Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The Hundred Fold Return

I’m gonna warn you right now, this may upset you. That’s ok though, because it’s the Bible. Don’t get mad at me here, I’m just telling you what God said and living it out.

Look in Matthew’s Gospel, the 13th chapter. Jesus is talking here, telling us a very well known parable. The parable of the sower. So, we know what happens. The sower sows on stony ground and it is scorched, and all the other things. I want to focus on the 8th verse. It says, “But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.” Jumping down again to the 23rd verse, we find that Jesus is explaining what happened here with the seed. Take a look at the way the Amplified Bible says it. “As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the Word and grasps and comprehends it; he indeed bears fruit and yields in case a hundred times as much as was sown, in another sixty times as much, and in another thirty.” So, we see that there is a principle in effect here. Jesus said that when seed is sown, some reap thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred fold. Now, the seed here is the Word, but there are also other things that we are shown here. Using a farmer as his example, Jesus shows us that this is not just a principle limited to Word. This is a matter of sowing and reaping. Sowing and reaping.

Check out 2 Corinthians 9:6. It says, “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” There is no faith required in that statement. It is a simple matter of fact. You give, God will bless. Thirty times what you gave sounds like a real good return on your investment, or your giving, but God says that you can also get sixty or one hundred times what you gave! That’s exciting, isn’t it? Glory to God. When we give, we must give generously to others.

Let me share a story here from my own life, from seeing the hundred fold work. Last November, I was at Brother and Sister Copeland’s “Washington D.C. Victory Campaign” . Man, it was good. I was able to make two of the meetings with my school schedule, and I sowed into both of the offerings while I was there, on top of my normal tithe. One of the nights, and to be honest, I can’t remember which one it was, Brother Copeland took up the offering, and told us to name our seed. So, I wrote down what I was believing for, and I stuck it in my wallet. I didn’t tell anyone about it, just like the man of God said. Well, needless to say, I forgot about it. Today, while I was spending time with the Lord, He reminded me of this. I thought back to it. A few months after the meetings, my life had drastically changed. I had left of school, and was back home looking for a job. I was in debt just about up to my eyeballs, from school and credit cards, and just being stupid with money for the longest time, although I have gotten much better with it. So, come to find out, I was given a check that was nearly ONE HUNDRED times what I had given over those two nights! So, I had already gotten the hundred fold on one of my seeds, and then, a few months after that, the rest of it came in. I used that money to pay down many of my debts. What a blessing of the Lord! You see, He still meets needs through the hundred fold. I received the hundred fold on my seed! I paid off bills I wouldn’t have been able to pay! Glory! Now, you may say, “That doesn’t work, it isn’t true.” Well, it’s in red, so like Jesse Duplantis says, “Either Jesus is lying, or you’re lying. I pick you.”

What people don’t seem to get, is that God wants to bless you! Proverbs 10:22 tells us that the Lord’s Blessing makes us rich, but without the sorrow that world adds to it! Glory to God! Sowing and reaping, seed time and harvest will be with us as long as the earth remains! Time to put it to work! God’s ways goes totally contrary to the world’s way. The world tells us to work and save and hoard our money. God tells us to give it away!

You see, once you give, and help meet someone else’s needs, God shall supply your every need, want, and desire through His riches in glory, by Christ Jesus! You don’t believe me? Philippians 4:19, and Psalm 37:4. Giving, and being cheerful is delighting yourself in the Lord, so you qualify for God giving you the desires of your heart!

Praise God! The Hundred Fold still works. I feel like Isaac must have, who, we are told in Genesis 26:12, sowed in a time of famine, and received the same year a hundred fold! Praise God! There hasn’t been a recession in Heaven, and God is not a respecter of persons. What He did for Isaac, He will do for you! Start asking God where you need to sow. Not only to make it through this tough financial time the world is facing, but to increase in it! That’s what I have done this whole recession! I am in a better position financially than I was a year ago! The world tells you that can't happen! But, we, as Christians, should be rising above all of this mess in the world! Like the children of Israel when they were held captive by the Egyptians, we can boldly tell the world the answer, and show them that while it may be dark in Egypt, there is light in Goshen! We have the answer out of this mess! It’s giving! Sowing and reaping! Thirty, sixty and a hundred fold return! Glory to God!