Page 22 - Living Epistles

had become ritualistic, disappointing, and boring. For many years we had run
off in a tizzy to Sunday church to hear what seemed to be the same messages.
There was the uneventful, weekly cell group and the occasional "guilt driven"
outreach to the lost. All of this within an "anxiety driven" city that had a deaf
ear and little time for the things of God.

"Lord", Mary and I would cry in desperation, "Is this what Christianity is all
about"? "God, where is the book of Acts, where are the miracles"?

The Lord answered us in His usual uncanny style. "If you want to live in the
supernatural you must trust and give in the supernatural." Through a series
of events and confirmations that transpired over a number of months, the
Lord challenged us with two scriptures.

"When Jesus heard this, He said to him,"One thing you still lack; sell all that
you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in
heaven; and come follow Me." " Luke 18:23

"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother
or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much,
and will inherit eternal life." Matthew 19:29

The Lord Jesus asked us to give away, our home, and embark with Him on a
journey of faith. After hundreds of hours of prayer, Mary and I felt prompted
to telephone Christian friends of ours who also had four children (they now
have seven), and offer them the condominium. In a "tear filled" meeting we
told them that the condo would become theirs when the Lord would bring to
us this "hundredfold return" on our giving.

Months later, the Lord hit us with a bombshell that left us numb and broken.
"Giving the condo away, conditional upon money coming in, is not faith. You
haven't given away anything, Jose." We knew that money or no money, God
was asking us to legally give away our home and move out. Jose would shake
and tremble in "his closet" as he prayed about what the Lord was requiring of
them.

We went to our pastor with whom we had been in continuous dialogue about
the situation with the home. We will never forget how God spoke through him.
With simple words of wisdom he told us: "Whatever is in your hearts to do,
do."