Testimony Time

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that you are doing well, remaining thankful and contending for the faith. We are finally coming out of lockdown and my I am back in business. I hope the same has happened for you but if you are still in the stage of contending with lockdown then I encourage you to keep rejoicing because God is still in control and will see you through.

I want to share a short testimony from Rodney to encourage you.

My wife and I have used this lock down to lock into the Lord and His purposes. We are truly enriched as we get fed with daily fresh manna which I have been sharing with those refugees in my contact list on WhatsApp. A fortnight ago we had a desperate plea from a refugee pastor from DRC. He was unable to pay rent in full due to lockdown etc and was being threatened with more than just eviction by the landlady. I immediately transmitted the money even though it was not in our under-pressure budget. Meanwhile my wife felt led to bake a cake for the mother of a lady friend who worked in a ministry team we led years ago. The lady had emigrated and wanted to bless her mom. My wife did not want payment. She asked that a donation be made to feed the poor instead. The lady however insisted that she wanted to sow into our ministry. The deposit was made to my account. It was not the price of a cake. It was the exact amount of the rent shortfall! What an awesome God!

Our Father is never out of options when it comes to His marvellous provision in your life and no matter where you are or what you are facing God has His best interests at heart for you.

Many people all over the world right now are facing a time of financial famine in their lives and at some point I think we have all faced a time of financial difficulty. I know I have but in every circumstance I have seen the Lord’s hand provide. However, there is a key that unlocks the provision of heaven which I want to share with you.

In Genesis 26 is the story of Isaac in a time of famine. He was a farmer and herdsman and as any farmer will tell you, famine is not something they want. In this time Isaac went down to Gerar where Abimelech was the ruling king. He gets there and then does exactly the same thing his father did. He was afraid that Abimelech would kill him because of his beautiful wife, so he tells him that Rebekah is his sister and the king takes her into his harem.

Now ladies, how excited would you be if your husband palmed you off into a harem to save his own skin? Isaac is not only facing a famine, but he also has to deal with being separated from his wife, whom he loved. One day he goes to visit Rebekah and makes out with her. Abimelech sees this and realises that she is his wife and in great fear restores her to him. Go read the story and imagine all went on there.

I want you to see something beautiful. In spite of Isaac’s fear of Abimelech and the sin he committed against his wife, God never scolded or punished him. In fact, there is no mention of Isaac even confessing his sin to anyone except Abimelech. God intervened and protected all involved in Isaac’s mess and delivered them all simply because Isaac was His chosen one. You are God’s chosen one, remember that.

Now, there was still a famine in the land and most farmers do not plant seed when there is a famine. Yet in the midst of the famine Isaac went out and planted his seed anyway, believing that he would get a harvest and he did. In that same year he reaped his harvest and became a very wealthy man. However, he only increased and became wealthy AFTER he had planted his seed.

Sowing seed, which in most of our cases is sowing finance into the kingdom of God, will require you to sow in faith expecting that there will be a return. In a time of financial difficulty please do not stop giving, especially to the poor or where God has instructed you to give. Without giving there is no seed that God can work with to cause increase in your life. It does not matter how big or how small you think your seeds are but without giving there will be very little change in your world.

Giving is an eternal principal that God has set in place. It is an unchangeable principal and He will not violate His own principals. Fear of the future and of not having enough will cause you to withhold your seed. This in turn will minimise that opportunity for the principle of seed time and harvest from working for you. Isaac understood the principle of seed time and harvest and acted accordingly and received 100 times what he had sown back in that same year. Yes, there is a time of patience that is necessary while your seeds do what they have been created to do – to grow and provide a harvest for you.

As for me the business came to a sudden and unexpected lockdown with no income coming in. In this time Dave and I took care of some people that we knew would not have food to eat while this lockdown was in place. We continued to give and to provide for those that the Lord impressed on us to support and in May the business did sales even though we were in lockdown. The agents stayed in contact with their clients, worked remotely, and God provided for them and for me even though there was a famine in the land called lockdown.

Can I encourage you to sit with the Lord and to talk to Him about where you are financially and what you need to sow. He will show you. Start small if that is all you have faith for and then increase your giving as your faith grows. Trust Him. He is faithful. Keep rejoicing and giving thanks because something wonderful will come your way. God is trustworthy and He is not a respecter of persons. What He has done for Isaac, Rodney, and me, He will also do for you.

Be strong, stay courageous, and fight the good fight of faith.

In His love and grace

Yvonne

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