Bible and ProvisionSample

"Living by faith"

For some, this means devoting all your time to God's work without a salary or fixed remuneration and trusting God to provide for all your material needs. In practice, God doesn’t do this by dropping a food parcel from heaven but by committing fellow believers to donate to you.

Paul, a pastor, says: "In the first year of our ministry, after completing our theological education, my wife and I lived by faith. The church we served in Mechelen, Belgium, did not have the means to give us financial compensation. They assumed I would find a job myself and do my service to the church in my spare time. Nobody in that church lived "by faith", and they found it strange that we chose to do so. My father-in-law, a profoundly religious man himself, thought it was irresponsible, especially when my wife became pregnant with our first child. But working for the church absorbed all our time. There was simply no time for a regular job.

Among other things, we were asked to raise money to purchase an English red double-decker bus to evangelize in Mechelen and its surroundings. Enough money was raised to buy a second-hand bus at some point, and I got ready to leave for England. Until then, we were not short of anything. Some would describe our existence as spartan, but we were content and happy.

However, the money flow seemed to dry up when I crossed England. I had to leave my pregnant wife with 100 Belgian francs, the tiny amount of cash we had at that point, and a promise that I would pray a lot for her. During the ten days I traveled across England, I had no money to call her. We didn't even have a phone. The Bible says we should not worry about material things, but I confess I did at the time. What was my surprise when I returned home? We were overwhelmed with gifts, money for a washing machine, a car, and a hefty sum that would last us for months! Even my father-in-law was surprised and delighted. Living by faith proved and still proves to work because God is and always remains faithful to His promises.”

You can never give God more than He wants to provide you with. "You can't outgive God!"

Have you, or someone around you, ever experienced how God has provided for your needs? Share those stories with friends and acquaintances and encourage each other. If you don't know such a story yourself, you can address how far relying on God for our material needs may or may not clash with our responsibility to care for ourselves and our families.