In the last lesson, I explained that it is God’s will for you to prosper. There are keys to how this works. Luke 6:38 says, “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 it be measured to you again.” There are many principles involved, but you can’t talk about prosperity without talking about giving.

When you talk about financial prosperity, a lot of people say, “All right, so God wants to prosper me, but I don’t have it to give.” You can see in the Bible where Jesus talked about the widow who put her last two mites into the offering. He had been watching the rich people put in huge sums of money, yet He called His disciples together and said this woman gave more than them all. He said this because they gave out of their abundance, but she gave out of her poverty. God does not evaluate the size of your gift by its monetary value but rather by the percentage of what you had to give. When a person says “I don’t have anything to give,” it’s not true. If nothing else, you could take a piece of clothing you have and give it away. Everyone has something to give, so do away with this argument that you don’t have anything to give. As a matter of fact, the time you seem to have little of anything is when your giving can be a greater percentage than any other time. A person who has ten dollars and gives away five has given a much larger gift than someone who gives a million dollars when they have billions and billions left. God set it up so every single person can give.

Why did God tell us to give? There are many things involved, but one of the main purposes is that God wants you to trust Him in every area of your life. If there isn’t a God, and if His Word isn’t true when He says “Give, and it shall be given unto you,” taking a portion of what you have and giving it away is the stupidest thing you could ever do. Instead of moving toward the goal of having all your needs met, you’re actually moving away from it if God hasn’t promised to bless you. It takes faith to be able to give the way God says, and that’s the reason He told you to do it.

In Luke 16 there is a parable about a steward who cheated his master, and it finally comes down to this: He says if you haven’t been faithful in the unrighteous mammon (talking about money), then who will commit to your trust the true riches? If you haven’t believed God in the smaller things, concerning money, how are you going to get to the more important things, such as spiritual values? Scriptures like this make money one of the least levels of stewardship. If you can’t trust God with your finances, how can you trust Him with your eternal destiny? How can you truly believe Jesus has forgiven your sins and that you’re going to spend eternity in heaven? In comparison, the spiritual things we supposedly put our faith in the Lord for are much more significant than money. Money is a minor thing, but it’s the bottom line of starting to trust God. Proverbs 11:24 says there are some that give away more than it looks like is necessary, and yet they prosper, and there are others that tend to hoard what they have, and it only causes poverty on the inside of them.

If you seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first, then He will add these things to you. If you say you want God to help you in your finances, and you’re praying for His help—but aren’t seeking first the kingdom of God, and you aren’t taking a step of faith, trusting Him with your finances, and giving—then you really aren’t trusting Him.