God’ supplemental insurance policy, Part 2
“How blessed is he who considers the helpless; the Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble. The Lord will protect him and keep him alive, and he shall be called blessed upon the earth; and do not give him over to the desire of his enemies. The Lord will sustain him upon his sickbed; in his illness, You restore him to health.” Psalm 41:1-3
If you didn’t read yesterday’s entry, scroll down to read it—God’s supplemental insurance policy, Part 1, before you read this one.
This policy, found in Psalm 41, unlike “The Finished Work” policy (TFW) which Jesus purchased for you with His death on the cross, has a prerequisite for you to fulfill before it is activated—you are to consider the helpless. You need to determine if you want to pay this price before you can take advantage of the policy.
The first listed benefit of supplemental policy #PS41-1-3 is deliverance in the day of trouble. Look at the news and you will see a vast array of troubles. This policy is good for every one of them—from sniffles to war.
What is the day of trouble that you are facing? No matter how distressing it may seem, it doesn’t come close to taxing the broad expanse of #PS41-1-3.
To give you an idea of the range that this policy covers, I will give you two lists. The first one includes some types of everyday trouble you will probably face sometime in life.
- Sickness
- Surgery
- Injury
- Death of a loved one
- Debt
- Joblessness
- Loneliness
- Ridicule
- Sudden attack
- Lies and questioned reputation
- Rebellious, wayward children
- Broken heart
The next list includes some of the trouble that’s currently filling the news.
- Wars
- Economic woes
- Unemployment
- Attacks on First amendment rights
- Massive immorality
- Government overreach
- Stirring of racial division
- Increased violence
- Invasion of privacy
- Identity theft
- Judeo-Christian culture under attack
- Widespread governmental corruption
- Exorbitant national debt
- US borders broken down
- Rampant lawlessness
- Christians persecuted and slaughtered overseas
- Christians openly ridiculed and brought into lawsuits at home
- Tax dollars used to support groups that counter biblical thought
Either list could go on and on, but this is a mere sampling of some of the troubles you may face. The good news is this: Every type of trouble in which you may find yourself, your Agent has provided adequate deliverance for you no matter what it is. In addition to “The Finished Work” policy (TFW), if you have considered the helpless, you have yet another avenue through which to access deliverance from trouble.
The Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble.
Rest assured that if you’ve helped someone else out in their day of trouble, you can cry out for the Lord’s help the very minute you sense that trouble is near. It’s not that you deserve His help; it’s just that He’s ready to extend it to you in ample supply. Remember, however, even if you haven’t considered the helpless, you can still receive help in trouble through TFW policy, paid for in full by the blood Jesus. The supplemental #PS41-1-3 policy merely gives you an added “point of contact” faith-booster, empowering you to persevere confidently until the trouble is routed.
I challenge you to apply this policy—#PS41-1-3—by faith to your daily life. In case you haven’t noticed, the times are escalating into increasing levels of trouble. Now is the time to ratchet up your faith so that you can live victoriously despite the chaos around you. Now is the time to build your faith for deliverance from trouble. Because of that, now is the time to consider the helpless.
Here’s to all those precious souls you will help. And here is to your deliverance from trouble!
Dorothy
How blessed is he who considers the helpless; the Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble. Psalm 41:1-3
Read MoreGod’s supplemental insurance policy, Part 1
“How blessed is he who considers the helpless; the Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble. The Lord will protect him and keep him alive, and he shall be called blessed upon the earth; and do not give him over to the desire of his enemies. The Lord will sustain him upon his sickbed; in his illness, You restore him to health.” Psalm 41:1-3
Several years ago I discovered an insurance policy in the Bible that far surpassed the one I enjoyed as a teacher. I didn’t abandon the policy through my school, but I did take a serious look at the policy outlined in the Word of God. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse.
A quick survey of the benefits listed in this policy—spelled out in Psalm 41:1-3—made the price of securing it well worth the expenditure. I call it Policy #PS41-1-3.
Policy #PS41-1-3 benefits:
- Deliverance of policy holder in a day of trouble
- Protection and life sustenance for policy holder
- Policy holder will be called blessed upon the earth
- Policy holder will not be handed over to the will of his/her enemies
- Policy holder will be strengthened while upon sickbed
- Policy holder will be restored to health when ill
Do you like what you see? I sure did, and I set up an appointment to discuss it with my Agent as quickly as I could. He assured me that this policy was lifelong in coverage, and that the disbursements would occur as often as I had need. This policy also provides for limitless payouts—and is good toward rewards after death.
I signed up immediately with clear instructions from my Agent that this policy was actually supplemental to my primary policy called “The Finished Work” policy (TFW). He told me that I already qualified for the TFW through my status as a believer in Christ. The way I look at it, no matter what happens in this crazy world, I am covered by my Insurance Agent with policies—each of which include lifelong grace periods.
Jesus paid for “The Finished Work” policy on Calvary, and it is active in your life free of charge if you have received Jesus as your Lord.
However, supplemental policy #PS41-1-3 does include fees that you pay as your Agent directs.
