Sacrificial giving

2 Corinthians 9:8
“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” KJV
Another action that is necessary in someone believing for abundance is Tithing. You cannot say you believing God for abundance and you do not want tithe, for this simple reason:

Malachi 3:10-11
“Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do," says the Lord of Heaven's Armies, "I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant…” NLT

“Bring the full amount of your tithes to the Temple, so that there will be plenty of food there. Put me to the test and you will see that I will open the windows of heaven and pour out on you in abundance all kinds of good things.” GNT

When you tithe, you recognize God as your source, and God who is your source is a God of abundance. By tithing you are expressing your faith toward God for abundance also, this is because at the root of someone not tithing is fear of insufficient funds. Tithing is a faith action. The believer who does not tithe is already contradicting his faith. He will not experience abundance.

Another action that can invoke abundance is SACRIFICIAL giving. God Himself exemplified this in giving Jesus to be sacrificed for mankind. He did it so that he can have many sons.
“In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.” 
Hebrews 2:10 NIV

When Abraham gave up Isaac, God swore to him and said, “in blessing I will bless you and in multiplying I will multiply you”, sacrificial giving moves the hand of God to bless abundantly.

Corresponding action

2 Corinthians 9:8
“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” KJV

Continuing our meditation on the above passage, we are studying faith for abundance. Yesterday, we understood that to release our faith we speak as God did in Genesis 1:20-21 because a man’s belly shall be filled with the increase of his lips. But faith is not just speaking:

“So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead).” James 2:17 AMP
Therefore beyond speaking we must back it up with corresponding actions:

2 Corinthians 9:6-7
“But remember this-if you give little, you will get little. A farmer who plants just a few seeds will get only a small crop, but if he plants much, he will reap much.” TLB

“Remember: A stingy planter gets a stingy crop; a lavish planter gets a lavish crop.” MESSAGE

“[Remember] this: he who sows sparingly and grudgingly will also reap sparingly and grudgingly, and he who sows generously [that blessings may come to someone] will also reap generously and with blessings.” AMP


What will be corresponding action to your faith for abundance? It is sowing much, it is being a lavish planter and being a generous sower. You cannot be believing God for abundance and be acting differently, you have to sow with abundance in mind. This is the ultimate test of your faith for abundance. So learn to think abundance, talk abundance and then do abundance. 

Faith for Abundance

2 Corinthians 9:8

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” KJV

Let us add one more thought in this area of understanding the place of grace in receiving abundance.

Psalm 127:2

“It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of [anxious] toil — for He gives [blessings] to His beloved in sleep.” AMP

If God can give blessings to one while sleeping what makes you think you can only have abundance when you work for it. Now I am sure you understand I am not promoting laziness or anything like that for the Scriptures are clear on that. But for you to be able to put your faith in God absolutely for abundance you appreciate the above reality.

Now you can release your faith to God and lay claim to abundance in your life. How you may ask?

Genesis 1:20-21

“And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”KJV

In the above passage, how did God bring forth abundance? He spoke to the waters to bring forth abundantly. Out of seemingly nothingness, abundance came forth because God spoke to it. That is how your own abundance too will be created.

“A man's [moral] self shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth; and with the consequence of his words he must be satisfied [whether good or evil].” Proverbs 18:20 AMP

More on Abundance

2 Corinthians 9:8

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” KJV

We said yesterday that abundance is God’s will for the believer. And it means to have more than enough for yourself so that you can give to others. Though it is the will of God for you there is the need to exercise faith to walk in it. You must agree that you it can happen to you, that you can walk in abundance. 

To release faith for abundance you need to understand firstly the place of grace, because this is what God says He will cause to abound towards you. Understanding the place of grace is to understand that walking in abundance goes beyond anything you can do or achieve and neither can you earn it by hard work or your efforts and abilities. It is understanding that it is not about what you deserve or don’t deserve, what you are qualified or not qualified for but what Christ had made available. This is because grace takes you beyond what you deserve or merit. 

Remember that the Scriptures say,

“For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor that ye through His poverty might become rich” 2Corinthians 9:8

When was Jesus made poor on the cross? Before the foundations of the world, because that was when the Lamb was slain, this was way before you were born, before you sinned and before you knew to do anything.

