by Matt Sorger
More Than Enough!
Everything Jesus did in His earthly ministry He did for a reason. Every word, every action revealed an aspect of God’s nature and ways. When Jesus fed the five thousand, a very powerful truth about the heart of God was revealed to us: God doesn’t want to just meet our needs. He is a God of more than enough.
Then He ordered the crowds to recline on the grass; and He took the five loaves and the two fish, and, looking up to heaven, He gave thanks and blessed and broke the loaves and handed the pieces to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve [small hand] baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about 5,000 men, not including women and children.
—MATTHEW 14:19–21
The need was so great. Imagine having to feed five thousand men, not including women and children. That number could have easily been fifteen thousand people. Talk about a massive feeding program! The disciples knew that in themselves there was no way they could meet this need. They said, “Jesus, send them all away.” And Jesus responded, “No. You give them something to eat.” The statement was almost hysterical given the current situation. How on earth would they do that?
Jesus looked around. The disciples could only find one boy who had five loaves of bread and two fish. The power of generosity was set into motion by this young boy. It figures a child would lead the way. It takes the faith of a child to access the supernatural and extraordinary. As this boy generously gave his lunch that day, a miracle was set into motion. It all started with the generous heart of a young boy—a young boy who so trusted Jesus that he was willing to give the little he had rather than hold on to it for himself. This is the kind of heart God can work with. Bob Hope once said, “If you haven’t got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.”2 How true this is.
It’s very important what Jesus does with this small provision. First, He gives thanks for it. If you are to be a happy and generous person, then you have to start where you are and begin to express thanks to God for what you have, no matter how small it seems. You see, when it comes to giving, it’s not always the size of the gift but the level of sacrifice attached to it. God sees the heart. For some, ten dollars is a huge seed, because it may literally be all they have. For others, a thousand dollars may be a small seed because they would never even miss it.
The point is this. That little boy gave five loaves and two fish; while it seemed insignificant, Jesus could do a lot with it. The truth is, cultivating a generous heart starts when we have little, not when we have much. Harold Nye once said, “If you are not generous with a meager income, you will never be generous with abundance.”3
In order to be a thankful and generous person, you must focus on the positive and not on the negative. You have to choose to have a thankful attitude for every little thing God blesses you with. A complaining negative attitude short-circuits God’s power. A thankful heart and attitude release God’s blessing.
After Jesus gave thanks and blessed the provision, He then broke the bread and the fish. But He didn’t stop there. After He broke it, then He gave a piece to each disciple. The miracle didn’t happen in Jesus’s hands. The miracle happened in the hands of the disciples. As long as the bread and fish stayed in Jesus’s hands, it was limited to five loaves and two fish. The moment it left Jesus’s hand, a power was unleashed, setting a miracle into motion.
I’m sure the disciples were tempted to think, “Hmm, lunch. Just enough for me.” It probably looked like just enough to satisfy their own need and hunger pangs. This is where the test was. Would they eat it themselves, or would they give it away?
The disciples chose to “pay it forward.” As they obeyed Jesus and began to give the bread and fish away, a miracle happened right before their eyes! The bread and fish multiplied in their palms. As they gave it, more appeared.
Could you imagine the excitement and joy they must have experienced in that moment? Somewhere along the way as it multiplied, it began to spill over so that they could no longer contain the increase in their hands. They had to get baskets. Well, as the baskets were passed, every person was fed to the full! At the end of it all, there were twelve baskets left over, full of fish and bread. This was more than enough to feed each disciple. In fact, it was a feast.
Jesus could have had the food multiply to just meet the needs of the people. He didn’t have to give anything extra. But He did, and each disciple got one full basket each. Jesus revealed something to us here about the heart of God. God is a God of more than enough! He didn’t just meet the need. He showed His own disciples that if they generously serve and give to others, at the end of the day He will always take care of them and provide for their needs—and not just barely enough, more than enough!
We also see this principle taught in Proverbs 11:24: “There are those who [generously] scatter abroad, and yet increase more; there are those who withhold more than is fitting or what is justly due, but it results only in want.”
God’s heart for you and me is that as we become generous people and give to help others, God will always be there to take care of us. And what an adventure it is along the way! When you step out of your circle of need into someone else’s circle of need, God steps into your circle of need. While you are actively helping someone else, God is actively helping you. You can never out-give God. Never! That’s His heart and nature. He’s a God of more than enough for you. He’s your source. Once you know that, being generous is fun. You understand there is great joy in giving to people who can never repay you. This is true giving, with no strings attached. It’s not giving to get back. It’s giving out of a heart of love, knowing God will supply your every need and take care of you as you take care of others. Author Adam Mayers said, “You have never really lived until you’ve done something for somebody who can never repay you.”4
Give to Those Who Can’t Give Back
Stacy had a vision to see her city transformed by God’s power. God had placed His heart of love and compassion inside of her for the poor. Stacy and her husband started a Christmas outreach in the heart of Asbury Park, New Jersey, and invited all the children in the city to attend a Christmas dinner. They shared the story of Jesus and led each child to faith in Christ. They served hundreds of people dinner and gave a present to each child. For some of them, this would be the only celebration of Christmas they would have and the only toy they would receive.
