Finances

Doing Good When It Isn’t Easy

It’s fun to do good when doing good is easy.  When rewards for well-doing abound, we rejoice in our labor.  We gladly look forward to carrying out our responsibilities and finishing “to do” lists.  Work seems like recreation. …

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In the Process of Succeeding

The four Gospels show us twelve apostles who stumbled through life from one failure to another.  Yes, they did some things right but the Gospel record emphasized their failures.  Then we turn to Acts and see the apostles racing from success to success.  Why such a contrast between the Gospel narrative and the Acts record?  I think God planned this to show us that we are in the process of succeeding. …

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When You Don’t Feel Blessed

Two thousand years ago God’s people felt unblessed.  Sure, they repeatedly read the promises God pronounced upon their ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but where were the blessings?  A foreign government manipulated their lives and ruthlessly repressed all yearnings for independence.  Poverty afflicted almost everyone and religious leaders used their influence for self-gratification. …

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Your Other Atmosphere

Our Creator chose to envelop earth in an atmosphere we call “air.” Air surrounds and sustains us, refreshes us and protects us from harmful sun rays.  Air makes life possible.  Two gases comprise the bulk of our atmosphere: nitrogen, about 79% and oxygen, a little more than 20%. …

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My “V” in the Moonlit Sky

A beautiful full moon illuminated the night sky.  I could plainly see my own shadow in the grass.  As I looked up to admire Father’s glorious handiwork, I noticed some clouds backlit by the shining moon.

Astonishingly, these clouds formed an almost perfect letter “V”.  There I was, awestruck by Father’s moon and stars.  Then, he thoughtfully threw in a “V” for victory; he provided a reminder of the victories he generously lavishes upon us. …

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God Will Provide

Judges 2.1In 2oo3, Delores and I decided to explore the possibility of returning to Japan as pastors of Tsukuba International Christian Assembly in Tsukba, Japan.  We flew to Tokyo and the missionary picked us up in his vehicle and we drove two or three hours to Tsukuba.  We spent three weeks there preaching every Sunday and visiting the people of this international congregation.  At the end of three weeks we told the current pastor that we would be willing to move to Japan in December 2003.  …

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Living by God’s Promises

messengers feetDelores and I always wanted to serve as missionaries.  We planned on going to the mission field early in our career, but that didn’t work out.  So, after pastoring eighteen years, we decided to move to Singapore, Southeast Asia.  On the other hand, the missions department had earlier turned down our application to serve as missionaries because of my legal blindness.  Well, we decided that we had to go to the mission field because we were in our early 40’s.  We couldn’t wait any longer. …

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Trusting Your Budget Buster

Cupped Hands

“Moses, we’re tired of this manna. Manna in the morning, manna in the evening, manna day after day. Give us meat to eat!”

The Lord responded to the peoples’ demand by saying, “Now the Lord will give you meat and you will eat it, you will not eat it for just one day or two days or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month….” 1

God’s spectacular promise busted Moses’ budget. The amount of meat God promised did not fit into Moses’ mental calculator. “And Moses said, ‘Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot and you say I will give them meat to eat for a whole month. Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?’”2

In spite of Moses’ doubts, the Budget Buster refused to deviate from the provision he promised. “The Lord answered Moses, ‘Is the Lord’s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.’”3

We normally associate the word budget with the word finances, but we have placed ourselves on many other budgets: ability budgets, time budgets, talent budgets. We refuse to go beyond our abilities, talents or time, because budgets place definite boundaries on us which we are afraid to overstep. So we remain locked in human inabilities, human wisdom and understanding, and human limitations.

But God’s love for us compels him to bust our budgets by asking us to do more than we ever thought possible. God only busts our budgets so he can free us from human limitations. Freed from human limitations, we experience God-size provision. “Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail in from the sea. It brought them all around the camp to about three feet above the ground. No one gathered less than sixty bushels.”4 A Bible scholar estimates that the Israelites gathered about 20,160,000,000 quail. That’s the way the Budget Buster works. He does “…immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.”5

                    How can we trust the promises given by our heavenly Budget Buster?

