All we are hearing these days about dishonesty and fraud in the media ministry is an attempt to get us to fall for the lie that we had better stop giving. Every day we hear voices that tell us: "Times are hard. You can't afford to give. Everything is shaky. You'd better hang on to what you have left, because who knows what is going to happen down the road. The economy is bad, the dollar is down, banks are closing right and left, the Dow Jones is falling."

All this is designed by the devil to frighten and upset us, to scare us into withholding what we know we should give. The devil is trying to convince people that withholding during hard times is "smart business." The Bible doesn't say it is smart, it says it is "dangerous business." It leads to poverty. It can cause us to lose everything. Remember: it is the one who refreshes others, who is himself refreshed.

The Bible says that it is possible to give away and become richer! Now many people don't understand that principle. But it works. I know it does, because I have experienced the results of it in my own life.

Not long ago God told me to give away my airplane. (Actually I've given away several planes used in my ministry, but this story is just about one particular plane which the Lord instructed me to plant as seed into another ministry.) I gave it to the man the Lord indicated should receive it.

A few days later I came back home and was met by an airplane dealer who said to me, "Jerry, I'd like to make you an offer on that plane of yours. I've got a nice one that is just a bit larger and nicer than what you're flying now."

Before I could answer, he went on, "You know what this plane is worth. Well, I'm going to knock $60,000 off the purchase price right up front. Then I'm going to give you $50,000 more for your present plane than what you can sell it for. So actually I'm going to take your old plane and allow you more than a $100,000 discount on the larger one."

That was wonderful. There was just one problem, of course. I had just given away my plane the night before. I listened very politely to the man's offer. Then he asked me, "What do you think of the deal?"

"Well, that's a very generous offer," I told him. "I really appreciate it. But there is just one problem."
"What's that?" he wanted to know. "I just gave my plane away."

Now this man was not a believer, so he really didn't understand much about this spiritual principle of giving and receiving, sowing and reaping.

"You're lying," he replied. "Here you are a preacher, and you're lying. Nobody gives away an airplane."

"I did," I answered.

"Yeah, well, I'm in the airplane business, and I've never heard of such a thing."

"That may be," I responded. "But I did it anyway. In fact that's how I got that plane in the first place; somebody gave it to me. I gave away another one, and then someone gave me that one."

"I don't understand that," the man muttered. "Nobody goes around giving away airplanes."

"Oh yes, some of us do," I assured him. "There's a hole bunch of us around the country who do that very thing. That's how we live - we give."

Now that does not mean that you and I are to go "hog wild" and give away everything we own, under the false impression that we are going to immediately get it all back a hundred times over! No, I am not telling you that. But I am telling you that it would be good to start giving to the Lord's work as He leads and instructs you to give wisely.

Learn to listen to the voice of the Lord, and then do what He tells you to do in this area of giving. Or you can listen to the devil. If you do, he will tell you that times are hard and getting harder. He will warn you that you'd better hold back on giving until "things get better." So you have a choice: you can choose to listen to the Lord or to the devil.

Isn't it amazing how the Lord is always giving us choices? In the Old Testament, He told the children of Israel that He was setting before them blessing or cursing, and that it was their decision which they would choose. But He also urged them to choose life, so that they and their families might live (Deut. 30:19,20).

I believe that is the choice God is setting before you and me today. And I believe He is urging us to choose life, so that we, and our families, might live through the difficult days, which lie ahead of us all.

The choice is yours. I urge you to choose life. The Lord says that you and I can rule and reign, regardless of the circumstances of life. God has promised that whatever lies ahead for the world, you and I cannot only survive, but even grow richer. We can have the upper hand.

He has made provision for us to do just that. He has called us to become seed-minded instead of need-minded.

Source: How God Supplies Your Every Need by Jerry Savelle.
Excerpt permission granted by Jerry Savelle Ministries