Daily Devotionals for Women - Today's Encouraging Word from Scripture

A GOD WHO GETS MILEAGE OUT OF GIVING

And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Genesis 15:6

God loves to give. He is not stingy, but extravagant! Even though I did nothing to deserve His love, His nature is to bless. And when He gives a gift, it always means more than I can understand at the time. If God has blessed you recently with something unexpected, be prepared to see many tentacles materialize. God may appear to be giving one thing but that ‘one thing’ brings ‘many things’.

God told Abram in Genesis 13:6 that his descendants would be as numerous as grains of dust. Now, He tells him that his offspring will be as numerous as the stars. Are these descendants one in the same? Not on your life. The blessing God speaks over Abram keeps increasing exponentially. The descendants related to the earth are the Jewish people who will come after him. The descendants related to the stars are his spiritual seed; those who will embrace Jesus globally over the course of time. Could Abram understand what all this meant? No way. All he could see was a Jewish line of descendants. Even this taxed his faith since he and Sarah were no longer of childbearing age.

There are so many personal stories I could share with you of how God gets mileage out of gifts He gives. Here’s just one example. In 2008, God spoke to me in prayer and told me to start training twelve women at a time in Prayer Mapping. I really questioned Him to make sure I heard right. How would teaching twelve be better than teaching large groups? Wouldn’t I be minimizing impact? Yet God persisted in His message to me and gave many confirmations, even reminding me that He changed the world with twelve! So I began to schedule several retreats a year with openings for only twelve to register. This was done by faith since this also did not appear to be an economically sound decision for the ministry.

What happened? This small intimate group was impacted in a way that would not have happened in a large group. The teaching was interactive and the women shared their lives authentically. The breakthroughs they experienced, every single one of them, left me on a spiritual mountaintop the likes of which I had rarely experienced. I left praising God for His blessing, not realizing that I had only just begun to see what the blessing involved. Over half of that group of twelve went home to sponsor their own Prayer Mapping event. The ministry of strategic prayer increased exponentially because when God gives a gift, He gets mileage out of it.

What may God be asking you to do that makes no sense to you? It looks like you will lose instead of gain? Take this advice from a spiritual sister. I have gone on to sponsor many events for twelve and each of them has had exponential results. So, run and do what God asks. Trust His nature. He longs to be gracious and His arms are full of gifts just waiting to be released into your future.

Lord, the stories I am telling today aren’t even the end of all You still plan to give me. I know You. Each act of obedience brings an open ended blessing. There is no King like you. Amen.

For more from Christine Wyrtzen and Jaime Wyrtzen Lauze, please visit www.daughtersofpromise.org