By believing God and including the needs of the Body of
Christ in your needs, you become an open channel for the
things of God to flow through to others. Everything you have
received from God flowed through Jesus. Did Jesus ever lose
anything by giving it to you? No, He still owns it all. First John
4:17 makes a startling statement, “…as he is, so are we in this
world.” This does not say as He was or as we are someday going
to be; it says as he is, so are we. In His position at the right hand
of God, Jesus has more than enough to give. Well, we are His
joint heirs, and He is ready to see to it that we have enough to
give (see Philippians 4:10-19).

An example of this channel can be seen in the book of
Revelation. God gave His revelation to Jesus, who signified it to
His servant John by His angel; the angel gave it to John; John
was to give it to the churches; and they, in turn, would give it
to the Body of Christ who would feed it to the world. A constant
channel, a constant flowing—the flow of love…the flow
of power…the flow of money…the flow of food…the flow of
everything you need!

The basic principle God has planned to use in supplying the
Body of Christ and allowing the Body of Christ to supply the
world is summed up in one verse from Ecclesiastes, “Cast thy
bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days”
(Ecclesiastes 11:1). Give, and after a while it will come back to
you again. You have to start “casting your bread” sometime—
tomorrow will never do. You can’t wait until your bread comes
back before you cast it out. Many are waiting for their ship to
come in who have never sent one out! Things don’t work that
way. It would be like saying to a stove, “Give me some heat, and
then I’ll put in some wood.” You give—then it will be given to
you again. The key is to give continually. As you are walking in
the Word and God’s prosperity is being produced in your life, you
will reach a point when your bread is coming back to you on
every wave! It is your job to put it on the water. It is God’s job to
see that it comes back! You do your job and let God do His, then
you will be continually receiving. The more you give, the more
you will get; the more you get, the more you will have to give.
God intended for these things to work this way. When you get to
this point, more will be coming in than you can give away!

Satan operates in a way exactly opposite from this. Everything
he does spells filth and stoppage. When you see a wicked
man with a great amount of wealth, you are looking at a financial
reservoir created by Satan to stop the flow. “And Jesus
looked around and said to His disciples, With what difficulty will
those who possess wealth and keep on holding it enter the kingdom
of God!” (Mark 10:23, The Amplified Bible). If a man has a million
dollars in a safe and won’t spend it, it is absolutely worthless—
to him and to everyone around him. There are many people
who could benefit from it, but he has the channel blocked. The
only one profiting from this kind of thing is Satan. He uses the
forces of hate, fear and greed to keep financial resources locked
up. Proverbs 1:19 tells us that greed takes away the life of its
possessors. Satan can show you how to make money, but he
can’t show you how to keep it. Selfishness is never able to maintain
what it builds—it always destroys.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries