Last summer the Lord placed it on my heart to give money, monthly, to a young girl as she went on a one year missions trip out of Greece. I gave faithfully every month up until January. Since I've been back from Iceland I've had financial difficulties, having to use my tithe money for various expenses, although I gave back what I took, I haven't deposited the money into that girls account for the past 5 months. Lately though, as I’ve been wondering why I’m struggling so much financially, the Lord has been convicting me, bringing Malachi 3:6-12 to mind, reminding me that I am robbing Him as long as I have that money in my purse and not giving it her. Verse 10 says:
"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse,
that there might be food in my house.
'Test me in this,' says the Lord Almighty
'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven
and pour out so much blessing that
you will not have room enough for it.'"
that there might be food in my house.
'Test me in this,' says the Lord Almighty
'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven
and pour out so much blessing that
you will not have room enough for it.'"
This is the only place in the Bible where the Lord says "Test me".
Through this verse the Lord is saying: “When you give, I’ll give right back to you! Hoard your tithe and I’ll keep my blessing away from you” This is our part of the bargain. We need to step out in faith and sometimes give of what we don’t have and the Lord will meet us where we are at - and it’s a challenge too! The Lord says “Test me in this!” It is a promise that He is giving us, give and you shall receive!
Anyway, so yesterday I went to the bank and deposited that money into her bank account. As I was walking away from the bank it felt like a burden had been lifted off of my back and I prayed "Lord I have done my part, I really need you to do yours." And what happened?! Two hours later I received a letter from from a friend telling me that her and her group of friends, after having been on a missions trip, had some money left over that they didn’t know what to do with. So they prayed about it and the Lord brought me to their minds! They wanted to give me the overflow and were wondering about my bank details! Isn’t the Lord amazing!!! True to His promise, He met me where I was at.
One of my favorite sayings says:
If you are trusting you are not worrying
If you are worrying you are not trusting
If you are worrying you are not trusting
So many times we, and I’m including myself into that we, we worry. Wondering what is going to happen if this or that comes about.
Worrying means that we are not taking into account that we serve a God, THE God, the Creator of the Universe, and He has promised, as our Father, to provide for us.
Worrying means that, as we look at the equation of life, and all we see are the human digits, the outcome becomes finite and limited. So many times we forget to add God to those digits, but when we do, the outcome becomes infinite and limitless and we see hope at the end of the tunnel.
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more
than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20-21
