February 26 2018 – Click here to listen
I attended Christ Fellowship Church yesterday and it was excellent. Joyce Meyers spoke and while of course I was familiar with her ministry, yesterday was the first time I’d had the pleasure of hearing her speak.
She of course has attained mega status in the Bible teaching world and I believe she said her broadcasts go all over the world and are now being broadcast in some 78 languages.
It was interesting to hear her tell of the early days of her ministry. She quit her job despite being at a point where her family desperately needed her income. She began teaching Bible study fulltime because she did not feel she could devote enough time to learning the Bible while working a fulltime job.
The family income was such that every penny of every dollar counted, and I mean that literally. She was discouraged and wondering if she had perhaps made the wrong decision but trudged on. The family had no extra money to spend and it even reached a point where one day she prayed for ten new wash cloths. Imagine being so broke you prayed for ten wash cloths. Miraculously that prayer was answered when a lady arrived on her doorstep and said she had no idea what was going on, but the Lord told her to deliver ten brand new wash cloths to her.
That answered prayer proved to be a seminal moment and a source of great encouragement for her. She had been struggling for years without even one person financially supporting her ministry and Satan was trying to convince her that God was ignoring her prayers and she should give up.
Well that was then, and this is now. She no longer prays for ten wash cloths. Today she prays that the immense financial needs of her gigantic ministry will be met by generous contributors who want to get the word of God out to a world that is starving for it.
Her message was primarily concerning jealousy of those God picks to bless. Of course, she has experienced those in her life who have been jealous of her success, but she gave numerous examples of how she too was envious of those receiving blessings while she was struggling, saying, “That was great for them, but why not me??? Why won’t God bless ME???”
She remained steadfast in her faith however; and God eventually at a time of His choosing blessed her with a tsunami of blessings.
She made the remark that perhaps those people who are jealous of those blessings of God she’s received, should have been there in the beginning when she was using her calculator at the grocery store to ensure she didn’t suffer the humiliation of not having enough money to pay for groceries as she counted out the precise amount of money available to buy groceries for her family each time she went.
I can relate. I’ve experienced plenty of people who resented the fact that I was blessed so abundantly by God. They however, were not with me when I was homeless, or when
I first got married and lived in a one room apartment and took a city bus to work because I could not afford a car. They did not see me literally working 20 hours per day year after year to succeed.
I remained faithful and never lost faith in God despite setbacks that were heartbreaking.
Today as I try to build the Jesus Alliance to a major force for Christ, once again I remain hopeful and faithful. We have very few financial supporters and have had to start off very SLOW; something I do not like but understand.
I’ve seen ministries flourishing around me, and sometimes through gritted teeth I said praise God when friends told me of all the millions of dollars they were receiving from generous donors for their ministries. I experienced a little of the jealousy that Joyce Meyers was talking about, by thinking that’s great for them, but what about me. But despite setbacks we steadily grew from just a few followers to a point where we are sending out over a million of messages per month. I have no doubt God will continue with His blessings until we are sending a billion or more and far beyond that.
I hope to live long enough to see those days, but that is up to God and I accept that.
Don’t be discouraged if your efforts are not immediately blessed by God. He is well aware of your struggles and your needs. You might ask, Does God really mean it when He says that He will give us what we ask for? Read and believe Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you” . . .
Will He really answer when we call? Isaiah 65:24: “Before you call I will answer, while you are still speaking, I will hear.”
No one can know the mind of God and we might not know the precise reason that God delays blessings, but rest assured if He is delaying blessings, it is for a good reason.
In the end I’ve come to the understanding that I serve Him and not vice versa. If we have faith and sincerely trust God, we will not be concerned as to whether the answer is “wait” or the answer is “no” or “yes.” We must have faith and wait and see if God’s timing is the same as we’ve requested, or perhaps He has something better in mind for us.
Count your blessings and keep praying for those ten wash cloths.
Proverbs 3:56.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”