IF GOD CAN HAVE YOUR LIFE…
Irewamiri and I had to make a very wise decision early in courtship; we were going to save as much as we can towards our wedding and our marriage. What led to that decision? She had just finished serving the nation and all I had guaranteed every month as a Pastor was five thousand naira! We knew we had to be smart.
Every single dime any of us had was thrown into a savings account. One evening as I was praying, the Lord asked if we could give the savings as a seed. It was tough.
I called Irewamiri and informed her. She said, “Ah! Is it everything?” But then she added a very profound statement that made me love her even more, “If God can have our lives, why can He not have our money”. That was how we gave it all to God. We must say that God showed up for us before and during the wedding and He still shows up till date.
Is there anything in your life and your hands that God cannot point to? Is there anything that you hold so dear that would be very hard to give to the Lord? That has become an idol in your life.
Your condition must never hold you back from giving to the Lord. Paul wrote about the Macedonian church and used their act to challenge the Corinthians. He said:
Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colours: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians.
2 Corinthians 8:1-4 MSG
If giving is hard for you as a child of God, then you have not mastered nor learnt the importance of giving yourself first to God. If you have given yourself to God, it will be easy to give as instructed or commanded by the Lord.
And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. 2 Corinthians 8:5 NIV
No maturity in the Christian faith will escape the curriculum of giving. Abraham had to pass the divine test of giving Isaac. Why? Isaac was not just an answer to prayers, he was a test for divine promotion and fulfilment of prophecies.
If we fail our tests, we must not expect to be promoted. Behind every test is a promotion.
What tests have you been failing?
What idol are you holding dearly unto?
What can God not point to now?
Deal with it!
And if God has blessed you with a spouse who understands the spiritual principle and protocol of obedience to the Lord in all things, you must rejoice because you are blessed.