GOD'S FINANCIAL BLESSINGS! 4/92
--How to Receive them NOW! DO 2813
--By Maria Maria #171
1. Since Dad has already published so many tremendous Letters on God's financial plan, this will be just a little checklist to remind you of the Lord's requirements for receiving His financial blessing.
2. Our overall obedience to God & His Word. The main thing that God's blessings are contingent upon is our obedience--our obedience to the Lord & to the Word. "And all these blessings shall come on thee, & overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. If they obey & serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, & their years in pleasures."--Deut.28:2; Job 36:11.
3. Follow God's Word for today. It's especially important that you follow closely and stay tuned in to where the Lord is leading today, according to the direction and guidance given in the most recent Letters. If you strive to obey, seek first, and wholeheartedly put into practice whatever vision is presented in the new Letters, the Lord will pour out His blessings upon you. "If ye abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."--John 15:7. Staying fluid and letting the Lord change your priorities and/or witnessing methods etc., through the guidance in His Word is vital to obtaining His financial blessing. For example, if we want the Lord to bless us financially we must be faithful to obey the Lord's counsel and warning, which was given at the Summit '92 Meetings and passed on to the Family at the three-day Fast, to get out the meaty Message--the warning and Endtime message. "For though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel! If I do this thing willingly, I have a reward. He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully."--1Cor.9:16,17a; 2Cor.9:6.
4. Tithe faithfully. God always blesses His people when they tithe, setting aside the 10% that is His & refusing to touch it for any other purpose. We can then be confident that He will "pour out a blessing that there will not be room enough to hold!" (Mal.3:10.) Dad says, "He will do it just as sure as the Law of Gravity! It's His Law of Economics--if you put Him first & you pay your full tithe, God will bless you for it & He'll see to it that you have more than enough to pay the rest of your bills." ("God First!" DB1, page 173.) "Honour the Lord with thy substance, & with the firstfruits of all thine increase. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, & thy presses shall burst out with new wine."--Pro.3:9,10.
5. Live by Acts 2:44 & 45. Of course, another vital part of our obeying the Lord & the principles of His Word is making sure that we're strictly adhering to Acts 2:44 & 45, sharing & wisely using what He's already given us: "All that believed were together, & had all things common; & sold their possessions & goods, & parted them to all men, as every man had need." We know from the Book of Acts that God blesses sharing & "common-potting" as we call it, & doesn't bless withholding, as in the case of Ananias & Sapphira. (See Acts 2-5.)
6. Be faithful to give to others. What I'm talking about here, of course, is over & above our tithes. "Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver."--Pro.3:27; 2Cor.9:7. (See also 2Cor.8:14.)
7. The following is a little example of how the Lord blesses giving: When Peter was visiting at the HCS he found out that the Home was completely out of funds. He held a "share the know" meeting, explaining the financial state to all the teens & adults, as well as the expenses the Home faced, & he asked if they would be willing to share any funds they were holding, not including their flee funds, in accordance with Acts 2:44 & 45.--And the members of the Home turned in $4,000! Then, realizing that another Home in the area, which was undergoing hardship, had even more desperate needs than they did, the HCS voted to give the $4,000 to that Home! Because of being faithful to Acts 2:44 & 45, as well as giving to others outside of their Home, within just a few days the Lord blessed them with a donation of ten times the amount they had given away. Within just a few months, the Lord supplied all the needs for them to build a park & swimming pool next to the school. The Lord supplied all of their needs, even more than they needed! Giving to others outside your own Home--offerings, gifts etc.--is very important & is something the Lord really blesses. If you give, you receive! "Give, & it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, & shaken together, & running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. The liberal soul shall be made fat: & he that watereth shall be watered also himself."--Luk.6:38; Pro.11:25.
8. Be faithful to witness & win souls at every opportunity, in every situation. If you put souls first, God will take care of the supply. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, & His righteousness; & all these things shall be added unto you."--Mat.6:33.
9. Win & take care of kings & supporters. The Word promises, "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?"--1Cor.9:11. If you're faithfully witnessing, winning souls, feeding your kings & supporters & praying for them, then in full faith you can ask for their tithes, gifts & support, & expect the Lord to touch their hearts to give! "Ask, & it shall be given you; seek, & ye shall find; knock, & it shall be opened unto you."--Mat.7:7.
