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Abundantly Provided For

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// Kenneth W. Hagin

David was a shepherd boy turned songwriter and musician. He was a young man who became a giant-killer. He married into the royal family and became a successful military leader.

You might say that David was the original Robin Hood. He was forever helping the common man. After he fled from the tyrannical King Saul, he gathered around him many unwanted people.

God is a big God. Nothing happening in the world can stop Him from blessing His children. He does not depend upon natural circumstances in order to bless us.

Our Heavenly Father moves in the supernatural realm! He can use anything He wants to in order to bring us a financial blessing. But we must learn to praise Him instead of looking to other things as our source. God alone is our Source. And I believe if we would praise Him out of a relationship of trust, He could change our financial situations. He could make the earth yield an increase for us—no matter what is going on economically in the world.

You see, if we're not careful, we will get caught up speaking negative words that can work against us. I'm not saying we shouldn't recognize the facts as they exist in the world. But God is greater than any natural facts, and He can provide anything for us! When we praise Him, we put our focus on Him rather than worrying about the problem. As we give Him and His Word all of our attention, God can abundantly provide for us—even if He has to create a miracle!

Praise Brings Increase
In the Old Testament, when God told the children of Israel to praise Him, their problems still loomed like giants before them. And many times their problems were literal giants! But God told them to praise Him and not be moved by their problems—or by those giants. They were only to be moved by God.

When the Israelites praised God as they had been taught, the earth began to do what it was supposed to do. It granted an increase to them and blessed them. And time and time again, their enemies were put to shame before them!

I'm sure many of us have experienced areas in our lives that seemed to be resistant to growth or increase. In some of these areas it may seem as if we've continually experienced a "crop failure." Try as we might, nothing appeared to change. Yet look at what Psalm 67 says.

PSALM 67:5–6
5 Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. 6 THEN shall the earth YIELD HER INCREASE; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.

Even in the hard places—the areas that have resisted change—we must keep our eyes off the problem and focus only on giving God praise. When we do, He will cause an increase to come, no matter how many crop failures we've had! His blessings will be upon our lives in abundance. But the blessings of God won't come to us in the fullest measure unless we do what verse 5 says—live a life of praising Him!

Praise is one way God's people tap into and appropriate what already belongs to them through Christ. It's one way the increase comes. And if believers would learn the secret of praising God sincerely from their hearts regardless of circumstances, they would find God's blessings overtaking them. Instead of them running after the blessings, the blessings would run after them!

Increase in Every Area
We probably all have areas where we need to experience increase. For example, each of us has dreams, desires, gifts, and talents that God has placed inside us. But we may not know how to develop our gifts or use our talents productively. We may not know what practical steps to take to make those dreams become a reality in our lives.

As we learn to live a life of praising God—I don't mean every once in awhile, but consistently—He will see to it that these undeveloped areas bring forth fruit to His glory. The earth and everything we set our hand to must prosper as we put God and His Word first and consistently praise Him for His goodness to us.

Do you want increase in your life? Begin to draw closer to God and His Word. Give Him praise! It doesn't matter where you need more fruit—whether in finances or in your career or in achieving your God-given potential. As you make it your lifestyle to praise Him from your heart, whatever you set your hand to must increase!

 


 

Faith Nugget


Get Your Praise On!


Do you have a need in your life? Are you facing lack in any area? No doubt you've prayed and sought God about it. But if you haven't seen your answer manifest yet, don't keep praying about it over and over again. You can actually hinder your faith by praying repeatedly about the same situation in an attitude of doubt and unbelief, as if God did not hear you the first time.

As long as we're praying in line with His Word, we know He hears us, because that's what His Word says. And if we know that God hears us, then we know that we have what we have asked Him for. (See 1 John 5:14–15.) All we need to do then is praise Him for the answer!

Just present your request to God. Then begin to praise Him in simple faith that He has heard you and is answering your petition.

Praise confirms to your own heart that God has heard and answered your prayers, because according to the Bible, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24). In other words, faith isn't faith until you say, "Thank You,
Father. I believe I receive my answer now!" Praise is that act of believing and receiving by faith.