We all know that it takes faith to live for God.  Do we really have faith in God and if so are we stepping out in that faith?  Or are our actions showing us that our faith is in something else all too worldly--money.

    Jenifer and I recently took a trip to Ghana, Africa.  While we were there we visited two small villages.  At the end of one of the visits the Chief of the village pulled me aside begging for a church to be established in his village.  He told me that he had asked some pastors four years prior to start a church; but nothing has been done to this day. The chief had offered, and is still offering, prime land, his blessings, and support for a church to be built in his village.  How large an opening is needed to see the moving of God in that village?!  God has done all the work, all that’s needed now is an obedient and willing servant.  

    When we asked the pastors about the church there, or the lack thereof, their response was, “We need money to start a church.”  After further conversations with the pastors it became evident that they had more faith in money than in God. (Matthew 6:24)  The pastors had not only been offered everything we had been told but also farm land to use for the church to help support itself.  People were denied the word of God because of money.  You see the door had been opened wide for ministry in that village, but the pastors received the lie of the enemy over faith in the living God, it was the village who suffered.

    This small village is primarily idol worshipers, but the Chief is asking for Christians to come teach and share God’s word with his people.  I don’t mean to be redundant, but look at the opportunity God has given.  A wide open door with land, complete tribunal support, and the blessings of the Chief, not to mention an opportunity to raise finances through working its own farm land.  In almost every case a new church struggles just to find land to buy with money they don’t have, and very rarely, if at all, do the village, town, or city leaders support the church.  Church planters normally enter a town dealing with hostile opposition, relying only on faith and a desire to serve God by reaching the lost.  How many church planters would love to have land, means to raise funds and the support of local officials?  What a gift!  

    So what about money?  Is it needed?  Money is definitely a help but not a necessity.  Faith is what’s needed.  A perfect example would have to be Jesus Himself.  Jesus was in ministry for 3 short years and look at the impact He made.  Jesus owned nothing and had no place to call His own.  He even borrowed a tomb for His 3 day stint with death, but that didn’t slow Him down, in fact it strengthened Him by knowing that the Father is truly caring for His needs.  Jesus put His faith in the Father, not just saying so--but doing so.  Being more interested in saving the lost than satisfying the nay sayers and those who opposed Him.  Jesus didn’t let money stop Him from doing ministry.  When the Jewish leaders tried to get Jesus caught up in money, He trusted God and went to a fish for what He needed.  (Matthew 17:24-28)

    You see, Jesus’ focus was not on himself, but on the work of the Father.  The very same work we have been appointed to do, but our focus seems to be on other things, things of this world.  I know all the rationalizations, and have used most of them myself; like, God wants us to prosper and have a full life.  True, but God wants us to rely on Him for prosperity and blessings and to wait on His timing.  Our first and foremost priority should be seeking His will, God will do the rest, in greater proportions than any man could ever imagine.  That's just God’s way of doing things.

    After returning from Ghana, the Lord opened my eyes to the following steps of faith we took by going:
    When I allow my flesh, my thoughts, to take over I say:  “That was not at all a logical thing to do, we are very lucky to be back home.”  First of all, luck had nothing to do with it.  Moreover, there is no such thing as luck, luck is superstition, witchcraft.  God has a purpose and a plan in every believer’s life.  God ordains each step, each perfect step, if only we pay attention and are obedient.  Granted, going to Ghana like that may not have been the brightest thing to do, if we were looking through human eyes, but we are to walk by faith not by sight.  We are to depend upon God not human rationale, after all, how rational was Noah; building something completely unknown to him or anyone else, because something else unknown was going to come upon the earth and destroy all of mankind (the wicked inhabitants of earth)?  All Noah knew was he was to be obedient and faithful. (Gen 6-7)  Noah did as the Lord commanded; (Gen7:5) as a result, not only was Noah rewarded for his obedience, his entire family was rewarded with life.  We will also be rewarded for our obedience with life, abundant life with God on earth, and a promise of life everlasting with God.  