10. Ask for referrals. Our kings often know other people who need the message of God's Love, & who could become our friends & helpers too. Some Homes have had real success in meeting & making important new contacts by letting their existing kings & friends introduce us to them. Our kings & supporters can also give us ideas & suggestions on new ways to get out our tools & Message to others like them.--We just need to be faithful to ask them to help us in these ways, & by so doing, we're not only getting the benefit of meeting & reaching new potential supporters, but our present kings & helpers also benefit & are blessed by really doing something to help us reach others! "I will bless them that bless thee. Let him that is taught in the Word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things."--Gen.12:3; Gal.6:6.
11. Pray in forsake-alls. If you're going to pray for new disciples in whom you will be investing hundreds of hours of time & training & prayer, then you ought to pray that along with them will come their finances. After all, if we're going to invest the great effort & time that is necessary to win & train new disciples, then I don't see why we can't ask the Lord for some financial remuneration to come along with them. Of course, receiving financial benefits is not our motivation, but we can ask God in full faith to support this expenditure of our time & energy. And no amount of money that we would receive from our new disciples, no matter how great, could ever compare to the training & spiritual riches that our new disciples receive. "Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, & brought the prices of the things that were sold, & laid them down at the apostles' feet: & distribution was made unto every man according as he had need."--Acts 4:34,35.
12. Give others the vision to tithe. I believe the Lord can bring in more supporters if we're willing to put new converts & friends on the spot & present them with the principle of tithing a lot earlier than we have been. You need to get down to business with people & tell them, "The Lord is going to bless you if you start giving your 10% to the Lord's Work, & your offerings as well!" Of course, you have to show them that you are being faithful as pastors to minister to them, your church, so that they will feel confident that what they're giving to the Lord's Work will be well & wisely used. "Charge them that are rich in this World, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. It hath pleased them verily; & their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister unto them in carnal things."--1Tim.6:17-19; Rom.15:27.
13. Pray for the sick. As you start having more faith in the Lord for healing & as you start praying for those you come in contact with, the Lord will start working more than ever before. New converts who have been healed will often become good solid friends, & will be so grateful to you that they'll be willing to do anything to help you, they'll feel so thankful for you & obligated to help you. After all, you're then not only their mother or father in the Lord, but you've been their way to healing as well, their physician in the Lord. "And when He had called unto Him His twelve disciples, He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, & to heal all manner of sickness & all manner of disease. [EDITED: "Those"] which had diseases in the island came, & were healed: who also honoured us with many honours; & when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary."--Mat.10:1; Acts 28:9,10. (See also Mat. 10:8-10.)
14. Diversify your channels of support. This means not putting all of your eggs in one basket, & not over-emphasising any one means of support to the neglect of the others. In other words, don't just depend on your kings or on just your distribution income or on just your prayer letter income etc. Then if one means of support does not come through for some reason, you'll have an alternate means of support.
15. Not long ago, Marianne shared a lesson they had learned along these lines. She said: "We had a Home meeting at which time we discussed our finances & the fact that we hadn't been bringing in sufficient income to support our Home. We usually have a lot of variety in our witnessing. We have our teens & our busking group to reach the youth, we participate in the S.O.S. Club (Meaningful Meetings), we have seminars, we have the Lunch Prayer Meetings for our friends, & Bible studies for the employees of our king, & many of our musicians go bar singing. But we realised that lately everyone had been spending most of their witnessing time concentrating on reaching travellers & Japanese young people. We had recently been sharing a lot of testimonies about reaching the youth, & it seems that as a result everyone in our Home wanted to do that type of witnessing. We realised that the Lord wanted us to diversify our witness. When we don't have a well-rounded balance of different witnessing methods, the Lord always seems to use our lack of finances to show us that we need to reexamine our priorities.
16. "{\ul As we prayed & counselled together, the Lord gave us the Letter, `Count Your Blessings'}. When we tried to see how that Letter applied, we realised that one of our blessings is that we have many musicians in our Home. The Lord has opened some real good doors for our musicians to perform, & unless we walk through these doors & take advantage of these Golden Opportunities, we might miss the boat. So after learning this lesson we tried to straighten out our priorities.
