(An excerpt from Pastor’s Book, “How to Make Your Life Count for God”)
Now, two or three more things you need to get a hold of. A seed must be planted in order to reap a harvest. Some people are waiting for their ship to come in and they have never even sent out a rowboat. A seed brings more than a financial return. A seed can meet any need. I will tell you this: a seed planted in faith cannot, and will not be ignored by God. It is God’s way to manifest blessing. You cannot just give mechanically you have to mix faith with your giving.
If you need a car, tell Him you need a car and then sow for it. If you want to see your kids come back to Jesus, you can sow and see them return to God. You can sow seed for any need. What about Cornelius? He was a great giver. He was a person of prayer. His giving became a memorial before God (Acts 10:4). Finally, one day God said I cannot handle this any longer. Go down and help the man and do what he needs. The Scripture tells us that his entire household was saved. No, you cannot buy this kind of blessing but you can surely sow toward it.
There are seasons when God deals with you about giving special offerings. Years ago we were in Florida and a very wonderful church there needed eighteen acres. A drug dealer had been arrested and the government had seized his property and put it up for auction. The church wanted to make a bid on it. To purchase it they would have to pay approximately thirty thousand dollars for it. We pledged five thousand dollars of that. Some pledges are easy to fulfill and others are more difficult. I knew this was not going to be easy but within ninety days we had that pledge paid. Little did I know that this pledge would prove to be a significant seed. We had been forced to sell a portion of the land attached to our downtown location in order to secure financing. It would remain in the hands of others for thirteen years. We had paid six hundred and fifty thousand dollars for it; we sold it for eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars. For thirteen years someone else paid the taxes on those eight acres; for thirteen years someone else had to maintain it. The maintenance was part of the contract. In addition, they had to put in a lighted parking lot. They said, “Pacify the church. They will not be there for very long. They will not make it anyway. Sure, we will put up a parking lot – whatever you want to do.” During the time the property was owned by others it had been cross-collateralized from eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars to seven million dollars. I could name three major hotel corporations that were in the process of making offers on that property. It seems that no one could make a deal for this property. God was keeping it for us. Then one day a group of men representing the federal government and a savings and loan in Dallas came to my office and said, “Make us an offer on that property. It has been a Jonah ever since we have had it.” We offered them one hundred thousand dollars and the government cancelled seven million dollars of debt and we bought the property back. Remember, originally we paid six hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the land then sold it for eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars so we made two hundred thousand dollars at that time. Which was good, but we needed that acreage for parking and future growth and we wanted it back. I had always called it our “Isaac” on the altar. In that thirteen year period the owners maintained and improved the property and it was ours to use at no cost. It turned out this was our season to invest five thousand dollars in somebody else’s church and the seed we sowed was turned into our miracle harvest. Five thousand dollars was given and God cancelled seven million dollars of indebtedness against the property. Just like Abraham must have been thrilled to see Isaac get off that altar of sacrifice, we were rejoicing that our Isaac had come home.
So how do we make our lives count for God? Through our service, in our worship and out of our giving we purpose to offer our very best with a grateful heart. We do this not just with an expectation to receive, but with a joy about what He has done for us and what He will be able to do through us. Dedicate your life right now and purpose to be like the woman that anointed Jesus; she gave him her very best. This is the only life worth living!