The Power of I Am: Two Words That Will Change Your Life Today (16 page)

I received a letter from a single mother. She immigrated to the United States from Europe many years ago. English is not her first language. She had three small children and didn’t know how she would ever be
able to afford to send them to college. It seemed as though she was at a disadvantage, living in a foreign country all alone, not knowing anybody.

She applied for a job as a secretary at a prestigious university. Several dozen other people applied for the same position. When she saw all the competition, she was tempted to feel intimidated. Negative thoughts were bombarding her mind. To make matters worse, the lady conducting the interview was harsh and condescending. But this mother didn’t get frustrated. She didn’t have an underdog mentality, thinking,
What’s the use? I’m at a disadvantage. I’ll never get ahead.
She had a fatted-calf mentality. She didn’t see a way, but she knew God had a way.

All the applicants had to take a five-minute typing test. She was not a fast typist, but she started typing, doing her best. The bell went off signaling that her five minutes were up, so she stopped typing. But the lady in charge had gotten distracted answering a phone call and said to her gruffly, “Keep typing! That’s not your bell.” But it was her bell. It was right in front of her. She said, “Okay,” and typed another five minutes. They added up the number of words she typed—ten minutes’ worth—and divided it by five, and by far she had the best typing skills and ended up getting the job. One of the benefits of working for this university is that your children get to go to school for free. That was more than thirty years ago. Today, all three of her children have graduated from this very prestigious university, receiving more than seven hundred thousand dollars in education all free of charge.

One touch of God’s favor can thrust you into more than enough. Don’t talk yourself out of it. All through the day, say, “I am prosperous. I am coming into overflow. I will lend and not borrow.”

When the Israelites were in the desert in the land of Just Enough, they got tired of eating the same thing every day. They said, “Moses, we want some meat to eat out here.” They were complaining, but at least for a little while they had a fatted-calf mentality.

Moses thought,
That’s impossible. Meat out here in the desert? Steak for two million people?
There were no grocery stores, no warehouses to buy truckloads of meat. But God has ways to increase you that you’ve never thought of. God simply shifted the direction of the wind and caused a huge flock of quail to come into the camp. They didn’t have to go after it. The food came to them. What’s interesting is that quail don’t normally travel that far away from the water. If there had not been a strong wind, the quail would have never made it way out there in the desert. What am I saying? God knows how to get your provision to you.

A statistician ran some numbers. Based on the size of the camp, the number of people, and enough quail to be three feet off the ground as the Scripture says, he concluded that there were approximately 105 million quail that came into the camp. That’s an abundant God. He could have given them a couple of quail per person, which would have been four or five million quail. But God doesn’t just want to meet your needs; He wants to do it in abundance. The question is, are you thinking skinny goat or are you thinking fatted calf?

“Well, Joel. I could never afford a nice place to live.” Can I say this respectfully? Skinny goat.

“I could never send my kids to the college they really want to attend.” Skinny goat.

“I could never build that orphanage. I could never support other families. I can barely support my own family.”

Friend, God has a fatted calf, a place of abundance for you. He is not limited by your circumstances, by how you were raised, or by what you don’t have. He is limited by what you’re believing. Maybe you’ve had that skinny goat with you for years and years. You’ve become best friends. You need to announce to him today, “I’m sorry, but our relationship is over. It’s done. We’re going to be parting ways.”

He may cry and complain, “Baa-ah.” He may ask, “Is there someone else?”

Tell him, “Yes, I’ve found a fatted calf. No more thinking not enough, barely enough, just enough. From now on I’m thinking more than enough; an abundant mentality.”

When you live with this attitude, God will bless you in ways you’ve never imagined. I talked to a lady who has been through a lot of struggles. For years she was barely making it, but every Sunday she and her two sons would be here at Lakewood. In spite of all the obstacles, they didn’t have a skinny-goat mentality. They were in the land of Barely Enough, but they didn’t put their stakes down. They knew that wasn’t their permanent address.

As this mother was, you have to be faithful in the wilderness if you’re going to make it into the Promised Land. I’m not saying that everything is going to change overnight. There are going to be seasons of testing and proving. Thoughts are going to tell you,
It’s never
going to change
, but don’t believe those lies. Keep being faithful right where you are, honoring God, thanking Him that you’re coming into overflow.

This lady’s son, from the time he was a little boy, always said that he was going to get a scholarship to go to college. He could have thought,
We’re poor. I’m at a disadvantage.
But this mother taught her sons that God is a God of abundance. A while back, her son graduated number two in his high school. He received not one scholarship, not two, not seven. He was awarded nine scholarships, totaling more than 1.3 million dollars! His undergraduate, his master’s, and his doctoral degrees are all paid for at Georgetown University. That’s what happens when you say good-bye to the skinny goat and hello to the fatted calf.

Jesus talked about how when we give, it will be given back to us as good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. What does that mean,
pressed down
?

I used to make chocolate chip cookies with our children. The recipe calls for three-fourths of a cup of brown sugar. When you pour the brown sugar in, it’s so thick and dense, even when it hits the mark for three-fourths, you have to press it down. When you do, you can put in about twice what it looked like initially.

That’s what God is saying. When you look full, you think you’re blessed and healthy. All you need is one scholarship. You just want the house to sell for what you put into it. You just want quail for a day or two. God says, “That’s fine, but I’m an overflow God. I’m a more-than-enough God. I’m about to press it down and make room for more of My increase. I’m going to press it down and show you My favor in a new way.”