17. "This seems to be a lesson we continue to learn, that a wrong balance in our witnessing displeases the Lord, but a just balance is His delight. We did a Daily-Dex study on `God's Supply', which was really inspiring; & we saw how in so many Letters Dad mentions how the Lord blesses a good balance in our witnessing & follow-up." "A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is His delight."--Pro.11:1.
18. Place people where they can best be used, & when it comes to raising support, use people who are most gifted in those areas; for example, those who have the most faith for funds or for provisionments or for winning kings & supporters etc., work in that ministry. "And He gave some, apostles; & some, prophets; & some, evangelists; & some, pastors & teachers; for the body is not one member, but many. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called."--Eph. 4:11; 1Cor.12:14; 1Cor.7:20.
19. Praise & thank the Lord for what you've got. God loves thankfulness! And if He sees that you're genuinely thankful to Him & are praising Him for all the blessings & benefits He's already given you, He'll be happy to give you more if you need it. But if He sees that you're not thankful, but are down in the mouth & murmuring & complaining about what you've got, then why should He give you more? So please Him by praising Him & keeping a sincerely grateful attitude towards the Lord for all of His goodness towards you. "By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name. Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation."--Heb.13:15; Psa.68:19.
20. It's especially important to keep an attitude of praise & thanksgiving flowing through your Home & not allow murmuring & discontent to go unchecked. Murmuring can cause the Lord to dry up His fountains of supply real quickly, so keep praising! "And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: & the Lord heard it; & His anger was kindled; & the fire of the Lord burnt among them, & consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, & were destroyed of the destroyer."--Num.11:1a; 1Cor.10:10.
21. Stay in unity & share the know. One of the most important ways of preventing murmuring is by staying in unity & good communication concerning the finances--your income & your expenses. One of the best ways of doing this is by sharing the know in detail, using the actual numbers instead of just percentages, with all the Home members from senior teens on up. This way everyone will be aware of what your Home's needs are, how you're doing financially, etc. This communication will help shift the burden of the finances off the shoulders of just a few people in the Home Teamwork & onto the shoulders of all the mature members in the Home. This way everyone's faith & prayers can pull together to seek the Lord for the Home's needs. Everyone will be aware of the Home's financial needs & will be able to pray specifically & desperately! (Be sure to not only share the Home's needs, but also share the answers to prayer as well, which will build everyone's faith & be a tremendous source of encouragement!) "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart & of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. If two of you shall agree on Earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in Heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them."--Acts 4:32; Mat.18:19,20.
22. Be a good steward. Remember God's principle, if you're faithful over few things, He will make you ruler over many! Besides your praise & thanksgiving, how do you show the Lord that you're appreciative & thankful for what He's already given you?--By taking good care of it, by being a faithful steward. "Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. Who then is a faithful & wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing."--1Cor.4:2; Mat. 24:45,46.
23. Austerity. Another way of being a good steward is to be saving, to practice the principles of frugality that Dad has taught us in so many Letters.--To avoid waste, to always look for the best deals, to try to get the most for your (the Lord's) money. "When they were filled, He said unto His disciples, `Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.'"--Jn.6:12.
24. Budgeting. One of the best ways to practice austerity & make sure you're investing the Lord's money well is to keep a budget. If you're faithfully setting money aside for your bills & regular expenses, you'll be much more on top of it & you'll know exactly where you stand financially, which will help avoid the end-of-the-month "cram" when it comes time to pay your rent. "He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich. He that gathereth in Summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame. The substance of a diligent man is precious."--Pro.10:4,5; 12:27b.
25. Have more Word-based faith. I'm concerned about the Family's general lack of faith for the Lord to supply their needs. I believe that many of our Homes may be leaning too much on the arm of the flesh, depending on the Video, Tape & Poster distribution to bring in funds, rather than praying it in. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, & that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."--Heb.11:6.
