August 8, 2019 WWJWMTD by Steve, the son of John

Taking and Giving: Prayer for Day 2

It is easy to be negative about what is happening in the world. The media will not allow anyone to be positive in today’s culture. Often, we as Christians become pessimistic about anything good possibly happening.

God is never negative. He is honest and often very frank when it comes to showing you the truth about a situation or the condition of your life, but He always offers a way to make good things happen. We too often are “takers not givers” when it comes to God’s purposes for our life. We take salvation for granted and we offer excuses when we are asked by God to do something about a particular situation.

I have heard the excuse “I am just too busy” when God approaches us to support the Body of Christ. We say, “It is the pastor’s job or our church handles that or the traditional excuse, ‘I am not called to do that’.” The truth of the matter is that once you are born into the Body of Christ (being ‘born again’) you become responsible for everyone else in the Christian brotherhood of believers. You cannot divorce oneself from the unity that is only found in Christ.

If you are not willing to exercise the character trait of giving, then you are no good to God. You make yourself an enemy of the Gospel of Christ not a supporter of God’s purposes. I am not talking about money! I am talking about time and energy. The church needs more people who give from their time and energy rather than their money. Unity spoken in the Bible is not about ‘the giving of money’ but the caring for each other (which of course would include financial support at times).

The truth is we love more what we are doing rather than loving God with our time. I have said to God often, “I do not have time for this” when God was asking me to stop what I was doing and help someone in need. I would think that someone else would step up to the task of helping. God wants me to act when He asks me to do something for others.

Elisha was in the same place all of us have experienced. When God called him to minister, Elisha knew what he had to do. He loved to plow in the fields, and he loved his oxen. Elisha sacrificed his oxen on the fire, which he burned with the oxen’s yoke. He said goodbye to his family and then ran to God and the ministry within the children of God. He knew he had to do this so he would not go back to farming and fail at God’s calling on his life. What will you do? Will you give of your time and heart?

God has called me to speak to the dry bones that lie buried in L.A. (Ezekiel 37). God wants to resurrect all the movements of revival that were so prevalent in southern California for decades. Those times of revival that sweep L.A. and touched the rest of America. God wants to bring back alive, all at one time for one purpose, these dry bones of revival. This revival is meant to introduce the next great awakening (spiritual movement) that will continue for years in America. America, you have no idea what is about to come upon every person, every family, every organization, or every business.

I am giving you a chance to be part of the purposes of God: to believe in the truth of Christ, to see Jesus like you have never seen Him before, and to take time to connect to the Body of Christ. Now is your opportunity to give, not take! Pray Ezekiel 37: that the dry bones rise from the ashes of time (resurrection), that the bones connect to each other (unity), that the bones have flesh on them and become alive (the Spirit moving among the Body of Christ). This is how we should pray—prayers that make things happen according to Scripture and the purposes and commands of God.

When you respond with a willing heart and pray expecting, God will move heaven and earth to answer and perform His will. Become a giver, be a person of faith; turn your selfishness into selflessness and see God take L.A. by ‘the storm’ of His Holy Spirit.

WWJWMTD

What would Jesus want me to do?

Dr. Steven J. Wentland www.wwjwmtd.com

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