INTRODUCTION

When it comes to money, God promises that if you do not without your tithe or your offerings then he will prosper you and protect your money.

A THIEF IN THE NIGHT

During the week of June 25th, my church hosted another church from out of state to train them on outreach and evangelism. We had many events planned to give them a broad taste of different forms of reaching the people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of these events was ministering to the children at the Boys and Girls Club of America. We had brought in a wide variety of things to do including face painting, games, worship and food. The main goal was to show the children and any parents who came out that Jesus loves them no matter what the world does to them and it was an amazing success.

On the way home, my family and I decided to get pizza for dinner because it was cheap and easy. We had taken out some money from the bank and got our pizza. While there, my wife helped out another couple by trading their one hundred dollar bill for five twenties because the pizza place did not take hundred dollar bills. After we paid for the pizza, my wife put the money in her pocket and we took the pizza home. We enjoyed our dinner.

Later that night, my wife went to empty her pockets and the money was missing. She immediately did a search to find the money and came up empty. She began to be positive that the money that she put in her pocket, and shoved to the bottom of the pocket, while in the pizza place must have fallen out and therefore be on the floor of the pizza place. I told my wife that even if that was true, God had promised to protect our money and that we would not accept that the enemy could just steal from us at will because we know that we are not under his will, but God’s. I even told my wife that if God needed to take the money from the floor of the pizza place and transport it into our hands, then he would do that for us.

We prayed.

I felt in my spirit that I should check the car. I took the dog out for a walk as I went and checked on my wife’s side of the car. As I opened the door, laying right there in the door frame was the money waiting for me. Now, you have to realize that my wife had placed the money in her pocket in the pizza place. The fact that it was in the car was really not possible. Furthermore, where the money was in the door frame of the car was not possible by just falling out of my wife’s pocket because the simple fact of her exiting the car as we got home would have had the money fall onto the ground. From there it was several hours before I went out and only God knows what would have happened to that money if it had fallen on the ground.

The only answer was that God placed the money there from wherever it had fallen out because he was protecting our money.

SCRIPTURE

The enemy tried to steal from us, but we are tithers and God promises here in Malachi that he would protect the money of those who tithe.

God watches over his word and is quick to perform it if we stand on his promises in faith. Which is what we did in this situation and God honored that by returning the money to us.

CONCLUSION

God is awesome in his love and care for us. Put your trust and faith in him and he will be quick to perform the promises in his word for you.

Until Next Time,

I want to thank the great guys over at My Life Ministries (http://mylifeministries.org/) for encouraging me and hosting this blog. If you haven’t done so yet, hop over to http://mylifeministries.org/ and take a look around. Join the forums and become part of the family.

Also, if you have a testimony, email it to me at testify {at} fireknights {dot} net. I would love to hear it and I may just post it here on the blog.

INTRODUCTION

God is very interesting when he tells us to do something because many times it does not make sense to us at the time. Back in 1994, God told us to buy a car and I didn’t listen at first. See what happened.

GOD, THE LITTLE GIRL AND THE TRACER

It was a point in 1994 and we had issues with out Ford Escort and we were in need of a new car. It was tax return time and we had $1,500 to spend on this new car. At this time, I had communicated my need to my grandfather and the elders of my church. Now, I was still new to being a Christian, but I knew that I wanted what God was telling me.

My grandfather decided to go down to a local dealer that he has dealt with and talk to him on our behalf. The result of this was a deal on a brand new Mercury Tracer. It was basically the Mercury version of an Escort with a wagon back instead of a hatchback. The way the deal would work was that we would put down $1,500 and then pay a monthly payment that I don’t remember exactly, but I think it was in the $200 range say like $250.

Another option opened up to us. An elder of our church had a 1979 Pontiac Lemans car that he had done a bunch of work on. It ran well, but did burn oil. It was a large car and would easily fit my family and he was offering this car for the low low price of $1,500, the exact price that I had from my tax return.

I prayed about what to do and I did hear God tell me to buy the Lemans. However, I really wanted a new car and not a car that was fifteen years old. In fact, I wanted this so much that I convinced myself that God would want me to get the new car, after all why would he want me to have a used car.

To get the Tracer, we had to get to Northern New Jersey from upstate New York. This was a six to seven hour drive, and I knew my Escort would not handle it. Eventually, I got a ride to Albany NY and my grandfather drove up and met us there. This made it a shorter drive for each one. We arrived back at my grandfather’s house on Tuesday and were excited about the car in the driveway. We spent a little time visiting and then returned home, yes the six to seven hour drive back home.

That Saturday, we drove the three hours down to my in-laws in order to show off the new car. We decided to go to lunch with my sister in law at Ponderosa. While inside the restaurant, we discussed moving the baby car seat from the center of the back seat to right behind the drive to give my sister in law more space. However, as we exited the restaurant it began to rain, and God made us forget about doing just that. The reason would be evident in a moment.

We were driving around looking for a Christian bookstore that we later discovered was just barely wider then the door. So, we could not find it. While looking, I had turned around and came upon an intersection that I still to this day believe that the light was green. However, all the witnesses said it was red. Anyway, I went through the light and was hit hard on the driver’s side by an old Chevy pickup truck. We were pushed almost completely out of the intersection before stopping.

At this point, I had the presence of mind to shut off the car. My wife on the other hand freaked out and immediately looked back to see our little girl with a face full of glass. Furthermore, the front bumper of the pickup truck was just touching the side of the car seat. Let me make this picture clear, there was nothing left of the seat directly behind the driver and if we had moved the car seat, our little girl would have been destroyed by the front bumper of the pickup truck. I have no doubt in my mind that God was protecting my family. Furthermore, while my little girl’s face was full of glass pieces, she did not swallow any or had any cuts from it. Again, this was God protecting my family.

After the dust settled and the insurance came out, the decision was to totally the car. This was not surprising because we had been hit with such force that the frame was bent and that was very bad. Since we did not have very many miles on the car (like 380 total), our insurance company at the time gave us back the full price of the car which included our $1,500 down payment.

Armed with new money, my grandfather had offered to get us another deal; however, this time I decided it would be best to follow what God had told me to do in the beginning. I went back and bought the 1979 Pontiac Lemans from the elder. Now, just so that everyone understands why this was the case, in a couple of months Vicky would discover she was pregnant again which meant she could not return to work as planned which meant our finances would not have supported the car payment. God knew what he was doing when he told us this, but I didn’t listen.

One other point I want to make, I am not saying in any way that God had us crash the car. I believe that came as a direct result of walking outside of God’s will. The reason is that when we walk in God’s will, we walk with his blessings and protection. However, when we go outside of his perfect will, then we open ourselves up to possible attacks from the enemy. I firmly believe that if that day I was driving the Lemans, there would not have been an accident because I would have been under the protection of God to prevent something that the enemy meant for harm. However, even within what the enemy meant for harm of my family, God was there. My little girl is alive today because God protected her. We survived having a second child at that time financially because we got back the entire price of the car something that even our insurance agent suggested would not happen.

SCRIPTURE

When God tells us to do something it is for our benefit. He tells us over and over again to trust him and that he works all thing for our good to give us a future and a hope. Therefore, when he speaks, we should listen and obey.

The crash was meant for evil, but God did some cool things to make it for good like saving my daughter and returning to us all the money we spent. God is truly awesome.

CONCLUSION

I want to encourage everyone to walk in the perfect will of God. And if by some chance you are not, come back to him. He is a very loving and forgiving God. However, he is also a gentleman and will let you walk your own way if that is really what you want. However, who doesn’t walk in this life with the creator of the universe blessing and protecting them.

Until Next Time,

I want to thank the great guys over at My Life Ministries (http://mylifeministries.org/) for encouraging me and hosting this blog. If you haven’t done so yet, hop over to http://mylifeministries.org/ and take a look around. Join the forums and become part of the family.

Also, if you have a testimony, email it to me at testify {at} fireknights {dot} net. I would love to hear it and I may just post it here on the blog.