On March 7th 2010, I woke early Sunday morning to prepare from my departure from Colorado Springs en route to Asheville, NC for the North American Division Prayer Conference at the Billy Graham Training Center @ the Cove. That morning I offered up a simple prayer to God: "Lord put me beside the people on the plane you would have me to sit next to."
On the first leg of my trip, after sleeping for a bit, I got to visit with Jim Smith, an associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs. One of Jim's passions is spiritual formation. And in talking with him I was impressed of the need to get away and pray; to spend some time in silence and solitude. But there was yet another lesson God wanted to teach me. A lesson that would take a month to learn. A lesson which I think will probably take a lifetime to learn. This past month has just been the introduction.
I call this lesson: "Why Would You Want to Rob God's people of the Blessing?"
It is a lesson I learned from David. I sat next to David on the Chicago to Asheville leg of my trip. David is a physician and businessman. His company services urgent care clinics around the country with software support and other urgent care solutions. As he shared with me a bit of his story, growing up as missionary kid, the growth of his business, and his own missionary efforts to help physicians in the third world... I was blessed. And the thought came to my mind that I should tell him about our struggling church school. However, I hate asking for money. And I didn't know if the thought was me or the Holy Spirit, so I just pushed it out of my mind. And yet, I really liked David. He reminded me of my friend Mike Hawthorne and I found myself saying... "I'd just like to be friends with this guy." So, the next day, when I got an invitation from him on Facebook to be his friend I felt like it was an answer to an unspoken prayer.
Fast forward 3 weeks or so. It was Tuesday evening March 30th, and we were meeting with our operating committee for Sunshine Christian School. Our board chairman, Tim Pellandini started the meeting with thought from the book Influencer: The Power to Change Anything. The basic point was that we don't effect change by giving people more facts or data, but by sharing a compelling story. Because story disarms. It inspires. It infuses hope. And I thought to myself: "Our school and our church need a story from God." We even prayed this at the end of our meeting. "God, give us a story!" He was about to do it.
Just nine days later (Thursday, April 8th), the following words from 2 Corinthians 8 spoke to my heart:
"Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God. So we urged Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also complete this grace in you as well. But as you abound in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all diligence, and in your love for us—see that you abound in this grace also.
I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." (2 Corinthians 8:1–9 NKJV)
Basically, what Paul is saying in this passage is: "Listen you Corinthian believers... The Macedonians have given out of their poverty... Like the widow who gave her two copper coins. So it's time to test your sincerity and faith... Time for you to give."
And as I reflected on this thought, I was reminded of a commitment I had made those 9 days earlier at our school operating committee. You see, our treasurer Don Kanen had told us that we were facing a financial crunch. That our reserves were almost depleted and our worthy student fund was almost used up. And the only reason we were making it was because of the fund raising efforts that his wife Sue had spearheaded for our group. He even asked: "Has anyone from this school board sent out the letter that was written to help raise funds?" I know I hadn't. And right then I committed to sending out some letters. So, when I read the words of 2 Corintians 8, I was like: "OK God, I get it." And I journaled this prayer into my computer:
April 8th, 2010, 6:11 A.M.
Lord Jesus as I listened to the 2 Corinthians 8 this morning, my mind flashed back to a promise I made last week of sending our letters for Sunshine Christian School. And I keep thinking of the doctor I met on the airplane. It seems like such a stretch to ask him if he would give to our school. But every time I think of the school, his name comes to my mind. I don't know if I'm crazy, or if this is you Lord Jesus.
But it feels like the time when I thought about joining the Silhouettes at Andrews Academy. It's kind of like, what do I have to loose. He can only say no. And maybe He would say a resounding yes. I don't know. O Lord, would you please give me strength to ask. And would you please impress David to respond with a resounding yes. O Jesus, I put this in Your hands. I pray that You will go ahead of me and prepare the way.
And Lord, I commit myself to asking 10 people. Would you impress me as to the 10 people I should ask? Show me Lord Jesus who those people should be. And go before and prepare their hearts. Lord, this is Your school, and if you want it to go forward than I pray that You will lay it on the hearts of the people I need to ask to give. Who are those people Jesus?
About the time I had finished writing this, my wife came into the study and said: "Tiffany just called and asked if I could go walking with her. Is that o.k.?"
"Well, I was going to go over and work on the house?" I replied. (We're in the midst of a remodel).
"It will only be a half hour" she said.
"O.k." I sighed. "But hurry. I have to get that dry wall sanded."
"Now what am I going to do?" I thought.
Honestly, I had just wanted to leave my prayer as a prayer. But now the thought came... "Guess I'll write one of those letters for the church school." And of course, the person I just couldn't get off my mind was David. So I started writing him a letter. But it wasn't working.
"I'm just going to call" I said to myself. So I found David's company on the internet and called the number on the "Contact Us" page.
When the receptionist answered the phone, I explained to her that I had been on the flight with David from Chicago to Ashville and asked if I could speak to him. "Well, he just came into work" she said. "Let me she if he's available... O, he's already in a training. Can I take a message or put you through to his voice mail."
