Human limitations

P 3514 Things we can do to grow our faith.

/ DVH


Proverbs 11:25 TPT: “Those who live to bless others will have blessings heaped upon them, and the one who pours out his life to pour out blessings will be saturated with favour.” AMP: “The generous man [is a source of blessing and] shall be prosperous and enriched, And he who waters will himself be watered [reaping the generosity he has sown].”

Good morning! Let’s get into today’s thought …Hubby and I have been, financially speaking, living by God’s grace and allowing that life of giving to develop our faith for many years. We have learnt that this verse in Proverbs 11, in any version, is an excellent guideline. Using our faith and finances for the Lord’s purposes has stretched our faith in all kinds of directions.

I am mentioning this today because living by faith seems to be a huge step, and while many Christians aim at going to heaven, not quite so many aim at using their faith, here and now! Our faith can be suitably stretched and instructed when it comes to finances. Everything we have been given is for sharing with others….

So here we go again, with the same thought in four different verses. Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38: “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” That verse is in the bible four times. Repetition means pay attention! I have said on a number of occasions that the most practical way to step up into living by faith is to give. Money helps us live, and giving by faith outside of our human limitations, as Jesus leads us, stretches our faith.

We’ve also met a number of quiet givers over the 20 or so years we’ve been travelling for Jesus and giving away bibles. They have taught us so much about giving! These brothers and sisters are rarely seen, they give in secret. Jesus loves that idea – it’s in Matthew 6:1-4. These undercover brothers and sisters support others and don’t care if they get recognition or not. They simply love to give and help, as they trust Jehovah Jireh to provide for them. The truth is hubby and I couldn’t possibly do what we do without givers … but this is not my reason for writing about this subject today. I am not looking for your money!

My point today is that giving … no matter how strapped for cash etc you are… is a fantastic learning curve when it comes to practising faith. Tithing is great …do it. The pastor needs to live somewhere, he kind of enjoys EATING … plus his family may need transportation. However, I’m talking about giving above the tithe, because it is a way to love others. Give sacrificially. It has helped our faith grow when we’ve given, even when we didn’t have any spare finances. Can I be honest? We’ve found that there never seems to be any spare money! When we give sacrificially our faith becomes costly, and giving provides a great opportunity to use it for other people’s good, and our faith to grow.

When I talk about this subject I have had all kinds of lovely people explain that they don’t live this way because they can’t give cheerfully. See 2 Corinthians 9:7. Boy what a cop out that is! My advice is that anyone can learn to whack a smile on their face, grit their teeth and give their money, time, and help to … the Lord Himself. ‘Whatsoever you do, do it as unto the Lord.‘ The people we help are not the end of the line, they are the means God uses to teach and train us. When we do things for them, we are doing it for Jesus.

Almighty God uses our finances to diagnose what is really important in our lives! Money, or even the lack of it, makes a terrible god. Our God is a generous God – we can’t out give Him. Father God fed ALL the Israelites supernaturally in the wilderness … not just some of them, or the ones that were more obedient. If we want to be like Him then we will also need to be a generous people, guided by the Holy Spirit, helping others.

Loads of lovely Christian people flunk this test. BTW, God tests us – it says so in James 1:2-4! He tests and disciplines us. Hebrews 12:5-6 and Proverbs 3:11-12. Yet another excruciatingly popular subject. Back to giving. Giving is like breathing air. It provides us with opportunities to grow our faith. If your faith is down in the dumps and you are longing for a breakthrough, start by blessing other people. When we do that we are acting like Jesus did in Mark 1:21-38. The Lord had little money, but this passage shows us what Jesus did with His time, over the course of just one day.

James 2:14-17 says this: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

Yeah, I know, bring that up! This is what James advises us to do to exercise our faith. Let’s not practice dead faith by doing nothing! James is giving us good advice. Faith needs to be exercised or it flattens out and stops moving. My last point today is this: “without faith it is impossible to please God,” see Hebrews 11:6. So cultivating faith is a great asset that will help us in other areas, including pleasing our Heavenly Father.

