Trusting God to give for missions
In the last day, the young missionary pastor sat near the pulpit thanking the Lord for a blessed missionary convention in his church in that year. The ushers were distributing the faith promise card to his church. To the surprise of the pastor, an usher came near the pastor and gave him a faith promise card. The pastor never in his life had thought that a pastor should give the filled in pledge card and support missions. He had the idea that the pledge card was only for the congregation members. He never thought that he also could involve in missions financially. The question that came to his mind was, ‘How can I promise to give when my salary is only $25 per week?’ He had to support his family with this meager income. How could he promise to give a considerable amount for missions?
While these thoughts were flashing in his mind, he felt that the Lord was telling him to promise something for missions. So he closed his eyes and started praying while the people were filling up the faith promise card. He prayed, “Lord, I can’t take part in this offering. The church is paying me $25 per week. I have a wife and a family to support; prices are sky high. I have nothing in the pocket. Therefore it is quite evident that I cannot participate in this offering.”
Then the Lord told the pastor that He was planning to teach him a lesson. The pastor felt the Lord whispering to him, “I am not asking you to give out of what you have. Will you trust Me to put extra money into your hands so that you may give it to foreign missions?” The pastor asked the Lord to tell him the amount for which he was to trust the Lord to give for missions.
The Lord asked him to promise $50 per year. The pastor was very much amazed, because his salary was only $25 per week. Where would he find the amount? But the Lord asked him to trust Him to provide it. Convinced that the Lord was leading him to give $50 for missions, he filled up the faith promise card with shaking hands and gave it to one of the ushers.
The pastor did not have money, and he could not take it from his salary. So he started to pray to the Lord to give $50 for the missions. That year the Lord enabled him to give that amount for missions. Then in the next convention the Lord asked him to double this amount to $100. The pastor obeyed and the Lord supplied this amount also. Then in the next convention he promised $200 and went on doubling the amount that he gave for missions every year. Thus the giving of the pastor increased each year and he gave thousands of dollars for missions over the years. The pastor promised in faith and the Lord provided the money to give to missions. This pastor is none other than Oswald J. Smith.
How much do you trust the Lord to give to the ministry every year? Do you increase your giving as the years go by?
