God’s Way Out of Poverty

The God Who Provides has made a way for poor people to get out of poverty…by giving.

Gary Keesee tells the story of a single mom who was given $20 as a gift. She had heard Gary’s teachings on giving and receiving, sowing and harvesting. She put the $20 in an offering to the church.

But she did not realize it was Mother’s Day. The pastor asked all the single moms to stand then told the congregation to benefit these women with money. She left the church service with over $400.

This single mom was in poverty. She struggled to supply what her kids needed. Yet, having heard Pastor Gary’s teachings on sowing and reaping, she believed and acted according to that belief.

When given $20, she sowed it into God’s work…and received a bountiful harvest in return. That alone may not have gotten her out of poverty, but it was the start on the path.

Results of AI Research on Rewards of Generosity

I did an AI search of ancient philosophers on generosity. I found that Greek, Roman, and Jewish philosophers believed that generosity is a virtue that brings rewards. It can help poor people to get out of poverty by giving.

• Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Zeno of Citium
• Seneca the Younger,  Marcus Aurelius,   Pliny the Younger
• Maimonides, Abraham Joshua Heschel,  Eliezer Berkovits

Then I did an AI search of scientific evidence for generosity being rewarded. I learned about several studies that showed material rewards for generosity.

• Generosity and Prosocial Behavior in Health
• Reciprocity, Self-Interest, and the Welfare State 
• The Paradox of Generosity: Giving We Receive, Grasping We Lose

Biblical Support of Generosity

As quoted above, Jesus taught, “Give, and it will be given to you.”

As well, Paul wrote to the Corinthians about the believers in Macedonia, 

“In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty [emphasis mine] welled up in rich generosity.”

He went on to write,

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

“Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”

“God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will have abundance for every good work.”

“This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.”

God rewards those who are generous to others. This is His plan for people to get out of poverty by giving.

How to Give…and Receive

Jesse DuPlantis has taught four ways to give: 

• tithes in obedience 
• firstfruits in generosity
• help to the poor in compassion
• seeds sown in faith to ministries or persons in need.

Gary Keesee has a five-step process in his book, Faith Hunt.

• Specify your own need or desire. 
• Listen to Holy Spirit to decide to whom to give a similar item or money. Decide how much, if money.
• Record the need you want filled. Send the seed.
• Speak out for what the gift is sowed. “I believe God has reached down His hand and given me…”
• Give thanks for obtaining, even when it’s not apparent… yet.

This is just the start of God’s ways for His people to create wealth.

Thriving in the Time of Shaking

Recent prophecies from Lance Wallnau, if not Tim Sheets, say that America is headed for a rude awakening from a violent shaking. They say that it is a promise – a thing to look forward to.

Haggai 2:6-7 says, 

For thus says the Lord of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations…

Hebrews 12:26-27 quotes this,

His voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what cannot be shaken may remain.

God wants to shake out what is not His. What is His will remain.

What form will this shaking take? Foreign invasion? Economic ruin? Disease?  God knows.

“But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?” Malachi 3:2. 

People will lose their sources of income, their health, their freedom, their lives.

However, God’s Kingdom provides health, wealth, and wellbeing. Kingdom prosperity grows through giving. People can get out of poverty by giving.

Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you.”

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Out of their extreme poverty, they gave. They received grace to give.”

Again, Jesus said, “Sheep will be those who gave to My people and, thus, to Me, and goats will be those who did not.”

My book, From Economic Bondage to the Promised Land of Prosperity, parallels Israel’s deliverance from Egypt with poor people’s deliverance from poverty. 

Jehovah Jireh wants to 

• deliver them, 
• destroy their enemies, 
• establish His Kingdom in their lives, 
• empower them for the work He would give them, and 
• send them into the Promised Land of Prosperity to bring about His Kingdom.

You can order copies here.

Shalom