If necessary your best prayer is to ask God to strip you of everything so that you are totally dependent upon Him, even for your next meal. Can I suggest you listen to this Jamie Winship video; God stripped Jamie and his family of everything so they had to depend upon Him for all their needs for two years. Once you have lived this way you’ll never want to go back to living the world’s way of total reliance on your own ability. Jamie reveals how God showed him how to witness to Muslims. It will “blow your mind”.
Jamie also learned more about God and His ways by how He answered their prayers, which helped the family know how to pray. Jamie began to fully understand the meaning of being made in the image of God to be in communion with Him. To understand that God is perfection, unblemished by sin. He only does what is right. Jamie wants to please God, so he only wants to do what is right, like Jesus when He was on Earth.
“So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.‘” John 5:19
Jesus made it possible for our Heavenly Father to send the Holy Spirit (the third person of the Trinity) to be our counsellor, teacher, comforter, and helper to enable us to live the Christian life.
If you invest in the right treasury (eternal, not temporal), adopt the right perspective, and serve the right Master you have nothing to worry about. In contrast, those who invest in the wrong treasury (temporal, not eternal), adopt a here-and-now perspective, and serve the wrong master (money, not God) have every reason to worry.
“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”Romans 8:15
Since we cannot serve two masters, our fear of not having enough reveals our true master.
Jesus specifically tells us not to worry about life’s necessities—food, drink, and clothes. Then He says,
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” Matthew 6:33
According to our Lord, giving isn’t what leaves us short of material provision. Jesus promises to provide for givers in full measure.
“Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38
How about this promise in Malachi?
“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” Malachi 3:10
When we give away our treasures, we are seeking God’s Kingdom first. And therefore, “all these [material needs] will be added to” us.
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Paul told the Philippians, “I have received everything in full, and I have an abundance. I am fully supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you provided—a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God”Philippians 4:18, CSB
Their financial gifts were gifts to God. Since they gave so generously to provide for him and his work, Paul was confident God would provide the same for them: “My God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19, CSB). This is a familiar promise, but most people don’t realize that in context, it is specifically for givers who have stretched themselves to become sacrificial partners in Kingdom ministry. “For even in Thessalonica you sent gifts for my need several times” (v.16).
RANDY & NANCI ALCORN’S TESTIMONY
In some cases, God’s provision is obvious—we get an unexpected check in the mail or are given something we thought we’d have to buy. One time Nanci and I discovered an error we’d made in our bank balance, finding we had significantly more money than we realized.
In other cases, God’s provision is less obvious but equally generous. A washing machine that should have broken down a decade ago keeps working. A car with more than two hundred thousand miles runs for three years needing no repairs. A checking account that should have dried up long before the end of the month somehow makes it through. As God miraculously stretched the widow’s oil supply in Elisha’s day (2 Kings 4:1-7), and as He made the Israelites’ clothes and sandals last forty years in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 8:4), I’m convinced He sometimes graciously extends the life of things that would normally need replacement.
The God who fed a million-member family in the wilderness for forty years, fed five thousand with one boy’s lunch, and who is perfectly capable of turning water into wine and stones into bread, will not have any trouble providing whatever He knows you need.
Adapted from the article by Randy Alcorn, “If We Fear God, We Can Trust His Provision” August 8th, 2022 http://www.patheos.com
So I said, “What shall I do, Lord?” And the Lord said to me, “Arise and go….”Acts 22:10
In his autobiography, Our Incredible Journey, Word of Life co-founder Harry Bollback and his wife, Millie, wrote about their years of missionary service in Brazil, where they lived in very primitive circumstances. “Living under these conditions was truly difficult,” Harry wrote. “But neither of us thought of it as being hard at the time. We had made a decision to serve the Lord, and we were just doing what we thought the Lord would have us do. We were enjoying the good hand of God’s blessings.”
In Acts 22, the apostle Paul recounted his conversion for the Jewish Ruling Counsel. He told them of the light that blinded him on the Damascus Road, and he recounted the two questions he asked God: “Who are You, Lord?” (verse 8) and “What shall I do, Lord?” (verse 10)
When we come to Christ for salvation, we need to ask, “What do You want me to do?” Then, we just need to have a submissive spirit to His guidance, and He’ll use us in ways beyond our expectation.
I’m convinced that when you are serving the Lord, there is never a question of sacrifice. It’s just doing what we are supposed to be doing for His glory. You don’t think of the sacrifice—you think of your mission. Harry Bollback
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 