God’s Economy: 100-Fold

Most of us grow up with a basic understanding of money. We work a job, collect a paycheck, use those funds for necessities or amusement, and do it all again. When we walk into a store, we realize that the goods or services provided will require us to pay for them. As we balance our checkbooks, we know that starting with a certain amount, our expenses are deducted and we get an updated balance. Mathematics and accounting are inflexible sciences: the total is what it is. However, kingdom economics work differently, and sometimes the spiritual laws of God’s economy aren’t as easily quantified. It just doesn’t always make logical sense! Let’s go deeper and discover how God’s economy works differently than the financial system of the world and what 100-fold truly means.

Natural Economics

We have very close relationships with other ministries, and we give to them often. Those ministries love to plant seed into Terradez Ministries as well! Sometimes we hear it said, “It seems like all you do is give to each other!” Well, that’s partially true! We do sow into each other’s ministries. However, that brings up a very sincere question. “You have expenses of your own. It doesn’t make any sense for you to give to someone else’s ministry when you have your own bills to pay. What’s the point?”

That logic does make natural sense, doesn’t it? Why deduct from one ministry’s account to give to another ministry? Aren’t those dollars just as effective for the one as for the other? Well, kingdom economics work differently from the world. As the Body of Christ, we are meant to handle our finances from a spiritual perspective, not a natural one.

Let’s say you earned $100. If you pay your tithe, you will have $90 remaining. However, your cell phone bill is $80, which means you would only have $10 left for groceries. No more, no less. It is what it is. Man, that extra $10 could buy a whole lot of ramen noodles! Why give 10% to the Lord, when that $10 could help you survive until the next paycheck? This is the logic of the natural mind, based on natural principles of a natural economy.

Kingdom Economics

Natural math tells us that $1=$1. Equal amounts are just that: perfectly equal. Therefore, if Terradez Ministries gave $1000 to another ministry, and that ministry gave us $1000 in return, isn’t that just an even exchange? Actually, no! Kingdom economics don’t adhere to the same natural rules.

If we keep our money for what we need we are just like the world, where natural math says that $1 = $1. That’s what we have. No more, no less. It is what it is.

However, if you take money that you have, and give it to someone else, it becomes seed. Now supernatural growth has opportunity to work. In kingdom economics, one dollar equals more than one dollar. God’s economy gives room for the 100-fold return to work. The reason the Body of Christ is supposed to give to one another is so that we can all abound in a supernatural way! 

Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.

– Philippians 4:17

Paul pointed out that when the Philippian church gave, He was grateful because he knew their seed would result in an abundance in their own accounts. This passage is followed by the famous Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” That promise followed financial giving!

In the Beginning

⁸ The Lord God planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and there He placed the man whom He had formed. ⁹ Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food…¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and to keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat…”

– Genesis 2:8-9; 15-16

What did God say that Adam could eat? Obviously, from the trees, right? Notice that God didn’t say, “You may eat the crops you’ve cultivated.” No, God specifically planted trees in the garden of Eden. There is a significant difference between produce from trees, and food that comes from cultivated crops.

If you plant a field of wheat, or corn, or barley, the grains grow for a relatively short season and then are harvested. Following the harvest, the ground must be tilled and the crops replanted. The process of planting and harvesting (sowing and reaping) continues, year after year.

On the other hand, consider produce that comes from trees. When a tree is planted, it usually takes years of growth before it ever matures and produces fruit! Yet, an apple tree doesn’t need to be replanted after each harvest season. Instead, one seed is sown into the ground, and then it is watered and tended until it yields fruit. Then it continues to produce fruit, year after year.

100-Fold

Most believers view Kingdom economics with the crop-planting perspective. They have the idea that when they plant a seed into the Kingdom economy, they can expect a single harvest in return. Perhaps 30, 60, or 100-fold, but no more than one harvest per seed. However, God’s economy is far more plentiful!

Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him.

– Genesis 26:12

You see, the spiritual Kingdom economics work differently than in the natural. Sure, keeping what you have for yourself means that $1=$1. But in God’s economy, $1=100-fold! So, what is a hundredfold? Is it just $1×100=$1000? Actually, no! A hundredfold is infinitely larger.

Imagine a chessboard with 64 squares. On the first square, you place one grain of rice. On the second square you double it, placing two grains of rice. That would be 2-fold. Then on the third square, 4 grains of rice. For each square, the number of grains is doubled. By the time you got to 10-fold, you would have 512. What about 30-fold? Well, that would be an astonishing 536,870,912! By the time you reached the 64th square, you would have 9,223,372,036,854,743,040 grains of rice! That’s a lot of stir-fry!

But Isaac received 100-fold in that same year (which was a year of famine, by the way)! So, what if that chess board had 100 squares?

633,825,300,114,112,448,948,537,917,440

A 100-fold return is so large, our little human brains can’t even fathom it. In the Kingdom, $1 = INFINITY! Like a fruit tree, when you sow into the Kingdom of God, your seed may take time to produce fruit. But hold on! That seed will continue to produce fruit for you, year after year after year!

Related Resources