From history we know that when William Bradford founded the first English colony in America in Jamestown, Virginia; the first couple of years were very tough for the new colony. One reason was because they took a socialistic approach to farming and had a community garden in which all were to labor together and share the food, but as it ended up only a few demonstrated the incentive to do the work and many died in the first year. After a couple of years they decided to split up the garden into plots and give each family a plot of ground for which they were personally responsible. On this plot they would work and eat the food that was harvested from it. Guess what?…from that point on there was plenty of food in Jamestown! Individuals took personal responsibility for their own provision, it made a big difference and the settlement at Jamestown survived.

To apply this principle, shall we sit around and fantasize about how much we would like to give or shall we start to work the land for the abundance from which to give? Proverbs 28:19 states, “He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.” We can’t give what we don’t have, so let’s quit being spiritually lazy and start believing God for abundance. How can we make our soul prosperous? Unless we change some of our thoughts and actions, we will get the same financial result that we have gotten before. We can have great intentions about building a budget, calculating net worth and developing a financial plan, but if we don’t put action to it nothing will change.