The God of Increase by Tony Cooke
The God of Increase
by Tony Cooke
What do you think of when you hear the phrase, “The God of Increase?” Do you think of God simply helping you have more, or do you see Him helping you to become more and achieve more? God is vitally interested in developing you as a person – enabling you to become everything He wants you to be and empowering you to accomplish the things He wants you to accomplish.
I was recently inspired by the following:
2 Corinthians 6:11-13 (MSG)
11 …I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. 12 …The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way. 13 …Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!
Something had been happening in the hearts and minds of the Corinthians that had caused them to be restricted and constricted in their relationship not only to Paul, but also to God. As a result, they were living below the vast grandeur and expanding goodness that God had for them. Paul wanted them to realize the full potential of all that God had available to them.
Consider God’s dealings with those He helped.
- God told Abraham (Genesis 12:2): “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.” He later told Abraham, “I will… multiply you exceedingly” (Genesis 17:2).
- Luke 2:52 says, “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Speaking prophetically of Jesus, Isaiah said, “Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end” (Isaiah 9:7).
- Psalm 115:14 states, “May the LORD give you increase more and more, you and your children.
When we say that God is a God of increase, there are many areas of our lives this applies to:
We Are To Increase in Strength.
Proverbs 24:5 – …a man of knowledge increases strength…
Isaiah 40:29 – …to those who have no might He increases strength.
We Are To Increase in Power.
Psalm 75:10 (NLT) – For God says, “I will break the strength of the wicked, but I will increase the power of the godly.”
We Are To Increase in Resources and Generosity.
Proverbs 11:24 (MSG) – The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.
2 Corinthians 9:10 (NLT) – For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.
We Are To Increase in the Knowledge of God.
Colossians 1:10 – …that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God…
We Are To Increase in the Love of God.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 – And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you…
We Are To Increase Corporately as the Body of Christ.
Ephesians 4:16 (KJV) speaks of “…the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
In Colossians 2:19, Paul indicated that as believers hold fast to Christ, the Head, that they grow “…with the increase that is from God.”
Paul also said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6-7).
It is important that we acknowledge and trust God as the God of Increase! I really believe He wants to increase our capacity to be a blessing in the earth. May our lives increase in every area that He desires, and may we be a vital part of the increase of His glory in the earth.
