The Abundance Mind-Set

CHAPTER ONE

HAVE AN ABUNDANT MIND-SET

God’s dream for your life is that you would be blessed in such a way that you could be a blessing to others. David said, “My cup runs over.” God is an overflow God. But here’s the key: You can’t go around thinking thoughts of lack, not enough, struggle, and expect to have abundance. If you’ve been under pressure for a long time and have difficulty making ends meet, it’s easy to develop a limited mind-set. I’ll never get out of this neighborhood. Or, I’ll never have enough to send my kids to college. That may be where you are now, but that’s not where you have to stay.

God is called El Shaddai, the God of More Than Enough. Not the God of Barely Enough or the God of Just Help Me Make It Through. He’s the God of Overflow. The God of Abundance.

Psalm 35 says, “Let them say continually, ‘Let the Lord be magnified who takes pleasure in the prosperity of His children.’” They were supposed to go around constantly saying, “God takes pleasure in prospering me.” It was to help them develop this abundant mind-set. Your life is moving toward what you’re constantly thinking about. If you’re always thinking thoughts of lack, not enough, and struggle, you’re moving toward the wrong things. All through the day, meditate on these thoughts: overflow, abundance, God takes pleasure in prospering me.

BARELY ENOUGH, JUST ENOUGH, AND MORE THAN ENOUGH

In the Scripture, the Israelites had been in slavery for many years. That was the land of Barely Enough. They were just enduring, surviving, barely making it through. One day God brought them out of slavery and took them into the desert. That was the land of Just Enough. Their needs were supplied, but nothing extra. It says their clothes didn’t wear out for forty years. I’m sure they were grateful. I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly want to wear these same clothes for the next forty years. If I have to, I’m not going to complain, but that’s not my idea of abundance. It wasn’t God’s either. God eventually took them into the Promised Land. That was the land of More Than Enough. The food and supplies were plenteous. The bundles of grapes were so large that two grown men had to carry them. It’s called “the land flowing with milk and honey.” Flowing means it didn’t stop. It never ran out. It continued to have an abundance. That’s where God is taking you.

You may be in the land of Barely Enough right now. You don’t know how you’re going to make it through next week. Don’t worry. God hasn’t forgotten about you. God clothes the lilies of the field. He feeds the birds of the air. He is going to take care of you.

You may be in the land of Just Enough. Your needs are supplied. You’re grateful, but there’s nothing extra, nothing to accomplish your dreams. God is saying, “I did not breathe My life into you to live in the land of Barely Enough. I didn’t create you to live in the land of Just Enough.” Those are seasons. Those are tests. But they are not permanent. Don’t put your stakes down. You are passing through. It is only temporary. God has a Promised Land for you. He has a place of abundance, of more than enough, where it’s flowing with provision, not just one time, but you’ll continue to increase. You will continue to have plenty.

If you’re in the land of Barely Enough, don’t you dare settle there. That is where you are; it is not who you are. That is your location; it’s not your identity. You are a child of the Most High God. No matter what it looks like, have this abundant mind-set. Keep reminding yourself, “God takes pleasure in prospering me. I am the head and never the tail.”

The Scripture says God will supply our needs “according to His riches.” So often we look at our situations and think, I’ll never get ahead. Business is slow, or I’m in the projects. I’ll never get out. But it’s not according to what you have; it’s according to what He has. The good news is God owns it all. One touch of God’s favor can blast you out of Barely Enough and put you into More Than Enough. God has ways to increase you beyond your normal income, beyond your salary, beyond what’s predictable. Quit telling yourself, “This is all I’ll ever have. Granddaddy was broke. Momma and Daddy didn’t have anything. My dog is on welfare. My cat is homeless.” Let go of all of that and have an abundant mentality. “This is not where I’m staying. I am blessed. I am prosperous. I am headed to overflow, to the land of More Than Enough.”

SKINNY GOAT OR FATTED CALF

I received a letter from a young couple. They had both been raised in low-income families. All they saw modeled growing up was lack, struggle, can’t get ahead. Their families had accepted it, but not this couple. They had been coming to Lakewood and didn’t have a not-enough mentality. They had an abundant mentality. They knew God had a Promised Land in store for them. They took a step of faith. On very average incomes, they decided to build their own house. They didn’t take out a loan. Whenever they had extra funds, they would buy the materials and hire the contractors. A couple of years later, they moved into a beautiful house in a nice neighborhood, all debt free. It was as though God had multiplied their funds. Not long ago they sold that house for twice what they had put into it. The lady wrote, “We never dreamed we would be blessed like we are today.” She went on to say, “My great-grandparents and my grandparents always told me that if I had beans and rice, that was good enough. But I always knew one day I would have steak.”

If you’re going to become everything God has created you to be, you have to make up your mind as she did. You are not going to settle for beans and rice. You are not going to get stuck in the land of Barely Enough or the land of Just Enough, but you’re going to keep praying, believing, expecting, hoping, dreaming, working, and being faithful until you make it all the way into the land of More Than Enough. Now, there is nothing wrong with beans and rice. Nothing wrong with surviving. But God wants you to go further. God wants you to set a new standard for your family. He is an overflow God, a more-than-enough God.

Jesus told a parable about a prodigal son. This young man left home and blew all of his money, wasted his inheritance, and decided to return home. When his father saw him—the father represents God—he said to the staff, “Go kill the fatted calf. We’re going to have a party.”

But the older brother got upset. He said, “Dad, I’ve been with you this whole time, and you’ve never even given me a skinny goat.”