Each year as the outreach continued, the attendance doubled. They desperately needed a larger venue but didn’t know where to go. They couldn’t bear to turn more people away. One day Stacy was walking around the property of the Paramount Theater, which seated fifteen hundred. It was the perfect place for their outreach. As she was walking, she ran into a man who was the friend of the manager for all the events at the theater. She asked him, “Who do I see to talk about using the theater?” He said, “What do you want to use it for?” She told him. But she had no money, no real funding, just a vision. He gave her the contact information for the events manager, and she called the man the following day. He was very interested in talking with her. Not only did he give them the theater to use, which normally rented for thousands of dollars a day, but he also arranged to collect toys for them and supply refreshments, a sound man, a lighting man, security, and more. All at no cost! Over the last several years thousands of people have attended the outreach. Each year God continues to supply thousands of toys so that His precious children experience His unfailing love. Stacy’s story shows that when you touch the ones who can never give back, God supernaturally releases divine favor to supply all you need to build His kingdom.
The Power of Kingdom Prosperity
In order to step into the power of a prosperous life of generosity, you have to overcome the need for self-preservation. Self-preservation wants to just protect what you have. This attitude restricts God’s blessings and actually will cause you to lose out on what God has for you. It keep
s everyone separate out of fear of loss. This is what motivates some pastors to restrict the people in their church from supporting regional events. They are afraid another church is going to “steal” their sheep or their sheep’s money, bringing loss to their own church and ministry. In the process, they miss out on corporate unity and the blessings God brings with that. If we would choose to follow God’s heart, we can overcome these fears and begin to experience the full blessings of God. Rather than feeling like people are taking from us, we can freely give to one another, helping to advance God’s kingdom in the earth. (See 2 Corinthians 9:6–12.)
Dr. Bree Keyton was in the Congo, and the Lord said, “I want you to go up to Snake Mountain.” She told her interpreter, “We need to go up Snake Mountain.” He severely warned her, “People who go up Snake Mountain don’t return.” Despite the ominous danger, Bree went up via the Lord’s command. She found many Africans starving to death. So she went back down the mountain and bought supplies of rice, beans, and blankets. Then she returned and shared the gospel with the dying people. Many were saved and very thankful.
A few weeks later, God told her, “I want you to buy seed and return to Snake Mountain.” So she bought the seed and fertilizer and returned. The day she arrived with the seed, the people knelt down. Bree said, “God told me to bring seed.” They said, “God speaks to us too. He told us to start plowing our fields two weeks ago, and He would supply the seed. We finished plowing our field today! God brought the seed through you.” They sowed seed in the field that same day, and then the rains came.5 Not only does God provide seed for the sower, but He also just may use you to be the answer to someone’s prayer.
I once heard an evangelist share about how God called him to do a great work in New York City. The outreach would cost millions of dollars. When the money didn’t come in for the outreach, he said, “God, I thought you called me to do this. You always provide for what You order.” God told him, “I spoke to people to give, and they disobeyed.” God has chosen to partner with people. That is why our obedience is so important when it comes to generosity.
We have to understand this about kingdom finances. It’s not just for us. It’s for others. This is completely true for every bit of power God will ever give us. God’s power isn’t just to help us and meet our needs. God’s power is given so we can help others. This must be the motive behind sowing and reaping. We don’t sow just to reap for our own selfish wants. We sow so we can reap so we can more effectively help others. It’s all in the motive! (See James 4:3.)
Throughout my years of growing up in church, I never heard a teaching that taught me the principle of sowing and reaping and that I could trust God for His provision in my life. I was always taught, “You never give to get.” While that may sound good, it’s not biblically accurate. If we give to get for selfish reasons, it won’t work. If we give to get so we can give into spreading the work of God in people’s lives, that’s the right motivation.
Kingdom prosperity is not about self. It’s about touching as many people’s lives as possible with the resources God blesses us with. I love what John Wesley once shared: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”6
Many people never properly learn the sowing and reaping principle. They are taught giving more in a legalistic sense, that if they don’t tithe, their finances will be cursed. But the New Testament teaches that Jesus became the curse for us and that any curse in the Old Testament was placed on Jesus at the cross. We are no longer under a curse! Neither are our finances. When you sow your tithe to God, it must be done in faith, not fear. This is what produces results.
Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). Many people give and give, motivated by fear, and it produces no results in their life. God wants us to sow and give in faith, trusting Him as our heavenly source and provider. Faith is what pleases God, and faith is what releases the supernatural into operation, even in our finances.
I know over the years the manipulation of man has crept into the teaching of sowing and reaping, but we can never lose the revelation of God’s heart in this principle. The power of generosity found in understanding how to sow in faith, expecting a harvest, goes way beyond our finances. It touches every area of our lives. It goes to the core of God’s very heart and nature.
God knows our hearts. Our motives have to be pure. The more selfless we are, the more blessing God pours out on us because He knows He can trust us with it. Financial blessing is not just so we can live nice and enjoy our lives. Sure, God wants us to enjoy the good things of the earth, but He admonishes wealthy people in 1 Timothy 6:17–19 “not to be proud and arrogant and contemptuous of others, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches, but on God...to do good, to be rich in good works, to be liberal and generous of heart, ready to share [with others], in this way laying up for themselves [the riches that endure forever as] a good foundation for the future, so that they may grasp that which is life indeed.”
It’s all in the heart. Money and finances are merely tools to do His will in the earth.
Sowing Into Your Field of Inheritance
We don’t always realize that what we do today sets the stage for our tomorrow. Another powerful principle I have learned that has empowered me to be a generous person is the need to sow into my field of inheritance. God really taught this to me as we were launching into media ministry. While I was in prayer, God spoke to my heart saying that He had called me to invade the media industry with the power of God. I knew it was His desire for our ministry to go onto television.
I was speaking at a conference in the United States, and while I was ministering, the Lord spoke to my heart to sow my honorarium as a speaker back into the host’s ministry who had brought me in. I felt very distinctively to sow into his media ministry. He had a weekly television program. My first thought was, “Well, God, I think he has more money than I do, and I don’t think he needs my money.” God replied, “Do you want to have a media ministry?” I thought about it for a bit and said, “Yes. I believe it is Your will for me to go into television.” God replied, “Then sow your honorarium into his media ministry. You are sowing into your own inheritance.”
A joy erupted in my heart, and I cheerfully gave into my host’s ministry. I had an excitement and anticipation for what was to come. The Lord then led me to the account in Genesis 26 of Isaac coming into the land of his inheritance. A principle would unfold before me that would change my life forever.
When Isaac entered his land of inheritance, it was a barren wasteland. Just like many of us, he probably said, “God, is this my inheritance? A barren desert? There has to be more.” Then Isaac did something very strategic and very smart. Rather than getting discouraged with his land and just packing it in and moving on, he stayed where God had sent him, kept what God had given him, and began to sow seed into his land. Within the same year he reaped one hundredfold. (See Genesis 26:12–14.) The supernatural favor of God went before him, releasing a supernatural blessing over his life and inheritance. His entire inheritance was transformed as he sowed into it.
I have walked this truth out in my own life. After the Lord instructed me to sow into my ministry colleague’s television ministry, just three months later the phone rang in my office. It was GOD TV, an international television network, calling to see if we had interest in launching a TV program on their network. God had spoken to me earlier, “You will not have to run after the TV networks. They will come to you.” I had divine instructions from the Lord not to run after the networks. So I took it into private prayer. As I prayed and sowed into my land of inheritance by sowing finances into another person’s TV ministry, God released His favor on my life, opening doors I could not have opened on my own. Never forget this: obedience brings favor! And you don’t need favor with everyone! God will give you favor with key people that will open doors for you. He will put you in the right
place at the right time with the right people to unfold His plan and purpose for your life. Ever since I prayed and sowed in obedience, our media ministry has been continually expanding worldwide.
When I sow seeds, I’ve learned to be specific. When I sowed into this other ministry, I was very specific in my heart. I wrapped faith around my seed. I sowed intentionally believing God for a specific harvest. I sowed into TV ministry believing God for my own TV ministry. I sowed into my land of inheritance. When you sow financially, always sow in faith believing God for a specific area of breakthrough. If you know God has called you to travel on a missions trip, sow into missions and trust God that He will provide for your missions ministry. If God has called you to revival, sow into revival ministries. If God has called you to media, sow into media ministries. Be specific in your faith, and identify your land of inheritance.
Sow a Seed of Gratitude
One thing I have learned about the power of generosity is the power of sowing a seed of gratitude and thankfulness. When someone does something nice for you, take the time to express thankfulness and gratitude. It will go a long way. And it’s the right thing to do. Never take any blessing for granted. If God has someone show you favor, thank them. Pray for creative ways to be a blessing back to those who have blessed you. This means a lot to God and to other people.
I heard of a man and woman who gave a sizable contribution to the church to honor the memory of their son who lost his life in the war. When the announcement was made of the generous donation, a woman whispered to her husband, “Let’s give the same amount for our boy!” Her husband said, “What are you talking about? Our son wasn’t killed.” “That’s just the point,” she said. “Let’s give it as an expression of our gratitude to God for sparing his life!”7