26. Of course, the Lord wants us to do our part, to do what we can do. He doesn't want us to just sit around & not do anything & just say, "Lord, drop it from the sky!" But it seems to me that the Lord's not allowing our Tape distribution, our support from kings, our provisioning etc. to be enough. Most of our Homes can manage to get by, yes, but not quite enough to really give us the edge that we need so we don't have to live hand-to-mouth, so we can do more follow-up & more ministering to people, so we can really do the right kind of ministering, & even have a chance to relax sometimes, & sit back & pray about things & think about things & not just be rushing out the door every day from dawn to dusk trying to get out the Videos & the tools just to get enough money to survive that night & the next day! So I'm concerned that we need more faith for the Lord to do what we can't do, & for Him to do it supernaturally. "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?"--Jer.32:27. (See also Mat.6:30-33.)
27. I feel convinced that the Lord wants us to expect miracles--& in order to do this we need to fight what many people refer to as the "it-can't-be-done" spirit, the lethargic spirit of lack of faith & leaning on the arm of the flesh. So let's fight that spirit, & get stirred up & really pray & look to God for outright miracles!
28. Desperately pray & rely upon the Lord. When it comes to our physical needs, in many ways the Family in general has gotten away from real utter dependence on the Lord, & the Lord alone! They've gotten more dependent on the funds generated through the distribution of our tools & on our needs being supplied through provisioning.
29. Now I want to hasten to say that we do need the Videos, we do need our distribution tools.--And the Lord almost forces us to get them out because we need support. If we didn't, we probably wouldn't be as faithful to get them out. So I'm not demeaning those or belittling that or saying we're not doing the right thing in bringing in support through distribution. The same goes for provisioning; we need to provision. I don't think the Lord will bless us if we don't provision, or if we don't get out the tools. "I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread."--Psa.132:15.
30. But I feel we're lacking in real full-of-faith desperate prayer for the Lord's supernatural supply through whatever means! Our Homes need to pray for the Lord's miraculous, supernatural supply in a very supernatural way, not just through the Videos--which, in some ways, comparatively speaking, can almost become like the "arm of the flesh." It's important to ask the Lord to bring in support through our tools, but that's usually not enough! We definitely need to have desperate prayer for the Lord's supernatural supply to not just be able to survive, but to have all that the Lord wants us to have in the way of comfort & convenience & efficiency. "Thou hast given him his heart's desire, & hast not withholden the request of his lips."--Psa.21:2.
31. The Lord supplies our basic survival needs through our fund raising by means of supporters, newsletters, distribution of our witnessing tools, etc., but He could give us much more if we would desperately pray for those "extras," those things that aren't exactly luxuries, but neither are they desperate needs--they are, however, things which will help us to be more comfortable & to serve the Lord more easily. The Lord wants to give us above all that we can ask or think, & He wants to supply all our needs according to His great riches. "Delight thyself also in the Lord; & He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. The young lions do lack, & suffer hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing."--Psa.37:4; 34:10.
32. If you read the story of George Mueller, the man of God who helped thousands of British orphans in the last century, you'll see how he raised thousands & thousands & thousands of Dollars during his lifetime, which back then was a huge amount, for his orphanages. He had a policy that he would never ask anyone for anything. He only asked the Lord! He lived totally by faith. He simply prayed it in. Of course, the Lord used people to give him the money, but it was completely the Lord's doing, because he never asked anyone but God. (See Good Thots 2, Pg. 1814, for more on George Mueller.)
33. Many Christians of the old school seem to have used the same practice. They simply believed that, "Our Father Who seeth in secret will reward us openly." They didn't think they should ask anyone except the Lord. Now, of course, we know better, & we know it's not only all right to ask others, but the Lord wants us to. His Word plainly says, "Charge them that are rich in this World, that they be rich in good works & ready to distribute" & share their wealth!--1Tim.6:17-18. The Lord wants us to give a blessing to those who, when asked, respond to the need. But in Mueller's case, the Lord honoured his faith tremendously! He prayed in thousands upon thousands of Dollars!--God moved people to answer this dear man's prayers. I've heard of many other stories of miraculous provision when people prayed & just gave their needs to the Lord. And we may find ourselves forced in the future to raise our support by relying on the Lord's miraculous supply alone, but we can be assured He will never fail. "The Lord God is a sun & shield: the Lord will give grace & glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly. I have been young, & now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging [EDITED: "lacking"] bread."--Psa.84:11; 37:25. (See also Rev.12:14.)
