"My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:19)

There is a law of sowing and reaping in both the natural and the spiritual realms. And it's a law that works! Yet from my experience, more people fail when it comes to faith for finances than for anything else. The reason is that they're trying to exercise faith for finances, but they haven't planted any seed! They want God to bless their finances even though they haven't sown anything.

The Bible plainly states, "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 [measure] withal it shall be measured to you again." (Luke 6:38)

The Bible also plainly says, "He which SOWETH sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully" (2 Cor. 9:6). If you want a bountiful crop, you've got to sow bountifully.

You can't reap a crop without sowing seed. You can't go out into your backyard and say, "I'm going to pick some tomatoes," if the ground hasn't been prepared and the seed sown.

The first step, then, toward getting your financial needs met is to obey the Bible.

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Mal.3:10)

God said we are to bring our tithes—10 percent of our income—into the storehouse, and in return He will open up the windows of Heaven. "Prove me now herewith," He said.

So just go ahead and obey the Bible in the area of finances. Pay your tithes and give offerings. Act on God's Word in faith, and God will bless you because He's faithful and true to His Word.

Then beyond cooperating with God's laws concerning tithing and giving offerings, be open to receive further light from His Word concerning giving to others. Also, be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, Who will very often direct you specifically to give.

Now don't do something just because somebody else did. Don't operate on someone else's experience. Operate on what you know the Bible says, and operate on what the Holy Spirit is saying to you.

You don't have to have any "leading" to pay tithes and give offerings. You don't need to be led to give and sow. The Bible tells you to do those things, so just do them. But when you get out beyond that, it's when you obey the Spirit of God that things happen.

Start where you are. Be faithful to obey the Word by paying your tithes and giving offerings. And be obedient to the leading of the Holy Spirit when He directs you specifically to give. You can't out-give God. If you sow seeds bountifully in faith and obedience, you will reap an abundant harvest of blessings!