The Financial Plan of God, Part 1
Jesse & Cathy Duplantis
In my 47 years of traveling all over the world, I have never been to a church where people didn’t need money. Why is that? Whenever I ask the question, ‘How many of you could use some money?’ 95% of the people raise their hands.
Faith For Things
The devil is a deceiver. For thousands of years he’s deceived people into believing that it’s unspiritual to desire things. Jesus taught the complete opposite. Just look at the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1,
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Faith is the substance of what? THINGS.
Mark 11:23-34 says,
“For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
God isn’t upset when you ask for things. He knows you need things. As a person living on earth, you need a house. You need food. You need a vehicle. They’re normal things. Jesus said to take no thought to those things because He will supply them. Just like the lilies of the field. If God knows how to take care of them, how much more will He take care of His children? (Matt.6:28-30). All you have to do is ensure that you put Him first.
Scripture tells you that He will supply all your needs according to HIs riches in glory (Phil.4:19). Not according to the economy within the nation you live in.
Why do people always struggle financially when God said He will supply all, not some, but all your needs?
People need money because they don’t know how much they want, they know how much they need. I don’t ask God for what I need. It’s a waste of energy because God already said He would supply all my needs. I’ve decided to believe that little word – all. I don’t tell Him what I need, I tell Him what I want.
God’s Plan
God has an economic plan in the Bible that ensures His children would never have to struggle in an economic world. This is a controversial statement within the religious world, but it’s not controversial to God, because He’s the one who wrote it. God’s financial plan is thousands of years old. In the old testament, God used Malachi 3:10,
“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
There are people who say you don’t have to tithe. That’s true. You don’t HAVE to do anything. You don’t even have to be saved. However, the word says to be imitators of God (Eph.5:1). I don’t know about you, but I want to imitate the Lord and He tithed.
In all of Jesus' time on earth he never had a financial deficit. Those who would argue that Jesus was poor have fallen victim to a religious lie. He used this plan all the time. I’ve asked people who think tithing is of the old covenant, ‘Do you believe that when Jesus walked the earth that He tithed?’ They all reply that they believe he did in order to fulfill the law. So I answer, ‘Well, since Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, if he was on earth today, do you think He would tithe?’ The response is always yes. I wish people would just tell the truth. You don’t want to tithe. Work that out with God.
The Hundredfold Return
God’s supernatural financial plan began in the old testament with Isaac and He brought that plan through to the new testament and all the way to present day. That brings us to the most controversial part of God’s covenant – the hundredfold. It’s the thing that God put in our covenant, that if you believe it, you and your children’s children would never know struggle.
Many people, even in the Word of Faith circles, don’t believe in the hundredfold return, but it’s penned in red. It came from Jesus Himself, more than once. Let’s read from Mark 4:3,
“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow.”
Nothing can happen unless you sow.
The law of Genesis says, as long as the earth remains there will be sowing and reaping, seedtime and harvest (Gen.8:22).
All my life growing up I was to give and never expect anything in return. You were perceived as humble if you thought that way, but that way of thinking is completely contrary to the Word of God and the law of Genesis. It’s contrary to what Isaac did. He sowed in a famine and received a hundredfold return. It’s contrary to what Jesus said about the sower who went out to sow. He said the return on the seed was some thirty, some sixty, and some one-hundredfold. He instituted this plan so that when I ask the question, who needs money?, no one would ever raise their hand.
God is not only supplying your needs. He said if you delight yourself in me, I’ll give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4). Pray like the psalmist, David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Psalm 23:1). God takes care of you in three ways. He supplies your needs, He provides for your wants, and He gives you the desires of your heart.
God put the financial plan of seedtime and harvest into the Bible and yet people fight it when it’s poverty we ought to be fighting with every fiber of our being. The idea that we should take a vow of poverty is the biggest lie in the world. Most people don’t want to be poor. The best thing you can do for the poor is not be poor. It’s good to pay your bills. It’s good to be debt-free. It’s good to leave an inheritance to your children’s children.
Why would anyone want to struggle their whole life to the point where your family has to struggle just to bury you? It costs more to be buried than it does to be born. I’ve helped so many families bury loved ones. They loved God, but they didn’t use His plan, and so they needed help. It’s not a problem for me to help them, that’s what I’m here for, but it shouldn’t be that way.
If you take God’s plan and toss out the religiosity of people’s thoughts, and pick up what Jesus said, your financial struggles will cease.
A Plan With Persecutions
It’s not a surprise that there’s persecution waiting for people who follow God’s financial plan. Jesus told us it would happen in His Word. Mark 10:29-30 says,
“So Jesus answered and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel’s, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time—houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life.”
When you decide to grab hold of this plan and act on it, persecution will come. Don’t worry about the persecution. I have been utterly persecuted because I believe in the hundredfold, even among “my camp.” Some call it greed. No, that’s Mark chapter four.