 “For it is by free grace (God's unmerited favor) that you are saved ( delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8 AMP

Do you know this salvation that we received includes our prosperity? And it says it did not come by our own doing or through our striving, it is the gift of God. Abundance is the gift of God. Receive abundance firstly as a gift from God.

“Also, every man to whom God has given riches and possessions, and the power to enjoy them and to accept his appointed lot and to rejoice in his toil — this is the gift of God [to him].” Ecclesiastes 5:19 AMP

What does it mean to have abundance?

2 Corinthians 9:8

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” KJV

There are three levels of provision on which people may live: a slave in Egypt, wilderness and promised land level which can be referred to as insufficiency, sufficiency and abundance. But God’s will for you is abundance. This is expressed clearly in His word as our text and other Scriptures witness to:

“The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity — in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your ground — in the land he swore to your forefathers to give you.” Deut 28:11 NIV

Did you se that? He will grant you abundant prosperity, not just prosperity. This is God’s will for you! What does it mean to have abundance? Simply put, it is to have all your needs supplied and have left over for others. The amplified Bible translation puts it very aptly:

“And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation].” AMP

It says you having all sufficiency in any circumstance, whatever the need be you will not require external aid or support. Did I hear you say WOW! Well there is still more to come. Beyond that you still have enough to give for every good work and donation when needed. This may look far fetched but this what God can and is willing to do for you. You must accept that having abundance is God’s will for me. That you can have all your needs met and still have enough left over to do good for others.

What you eat

Romans 14:2

“One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.” NIV

“One [man's faith permits him to] believe he may eat anything, while a weaker one [limits his] eating to vegetables.” AMP

Have you ever considered that your faith is connected to what you eat and how you eat. Our text for study reveals this clearly that we eat what we eat according to our level of faith. Now the Scripture exhorts us to eat with faith and to eat from faith, how do you do this practically?

Firstly, you must acknowledge your dependence on God for the provision of your food. You must receive it as a gift from Him.

“There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.” Ecclesiastes 2:24 KJV

Secondly, as a follow up to acknowledging your food as a gift from God you thank Him for it. Which leads to the third thing. Thanking God for your food, sanctifies it, means, it makes it holy or whole and so does you good when you eat it. Even if there were impurities in it originally or harmful ingredients, their effect is nullified by your faith.

“For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; 5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.” 1Timothy 4:4,5. NASU

What you can see from this is that as you apply the principle of faith to your eating, this whole area of your life takes on a new meaning. Through faith your daily meals can take on the nature of a sacrament that you partake of for God’s glory. It can also be a place where your faith in God is renewed on daily basis.

The finished work of Christ on the cross

John 19:30

“When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said ,”It is finished” and bowed His head and gave up the ghost.”

Understand this, that Christianity is based on the finished work of Christ on the cross. This understanding will affect how you see yourself and your standing in Christ. It will also affect your position regarding the blessings of God.

“You’re not doing anything: you’re simply calling out to God, trusting Him to do it for you. That’s salvation, with your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it right out loud, “God has set everything right between Him and me.” Romans 10:10 Message

“When you come to Him, that fullness comes together for you too. His power extends over everything. Entering into His fullness is not something you figure out or achieve. It’s not a matter of being circumcised, keeping a long list of laws. No you’re already in – insiders not through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. 

If it’s an initiation ritual you’re after, you’ve already been through it by submitting yourself to baptism. Going under the water was a burial of your old life, coming up out it was a resurrection. The blessings God has prepared for us have already been put in place. This is a FINISHED WORK. (emphasis mine) It is complete, settled, over and done with.

The blessings of God are not rooted in our expectation or hope but it’s a heavenly reality. From God’s viewpoint we possess the land of blessing right now. All the blessings we can ever receive from God have already been created and established and are in a holding pattern waiting for us to possess them.

We tend to look the blessings of God as “potentially” ours, but God sees them as “possessively” ours. Our part is not to struggle to make things happen but to acknowledge the grace of God and take joy as the Holy Spirit makes things happen in us and through us to others.