Life is pretty hard sometimes. Wouldn’t you agree? Just when we think we have gained ten steps, something is there to knock us down and set us back twenty steps. It can be exhausting, overwhelming, and most of all FRUSTRATING!
It is so easy to get caught up in the bad and forget all the good. It is easy to think of what is not happening instead of focusing on what is going on behind the scenes.
But before I get ahead of myself, let me explain where I was Sunday morning and all last week. Let me warn you, it is pretty blunt (for those that don’t already know my personality). But keep reading to understand.
I know God has called me to the race. I know God has called me tell the lost about HIM. But I cannot go on the race without money. The subject that everyone avoids, ignores, and excuses is the subject that has to be discussed to get me to the eleven countries to tell people about Christ. People seem to be extremely excited and supportive of the amazing opportunity God has granted me, but the second I ask them to pray about supporting, they tune me out and ignore me.
With my fundraising struggles continuing to overpower me, I started to get a little annoyed at God. I mean, HE called me to this, why is HE not allowing people to jump on board and support me? I have on average 150 people read each blog, but those 150 people don’t realize that if all of them gave just $10, I would be $500 from my next deadline. Meaning, if every SINGLE ONE of you that reads these words gave at least $10, I would reach my next deadline. But no one gives.
So WHY doesn’t anyone give? I have my different fundraisers that allow people to give as little as $1. I have t-shirt sales, I have bracelets, and I am doing everything I know to gain support. BUT WHY do people read my blogs and chose to not give? Why do people read my messages to them but ignore them? What makes people NOT want to help one person but help another in the same situation? What am I doing wrong?
I have been extremely frustrated the last few days and especially Sunday morning. My deadline is literally SIX days away and I have $2,200 to raise. I KNOW God can make it so I am fully funded instantly. And to be quite fair, I have had two people donate the last three weeks, so there has been some progress, just no more progress than $110 towards my next financial goal.
I began my Sunday morning expressing my frustration to God and even venting to a friend a little at church before going into the service.
BUT THEN, things changed.
We had a special guest speaker on Sunday, my pastor’s “pastor” from Minnesota. And let me tell you, did he BRING THE WORD!
The message he spoke not only speaks to me about WHY God is not blessing me, but also why some of my readers may not want to give. The following are my notes from his sermon.
SO HERE GOES.
God is the God of OVERFLOW.
Right now, my cup is “broken”. There have been so many crises in my life the last month, that literally Sunday morning I was pouring my heart out to God and even told him, “I am so broken right now God!” as I cried on my way to church.
So how can I expect and trust God for overflow when my cup is broken? It will all fall out! RIGHT?
Simple answer “What you believe about God is what you receive from God!”
MY problem? I was and have been focused on the barrenness of my life and not believing in HIS blessing! Look at David.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…my cup overflows” Psalm 23:1-5
Apparently, when David wrote this, he was literally in a barren land, looking over an actual valley called “The Valley of the Shadow” which is even to this day, an extremely dangerous valley. YET DAVID, in his BARRENESS was BELIVEING for BLESSING!
“Stop describing your problems and start declaring his promises!! Determine what you believe about God before you see it.”
Here is another example of someone who is an OVERFLOW thinker. JESUS
“I came that they may have and ENJOY life, and have it in abundance (to the full until it overflows)” John 10:10
Take a look at Paul!
“To Him (Jesus) who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20
So where is my overflow? Where are HIS blessings so numerous? Where is the funding for the race? Why have I been in a drought of barren land for funding since July?!
I think there are two parts to the answers to these questions. The first part has to do with me. MY THINKING. The second is some of my future potential supporters could have the same problem with their thinking as I do!
The opposite of overflow thinking, is “lack” thinking. Lack thinking is “I can’t”, “I don’t have enough”, “I will never…” or even in my case, “No one will ever support me on this trip!” etc.
So, what is so bad about “lack” thinking?
We cannot bless anyone else with lack. If we have “lack” thinking, we don’t have anything to give!
When we live in lack, we end up being focused on OURSELVES (instead of OTHERS).
Finally…
An attitude of lack is discouraging to yourself (myself) and others.
My lack thinking, has made it so I think about myself, my problems, my crises, and it has become insanely discouraging for myself and I am sure others around me to see me discouraged! All I have been able to think about is “Why won’t anyone support ME?” “Why isn’t anyone giving?” “Life is so frustrating, I am so sad! I am bumming!”
So how do I, how do WE overcome the lack thinking and transition into OVERFLOW thinking? The overflow thinking of GOD WANTS TO BLESS US! Yes, that is right, not just me, but also YOU!
I need to stop focusing on my problems, my problem of not having my deadline close to being met. I need to realize, that I cannot conqueror my problems by focusing on them, I have to focus on the CROSS! I need to get my mind off my crisis and onto MY CHRIST!
“Just because on the surface it doesn’t look like anything is happening doesn’t mean God isn’t working! At just the right time at just the right place God will MOVE!”
Here are some verses that I am going to CLAIM that you yourself can claim for your life as well!
Proverbs 3:9-10 “Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.”
Malachi 3:8-10 “’Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, ‘I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!’”
I was LITERALLY just a few days ago telling a fellow squad mate the same thing in Malachi 3. I actually sent her the verse. The ONE area we can test God in, is the tithe. It is something I have been doing, and just because I have not yet seen a growth in support, doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen!
LUKE 6:38 “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full–pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”??
Mark 6:42-44 “They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftover bread and fish. A total of 5,000 men and their families were fed.”
The one thing that I loved about the story of the boy with the fish and loaves of bread is that the KEY to the miracle was the GIFT! There would not have been a miracle without the boy’s lunch as a gift! The BOY trusted Jesus with HIS GIFT and Jesus performed a miracle of OVERFLOW!
You may be thinking, “All I can afford is $5, but even THAT is PUSHING IT!” Let me encourage you, that GOD WILL BLESS your gift! The KEY to the miracle is in the GIFT!
God can’t bless what has not been given!
So right here, RIGHT NOW, I make the claim and commitment to my life that GOD WILL OVERFLOW his BLESSINGS! MY GOD is the God of OVERFLOW! I am going to stop focusing on the PROBLEM and start focusing on MY GOD! HE CAN make it so I am fully funded by launch! HE ALONE can make that miracle happen!
Will you allow him to use you to be one of the KEYS to the MIRACLE? Will you allow God to be the God of OVERFLOW in YOUR LIFE?
