I love to talk and teach about faith. In my latest book, The Faith Files, I mix some personal faith stories with my study of faith in the New Testament. In my introduction to Matthew's gospel in the book, I relate one my all-time favorite faith testimonies and now I want to share it with you. To get the rest of the stories, you will have to buy the book. For now, you can read on.
A HOUSE FOR SALE
At one point in our marriage, my wife and I needed a new home. We thought the obstacle in our way was the home we had that we first needed to sell. Faith requires action, so we asked ourselves, “What can we do in faith that would be a step closer to our new home?” The answer was easy: we put our house on the market to sell.
After several months, nothing happened. So we asked ourselves the same question: “What can we do in faith?” We decided the next step was to go out and look for a new house. After all, we reasoned, it didn’t cost anything just to look.
To our surprise, we fell in love with the first house we saw. I can still remember our seven-year-old son running through the house, saying, “Bless the Lord, oh my soul!” We went home confident that we had found our new home, but unable to do anything until we sold our old one.
Another few weeks went by, and we asked ourselves that same question as to what we could do. We weren’t experienced home-buyers, but we thought that we could make an offer on the new house contingent upon selling the old one. We did that and the sellers accepted our bid. We then had until a certain date by which we had to sell the current home to move into the new or the deal was off.
Over the next six weeks, we had only one East Indian family look at our house. They gave us a bid and it was so low that we didn’t even counter offer. We thought they weren’t serious. Then we came to within a week of our deadline and we prayed as a family at the dinner table one evening, “Lord, show us what we’re not seeing here.” What you aren't seeing is often the key to your faith breakthrough.
A HOUSE SOLD
Our four-year-old left the table and shortly came running back in to announce, “Daddy, the Indian family just drove by.”
It was then that I saw what we had not seen. We had sold our house, just not for the price we expected. I contacted our realtor and instructed her to make the best deal she could with the Indian family. She did and we sold our house just thirty-six hours before our deadline. There was only one remaining problem. We did not have the $10,000 we needed to get into the new home, since we had sold our house for much less than we had anticipated.You may suspect what happened next. Someone gave us the money and we closed on our new house that faith had made possible.
I have come to realize that faith isn’t so much an event as a lifestyle. We must learn to trust God for many other instances like our home sale and purchase. I have drawn lessons from that story for many years and present it to you to see if you can apply it to your current situation.
If you are going to fulfill your purpose or obtain any breakthrough, you will need to act in faith. God isn't against you, He is for you and He will help you, but you must have the courage to do something in faith. More importantly, you will need to see what it is that you can't see that may be blocking your path. In other words, you need faith, but you need to have your eyes wide open. Ask God this week to show you what you aren't seeing and then be prepared to act, for I anticipate that God will answer your prayer. When He does, I know you will have a great week.
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THE FAITH FILES: I have 50 copies of The Faith Files left this week. I will send you a copy of The Faith Files for any
contribution that you make to my ministry while supplies last. That's
right, you read correctly. Just remember that your gifts help me
publish every week and distribute my studies and my purpose message all
over the world. The offer ends July 31, so order now to make sure you
get your first print copy. Send any contribution and get this new
volume that can
best be summarized as follows:
“Without faith, it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6).
• Does your faith affect your everyday life?
• How do you know if you have faith?
• Is there anything you can do to increase your faith?
The Faith Files are designed to help you answer these and many more questions where your faith is concerned. John Stanko wants you to not just know what you believe but know how to apply it to your business, family, life and ministry.
In this first of three volumes, John Stanko looks at every verse that mentions faith in the four gospels. He then makes some observations and poses questions that help you understand how to apply your faith today, right now, where you are and with what you have. You can use The Faith Files for personal or small group study, but either way it is guaranteed to help you exercise more God-pleasing faith.
Simply go to the Contributions
page on my site and use PayPal to contribute by credit card or check.
Make sure you include your address and we will get your copy of The Faith Files off right away. Don't miss the great opportunity to have the first of many Bible study volumes that I will publish.
NEW WEBSITE: Thousands of visitors have come to my new PurposeQuest
site since it launched a few
weeks ago. If you haven't been there yet, please stop by and make sure
you take the free PurposeQuest Assessment that is available on the home
page.
CONTINUE THE RADIO SHOW?: I got my radio show numbers for June and they were great! I had more than 5,000 listeners and almost 800 downloads! I am happy with that, but now I am facing a decision. Do I renew my contract after August 13? I will need $1300 per month to continue the show. What do you think? Should I renew? You can let me know by posting a comment on the site where this entry is posted.
Perhaps you, your organization, or your company could sponsor a show for $400? I would be glad to design a show around your cause or work if you sponsor it. Then you could download the show and use it for your own purposes. This may also fit into your missions budget, since the show goes around the world. Perhaps your organization would like to add your ad banner to my announcement page on the station, the same page that everyone who downloads any show sees. If I have the money raised by August 13, I will continue. If not, then I will have to shut it down. It's your call. What do you think? Write and let me know.
Episode Eleven: The World is Waiting for You
When you find your purpose, it opens the door for you to go to whoever needs who you are and what you do, wherever they may be. Join repeat guest Bruce Binkley (whose previous show was How to Use a Business to Fund Your Vision) as he reports on his recent visits to Viet Nam and Zimbabwe to bring relief to widows and orphans. Learn from Bruce how you can step out of your own world to engage some of the needs in the world at large.
Missed the live show? This episode is broadcast at 9 AM Eastern and then rebroadcast at 9 AM Eastern and 6 PM Pacific. Past episodes are available on-demand and podcast ready.
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