    Jenifer and I knew better than to give power to hypothetical or even rational thought; if we had, faith would have given way to fear and fear would have dictated our decisions.  We knew we had to put our faith into action; we preach it and we teach it--we had to live it.  We had to be obedient and walk in faith trusting God for all of our provisions, no matter how big or how small--all of them.  Again, God did not let us travel alone, the Holy Spirit, was actively moving in our lives, we could literally see God’s provisions and favor as we travelled.  

    I will admit that walking in faith is much easier said than done.  Jenifer and I step out in faith quite often but this has to be our biggest step by far.  By doing so Jenifer and I have entered into a higher level of faith with greater precision, a stretching of our faith.  Because of our obedience through faith, God has poured blessings into our laps.


    Blessings have not only been given to Jenifer and myself but also to many of the Ghanian people.  I truly believe God put us in Ghana, not necessarily to stretch our faith, but to confirm our faith.  God often heals, confirms, and anoints not for the one being healed, confirmed, or anointed but for others to see and hear, confirming their (other people’s) faith.  God knew what He was doing, we didn’t.  If we had, we probably would have tried to help--actually creating obstacles all along the way.

    Jenifer and I witnessed miracle after miracle.  We got to see God use the foolish things of this world to confound the wise.



God moved in mighty ways, not because we were there but because we were obedient, faithful, and willing to be used.  We were blessed in many areas but mostly our growth; and the Ghanians were blessed in many ways.  I shutter to think what we would have missed if we would have given into our selfish thoughts, thinking only of ourselves.  Praise God for His persistent patience over our lives.  Our decision to step out of our comfort zone and engage our faith, not as pastors but as servants, has brought ongoing blessings to our lives.  By putting our comfort, security and selfish ambitions behind us and replacing it with a desire to keep our focus on the Lord, our faith has been deepened.

    I thank God for giving us the strength to receive the blessings we would have missed.  The awesome blessing of strength--enabling Jenifer and I to step out in faith, grab hold of what God offered and receive the provisions He made available to us through faith.  Faith that God has expanded, increasing our measure as we proceed toward the goals God has for our lives.   

    Two days after our return home, God opened doors of great opportunity.  Opportunity that would pay for our trip, our bills, and have an ongoing income with the freedom to continue doing the work of the Lord.  You see, God is always faithful in doing His part, we need to learn to be faithful in doing ours, and blessings will follow.  Every pastor we spoke with and every church we preached at has been given a choice, not by Jenifer and myself but by God.  The choice to be complacent, stale, and stagnant or take on the role of a vital active participant in the growth of their country, seeking maturity, leaving infancy, moving deeper toward God’s purpose for their lives and their church.

    If we would have let money dictate our faith we would still be on the side of infancy, drinking milk and eating strained food, wishing we would have gone.  Maturity requires solid food, healthy food, food that builds strong bones and healthy bodies.  Jenifer and I are a long way from being fully mature, but we are much more mature now than we were before our step of faith.  God has poured out into our laps a new measure of faith, it is up to us to receive and use what God has given us with great joy.   


    It is your choice--are you going to follow God or money?  If we had followed money we would have stayed home.  Our reason for staying home would have been because we did not have the money to go--doubting, not trusting.  We would not have stepped out in faith letting human wisdom (sound advice, I might add) dictate our actions.  This would have showed us where our faith was.  God did not ask us to foolishly spend money, He asked us to go and minister for Him and that happened to take money that we did not have.  That is the difference.  And to God it is a big difference.  When we let money stop us from doing what God is wanting us to do, we are letting money be our God.  We are showing where our faith is.

    So where is your faith--in God or money?  Examine your life, your actions and see where it truly is.  You might be surprised.  Just like the pastors in Ghana that were passing up a wonderful ministry opportunity with wide open doors because they didn’t have or think they had the money--how many opportunities are you saying no to for the same reason?  I can think of too many in my own life (both of us can).  That is something we definitely want to change--how about you?