When I graduated from Southwestern Assembly of God Bible College, I received a very good offer. The dean of the college told me that he wanted to recommend me to a very good church that would have been a great opportunity. However, I had real peace in my heart about attending Rhema Bible Training Center in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, near Tulsa.
I knew that, if we moved to Tulsa, it would mean both my wife and I would have to find jobs. This move would be a real test of faith for us, especially when I had the opportunity to move immediately into full-time ministry.
Friends would say, "Why are you going to a Bible school? You just graduated from college!"
But God had another plan. He was preparing my way to Little Rock via Tulsa. We must follow our hearts and not the offers. God holds the future, and the best future for you does not always hold what seems to be the best offer. The will of God is to stay planted where God has you until He says to move.
This leads to another key to longevity, which is making God your complete Source. Every Christian will be faced with a situation in which to make a decision to either trust God or to trust man. Jeremiah 17 says:
Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.We did move to Tulsa and rented a small apartment. My wife, Kim, got a job, and I worked part-time as youth director in a church. But we were barely making it. At one time, for two weeks, all we had in the house was about eight dozen eggs given us by Kim's aunt. The bills were paid, but we had no money for food.
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
(Jer. 17:5-8)
When I realized that we had to eat eggs for two weeks, I wanted to cry for help from my mom and dad. I knew all I had to do was pick up the phone and the money would be on its way. However, I also knew that would be trusting in my parents and not in God.
After a few days, I thought that I would sprout feathers: We had fried eggs, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs, and poached eggs. Then I got a call from the pastor of a church with about a thousand members asking me to come work for him. The salary looked like a heaven-sent one, and I thought perhaps God wanted me to leave Tulsa and take that job. I told the pastor I would come and visit with him about the job, but when I hung up the phone, Kim began to cry. She said, "Terry, you know God wants us here. We can't even go down there and talk to the pastor about this."
After we prayed, I had to call the pastor back and apologize for even offering to come visit him about that job. I told him I knew God had called me to be in Tulsa. Then I hung up, looked at Kim, and said, "Pass the eggs."
I do not regret that decision, because that is how God taught me to trust Him. Even when I arrived in Little Rock and talked with the Caldwells, we knew it was a step of faith. They knew we were supposed to join them, and Kim and I knew God was telling us to come. We came with no mention of salary, just knowing by the inner peace that God would supply, and He has.
You must have a revelation in your heart that your church is not your source, your pastor is not your source, and your salary is not your source. Every Christian will face times when it is necessary to find out who to trust: God or man. If you lean toward man, then man will be the limit of your supply.
I have known people who volunteered to help in a local church, working for no pay but doing it unto the Lord. Then, because of their faithfulness, they were placed on staff. Now they were getting paid but were expected to be on time and put in a full day's work. Their attitudes began to be that the church owed them something. They felt they were worth more than they were paid, and the work demands were too much. They lost sight of Who they were working for and Who was their real Source.
Do not allow anger to rise up in you against your pastor or your employer when you find yourself in a situation where you must believe God financially. If you agreed to work for the salary offered by the ministry, you have no right to get angry when you face a situation of lack.
Your source of supply must be God.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers