Tonight, my wife and I decided to create a fundraiser through www.youcaring.com. I have to say that I have struggled with creating this fundraiser for months. For years now, we have felt the Lord leading us toward international missions. My best friend and his wife are currently in Spain training to reach the Basque people group and I have to say that my heart aches to join my brother in ministry in Spain. My heart deeply desires the freedom to follow the Lord's lead on our life.
Proverbs 22:7 says, "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender." This verse pierces directly through my heart and I affirm it's truth with a resounding amen! I have fully felt the weight of my slavery ever since completing school and beginning the process of paying back the loans my wife and I accumulated. We have been paying on our loans now for about seven years and I am not sure that we have made much if any progress on them. It feels as though they are a mountain that is slowly crushing me.
I desire nothing more than for this mountain to be thrown into the sea. I desire nothing more than to be free to serve the Lord completely. I desire the ability to fully devote my life to reaching others for Christ. The Lord has blessed my wife and I greatly by providing us with a great church and a young adult ministry. I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach these young adults the Word each week. I am so thankful for each opportunity I have to minister and proclaim the gospel of Jesus to others.
Even with all these wonderful blessings, they pale in comparison to what my wife and I could do if we were able to devote our full energy to serving Christ. We both have to work full-time jobs just to make ends meet and many times we come home exhausted. My wife is a teacher and many times when she comes home, her job comes with her. I can't tell you how many times my wife has worked through the night till morning grading homework, papers, and projects. We are slaves to our bills and slaves to our lenders.
James 4:2 says, "You do not have because you do not ask God." Because of this verse, I decided to go ahead and setup the fundraiser. I specifically decided to end the fundraiser on July 31st because it is the first day of school for my wife. My hope is also that my wife will be able to stay home, if she chooses, with our soon to come boy. It would be so wonderful for her to be able to choose this option if she wanted to and me be able to provide for all our other bills on my own. I am not interested in raising the money to erase this debt on my own power. If the Lord chooses to erase this debt, I want to be sure that I can not claim any part of the debt being erased. It would take $60,000 to erase our school debt. The idea of raising $60,000 tot in 2 months seems completely impossible but Jesus says in Luke 18:27 is, "What is impossible with man is possible with God."
If I am to live completely sold out and devoted to God, I have to believe in the supernatural. I do not believe the Lord would call us to something and not provide us the way to follow His call. I want every single step of my walk to be fully depending and expecting Him to supernaturally move in my life. In encouraging the Philippians to trust the Lord to provide and be content he makes this comment in Philippians 4:19 saying, "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."
Creating this fundraiser is the first step to fully trusting the Lord to provide. Even if no money is given to this fundraiser, I will fully and completely trust my Lord to provide. I will still expect Him to provide the open door to answer His calling to international missions. I will trust Him to open the door at the right time, his time. Though my heart aches so much to be with my brother in Spain walking side by side with him reaching lost souls for Christ, I will faithful trust the Lord's direction in my life, no matter what. I will continue to live for Him, speak for Him, sing for Him, and share His gospel with others.
Are you completely trusting you life to Christ each day? Psalm 3:4-5 brings me such peace saying, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." There is no peace outside of Him. There is no joy outside of walking in Him daily. Do you know Jesus Christ tonight? Have you believed in Him? Are you looking to Him to lead every facet of your life? You are never too far gone. There is no sin you could have committed that would be too great for Him to receive you, forgive you, and welcome you into a relationship with Him. I pray that you will seek Him today. If you ever need to talk, have questions, or just need prayer, know that I am always available and you can email me at greg.ivey@me.com.
The link for our fundraiser is youcaring. If you would take a moment to look at the fundraiser, pray for the Lord's guidance pertaining to it, and share it with fellow friends who might be interested, we would be grateful. Thank you for your consideration.
Blessings,
Greg
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