Motivation
God is the greatest motivator to give to missions. Through His Word we learn that we can become partakers of God’s divine nature. It is clear in Scripture that His desire is that none would perish. By His Spirit, we can participate in His mission to seek and to save the lost by supporting His cause with what He has freely given to us.
God’s Cause
I don’t recall the first time that I gave to missions, but I always believed it is the most worthy cause because it is God’s cause. At one point, I was inspired by a family who dedicated their entire lives to mission work in Africa. They gave no thought to comfort, or wealth, or the future, or anything that the “world” defines as success. I marveled at their devotion, their joy in serving, and their unflinching sense of purpose. I supposed that it was unlikely I would ever join them in the work there, but I believed that if I could contribute financially, I could somehow become part of the work by supporting them. I could become part of the team from afar. The Bible teaches that every joint supplies. My support, great or small, meant that this team could continue the work of God without necessarily having to worry about money.
Plan
By faith, I plan my giving to be consistent. I set up a recurring donation and trust God to cover it. It is wonderful to give a one-time gift, and I do that at times, when the Spirit moves me. I believe God will use those gifts to meet specific needs. But to plan to give something consistently means that the team can plan and count on your support for a year or more. They don’t need to worry about where the next dollar is going to come from. That’s why I love Faith Promise. It is a commitment entered into by faith in God, the Greatest Giver of all to be a consistent giver.
By Faith
I seek God, by faith, to show me who and what to give. Sometimes I am moved by a specific need I hear about, sometimes I become aware of a team facing difficult or unusual challenges. Mostly, I just continue to give to the same team year after year, because they do not cease to serve the mission, even if their location changes.
Keep Going
There have been so many times when practical needs have made it very difficult to continue on-going support. Everyone has unexpected expenses and if your income decreases or never increases, you wonder how you will meet them. Where is the money going to come from? It is then that I go to prayer and ask for wisdom. There are times when there is pressure at home to cease giving because it would free up money to meet the rising cost of living. There are times when practical wisdom bears down hard. But every time I have considered ending my support to missions, I have prayed and asked God to guide me in the stewardship of what He has given.
So far, I have not been pressed beyond measure to stop giving. I simply choose to make sacrifices in other areas or cut unnecessary expenses in order to continue support. Then God moves. Maybe my grocery bill is lower because I received something from the food pantry. Maybe we encounter a warmer winter, and the heating bills are not as high. Maybe a scary medical problem looms large on the horizon and you wonder what it will mean financially, and by prayer, it gets unexpectedly resolved. By God’s grace, I keep giving and keep trusting Him to provide and He does, in so many mysterious ways. – Testimony of a Faith Promise Giver