It’s not false doctrine. It’s not greed. It’s the words from Jesus’ lips. I’m not putting my own spin on it, it’s what the Bible says, in red.
I have people mad at me because I’m a blessed man. I can’t count the number of times I’ve said, “The anointing of increase is on me.” You know what the anointing of increase is?
Mark. Chapter. Four. Verse. Eight.
That’s the reason I tell people to partner with this ministry. I don’t think I’ve ever done this before, but I feel led by the Spirit to invite you to sow a seed right now. I’m not asking you to give me anything. I’m not lazy with people’s seed. I don’t touch God’s money or yours. God wants to bless you and the way you step through that door is the sowing of a seed. I don’t care if it’s ten cents or $10,000. Visit www.jdm.org to enact God’s financial plan in your life now.
A Plan For Any Economy
In the times we’re living in today it’s so important for us to recognize and utilize God’s plan. The things in the news today can sound worrisome. People are concerned about recession and banks failing and all types of economic challenges. Many people think that now isn’t the time to sow and give. They're just thinking about how to get their needs met, nevermind their wants and desires being fulfilled.
In Genesis 26:12, Isaac sowed and received a hundredfold return during a famine. In the natural, no one would sow during a time of famine. It doesn’t make sense to sow a seed in a drought. You know there’s no rain coming. Sowing a seed in drought is seen as a waste of seed. But Isaac sowed anyway and a dew came up from the ground on Isaac’s property only. All the surrounding land remained dry. He did something with his seed. He worked. He didn’t just sit back and do nothing and think God was going to bless him.
In Genesis 26:4 the Lord said,
“And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed”
Who is Isaac’s seed? We are. Isaac is the son of Abraham. Anyone who believes by faith in Jesus Christ is the seed of Abraham (Gal.3:29). You are an heir to all the promises and all the blessings in God’s Word.
I believe that even the people of Isaac’s day could have had access to the blessing if they had believed and followed Isaac’s example instead of becoming envious of Isaac. They could have been prosperous. That was God’s plan. He said He would bless all the nations of the earth. But because they went the route of criticism and persecution, they weren’t blessed.
God’s blessings are available to anyone who will believe in Him by faith. It starts with believing in Jesus Christ. That’s what gives you access to the blessings of God.
A Controversial Plan
I had a conversation with a great minister who told me, “The Lord wasn’t talking about money in Mark 4, He was talking about the Word. The sower soweth the Word.” So I asked him, “So whatever’s in the Word, can we receive it thirty, sixty, one hundredfold?” He replied, “Yes sir, 100%.” “Is healing in the Word?” I inquired. “Yes. By His stripes I am healed.”
So we can believe not just to be healed but to walk in divine health and even beyond divine health, we can receive divine life.
Finally, I asked him, “Is money in the Word?” He hesitated. “Yes, it’s in the Word.”
Then why can’t I receive one hundredfold in it?
Jesus knew there would be great controversy around the hundredfold return. That’s why he said “with persecutions.” The devil uses the church to persecute people who believe this message. Everything the devil has he’s stolen. That’s how he operates. He steals, kills, and destroys. The minute you start prospering, it comes out of his account. His account is full of your money.
The hundredfold return is not limited to your finances. You can have hundredfold healing. Hundredfold health. Hundredfold life. Imagine living as long as you want. You can be like Moses and live to be 120 years old and still able to walk up a mountain. If you do what Moses did, that can be you too. God is no respecter of persons.
I don’t care how much I’m persecuted. I know that I am biblical by being blessed in the city, blessed in the field, blessed coming in and blessed going out. Some people may get mad, but soon they’ll get glad. When they’ve become fed up with the devil kicking their butt, they'll come running to a preacher like me who preaches the Word of God. The Bible says in Job that He will restore everything that’s been taken away (Job 42:10).
I don’t know why people need to fall into the ditch of life before they can learn something. Why don’t you just believe what He said? – Hundredfold.
The Hundredfold Is For More Than Finances
You know what’s better than a hundredfold return on money? A hundredfold on the spirit. When I’m moving in the Spirit, that’s a hundredfold, because it’s not my mind functioning. It’s the mind of Christ in me flowing. I end up saying things to people whom I’ve never seen before and hit them with line after line and precept after precept. Then all of a sudden, they’re instantly delivered right in front of my eyes!
I also have hundredfold health. I’m 73 years old. Have you ever seen me sick?
Depressed?
Discouraged?
Despondent?
Broke?
Busted?
No.
That doesn’t mean the devil hasn’t attacked me, he has, but I’m not having it. Sometimes Cathy will put her hand up and say, “Talk to the hand. Call waiting.” That’s what I do to the devil when he comes sniffing around. I’m not taking this from you. Jesus took my infirmities and bore my sickness. If Jesus took your infirmities and bore your sickness, why would He put it on you to teach you a lesson? Can you see how religiosity warps the mind? Jesus said, “by my stripes you were healed.” (1Pet.2:24)
We will never give up on this teaching because it’s in the Bible. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I believe this, not because of the financial blessings I receive, but because it’s His Word. It’s His plan. It’s a blessing to have a plan. Everyone needs a plan in life.
