One of the hardest lessons I am still learning is to ask for help and to let people help me and those who know me also know how much of a challenge that is for me! However, I have come to see it as a spiritual discipline. Many years ago I confessed in a band meeting that I was really struggling and though I knew that I could ask my friends for help, I always felt like I would be a burden to them. A fellow band member turned to me and said “Have you ever thought, Sam, that by not asking for help you are denying someone the opportunity to be blessed to be a blessing to you. Maybe you need to pray to be a gracious recipient.” That word was a gift in itself! Since then I have continued to be generous in giving to others, but I also exercise being a gracious recipient as a spiritual discipline. If we believe that everything, everything, we have comes from God, then everything we have belongs to God. So when I am giving to others I am giving them the gift of God, and when I am graciously receiving I am receiving gifts from God. I think that is why it is a means of grace (a spiritual discipline) – freely giving what we have freely received so we can freely receive more and freely give more and …
It is really really hard to fundraise. I don’t like asking people for money and I’d rather be giving that receiving. But I believe that the Lord has given us the vision of Inspire because He wants to bless more people that we can imagine. And He has promised that He will provide for all our needs according to His glorious riches. That’s a lot of provision! But what if His provision includes inviting people to be generous givers? What if fundraising means asking for support because He wants us to be gracious recipients of His generosity through the giving of others? What if counting the cost and giving our whole life to serving the Kingdom through Inspire is the way that He is going bless countless others because they will be able to join in by being a part of God’s financial provision?
A GREAT BIG THANK YOU to all those people who already generously give to Inspire. We do not take your gifts for granted and we exercise good stewardship over all we receive as gracious recipients that we can be generous givers of all that the Lord has graced us with in Inspire.
If you don’t already give to Inspire, PLEASE ASK THE LORD HOW YOU CAN BE PART OF HIS PROVISION. You could support a specific Missioner, give to the School of Discipleship, donate to our publishing costs so we can make more resources available, help to fund the website provision and development, contribute to the essential costs of keeping an international discipleship movement moving! However the Lord prompts you, don’t miss out on the blessing of being a generous giver. Remember that you are already a blessed recipient of His grace and we’d love for you to continue to be a gracious recipient of all the Lord has for you through the Inspire Movement.
Sam is an Inspire Missioner and Administrator for the Inspire Movement.
