The Storehouse Principle

The primary text for "The Storehouse Principle" is found in Deuteronomy 28:8, "The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your storehouses and in all that you put your hand to..." Only two other times in the Bible does God "command" a blessing. In this case, the blessing is commanded upon our storehouses. So what exactly is a storehouse?

King David created one in order to gather supplies for the building of the temple (1 Chronicles 27:25). Nehemiah had storehouses for the rebuilding of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 7:70-72; 13:12-13). Hezekiah had storehouses (2 Chronicles 31:6-10; 32:27-30). Of course, Joseph was made famous for his storehouses (Genesis 41). A storehouse is simply a place of savings--a place where you put your surplus. It's like a savings account.

Here's a couple of things that we need to grasp in order to have a complete biblical understanding of finances. First of all, God has already provided more than we need. He is the God of more than enough! He has never done anything without providing more than enough. There are numerous examples throughout scripture. When the Israelites were picking up manna in the desert--there was always more than enough. When Jesus fed the 5000--everyone ate until they were full and then 12 baskets of leftovers were collected. God is not limited in His resources. The second thing to understand about our finances is that we tend to either hoard or spend if we believe that resources are limited. People, however, with an abundance mentality are able to wait and save. You and I will be able to set up a storehouse only if we come to believe that there are plenty of resources. A third thing to understand about your finances is that God blesses us so that we can bless others. He doesn't give to you so that you can just selfishly use His blessings just for your own purposes. We are stewards (managers) of all that God sends our way. God owns everything and He allows us to simply manage a portion of His resources.

How do you begin a storehouse? A storehouse begins with anything that we set aside to save. If you find a penny--pick it up and put it in your storehouse. If you get a extra money--out it in the storehouse. You can have a garage sale. You can sell stuff that you no longer need on Craig's List or something like it. You can dedicate a percentage or an amount of each paycheck to go into your storehouse. When you get enough money collected you might want to take it to the bank and open a "Storehouse Account". Don't worry about starting small--just start! Then once you've begun, ask God to "command a blessing" upon your storehouse (Deut. 28:8).

When can you spend your storehouse? Only when God says that you can. Consider it His money. Never use it unless you are absolutely sure that God has asked you to.

Here are some New Testament passages that might provide a bit more insight: Luke 16:10-13; Matthew 25:1-13; Luke 19. You might want to look these up and read them and ask the Spirit to give you some application in regards to starting a storehouse.

Now, go and get started!

Answered Prayer!

It shouldn't surprise me when God answers prayer and yet it still does. Let me tell you about the amazing answer to prayer that our church as seen in the last few months.

Cornerstone faced an extreme financial shortfall during the months of August and September. Our expenses exceeded our income by a little more than $10,000 during these two months. The little amount that we had in reserve was quickly used up and we would not be able to endure another month in the red. We had adopted a new "bigger and better" budget that we began operating under in September that only made matters look worse.

Our Trustees met early in October with a desperate need to do something to correct our negative cash flow. The usual suspect was named as the scapegoat to remedy our problem--"let's cut missions giving!" Thankfully, the remedy that was chosen was to seek the God of Heaven for relief. I asked the Trustees to pray...I asked the leadership to pray...I asked the church to pray!

Here is the result of our prayer. Budget income for the final quarter of 2006 was simply amazing! We saw a 35% increase over the previous quarter and a 38% increase over the same quarter one year ago. Our new larger budget for the months of September through December calls for $105,080 in income! Get this—budget giving for the same period of time totals $104,348.86! But it gets even better…in addition to record budget income we have also received an enormous amount of designated gifts. In the past three months we have received $5,781.00 for the building, $8,864.50 for missions, $5,735.24 in various love offerings, $1,134.00 for AWANA, and $1,500 for computer improvements. This has been an amazing three months financially for our church!

God has certainly opened the windows of heaven for us and has poured out an overflowing blessing (Malachi 3:10). May God alone be praised!