holding on so tightly that you’re not leaving room for the stuff He wants to
give you! God wants to bless you, but you’re too stubborn to receive His
blessings!” –Greg
I mentioned in my last blog that we took the Real Life teams
to downtown Atlanta for an overnight on the streets. Thanks to the help and
hospitality of the folks at Safehouse Outreach (http://www.safehouseoutreach.org/),
we were able to pull this off, and some good things came out of it.
Benny and I had about two hours to spare before the teams got
downtown, so we hung out with some of the folks hanging outside the facilities.
We met a homeless man named Greg, originally from Detroit, MI. He explained a
little about how he ended up on the streets, how he ended up down here in
Atlanta, and some of his church background. But the real interesting stuff
happened when he turned to me and said, “Now let me tell you what I think the
Lord is saying to you…”
Greg then went on about how God wants to bless me
financially. He wants to open up some big things for me to receive. Greg
continued to tell me about how I have been struggling financially in
the past while. It’s crazy because it’s true, but even crazier because I had
not said a word to Greg about what I do for a living. He then continued to tell
me about how God wants to release financial blessings on my life and ministry,
but that I have never released my finances to Him, basically saying “I don’t
trust you with finances, because you don’t trust Me.”
Another thing that Greg mentioned to me was that I haven’t “tithed”
in a while. And honestly, I haven’t given finances regularly to the Lord in at
least two years. It would be really easy to come up with the excuse “I haven’t
had an income in a year and a half.” But in reality, this is a perfect example
of how I haven’t trusted God to take care of my needs. I think about all of the
close friends I have around me who need financial help. These are my brothers
and sisters. I want to be able to support them as much as I can, no matter how
much or little I have, myself.
This is not just about my finances. This concept permeates my
entire life. I wrote a short blog not too long ago about how I had to grieve my
youth, how I have to be alright growing up and taking the responsibilities of
the things God is putting in my hands. I want to see God’s blessings pouring
out into my ministry and into my community. But if I am not trusting that God will
take care of those things, then I’m not going to see it happen, even if it is
happening.
Throughout the night on the streets, I learned a lot. I am
convinced that we met at least fifteen angels in downtown Atlanta in the middle
of the night. God spoke. The Holy Spirit moved. Jesus walked with us. My Father
showed me the keys to His Kingdom. He told me to trust Him with the things He’s
giving me. And if I do that, I’m going to receive those keys, and a whole lot
more.
And what’s really cool is… I was given Financial Coaching
from a Homeless Man.
