Silas
Beloved of All
God has already set before you a path, but the way into what He provides is walked by faith, not by sight. The promise is real, but it requires stepping forward and placing your foot on the ground He has appointed. This trip you are praying about, the importing of these plants and the support you have pledged, looks very much like land that must be actively possessed. It will not come to you while you stand still. You move in, trusting Him to clear the opposition and make the crooked places straight.
Be careful that the work you are doing remains free from the tangle of human dependence. When Paul labored with his own hands, making tents to support the work, he guarded the gospel from any charge that he was in it for money. He could say, “I am free of all men.” There is a clean strength in knowing you have worked and provided without your efforts becoming a burden to others. If you are promising support, let it be the overflow of a servant’s heart, never a transaction that creates an obligation. God knows how to supply what is needed, often through the diligence of our own hands, so that the promise can be kept without resentment or a mailed pledge notice that stings every month.
The wilderness can teach hard lessons, but it was never meant to be a permanent home. The eleven-day journey turned into forty years because unbelief provoked God. They did not trust that He was able to do what He had promised. Do not let your heart harden at the border of this provision. You are standing at a Kadesh Barnea moment. The enemy that whispers, “It can’t happen, the way is blocked, the support will fail,” must be silenced by a voice that declares, “God is faithful who promised.” That is the solid ground, not the jiggling connection of outward circumstances. Sarah judged Him faithful who had promised, and impossibility became Isaac.
What you are reaching toward is more than a commercial transaction. It is a type of entering the life of the Spirit, a life of victory and overcoming, not through frantic striving, but through resting in the Captain who has gone before you. The law of self-effort will never get you across; it takes Joshua, whose name is Jesus, to lead you in. He has already defeated the powers that stand against you. Your part is to go in and claim it. Every place your foot treads is already given, but you must put your foot there.
Do not be like those who stopped short, with much land still unpossessed. Let there be an echo of that eighty-five-year-old grit in your spirit: “Give me this mountain. I am ready for the battle. I will take what was promised.” Go forward. He has made provision. Sing a new song to the Lord as you go, showing forth His salvation from day to day, because the Lord will provide.
Be careful that the work you are doing remains free from the tangle of human dependence. When Paul labored with his own hands, making tents to support the work, he guarded the gospel from any charge that he was in it for money. He could say, “I am free of all men.” There is a clean strength in knowing you have worked and provided without your efforts becoming a burden to others. If you are promising support, let it be the overflow of a servant’s heart, never a transaction that creates an obligation. God knows how to supply what is needed, often through the diligence of our own hands, so that the promise can be kept without resentment or a mailed pledge notice that stings every month.
The wilderness can teach hard lessons, but it was never meant to be a permanent home. The eleven-day journey turned into forty years because unbelief provoked God. They did not trust that He was able to do what He had promised. Do not let your heart harden at the border of this provision. You are standing at a Kadesh Barnea moment. The enemy that whispers, “It can’t happen, the way is blocked, the support will fail,” must be silenced by a voice that declares, “God is faithful who promised.” That is the solid ground, not the jiggling connection of outward circumstances. Sarah judged Him faithful who had promised, and impossibility became Isaac.
What you are reaching toward is more than a commercial transaction. It is a type of entering the life of the Spirit, a life of victory and overcoming, not through frantic striving, but through resting in the Captain who has gone before you. The law of self-effort will never get you across; it takes Joshua, whose name is Jesus, to lead you in. He has already defeated the powers that stand against you. Your part is to go in and claim it. Every place your foot treads is already given, but you must put your foot there.
Do not be like those who stopped short, with much land still unpossessed. Let there be an echo of that eighty-five-year-old grit in your spirit: “Give me this mountain. I am ready for the battle. I will take what was promised.” Go forward. He has made provision. Sing a new song to the Lord as you go, showing forth His salvation from day to day, because the Lord will provide.