And I was hemming and hawing as to whether to leave my contact info with her or be put through to voice mail she said. "Hey, David just stepped out of his meeting. Let me see if he can visit with you for a moment..."
I waited anxiously. My heart pounding.
"He says he can talk. I'm going to put you through." she said.
"Jim!!!" David's voice rang out. Like I was a long lost friend. (We'd only talked that one time on the airplane) "How are you doing?"
"Well, I'm a little nervous."
"Nervous?" he asked. "What's going on."
"Well, ever since we talked on the plane... I haven't been able to shake this. And I don't know if it was God speaking or just me. But I felt like I should ask you if you wanted to support our little church school. And yet, I don't even like asking my church members to give."
"Why?" he asked. "Do you want to rob them of a blessing?" You know, he is right. Why would I want to rob my church of the blessing of giving? Those words hit right between the eyes.
"Uhmm... I don't know." I said. "Listen, I know your in a meeting. Is there a time when you would have 15 minutes and I could tell you about our school? When I could tell you about my friend Jeff who died of cancer? Cause I didn't just want to ask for money. I really like you. I want to get to know each other. I'd like to be friends..." I was stumbling over myself.
"You know. I just got back from 4 days of vacation. I'm swamped and don't have a lot of time. Just shoot! What's going on?"
"Well... we've got this little church school. Sunshine Christian. We've burned through our reserves this year. And we're not sure if we'll be able to open our doors next year. We have 11 students. 5 from our church and 6 from the community. We see it as a ministry and..." I was struggling.
"How about if I send you $1000.00. You a good guy and your serving in an impoverished area. Just tell me were to send it." Dave said.
I was dumbfounded. I got off the phone and wept. God is so incredibly good and this was my introduction to the life lesson: "Why Would You Want to Rob them of the Blessing?" The blessing of giving that is. Through this Christian business man God has started to teach me about the business of blessing. But that's not the end of the story.
When I was at the prayer conference in Asheville, Derek Morris, the senior Pastor of the Forest Lake church in Apopka, FL led us in a House of Prayer Experience on opening night. That evening Derek didn't preach for 45 minutes, he didn't talk about prayer, he didn't tell us how important prayer was, he led us in prayer. He shared testimonies from his own churches prayer meeting about how God was changing lives as his people prayed. And I walked away from that experience convicted that we needed to start a House of Prayer in my church district back in Colorado.
Our first House of Prayer Experience took place in Alamosa on Wednesday March 31st. And at our second house of prayer on April 7th, we lifted up our church school to God. This is the way it happened. During our time of petition and intercession on Wednesday, I told the 8 or so folk that were gathered together that we were going to pray our requests rather than wasting a lot of time by saying them and then praying them. I asked if at least one person could affirm their brother or sister who had prayed a request just before them. And then I told them I was going to model this and asked Don Kanen, who happens to be our school board treasurer, if He would affirm the request I was going to make. Then I prayed and asked God to provide for our school in this time of great financial strain. I basically said something like, "God our backs are against the wall and your our only hope... will you please provide." Well Don prayed a beautiful prayer afterwards and I think it was great for him... because He'd been somewhat cynical about the future because of all the financial uncertainty.
Well, the first person I called on Thursday morning after speaking to David was Don and his wife Sue. After hearing the story, Don shouted "Hallelujah. Jim, that is such a faith builder!" I mean, he was ecstatic. All of us, Don, Sue, my wife Ingrid, and myself prayed a prayer of thanksgiving together before hanging up the phone.
And just a few moments later I had to call Don back for something and I could hear tears in his voice as he reminded me: "Jim, we just prayed over this last night... And God answered this morning! Isn't He amazing?"
O friend, He is amazing! And because I don't want to rob you of His blessing, I'd like to invite you to give. Give to our church school if you like. You may send your donation to Sunshine Christian School, 315 Craft Dr., Alamosa, CO 81101, Att: Don Kanen, Treasurer. But maybe you have a local church, church school, or other ministry you are supporting. Give to your local ministry. Give to mission. But whatever you do, GIVE! As Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Don't be robbed of the blessing of giving!
More than that, PRAY! Get a group of friends together. Start attending a local prayer meeting. A prayer meeting where God's people pray. If there isn't one. Start one. Let your prayer meeting be a place where you don't just talk about prayer, or tell of prayers answered in the distant past. But let it be a place where you cry out to God in the present moment. A House of Prayer. A place where you pray because you long to see God act. Don't pray just for a warm fuzzy. Pray for power to serve, power to seek the lost, and power to invite them to join you in seeking the face of God. Pray for boldness to tell them about Jesus. And then be ready to obey. Because truly powerful prayer, is truly obedient. The prayer warrior who follows the marching order of his commander Jesus Christ, is the prayer warrior who will be witness to incredible answers to prayer. I don't know about you, but I want to see God work. I want to seek God bless. That's why I'm committing myself to prayer, and committing myself to inviting others to give of their time, talents, and treasure for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.
Dear Jesus, Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!
