But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:33-34)
Easier said that done, right? In the process of overcoming worry, notice I mention process, God still is faithful and has patience with us. He still comes through even if we haven’t yet fully overcome in an area. I’m praying that one day soon, I will be in a place of full trust of Jesus Christ. Where when something comes up, my heart won’t start racing, but instead, the peace of the Father will flood in and I will regularly choose faith over fear.
Our family usually goes to about one conference a year, depending on location, cost and of course, who is leading it. We believe they are good investments to not only our ministry, but to our personal walks with Jesus. This was one we’ve been to before called, Power and Love. This was actually our 3rd one in the past 4 years. They are led by Todd White LifestyleChristianity, whose heart is to speak about Identity in Christ and then go out and show Jesus to the world. He does this simply by walking in the power of the Holy Spirit wherever He goes knowing that He carries the Author of the Universe inside of him. The typical stories are he gets a word of knowledge (a specific word over someone) over someone’s sickness or situation. He confirms it with the stranger, then prays, and that sickness either gets healed or situation resolved. For example, someone is contemplating suicide and just told God that if He doesn’t show up, he/she will take their life later that day. The Holy Spirit leads Todd to that person, and of course lo and behold, Todd prophesies life over that person, and that persons life is saved. Another simple example is someone is suffering with some chronic disease like rheumatoid arthritis, he shows Todd this, Todd confirms it and says, “do you have rheumatoid arthritis”? They say, yes, he prays, and boom, instant healing. Was it always this easy? No. He has shared he prayed for 10 people a day for about 6 months and didn’t see any healing. He persevered however! Now I also want to write that I am not elevating Todd White at all, he’s a human being just like you and I.
You might be thinking to yourself, wow, that pretty incredible, or that’s impossible! Well take heart, because you can walk hearing God’s voice in the same way! Sometimes its just baby steps and talking to someone in line at the store sharing with them God’s love or just asking someone how they are doing. Then God begins to speak by a thought, maybe a word, then in faith you share out loud, and soon you are sharing with this person things that you would never know, but God. As I always say, it all boils down to surrender and obedience. Are you more worried what people will think, or do you care more about God’s heart towards mankind? As we are able to receive God’s love, it becomes natural to pour that love onto others wherever we go. After all, we are the aroma of Christ. The next Power and Love conference in the New England area is in October (Springfield, MA), see the website for more details! This one is (extra) special too because Andy Byrd (a YMAM’er) will be speaking in addition to Todd White and Tom Ruotolo.
Ok, I am sorry I got a little side-tracked. Back to the title of the blog. The conference was free (because we’ve attended one before). The cost of the hotel, food and gas we would have to come up with. We did not end up buying one lunch because of snacks that I packed or someone randomly giving us lunch at the conference (more provision). I googled cheapest places to stay including airbnb’s. I found a motel for $300 for 4 nights. We brought our kids to this one so it was important we were close to the conference so that if one of us had to stay back, it was easy. I thought to myself, $300 is a lot of money for a missionary to just dish out. When Timothy had his job, we didn’t have to think twice about hotel costs. I said, Lord, we believe You want us to attend this, so we are trusting you! The second day of the conference, we were out at dinner talking to people about Christ. Someone from the conference (who did not know us or situation), hands me an envelope and simply says, “I believe God told me to give this to you”.
Of course it’s pretty much the exact cost of the motel. God is absolutely amazing. The more we step out in the faith, the more He shows Himself off to us and the rest of the world. He is our ultimate provider. Be encouraged, let go, and allow God to blow your mind!