We exercise our faith when we believe that He is, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently … did ya get that? … diligently seek Him. It has to be worked at. Sharing our finances is one of the things you and I can do to grow our faith. Bye. 👋.

P 3399 For parents of kids of any age. 

/ DVH

Back when I was actively involved in mothering my kids, I noticed that doing bible studies, taking time to pray with them, plus other Christian activities, were all great – but the most powerful impact by far – came from displaying my OWN FAITH. They needed my faith to be worked out daily in front of them. I was their witness to Jesus, in good times and bad. It was not just what I said, or taught that mattered — my actions and reactions did. They were learning about Jesus as they watched me trust Him.

Our living faith needs to be visible to our children – otherwise it becomes yet another theory. If that is difficult and you are constantly wrestling with your faith, then let them see that. Let them see you turn to Him for His help. I learnt, that you can’t just teach your kids and expect that they will somehow ‘catch’ Christianity like a cold, or farm out your responsibility to a Christian group. You get to sow the seeds in their hearts.

If you want to raise them to believe in Christ and all He did for us, you will need to make a quality choice to demonstrate your faith in front of them – in good times and bad. Meanwhile being positive all the time, creates pressure on a child. They feel things very keenly, it is far better to be real. Saying: “I’m not coping with God’s answers right now,” sets the stage for them to still go to God when they are not coping too!

Today I want to share a testimony – I hope it illustrates my point about visible faith adequately.  When my three children were very young, they wanted a swimming pool, but we couldn’t afford it, and so the kids were greatly disappointed. They were just little kids, so they wanted one anyway. On one very hot summer’s day they came to me and presented their reasons for wanting a pool …their Dad was at work at that time … and I knew darn well it was going to be an uphill battle.

So that day, I tried to pass the buck off onto the Lord, and suggested that we all pray together and ask Jesus for a pool instead. Anybody can see I had a wonderful attitude about this. Not. It wasn’t a very long prayer, and then I sent them off to have fun under the sprinkler. Later … that very same afternoon … my sister-in-law rang me. “We have something we want to pass on to your family,” she said – “It’s a pool!” We have just built an in-ground pool at our house, and we no longer need our above-ground pool anymore.” I nearly fell over. I mean, I couldn’t believe it! That instant answer to prayer floored me.

Then she uttered the magic words; … “Of course the kids’ uncle will come and install it properly, no charge at all.” My brother-in-law installed pools professionally!! Wow!  I told her, I would call back after I had talked to her brother. He said; “OK. ” All we needed to do was buy some sand and chlorinate it. My brother-in-law worked so carefully to install that pool, the guy was a master at what he did. The kids kept running in and out watching him, they were so excited. A week later they were swimming in it, and it had been  installed professionally! 

Jesus cares about childish faith. All the teaching in the world can’t give your child your faith. But you can help them to grow their own, by inviting them to pray with you, and then leaving the results with Him. The Lord is so kind, He lives way above our human limitations and restrictions, He simply doesn’t see them. Meanwhile my kids all knew that pool came from God Himself!

I exhort you, please don’t let your own fears, spiritual struggles or concerns stop you from visibly using your faith to encourage your children. Teach them there are times God says no – but because He is God, and He knows everything — He will have a reason for it. Many times since then my kids and I have had to pray for something they desperately needed, and the Lord kindly provided for them. I want to testify that those things stick with them.. 

Let’s quickly look at the prodigal son in Luke 11. This young man remembered what he had already seen in his own home years ago …. “When he came to his senses, …” He remembered what he had seen his earthly father do, and it prompted him to take a chance and go home!

My adult kids have their own living faith now. It is expressed differently than mine, but they have fought through their own disappointments and troubles to a better place, and  strengthened their own faith as they learnt to walk with Him themselves. Faith can create memories, just like it did for the prodigal son. David did that too – when he ran at Goliath, he had the memory of God helping him to kill a lion and a bear.

The Holy Spirit will help our families remember what they have seen Him do, right at the moment when they need it, and that’s for kids of any age. Bye.👋