Joining God in the Arena of Risk

Have you ever tried to push a car up a hill? Some friends of mine did. They tried for an hour, pushing and pushing and then having to let the car roll back down the hill so they could try again. It wasn’t until one more person jumped in line behind the car that they finally made progress. That person wasn’t big or strong or especially fit. They were just another body. Sometimes that’s all it takes! Just one more person. YOU could be that person for Forbid Them Not Ministries.

This summer at Forbid Them Not, we are focusing on Growing Together. The last two weeks we have challenged you to grow with us in the areas of (1) sharing the Facebook group with others and (2) Prayer. This week we hit the challenge that strikes where the rubber meets the road—or in the case of my friends, where the rubber meets the slippery hillside.

Forbid Them Not operates by faith. It always has. As the Psalmist said, we wait on God because “[our] expectation is from Him.” We have seen God do amazing things on very little. We have seen Him provide when we did not know where the funds would come from. When the Lord laid it on our hearts to hold the Forum on Fatherless in March, we had $116.79 in our general account. We had not taken out any of the month’s reserves for rent, insurance, salary, or any of our other expenses, but we knew God was leading us to host the forum.

Our first expense was purchasing postage for the letters that would be going out to pastors in our region. The postage cost $98. We took the step, bought the stamps, and trusted the Lord. Three days later, an unexpected $50 came in, a little later an unexpected $100 came in. God provided every step along the way. In fact, by the time it was all done, not only were all of the expenses covered but we were also able to give love offerings to our two guests speakers who traveled so far.

“This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.” Psalm 118:23

As we grow, we have no intention of operating in any way other than with our eyes on God as our Provider, but we do need to grow in the area of financial partners. We are currently operating on a “committed” income of less than $700/mo. (You read that right.) As mentioned earlier, this must cover all of our operating expenses, including rent, insurance, and salaries. We have a small amount remaining from this year’s Green Bean Project with which to help local single moms and fatherless children. We know that this is not an impossible situation because we have already seen God provide in mighty ways. We would simply like to invite you, to challenge you, to come along with us on this journey of faith.

I have always struggled with inviting others to partner with the ministry. Not because I do not have a passion for the ministry, not because I do not want the ministry to grow, but because I know what it is like to live on nearly nothing. I know that when you or I give to missions, especially above or beyond what we are accustomed to giving, it can be a huge sacrifice. As I shared in last weeks’ post about prayer, I am a natural listener and sometimes fail to speak. But I am also a natural “doer” for others and very often hesitate to ask anyone to do something, which I feel might burden or inconvenience them. Instead, I just trundle along and make do. I am so grateful to a man named Jerry Long, who is now with the Lord. He helped me see how wrong my perspective has been in this area. Last year, Jerry encouraged me to study Philippians 4:17. What I found amazed me.

Philippians 4:17 is a short, simple verse, but the use of one word in this verse packs a lot of punch. The verse says,
“Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.”

The word logos is translated as “account” 8 times in the New Testament. In all but two of those, the Scripture is speaking either of someone giving an account of us or of us having to give an account of ourselves. One of those two exceptions, Hebrews 13:17, tells us how to make sure those over us can give a good account (through obedience and submission). But Philippians 4:17 is the only verse that tells us how to have fruit that abounds to our account.

Paul was speaking to the Philippian believers, praising them for the fact that they ALONE ministered to him financially when he first went into Macedonia. He called the things they had sent to him, “an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice well pleasing to God.” And then he made them a promise, a promise that is just as good for you and me as for the Philippians,

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Over the years, I have been concerned that by inviting others to partner with this ministry I was inviting them to take on a financial burden, but that isn’t true. The invitation to partner is actually an invitation to bear fruit and lay up treasure in Heaven, to fellowship with us in this ministry, and to watch God provide.

And so, I lay out this week’s challenge: Will you be that one who will step in behind Forbid Them Not and help push it up the hill? Will you take a risk and let God prove Himself? Will you lay up fruit to your account? Will you partner with Forbid Them Not?
I believe God wants us to grow. I believe He wants us to grow TOGETHER. And I want you to have the joy not only of watching Him work but also of being a part of that work. We’ve made it very easy to join us. Simply, click the link below to go to the partnership page on our website, which allows you to set up monthly investments in the ministry through PayPal.

We have already stepped into the arena of risk, and we have often seen His reward. Won’t you join us?

Click here to enter the arena!