After He presses it down, He is going to shake it together and not just fill it to the top. He is going to take it one step further and give
you so much that you’re running over. You just wanted one scholarship. God says, “That’s fine. I’m going to give you nine to make sure you’re covered.” You just wanted to get your money out of the house. God says, “I’m going to cause it to sell for double.” You just wanted quail for a day or two. God says, “I’m going to give you steak for a whole month.” That’s the way our God is. Why don’t you get in agreement and say, “God, I’m ready. I’m a giver. I have an abundant mentality. Lord, I want to thank You for good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over in my life.”

A friend of mine has a son who got his driver’s license a while back and really wanted a car. His father said to him, “Let’s believe that God will give you a car.” The son replied, “Dad, God is not going to give me a car. You can buy me a car.” He said, “No, let’s pray.” They asked God to somehow make a way that he could have a car. A couple of months later, this man’s employer called him in and said, “For the last two years, we’ve made a mistake on your paycheck. We’ve been underpaying you.” They handed him a check for five hundred dollars more than the car they had been hoping to buy.

The Scripture says, “Is there anything too hard for the Lord?” There is no telling what God will do if you’ll get rid of the skinny goat. God is about to press some things down. He is about to make room to show you His increase in a new way.

It says in the book of Exodus, “I am bringing you out of lack into a good and spacious land.” Not a small land.
Not a little place. Tight. Crowded. Not enough room. Receive this into your spirit. God is bringing you into a spacious land. A land of more than enough. A land of plenty of room. A land that’s flowing with increase, flowing with good breaks, flowing with opportunity, where you not only have enough for yourself, but you’re running over. Running over with space. Running over with supplies. Running over with opportunity. If you’re not in a good and spacious place, my challenge is, don’t settle there. Don’t let the skinny-goat mentality take root. Don’t think beans and rice are good enough. That is not your permanent address. It’s only temporary. God is taking you to a good and a spacious land.

“Well, Joel,” you say, “are you one of those prosperity ministers?”

I don’t like that term. That’s somebody who talks only about finances. Prosperity to me is having your health. It’s having peace in your mind. It’s being able to sleep at night. Having good relationships. There are many things that money cannot buy. While I don’t like the term
prosperity minister
, I must say I am not a poverty minister. I can’t find a single verse in the Scripture that suggests we are supposed to drag around not having enough, not able to afford what we want, living off the leftovers, in the land of Not Enough. We were created to be the head and not the tail. Jesus came that we might live an abundant life. We represent Almighty God here on this earth. We should be examples of His goodness—so blessed, so prosperous, so generous, so full of joy—that other people want what we have.

If I brought my two children into your house and their clothes were all raggedy and worn out, with holes in their shoes, and their hair not combed, you would look at me and think,
What kind of father is he?
It would be a poor reflection on me. When you look good, dress well, live in a nice place, excel in your career, and are generous with others, that brings a smile to God’s face. It brings Him pleasure to prosper you.

My father was raised during the Great Depression. He grew up extremely poor and developed a poverty mindset. He was taught in seminary that you had to be poor to show God that you were holy. The church he pastored made sure he stayed holy by keeping him poor. He was making a little more than one hundred dollars a week, trying to raise his children, barely surviving. One time he and my mom kept a guest minister in their home all week. Sunday after the service, a businessman came up to my father and handed him a check for a thousand dollars. That’s like five thousand dollars today. He said, “I want you to have this personally to help take care of the expenses of the guest minister.” My father took the check by its corner as though it were contaminated. He said, “Oh, no, I could never receive this. We must put it in the church offering.” He walked toward the offering plate, and with every step something said, “Don’t do it. Receive God’s blessings. Receive God’s favor.” He ignored it and dropped it in the offering plate. When he did, he said he felt sick to his stomach.

There is something inside us that says we’re supposed to be blessed. We’re supposed to live an abundant life. It’s because we are children of the King. It was put there by our Creator. But here’s the key: You have to give God permission to prosper you. You can’t go around with a lack mentality, thinking,
I’ll just take the leftovers to show everyone how humble I am. After all, God wouldn’t want me to have too much. That would be greedy. That would be selfish.
Get rid of that false sense of humility. That’s going to keep you from an abundant life.

Consider these words from Deuteronomy 28 in
The Message
translation: “God will lavish you with good things. He will throw open the doors of His sky vaults and rain down favor. You will always be the top dog and never the bottom dog.” You need to start seeing yourself as the top dog, not living off the leftovers, not able to afford what you want, in the land of Not Enough. Come over to the land of More Than Enough. It starts in your thinking. Give God permission to increase you. Give Him permission to lavish you with good things.

We think,
Is it wrong for me to want to live in a nice house or drive a nice car? Is it wrong to want funds to accomplish my dreams or wrong to want to leave an inheritance for my children?
God is saying, “It’s not wrong. I take pleasure in prospering you.” If it was wrong to have resources, abundance, and wealth, why would God have chosen to start the new covenant with Abraham? Abraham is called the father of our faith. The Scripture says, “Abraham was extremely rich in livestock and in silver and in gold.” He was the Bill Gates of his day. God could have chosen anyone, but He chose Abraham—a man extremely blessed.

David left billions of dollars for his son to build the temple, and yet David is called “a man after God’s own heart.” Get rid of the thinking that
God wouldn’t want me to have too much. That wouldn’t be right. That might not look good.
It’s just the opposite. When you look good, it makes God look good. When you’re blessed, prosperous, and successful, it brings Him honor.

I realize that everything I have comes from God. Whether it is the suit that I’m wearing, my car, my house, or my resources, it’s God’s goodness. You don’t have to apologize for what God has done in your life. Wear your blessings well.

The Scripture says, “It is the Lord who gives you power to get wealth.” God wouldn’t give you power to do something and then
condemn you for doing it. There is nothing wrong with you having money. The key is to not let money have you. Don’t let it become the focus of your life. Don’t seek that provision. Seek the Provider. Money is simply a tool to accomplish your destiny and to advance His Kingdom.