{"id":4621,"date":"2012-02-08T01:02:24","date_gmt":"2012-02-08T01:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=4621"},"modified":"2012-02-08T01:12:00","modified_gmt":"2012-02-08T01:12:00","slug":"gods-plan-for-finances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=4621","title":{"rendered":"God’s plan for finances……"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Many years ago Sherelene and I did not tithe. \u00a0 We gave to our church and to charities we believed in but we did not \u00a0give based on the biblical model of 10%. \u00a0This morning devotional in Intouch from Dr. Charles Stanley reminded me of the great transformation that has taken place in mine and Sherelene’s finances since we made that commitment. \u00a0 I want to share a personal story, but first let me share the devotional and scripture.<\/p>\n

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Malachi 3:7-12<\/span><\/h3>\n

New Living Translation (NLT)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

7<\/sup>Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,\u201d says the LORD of Heaven\u2019s Armies.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cBut you ask, \u2018How can we return when we have never gone away?\u2019<\/span>\u00a08<\/sup> \u201cShould people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!<\/span><\/div>\n
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cBut you ask, \u2018What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9<\/sup> You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10<\/sup> Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,\u201d says the LORD of Heaven\u2019s Armies, \u201cI will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won\u2019t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! 11<\/sup> Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease.[a<\/span><\/a>]<\/sup> Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,\u201d says the LORD of Heaven\u2019s Armies. 12<\/sup> \u201cThen all nations will call you blessed, for your land will be such a delight,\u201d says the LORD of Heaven\u2019s Armies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Though the world is full of disorder, confusion, and uncertainty, believers in Christ have the wonderful assurance that God is in absolute control of every situation. When He created the heavens and the earth, He had a purpose and a plan, which He carried out with precision and order. Nothing was haphazard, late, or uncertain. The Lord also has a plan for each one of us, and every aspect of our lives is not only under His scrutiny, but also under His care.<\/span><\/p>\n

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One of those areas is our finances. If we’ll follow God’s plan, He promises to manage our money. Now, that’s quite a blessing. After all, who do you think would be better at knowing how to handle money\u2014you or our omniscient, all-powerful God? He promises that if we will give Him the first part of all we receive, He’ll provide for our needs. He has an amazing way of making the remainder stretch farther than the original amount.<\/span><\/p>\n

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So, considering the blessings of this promise and the unfailing faithfulness of the Promise Giver, what is keeping you from obeying this command? The most likely reason is unbelief\u2014fear to test Him on this even though He invites you to do so. But you may be asking yourself, What if He doesn’t come through? What if I give it away and don’t have enough?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Lord is after your trust, and what better area to test and build it than your finances? Believing Him for our salvation seems easy, yet we often doubt He’ll keep His promise when it comes to money. Take a step of obedience today, and discover how faithful your God really is.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Back then, in our early marriage, Dr. Stanley preached a sermon on his TV broadcast that was essentially what this devotional shared today. \u00a0We decided that even though we didn’t think we could make it if we tithed that much, we committed to do it. \u00a0Over the next several months all kinds of things happened that stretched the remaining money.<\/p>\n

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I think God knew I was still concerned so He arranged for a spectacular example of His faithfulness for me. \u00a0One night in church a missionary came and share with us about their work in a far a way land. \u00a0Both Sherelene and I were touched and wanted to give something. \u00a0As we often did back then we shared what we thought would be the right amount, we didn’t have a lot. \u00a0We both came up with the same figure, an amount that was not really what we could spare, but we agreed to give it in faith. \u00a0It was fifty dollars. \u00a0We wrote the check in obedience and I think it is safe to say we were both concerned about how wise it was to do so, but we knew that was the figure we had each been encouraged to give by the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

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The next day I got a call from a coal mining client and they asked me to rent a plane and fly over their property and shoot a list of images they needed. \u00a0I contacted a pilot I knew and he flew me over the property to shoot he extensive list of shots. \u00a0When I went up to see the folks in the mining office to tell them the images were shot, and to ask what size prints did they want, so I could send of the film and arrange for the printing, they floored me with their request! \u00a0They wanted 5 presentation grade \u00a016X20’s from the best shot of each thing on the list. \u00a0They asked me to figure up a bill and they would pay me up front. \u00a0My profit after expenses on the job came to exactly $5,000. \u00a0100 fold what we had given in church the night before!<\/p>\n

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Over the years God has continued to surprise us with countless blessing both financial and \u00a0in many other ways. \u00a0I met Charles many years later and shared this story with him, and he smiled knowing that his teaching had provide us with a life long blessing because of our obedience.<\/p>\n

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God is faithful, faithful to meet all our needs and even the desires of our hearts, as long as we put Him first and honor Him.<\/p>\n

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Blessings,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

the pilgrim<\/p>\n

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Thursday I’m headed to Columbia S.C. for the annual CNPA, (Carolina Nature Photographers Association), Meeting. \u00a0I will post from there! \u00a0I have many wonderful brothers and sisters I’m looking forward to seeing while there. \u00a0I little while back I posted about Bob Krist, and he is the keynote speaker for the event, I look forward to seeing my old friend and my brother Tim Isaacson too!<\/p>\n

I’m praying for great things to happen there, I will share \u00a0with you, the results of those prayers, \u00a0going into the weekend!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many years ago Sherelene and I did not tithe. \u00a0 We gave to our church and to charities we believed in but we did not \u00a0give based on the biblical model of 10%. \u00a0This morning devotional in Intouch from Dr. Charles Stanley reminded me of the great transformation that has taken place in mine and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4621"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4627,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4621\/revisions\/4627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}