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

For the past three weeks we have been looking at the theme: When Goods Increase. I’d like us to conclude by looking at the remaining secret codes. There could be more as the Holy Spirit unveils but let’s conclude with these two. Thanks for your patience and I do hope you have been blessed by it.

#3. Thanksgiving

Thanks-giving is a ‘must have’ virtue for every child of God. Increase is more difficult when experienced in the hearts of ungrateful people. However, this is not so with thankful people. Little becomes much when the breath of God is upon it. That breath is released through the act of sacrificial thanksgiving.
 
Jesus, our role-model, taught thanksgiving instead of complaints. He displayed this while in the wilderness, when there was the need to feed the multitude of about 5,000 men, beside women and children. Jesus took the five loaves of bread and two fish and gave thanks. “Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God, and distributed it to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, and they all had as much as they wanted. When they were all full, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather the pieces left over; let us not waste a bit.’ So they gathered them all and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left over from the five barley loaves which the people had eaten” (Jn. 6:11-13 GNV).
 
The miracle that caused the increase, I strongly believe, was thanksgiving. Thanksgiving will always welcome in the breath of Almighty God as He turns any amount of lack into more than enough. Another occasion was when Jesus gave thanks at the tomb of Lazarus before raising him from the dead.  They took the stone away. Jesus looked up and said, “I thank you, Father that you listen to me. I know that you always listen to me, but I say this for the sake of the people here, so that they will believe that you sent me.” After he had said this, he called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” (Jn. 11: 41-43 GNV). May God Almighty grant us understanding of this mystery called thanksgiving. Amen!
 
#4. Confession

“What you say can preserve life or destroy it; so, you must accept the consequences of your words” (Prov. 18:21 GNV).

Confession, or your spoken word, is many times a true reflection of your thoughts. This is because the mouth speaks what is in the heart and mind. Invariably it reveals who you are and who you will eventually become in the future.  Could not this be the reason why some children of God cannot access increase because they are not careful to guard against wrong thinking and speech?  “For by thy words thou shall be justified, and by thy words thou shall be condemned” (Matt. 12:37 KJV).
 
In conclusion

I say boldly that when God brings you increase, it’s not only your family members who will benefit. Your neighbours and community at large should benefit as well. What God has blessed you with isn’t a blessing if it’s limited to, or locked up, within your family. Think about that! God promised to make you a blessing indeed, just as He blessed Abraham; that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles.

Friends may God bless you so that you may be a blessing to others. May He put you in a place where you can help others to rise above their circumstances, and may He anoint you for the deliverance of the oppressed and the poor. May you be the salt and light your world and your generation is waiting for!

Peace: shalom, shalom!
Pastor Sam Elijah