There’s a lady in our church who was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer. The very first time she ever attended our church, the Lord led me to call her out and pray for her. After I laid hands on her, I didn’t see her for a while. The next time she attended church she had a testimony. She went to her doctor's appointment and they couldn’t find any evidence of cancer in her body!
She had been standing on the Word and believing that by His stripes she was healed. Not only was she healed, there was not a single cancer cell in her body! The hundredfold completely wipes out anything negative. It can no longer exist. God is a healer today!
The sower sows the Word, and that seed can bring back a harvest of the healing you need. The kingdom principle is a seed. Jesus told His disciples in Mark 4:13, if you don’t get this, you’re not going to understand anything else. If we don’t understand the principle of the seed, we are severely limited. In regards to the woman who was healed of ovarian cancer, God sowed the seed and the seed of the Word brought about her harvest, her healing.
The same principle applies to your finances. The Word of God sows the seed regarding your blessings and prosperity and about meeting your wants, needs, and desires. When you believe what God’s Word says and begin to search it out for yourself, it goes from your mind into your heart until it comes out of your mouth. Anything you can find in the Word of God belongs to you if you will believe it by faith. I encourage you to find out what God’s Word says about whatever it is you need.
God’s plan of sowing and reaping is a spiritual plan, a health plan, a financial plan, a plan to address any matter on earth today. Let God be the blessing He wants to be for you.
When are you going to use God’s plan?
Don’t worry about what people will say. Some may think you shouldn’t have that house or you shouldn’t have that car. They may think that dress you bought is too expensive. So what?
Jesus & His Disciples Operated In The Hundredfold
When Jesus said you can expect a hundredfold return, He meant what He said In all His years on earth, He never had a financial deficit. Some might ask, when did He ever have the hundredfold? He took a 2-piece dinner, two fish and five loaves of bread, and fed 5000 people. If that’s not a hundredfold, I don’t know what is.
That miracle was a physical hundredfold manifestation, not only for Jesus, but for the little boy who gave his lunch. He gave two fish and five loaves and he received 12 baskets of leftovers. The hundredfold is to help you live in this life.
When Jesus sent out His disciples, He told them not to take anything with them. Upon their return, He asked them, “lack you anything?” You know what their response was? Nothing. They didn’t lack a single thing.
Everything they needed was provided for them when they stepped out and did what God called them to do.
Enact God’s Plan
Let me tell you a story. I like guitars. Years ago I had a Gretsch guitar and I gave it away. A couple of weeks ago I was talking with someone and said, “Man, I should have never given away that Gretsch.” God heard me say that.
Last night, I arrived at a church I had never been to before. I noticed a guy playing guitar during praise and worship and I didn’t think anything of it. I head to the pastor’s greenroom and before long the guitar player walks in with a guitar case in hand. He said, “Brother Jesse, the Lord told me to give this to you.” When he opened up the case, it was a Gretsch!
I could have bought that guitar. I didn’t know why I didn’t buy it, but now I know. The Lord wanted to use that man to sow a seed. Keep reading because the story’s not finished.
The man who gave me his guitar gifted me a beautiful brown Gretsch, but the one he really wanted was white. At the end of the night after I finished preaching, we went back to the greenroom for some light refreshments. The man who gifted me the Gretsch was with me. Another man walked in with a guitar case and said to the man who blessed me, “The Lord told me to bless you.” An hour and a half after he sowed the seed, he reaped his harvest of the white Gretsh he wanted! We both walked out of church that night with Gretsch-sized smiles.
That’s hundredfold.
That man sowed something he loved. It was something precious to him. It was a significant seed. God said to me that night, “I gave him not what he needed, but what he wanted and I gave you not what you needed, but what you wanted.”
You need to sow a seed right now, so you can get what you want. I’m not trying to get something from you, I’m trying to get something to you. I want this plan to start working for you so you won’t struggle anymore. I want this plan to start working for you so that you can be a blessing whenever you want. You may want to pay for someone’s meal. Whatever it is that’s on your heart.
I’ve heard it all. Those who say, “Oh, he’s just saying that to get my money.” Let me tell all the foolish people out there something. I have money. I am not a broke man. I’m like the Apostle Paul, I work with my own hands to earn money.
I made up my mind to be one of the biggest givers to this ministry. That’s not giving to myself. You can ask the IRS. I don’t own this church. No one owns the church, it belongs to God. I want God to bless you. If you want to give, visit www.jdm.org
I feel led to do a part two to this teaching because I’ve just scratched the surface. I encourage you to read on as I dive deeper into God’s financial plan of sowing seed.
