Once, a preacher listened to another's sermon. The one preaching afterward commented that he never prepared for his sermons, but instead let the Holy Spirit preach. The listening pastor retorted, "You can't blame THAT [the sermon] on the Holy Spirit!"
Christians know that God is our provider. We know that we are to place all our faith and trust in Jesus. So if God is going to provide for us and meet all our needs, then why not just sit around and wait for Him to do His thing? I mean after all, wouldn't that show that we have greater faith and trust Him more?
Yesterday Joyce saw a woman and a couple of teenagers taking donations for a church youth fundraiser. They asked her if she would like to make a donation. She asked what they were raising money for, and to her surprise, the woman answered, "For our pastor's appreciation gift!" Wow!! I am still shocked that this is something worthy of a fundraiser! If she appreciates her pastor, who is not my pastor and who I do not know, then why doesn't she give him a gift? Why doesn't she cook supper for his family? Why does his congregation have to beg at the door of Walmart for a gift of appreciation for him? It is totally appalling and shameful that they would pass up the gifts God has given them to give, and instead plead for gifts from those who do not truly appreciate the man.
I can just imagine how Joyce would feel if our kids begged for money outside Walmart to get her an expensive Mother's Day gift. What was this woman thinking!
In 2 Kings 4, a distressed widow asked Elisha for help. She would soon lose her two sons to slavery if she didn't pay off her debts. Instead of giving her money, Elisha asked what she owned. Understand this carefully: A lump cash sum of $100,000 would not have helped this woman the way God wanted to help her. She may have expected money, but God wanted her to trust Him and get closer to Him. She only had a little oil in a jar. Elisha told her to borrow vessels, "and not just a few." She could borrow as many containers as she liked, but it required leg work. Eventually she decided she had enough, and she and her sons filled them all up out of their small jar. But once they were out of empty jars, the oil stopped. She then sold the oil, paid off her debts, and they lived off the remaining money.
Where did her preparation meet God's provision? The widow's action of faith was the preparation. She gathered vessels. She poured the oil. She paid the debt. But it was God who filled the vessels. God stretched the oil. God provided everything for her to pay.
Another story is of Naaman the leper. He wanted to be healed of leprosy, but He didn't like what God instructed him to do. Why wash in the Jordan river when the rivers back home are cleaner? What if he would have washed somewhere else besides the Jordan? He would have died a leper. Even if he would have washed six times, he still would not have obeyed. It had to be seven.
Here, Naaman's act of obedience was the preparation. There is nothing magical about those particular waters that will heal a sickness after seven baths. It was only for Naaman at that time. God provided the cleansing of Naaman's infected tissue and skin for healing.
All said, we know that God is the one who provides for us and it is not of ourselves. But for any doubters still, if God just wanted His children to sit around and do nothing, He could have left out a good portion of the Bible. Nehemiah would have sat in a lawn chair drinking a pina colada instead of building the broken wall. Esther would have kept silent, and Joseph would have kept those dream interpretations all to himself. Noah would have been looking for a very large package from Federal Express, because surely God wouldn't have meant for him to lift a finger to build the ark! Surely not!
I think you see my point: God is our provider, but He expects us to do what we can with what He has given us, but it is He who ultimately does His work through us.
--Johnie
Christians know that God is our provider. We know that we are to place all our faith and trust in Jesus. So if God is going to provide for us and meet all our needs, then why not just sit around and wait for Him to do His thing? I mean after all, wouldn't that show that we have greater faith and trust Him more?
Yesterday Joyce saw a woman and a couple of teenagers taking donations for a church youth fundraiser. They asked her if she would like to make a donation. She asked what they were raising money for, and to her surprise, the woman answered, "For our pastor's appreciation gift!" Wow!! I am still shocked that this is something worthy of a fundraiser! If she appreciates her pastor, who is not my pastor and who I do not know, then why doesn't she give him a gift? Why doesn't she cook supper for his family? Why does his congregation have to beg at the door of Walmart for a gift of appreciation for him? It is totally appalling and shameful that they would pass up the gifts God has given them to give, and instead plead for gifts from those who do not truly appreciate the man.
I can just imagine how Joyce would feel if our kids begged for money outside Walmart to get her an expensive Mother's Day gift. What was this woman thinking!
In 2 Kings 4, a distressed widow asked Elisha for help. She would soon lose her two sons to slavery if she didn't pay off her debts. Instead of giving her money, Elisha asked what she owned. Understand this carefully: A lump cash sum of $100,000 would not have helped this woman the way God wanted to help her. She may have expected money, but God wanted her to trust Him and get closer to Him. She only had a little oil in a jar. Elisha told her to borrow vessels, "and not just a few." She could borrow as many containers as she liked, but it required leg work. Eventually she decided she had enough, and she and her sons filled them all up out of their small jar. But once they were out of empty jars, the oil stopped. She then sold the oil, paid off her debts, and they lived off the remaining money.
Where did her preparation meet God's provision? The widow's action of faith was the preparation. She gathered vessels. She poured the oil. She paid the debt. But it was God who filled the vessels. God stretched the oil. God provided everything for her to pay.
Another story is of Naaman the leper. He wanted to be healed of leprosy, but He didn't like what God instructed him to do. Why wash in the Jordan river when the rivers back home are cleaner? What if he would have washed somewhere else besides the Jordan? He would have died a leper. Even if he would have washed six times, he still would not have obeyed. It had to be seven.
Here, Naaman's act of obedience was the preparation. There is nothing magical about those particular waters that will heal a sickness after seven baths. It was only for Naaman at that time. God provided the cleansing of Naaman's infected tissue and skin for healing.
All said, we know that God is the one who provides for us and it is not of ourselves. But for any doubters still, if God just wanted His children to sit around and do nothing, He could have left out a good portion of the Bible. Nehemiah would have sat in a lawn chair drinking a pina colada instead of building the broken wall. Esther would have kept silent, and Joseph would have kept those dream interpretations all to himself. Noah would have been looking for a very large package from Federal Express, because surely God wouldn't have meant for him to lift a finger to build the ark! Surely not!
I think you see my point: God is our provider, but He expects us to do what we can with what He has given us, but it is He who ultimately does His work through us.
--Johnie