God Provides

Let Go of Our Human Explanations

Moses’ mental calculator powered up when God promised a one month’s supply of meat for millions of Israelis. Moses’ mind searched for human explanations that would force God’s promise to fit into his human brain. Must we slaughter all our cattle? Would there be enough if we catch all the fish in the sea? Moses reasoned.

Neither God nor his promises can fit into the human intellect. He can be known, but he cannot be fully explained. We can hear his promises, but never comprehend them. So, God simply told Moses that HE would carry out his own promise without human help.

Moses believed God’s word by letting go of his own human explanations. The leader of Israel decided to trust the Lord with all his heart and not lean on his own explanations. “Moses went out of the tent of meeting and told the people what the Lord had said.”When we can’t explain God’s greatness or the largeness of his promises, we choose to believe anyway. We let go of our human explanations and lay hold of the God who gives big promises.

Faith in God’s bounty rescues us from enslavement to our budgets. Then, divine power equips us to do what we thought we could not. Divine energy makes us more than we ever thought possible.

Trusting God's Promises

Go Beyond Our Minds

Trusting in the Lord with all our hearts and not leaning to our own explanations equips us to go beyond our minds. No, we don’t go out our minds, we go beyond them. Faith is not intellectual suicide—faith is depending on God’s infinite intellect. Should we expect an infinite person with an infinite genius to give human-size promises? Impossible! All God’s promises are like his person – immeasurable.

God knew what it would take to keep his promise to Moses. God knew he needed 20,160,000,000 quail. Moses had probably never seen more than a few quail at a time. But Moses stepped out of his budget by going beyond his mind. He trusted God to fulfill his own promise. Moses couldn’t figure things out, but he figured on God’s help and God came through.

We must set budgets for ourselves. We must live within our energy level, our financial situation and our human abilities. But sometimes it’s imperative for us to trust God’s promises and allow him to carry us beyond the boundaries of our budgets. Our heavenly budget buster enjoys performing miracles of provision. When life demands more of us than we can deliver, God will meet all our needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.7

 Footnotes

1. Numbers 11:18-20 
2. Numbers 11:21-22
3. Numbers 11:23
4. Numbers 11:31-32
5. Ephesians 3:20
6. Numbers 11:24
7. Philippians 4:19

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

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Trusting Your Budget Buster

3d human with a red question mark

“Moses, we’re tired of this manna. Manna in the morning, manna in the evening, manna day after day. Give us meat to eat!”

     The Lord responded to the peoples’ demand by saying, “Now the Lord will give you meat and you will eat it, you will not eat it for just one day or two days or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month…” Numbers 11:18-20.

     God’s spectacular promise busted Moses’ budget. The amount of meat God promised did not fit into Moses’ mental calculator. “And Moses said, ‘Here I am among six hundred thousand men on foot and you say I will give them meat to eat for a whole month. Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?’” (Numbers 11:21-22.) …

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Honor the Lord with Your Finances

My dad, J. R. Fields, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.  After the war he moved his family to Corpus Christi, Texas.  In the early 1950’s my parents attended revival services at DelMar college auditorium.  Dad had $6.00 and the Lord spoke to him to give all of it in the offering.  ($6.00 in the early ‘50’s represented lots of money—all he had for food for his family.)  The next morning, Monday, dad and mom received a $500 check from the Veteran’s Administration.  They said they owed this to him for the days of leave he didn’t take when serving in the military.  A few months later the Veteran’s Administration sent him another $500 which dad used to buy his first car.

Truly, we can rely on Proverbs 3:9-10: “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”

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Leaving Prayer, Entering Communion
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Chapter Titles

  • Introducing Yourself to Yourself
  • The Day I Quit Praying to God and Started Communing with God
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  • Maintaining Our Communion Chamber
  • Seeing Gardens of Eden Everywhere
  • Effective Prayer Requests
  • When God and Humans Interact

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