t diligent in keeping the laws of God. Some even begin trusting in their own power to get wealth. Verse 19 continues:

19And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. 20As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 8:19-20

That will be the end of your divine prosperity.

Abraham left all to obey God and became a very rich man. In Mark 10:29-30, Jesus spoke these words to His disciples:

29Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, 30But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time…

Praise God! Jesus is saying that because they were willing to forsake all and give themselves totally to Him, they will be richly rewarded. No one totally consecrates himself to Jesus and stays poor.

I want to reemphasize here that the true secret to divine prosperity is giving yourself to God. Notice in 2 Corinthians the 8th chapter the church at Macedonia was in great poverty. They were experiencing trials and tragedies. They did not let this stop them, nor did they turn back under pressure. They had nothing to give, but they gave themselves, ministering to the saints. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves (vs. 3). Despite deep poverty, they gave what was most important – THEMSELVES.

THE CARDINAL LAW OF GOD IS GIVING. THE VERY ESSENCE OF LIFE IS TO GIVE. Divine prosperity is centered around giving. The level of divine prosperity that you will enjoy depends on the measure of your own giving. This is determined by you. Luke 6:38 states, Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

God says you’re the giver, and you determine the measure with which it’s given to you. Do you measure with a teaspoon? Or have you given God a cupful of your life? What about a bucket or wheelbarrow or pick-up truck full? God will use one hundredfold of the measure you establish in bringing the return back to you.

Jesus was much more impressed with the giving of the poor widow in Mark the 12th chapter, who gave all she had, than He was with those who gave from their abundance. When that woman gave, she established the unit of measure in her life. The rich man had the ability to give a dump truck full, the widow only a teaspoon. But she measured out all she had, believing in God’s principles.

Remember in the Old Testament when God sent Elijah to a poor woman’s house to be fed during a famine? She had only enough left to eat one last meal. Instead of feeding herself and her son, though, she fed the prophet of God. God had a tremendous blessing for this woman who took the last that she had and blessed the prophet Elijah. Her barrel of meal and cruse of oil were not emptied for a full year.

Most of us have been giving to God, but we have not increased our measure in proportion as God has blessed us. That stops divine prosperity. When you get blessed, start increasing your measuring device. You may have to start giving in teaspoons. When the return comes in, start giving in cups. Remember, YOU are the one who establishes the measure which is dealt back to you.

In the natural when things get tough, people begin cutting back. That’s not what you should do in a financial famine. Remember, Abraham forsook all and followed God, and the first thing he ran into was famine. His son, Isaac, faced famine too.

26And there was a famine in the land…2And the LORD appeared unto him (Isaac), and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of; 3Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father.

Genesis 26:1-2

Now, notice verse one tells us that there was a famine in the land. Verse 12 then tells us what Isaac did about this famine. ISAAC SOWED IN THAT LAND. He didn’t hold back; he sowed. Isaac sowed in the land, and IN THAT SAME YEAR, he received a hundredfold return. Here’s a man who was in famine, but instead of holding back and just measuring out in teaspoons, he sowed and GAVE his way out of that famine. He sowed in famine, and God gave him the hundredfold return in that same year.

This is what God said to me in October 1981, in Charlotte, “Son, I don’t want My people in financial famine, and I’m giving you the assignment to tell them. Tell them that if they’ll sow in famine and be obedient to My laws, I’ll give them a hundredfold return that I gave Isaac in the same year. Everyone that will believe you and do what I tell them to do, I’ll get them the hundredfold the same year.” Now, the key is this: your attitude, your motives, and what your reaction is under pressure will determine your return.

God told me, “Son, you start it off.” Every department in my ministry was in need. I didn’t have all the money necessary to do all that needed to be done. God told me to start it off. In the natural, it wasn’t logical to give away when I still needed more, but remember, OBEDIENCE is one key. I obeyed God. Carolyn and I agreed, in the name of Jesus, that we would sow in famine, and God would give us the hundredfold return in the same year. We wrote checks for each of the 10 major areas of our ministry, which totaled $10,000, and also gave $1,000 personally – money that we needed desperately. We were sowing in famine. We had written the checks and prepared to sow, but before we could get the checks sown, we received a check for $10,000. God blessed us with our seed back. Then the money was sown, and the next week, I was given a $150,000 airplane. Also, that week, someone gave me a check for $100,000. That’s over a quarter of a million dollars in less than one week. One thing I want to point out - from our returns, we’ve INCREASED the measure we sowed. We sowed in famine in cupfuls. We immediately increased our measure to gallon buckets.

I know what Abraham did that caused him to have no lack, and I’ve made up my mind to be like Abraham. You don’t have to worry about where it’s going to come from or how God will get it to you.

In Exodus 35:4-5, God tells us how He wants us to sow: 4And Moses spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the LORD commanded, saying, 5Take ye from among you an offering unto the LORD: WHOSOEVER IS OF A WILLING HEART, let him bring it, an offering of the LORD; gold, and silver, and brass (emphasis added).

It continues in verse ten: And every WISE HEARTED among you shall come… To be wise hearted is to be OBEDIENT. The wise hearted obeyed God. In verse 20 it goes on, And all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. And they came, EVERY ONE WHOSE HEART STIRRED HIM UP, and EVERY ONE WHOM HIS SPIRIT MADE WILLING…

As you continue reading chapter 35 and on into chapter 36, verse 5 speaks of something that is quite unusual: And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring MUCH MORE THAN ENOUGH for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make (Exodus 36:5 emphasis added). That’s a new thing, where the people had to be restrained from bringing more. If you continue reading into chapter 40, the day they entered the tabernacle, the glory of the Lord filled it. God, from that point on, covered them with a cloud; everywhere they went, they were protected. Praise God, they enjoyed divine prosperity!

In Deuteronomy, God commands blessings upon those who are obedient to His Word. As you are obedient to sow in famine, these blessings will not only come upon you, and they will also overtake you.