A Word for Our Arbor Family
James 1:17 tells us that "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father...". Every good thing in our lives is birthed from our Father: our possessions, our jobs, our intelligence, our abilities... even our Christlike characteristics are from Him.
In John 7:38, Jesus says "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
When we begin to align our lives with these two verses, we begin to understand and step into the flow of God's Spirit. If God gives you mercy, mercy should flow to others from you. If God gives you grace, grace should flow out of you. Pastor James and I try to live by this truth, including our giving. If we believe every good thing we possess comes from God that also includes our finances. Our God is generous with us therefore we should be generous with His Kingdom and His people. Just like we look for opportunities to show God's love, we look for God-given opportunities to give to His Kingdom. We simply ask in every situation, "Lord, what would You like us to give?" Sometimes He will speak an amount that is not within our current resources, so we commit to be faithful and allow the funds to flow from us to His purposes.
In 2001, we were at a Christian Camp. The speaker asked people to commit to give $10,000 to the camp because they had a great need. The Lord spoke to me to commit our church to give $10,000 in the next 30 days. I returned and told the church board what I had committed to and they agreed "IF" God sent in an unexpected $10,000 we would give it to the camp. During that season our weekly offerings were usually around $2000. Three weeks later, we received a check for over $100,000. Since our commitment as a church is to always give 10% of our revenue to outside ministries, it wasn't even a discussion item!
You see, God doesn't call us as His children and heirs to dam up any area of our lives. Any area that we choose to dam up for our own purposes removes us from the flow of His Spirit. Remember we are called to be "RIVERS". Just as rivers have their source, God is our source. He will pour into our lives in any area where we are willing to trust Him and flow.
Jump in, the water is just right!
In John 7:38, Jesus says "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
When we begin to align our lives with these two verses, we begin to understand and step into the flow of God's Spirit. If God gives you mercy, mercy should flow to others from you. If God gives you grace, grace should flow out of you. Pastor James and I try to live by this truth, including our giving. If we believe every good thing we possess comes from God that also includes our finances. Our God is generous with us therefore we should be generous with His Kingdom and His people. Just like we look for opportunities to show God's love, we look for God-given opportunities to give to His Kingdom. We simply ask in every situation, "Lord, what would You like us to give?" Sometimes He will speak an amount that is not within our current resources, so we commit to be faithful and allow the funds to flow from us to His purposes.
In 2001, we were at a Christian Camp. The speaker asked people to commit to give $10,000 to the camp because they had a great need. The Lord spoke to me to commit our church to give $10,000 in the next 30 days. I returned and told the church board what I had committed to and they agreed "IF" God sent in an unexpected $10,000 we would give it to the camp. During that season our weekly offerings were usually around $2000. Three weeks later, we received a check for over $100,000. Since our commitment as a church is to always give 10% of our revenue to outside ministries, it wasn't even a discussion item!
You see, God doesn't call us as His children and heirs to dam up any area of our lives. Any area that we choose to dam up for our own purposes removes us from the flow of His Spirit. Remember we are called to be "RIVERS". Just as rivers have their source, God is our source. He will pour into our lives in any area where we are willing to trust Him and flow.
Jump in, the water is just right!