In the last election the number one concern among voters was the economy. Inflation was and is at historic highs. The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates at an historic rate. Economists are predicting a recession. We’ve got it all. Rising interest rates, raging fuel prices, increased inflation, all causing what many think are insurmountable problems economically. Top financial advisers everywhere are telling us that this is not a good time to be in debt. There’s an unfair, unequal distribution of wealth worldwide. The result is fear, anxiety and depression for millions of people trying to make ends meet.
That’s the bad news….and now the GOOD NEWS!
There is another economy which exists outside of the world’s economy. An economy which is far more superior and is not intimidated by the world’s system in any way. It’s God’s Economy, which is governed by God’s Word and His will. Jesus often pointed this out during His teaching, reflecting the goodness and generosity in God’s economy.
Mark 4:26-27, 30-31 NIV He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth.
The world’s economy is based on buying and selling and trade taking place. One person supplies a product, or service and another purchases that product of service. On the other hand, God’s economy operates on the principle of sowing and reaping.
A farmer who prays over his land for a harvest without planting any seed, would be crazy to think that he would harvest anything. The key is the seed you sow. As a rule of thumb, the kind of seed planted determines the kind of harvest you receive. The nature of the harvest is dependent on the nature of the seed you sow. You can’t get watermelons from cantaloupe seeds, or strawberries from blueberry seeds, peace from discord seeds, or kindness from nasty seeds. And you can’t get a promotion from incompetence seed, or a financial harvest from serving seed.
A financial seed does produce a financial harvest, but it can also produce more than that. An example is the widow from Zarephath. To summarize; at the time of a severe drought God told the prophet Elijah to go to Zarephath. When he arrived, he ran into a widow who was gathering sticks to prepare a final dinner for her son and herself. She was completely out of food and money. This woman was in real need. She needed a physical harvest (they were about to die from starvation); a financial harvest (they had no money to buy food); and she needed a family-saving harvest (her child was suffering). And she needed it immediately.
1 Kings 17:8-12 NIV Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
This woman needed an opportunity to plant a seed. God sent Elijah to help her put into motion the principle of sowing and reaping, so that He could give her the miracle harvest she needed. God could have provided for Elijah right where he was but he chose to bless this woman through the seed she sowed.
1 Kings 17:13-16 NIV Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’ ” She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.
God was not trying to take something from her; He was trying to get something to her during a dire economic time. Her seed was the sacrifice of her last flour and oil given to the prophet Elijah. Her harvest became everything she needed as long as the drought lasted. The woman didn’t just have financial harvest – it gave her a miraculous physical harvest, financial harvest, and family- saving harvest. That’s the whole point of God’s economy. It supernaturally removes us from the bondage and control of the world economy. That means, sowing seed is for our benefit, not for God’s.
God is no pauper. He is not a thief. He is not a beggar standing outside the store asking for money. Our money does not enrich him.
Psalms 50:7-12 NIV“Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel: I am God, your God. I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. (Emphasis mine)
God is interested in our highest possible good today, as well as in the future. God’s economy is safer, easier to understand, more predictable, and it comes with a guarantee, not from a financial advisor, but from God Himself!
Philippians 4:19 NIV And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
Here is how God’s economy works
Luke 6:38 NIV Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
This scripture tells us how God’s economy of sowing and reaping works. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
This great principle is true in the business world, in family life, and in every other area of life. The more you give, the more you will increase your capacity to receive.
2 Corinthians 9:6-10 NIV Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. (Emphasis mine)
So, no matter what the stock market looks like, or the housing market, the rate of inflation, or any other worldly economic indicator, boldly plant seed in the soil of God’s economy and you will prosper according to His word!
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