34. But now, although we can in full confidence employ the Scriptural principle that "they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel" & "if we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things," we need to make sure we have the right balance & not get to relying so much on the help from these supporters that we forget that the Lord wants us to also ask Him for His direct, miraculous, supernatural intervention & help. The problem is often that we mainly ask others but we don't ask the Lord enough. The point I'm trying to emphasise is that we need to have more desperate prayer for our needs, that the Lord will directly move others, through our prayers, when we have done what we can with our limited personnel & time.
35. If you're doing all you can & being obedient to the best of your ability but you're still lacking, what you need is desperate prayer. When you pray with your whole heart, God will move & work in your behalf. "Ye shall seek Me, & find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart. He shall call upon Me, & I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, & honour him."--Jer.29:13; Psa. 91:15. (See also Jer.33:3.)
36. As I've said, of course the Lord does supply through provisioning, & through our distribution of our Videos, Tapes & Posters. But I believe that the Lord wants to also supply supernaturally!--Like "The Dime from the Sky," just to show that it's completely Him, that He's done it all, that it didn't have anything to do with something we did! If we go provisioning & we ask for something, well, then we can pat ourselves on the back & take a little of the credit. If we go out Videoing & Postering, we can do the same. Of course, we know the Lord opened the doors, but we did a lot of the work.
37. That's usually why the Lord allows us to get in desperate situations, so we'll have to depend on Him & Him alone, & look to Him for miracles. When you just pray it in, you haven't asked anybody but the Lord, & then when He supplies it, you know it's a total miracle!--It gives you a tremendous boost in the Spirit to know that you didn't do anything about it except call on the Lord desperately to do the miracle! It's wonderful! It increases your faith so much to see real miracles that you know are miracles! There is no doubt that nobody but the Lord had anything to do with them! He doesn't have to share the glory with anybody! (See Judges 7:2, as well as "The Two-Way Supply Street," in FSM 225.)
38. Marianne, for example, has reported repeated instances when they were desperate for finances. Even though they had kings & supporters available who would have been happy to help them, because their kings were already doing so much for them, they felt hesitant to approach them for anything more. So they desperately asked the Lord to do miracles in supplying the large amounts of funds they needed, & the Lord never failed to come through for them every time.
39. The Lord wants us to pray, to call out to Him to supply our needs, & He's promised that He will!--"My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!"--Phil.4:19. So whether He supplies via distribution or provisioning, kings or any other method, it's still His supply. If He brings in enough through Videos & provisioning & kings & all the rest, well, praise God, it doesn't really matter how the Lord decides to work!
40. But what does matter is that we need to take more of our needs to the Lord in desperate prayer. It's not enough just to pray a little routine prayer, "Lord, please help us to get enough Videos out to pay the rent." That attitude is somewhat a reliance on ourselves & how much work we do, how many times we go out. The Lord will honour our depending on Him rather than on people or tools, or anything else. He'll be pleased by our faith & trust in Him, our confidence in His Love & care, & He'll bless it! We need to make our support a matter of real desperate prayer, even maybe praying that the Lord will miraculously supply it, if for nothing else than to increase our faith! "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, & find grace to help in time of need."--James 5:16b; Heb.4:16.
Summary of the Lord's requirements for receiving His financial blessings:
1. Our overall obedience to God & His Word.
2. Follow God's Word for today.
3. Tithe faithfully.
4. Live by Acts 2:44 & 45.
5. Be faithful to give to others.
6. Be faithful to witness & win souls.
7. Win & take care of kings & supporters.
8. Ask for referrals.
9. Pray in forsake-alls.
10. Give others the vision to tithe.
11. Pray for the sick.
12. Diversify your channels of support.
13. Praise, thank the Lord for what you've got.
14. Stay in unity & share the know.
15. Be a good steward.
16. Austerity
17. Budgeting
18. Have more Word-based faith.
19. Desperately pray & rely upon the Lord.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family