A long time ago I made a decision that I was not going to be the one walking around with a bucket asking people to "gimme, gimme" me. Instead, I decided to be the one with the bucket dishing money out. I said to myself, "Bless God, I know the Word of God can work for me because I know His Word is true and He doesn't lie."

God's in the multiplication business. He knows how to take a little and make it much. He took a little boy's lunch and fed a multitude. One theologian said, "That wasn't such a miracle. They were big loaves."

Can you imagine the little boy's mother saying, "Where are you going with five huge loaves and a whale?" "I'm going to lunch, Mom." No, it was a little boy's lunch.

Some people seem to look at others and think, "Well, they're better off than we are." If any body's being blessed of God, then people get jealous instead of using their life as an example to say, "I can do it, I can run on."

They get offended instead of getting inspired to receive what God has already given them. These people choose to go around with the poverty mentality that has been passed on to them from generation to generation.

This is particularly true of people whose families lived during the Great Depression. They were told, "When I was in school, we walked barefoot through six feet of snow and we enjoyed it. We didn't have clothes; instead, we had sacks that were sown together and we were happy to have them."

We have to change our entire way of thinking. The only way our thinking can change is by the Word of God. Some people have plain, stinking thinking, especially when it comes to money.

If you are one of those people who say, "God doesn't want us to have anything," I can only tell you, "How selfish can you be? How can you be a blessing if you don't have anything?"

God's in the multiplication business. To some, He will give creative ideas and business propositions. If you are a lady staying at home and raising your children, God will inspire you to do something at home that will bring in extra income.

And, if you purpose in your heart and say, "God show me how to bring in more finances to further the Gospel," you will be absolutely amazed at what God will do. In the end, you will give nine-tenths and keep one-tenth for yourself because your blessings will be so abundant.

Source: Thoughts On Stewardship - Vol. 1
by Rodney Howard-Browne
Excerpt permission granted by R.H.E.B.A. Publishers