Jim Again…
Our God is awesome and able to provide the very essence of life’s needs to each of His children. Our heavenly Father is more than able to provide things to people through supernatural manifestations; however, His main desire is to work through each of us on a daily basis to help one another. There is nothing any of us has or owns that we could have acquired without God allowing it. Scripture records, “A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from Heaven.”1 We cannot even draw a breath of air into our lungs without God. How much more are we to express the love of God to others by providing for their needs when we see the opportunity and have the means. However, just as there is a God working in our behalf, there is also a devil that would like to keep mankind in a greedy and covetous state of mind.
The scripture says, “The thief (devil) has come to maim, kill, and destroy,”2 and we certainly saw that first hand. One or two nights after we received the trailer and were in the process of loading it for travel, there arose a storm. The wind began blowing and howling, and things started flying around outside. The LORD had been having us pray a lot, and we discovered the following day that a small tornado had touched down across the street from us. Limbs were twisted off of an oak tree in our neighbor’s yard, and debris was thrown everywhere. Coincidence or not, I have no doubt that the devil was trying to destroy the blessing that had been bestowed upon us. The trailer was not damaged, and we looked at this as God’s answer to prayer, because He had us doing a lot of praying before the squall hit. The devil knew that the trailer would be a lifesaver for the seven of us during our entire journey.
God is certainly able to weave a tapestry of eternal glory in our lives when we trust in Him, His timing and His way. All of these instances evidence the love I spoke of previously, and the people who helped us became testimonies of God’s greatness for the giver as well as the recipient.
The Book of Exodus, presents a beautiful exhortation/revelation when it says, “And you shall put into the Ark (the Ark of the Covenant) the testimony which I shall give you.”3 Moses was commanded to put into the Ark only the testimonies to God’s greatness. The Ark housed the stone tablets that contained the Law, Aaron’s rod that budded, and a sample of the manna that fell from Heaven. God provided this sign to His people as a provable testimony. Our lives will always be a testimony and a witness, either to God, the devil, or our own self-will. Yet God says to put into the ark (our life before God) only the testimony HE gives us. A testimony is the evidence that demonstrates the hand of God operating in our lives. This is an ongoing occurrence and is not just related to a one-time salvation experience. We are to live our life by His direction, and therefore our life will be a living testimony to His glory.