“The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it…” Ecc 5:11 (NLT)

Beloved, are you asking God to bless you with an increase? If so, be careful! Because unless you are truly ready to welcome people into your life, then I advise you to reconsider your request. The answer to your prayer is going to bring you lots and lots of inconvenience. Many will knock at your door seeking for your favour. People you know and those you don’t know will come. This is the price attached to divine increase. It’s a privilege for everyone who is progressing in life – whether you are a believer or unbeliever.
 
There is a story of a man who made a covenant with God that he would be faithful to share his goods with others as long as God would deliver him from abject poverty he was going through. God did as the man requested and kept blessing him, as long as he continued to meet the needs of others around him. Unfortunately, the number of people coming was overwhelming and he got fed up. Instead of continuing to be generous whenever the people came, he instructed his children to tell them he was either not at home or asleep. This man’s attitude displeased God and gradually reduced the abundance that this man had previously enjoyed. 
 
You see, in this life, our natural desire for increase is normal and common to everyone–it is a universally accepted fact.  Whether we are aware of it or not, nature itself is constantly reproducing and increasing.  From flora to fauna in the jungles, to aquatic life in the deep blue sea, everything is increasing effortlessly.
 
As humans, we naturally crave to see increase in all that we do. It’s not a bad thing to genuinely desire growth, or even multiplication. Many times, a lack of increase would mean a lack of progress. Whether spiritual or in the physical, growth is what everyone desires to experience. 
 
However, it is true that with a demand for growth, an increase in responsibility always applies. The opening biblical text says that the more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So having an increase is not for miserly or selfish people. That is why I asked earlier whether or not you are truly ready for increase. Are you willing to pay the price?
 
You see, when we prosper, it is not for us alone.  You are indeed fortunate when God chooses you to distribute His wealth for His people to enjoy.
 
 So, if you are sincerely asking God for increase, especially in your finances, then you are indirectly offering yourself to take up the responsibility to be generous. Before God increases you, He has other people in His mind He wants to bless. He wants to use you as a conduit to reach and meet their needs as a channel of blessing which is the primary purpose for the increase.  Proverbs 22:9 says, ”The generous will be blessed for they share their food with the poor.” Therefore, the increase is not just for you and your family to be blessed. You won’t be a blessing, until the blessings flow from you to others. 
 
Come to think of it, isn’t this true, that when God brings an increase, He doesn’t announce it?  It is so true! It will amaze you to know that when God brings increase, you won’t need a formal announcement to invite people. People will naturally flow to you so they can also enjoy your blessing. Why? Solomon, the wisest king who ever lived provided the most profound truth and appropriate reason for this: “…the rich have many friends” and “Wealth makes many friends…” (Prov 14:20; 19:4).
 God’s increase comes when we are indeed ready to be His agents of generosity. Those you are going to cater for will be naturally attracted to you. You will not need an advertising agent to attract them to you when the increase comes, because God’s blessing is self-evident. His generosity cannot be hidden.
 
Hence the reason that your distant family, neighbours and friends will naturally gravitate towards you. Even new acquaintances will be added to your circle of influence. As it has been said: “Failure is an orphan but success has many friends.”
 
So, if you want more, be ready to distribute part of His increase to touch the needy. Let others enjoy the grace of God upon your life. Let the poor and the needy praise God for your generosity and kindness. Let the fatherless, the orphans and the widows indeed rejoice because of you. Be the hand to the defenseless, a voice to the voiceless and an eye to the blind. Be sure you are a burden bearer, and God will increase you more and more when He sees that you and your family are faithful with the treasure, He has entrusted to you. This, I strongly believe, is the pure religion the apostle James speaks to us about: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (Jam. 1:27 KJV). 
 
Peace: shalom, shalom!
Pastor Sam Elijah
14 June, 2023