As parents and leaders we set rules for the benefit of the follower. If children follow certain rules, they will be happy and successful in life. We understand this, and it amazes us when they refuse to obey to their own benefit. We put fences around our yards, not to prohibit their leisure, but to protect their lives.
Likewise, our heavenly Father has set up guidelines for our lives that, if followed, will bring us blessings. Isaiah 1:19 says, “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” God told the nation of Israel, “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days…” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).
Why is it that we have so much trouble trusting God to be true to His Word? “God is not a man, that he should lie, neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19). “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Corinthians 1:20). We are missing out today on God’s supply because of our lack of submission. “Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you” (Jeremiah 5:25).
In our first year of evangelism, my wife and I were struggling financially. When I went full time into the work, I only had three meetings scheduled over the next twelve months. But we knew that God had called us and claimed 1 Thessalonians 5:24: “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.”
During the first four months, God gave me opportunities to preach a few Sundays, some Christian day school chapels, and a couple of week-long revivals. As we headed into the Christmas season, I knew things were going to be rough. No one needs an evangelist during the last part of December.
My wife Diane taught in a Christian school, and I worked odd jobs to try to keep food on the table. Christmas was pretty meager that year. We made a few simple “craft” gifts for our family members and bought an eight dollar artificial Christmas tree. Back in October we had bought a wooden truck at a flea market for our eight-month-old son for fifty cents. We wrapped it up and put it under that tree. A couple of days later a small package appeared under the tree from my wife with my name on the outside. Earlier that summer, she had purchased a soulwinner’s New Testament for me for three dollars and had saved it for a Christmas gift. I was humbled by it and embarrassed that I had nothing to wrap up for her. I remember driving to K-Mart one evening to try to find a suitable gift. I found some half-dead poinsettias on sale for $2.97 with tax—three cents under my budget.
We enjoyed that simple Christmas and often laughed about it later. I only had one meeting in January—a Christian school chapel not far from home which gave me a love offering of thirty dollars. During that month of January our church had a stewardship banquet. I had never heard of such an event, but we gladly attended for the free ham dinner with all the trimmings!
That night a pastor from Chicago spoke on giving. I had been tithing since before I was saved, and I had no problem with giving God ten percent of everything that came my way. But that night the preacher asked us to pray about “giving.” When he finished, he asked us to kneel at our seat and ask God what percentage we should give to the Lord in the coming year from our income.
As I knelt I didn’t expect God to tell me anything—I didn’t have anything—but I went through the formality of prayer. To my surprise, He began speaking to my heart about giving fifteen percent of my income to the Lord through my local church. I was shocked. My total income for the month was thirty dollars, and God wanted fifteen percent! About that time, the preacher invited us to pray with our spouses about whatever the Lord was putting on our hearts. I looked at my wife and said, “This is the strangest thing, but God seems to be telling me that we should give fifteen percent.” To my surprise, she said, “That’s exactly what He told me!” I didn’t have any earthly idea how we would do it, but we committed ourselves that night in submission to His will for our lives.
That year was a wonderful year as we saw God bless our ministry and meet our needs. I held twenty-five revivals in that first year of evangelism, and God always seemed to provide just what we needed to pay our bills. As we headed toward another gap in meetings over the holidays, however, I began to doubt God. We were now traveling together with a truck and trailer, and we had payments on both that came due on the first of each month. As January 1 approached, I had $850 worth of bills to pay and no income.
One afternoon as I was sitting on the couch, the devil began to taunt me. He said in my mind, “If you wouldn’t have given that extra five percent to your church all year long, you would have more than enough money to pay your obligations.” I began to believe him and had a pity party right there in my living room.
Within about five minutes, the phone rang in the kitchen, and my wife informed me that the call was for me. A lady identified herself as Mrs. Sailor and said that she had been a widow for several years. Her twin boys had heard me preach at a camp the previous summer and had made some important decisions. Every Christmas, she told me, the three of them would sit down and try to think of someone in the ministry that they could help financially. She told me this year they wanted to help me. That snapped me out of my pity party. I was feeling sorry for myself, and here was a poor widow who wanted to help me.
As we talked and made the arrangements for her to give her gift through her local church to us, I was thinking about the sacrifice that this single mom and her two boys were making to send a few dollars on to me. Was I ever shocked when she informed me that I would receive a check from her church in a few days for $1,000! God not only met every bill but gave us enough to cover the fifteen percent back to Him! God gently reminded me of an important principle, “You submit, and I will supply!”
Do you trust God enough today to obey Him? He’s not trying to trick you; He means what He says. “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land” (Isaiah 1:19).
