Gtcotr/22082116
A
little over 20 years ago our Church went through some very difficult times that
resulted in great financial need. As with any endeavor that requires money to
keep the doors open and the electricity bills paid, Church, like businesses and
families, can go through hard times. Through no design or fault of any
particular person or group of people it came about that while the numbers of
people attending was steadily increasing the amount of tithes and offerings
being given to the Church decreased steadily over the period of about 18 months
to the point to where we could barely survive.
Our
Elders and the Board believed God wanted our Church to continue its mission and
for this we needed to restructure our finances and position ourselves to
continue the vision of reaching our communities and the world with the Gospel
of Jesus Christ. It would not be easy but we believed it was worth our best
effort…
Those
who gave and those who didn’t … both shared in the benefits and blessings of
God delivering our Church from the failure that the devil had planned for us.
I Samuel 30 NKJV
4 Then David and the people
who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no
more power to weep.
5 And David’s two wives,
Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had
been taken captive.
6 Now David was greatly
distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the
people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David
strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
8 So David inquired of the
LORD, saying, "Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?" And
He answered him, "Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and
without fail recover all."
10 But David pursued, he and
four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so weary that
they could not cross the Brook Besor.
16 And when he had brought
him down, there they were, spread out over all the land, eating and drinking
and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land
of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.
17 Then David attacked them
from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped,
except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.
18 So David recovered all
that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives.
19 And nothing of theirs was
lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they
had taken from them; David recovered all.
23 But David said, "My
brethren, you shall not do so with what the LORD has given us, who has
preserved us and delivered into our hand the troop that came against us.
24 "For who will heed
you in this matter? But as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall
his part be who stays by the supplies; they shall share alike."
We
learn Three
Spiritual Truths from this account.
1. Nothing is sacred to the devil.
2. At some point you will have to encourage
yourself.
3. Faith makes things possible, it does not make
them easy.
Mark 9:24 Immediately the father
of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my
unbelief!"
Romans 3
3 For what if some did not
believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?
4 Certainly not! Indeed, let
God be true but every man a liar …
2 Timothy 2:13 If we are
faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.