In a nutshell, this is the price that you are charged: consider the helpless. My Agent made it very clear to me that this kind of giving was different than the tithe; neither was it an extra offering thrown into the plate on Sunday morning. The payment toward this policy is what the Old Testament called “alms”.
Alms are money, food, or other donations given to the poor or needy. If you sign up for this supplemental policy, your Agent will quickly direct you to individuals who have need, and He will have you target them with cash, food, or other necessities. He may send you on stealth operations; He may enlist you in face-to-face contact. He may give you an ongoing project; He may thrust you into one-time blitz assignments. Sometimes your target is a friend, a relative, or an acquaintance; at other times it is a complete stranger. Capital may involve your favorite coat; it could be lunch money or a ten or a twenty; it might be paying vet bills or rent; it may be money for a car. This Agent is a shrewd Financier, and He knows the best way for you to invest into your policy.
I am sold on this supplement to “The Finished Work” policy. Talk to my Agent; He’ll set you up with an offer you can’t refuse!
Dorothy
How blessed is he who considers the helpless… Psalm 41:1a
Read MoreSowing
God’s Word often gives instructions that are, to the practical mind, the exact opposite of common sense. Tithing and giving are like that, but when you choose to obey the Word in your giving, you position yourself to become an eyewitness to what God can do, both through you and for you. Proverbs 11:24 says, “There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in want.”
When you tithe, three things occur. First, you provide for the house of God—that particular church into which you sow the first ten percent of your paycheck. You minister personally to the Lord in your tithe, and He uses it to build up His church. Hebrews 6:10 provides solid assurance that what you do will not go unnoticed by Him. It reads, “For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.” Giving financially is one way you minister not only to the Lord but also to the saints—and God will not forget it.
Secondly, when you tithe, God Himself opens the windows of Heaven and pours out blessings until you don’t have room enough to contain it all. You can expect, based on this verse, blessings to start abounding when you tithe.
Third, God Himself rebukes the devourer—the devil—so that he won’t be able to destroy the fruit of your ground or the vine in your field. In other words, because you tithe, God personally defends your finances. Wow!
Don’t worry if your tithing hasn’t reaped any visible results yet. Think about babies. Feet are made for walking, and little baby humans know that instinctively. They do their level best to get those feet to do their thing, but to no avail—at least for a while. They fall forward, they fall backward, they fall like drunken sailors, they collapse in a heap—and they get right back up and do it again! All the while mommy and daddy are grinning ear to ear, hovering nearby, and ready to bail them out if they fall too hard.
You delight your Father when you step out in giving—even with all the spills you take—as much as little ones delight their parents when they are learning to walk. Trust Him with your tithe and your giving. He’s nearby, smiling and ready to catch you if you need it.
A baby isn’t given hiking boots; a one year old isn’t given a two-wheeler; a ten year old isn’t given a car; a teenager isn’t given the title deed to his own house. Think about this in relation to giving.
God will direct you as you learn to tithe to give a bit extra from time to time. He will probably lead you to send support to different ministries, and at some point He will likely direct you to send more consistent support to one or more of the ministries that stir your heart.
How will you know? As you pray, you will experience a knowing inside you that what you are considering is right. Start small, especially if your income is small, and let God expand your giving as you increase. You are sowing seed into good soil, and like 2 Corinthians 9:10 declares, the Lord who supplies the money for you to give beyond your tithe “will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.”
Let the Lord lead you by His Spirit and His gentle conviction when you give. He knows where you should sow the seed He gives you, and He will direct you. Second Corinthians 9:7 sheds light on something else worth noting: “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
The writer of this verse, Paul the apostle, wrote this to relieve the pressure that often attends giving; if you’ve purposed in your heart to give a certain amount, then do that, and do it with joy. You know the voice of God, and you can tell if He wants you to give more than you planned. If He leads you this way, obey His prompting. But if you experience manipulation, coercion, or a sense of guilt or shame when listening to an appeal for money, guess what? Those feelings aren’t from God! How do I know? Because Paul told you to give what you purposed in your heart—not a manipulated amount squeezed out of you by an intentionally emotional or shame-inducing appeal.
If you feel like the proverbial turnip being squeezed for blood after being manipulated to give, then you’re probably not very cheerful. Don’t let your giving become a guilt-induced task. Purpose to give cheerfully, and don’t let yourself be coerced into giving out of peer pressure or guilt. (That goes for meetings, phone solicitations, letters, emails, and face-to-face requests.) Trust God to lead you when faced with these uncomfortable tactics.
As you tithe, give, and consistently listen to the Lord about the seed you have to sow, remember that God is your Father and is delighted in you as His child. The hard knocks you may be experiencing are not hidden from Him, and He is near, ready to step in to assist you. He’s looking to see in you the persistent expectation of a baby new to walking; when you fall, you get back up and go at it again, even if it’s not pretty! The baby craves the freedom that will come from walking on his own two feet; you look forward to the harvest of righteousness that will spring up in your life due to your giving. Tithing, giving, and sowing your seed are part of what you are created to do. “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the Lord is the One who holds his hand” (Psalm 37:23-24).
When you sense the Holy Spirit directing you to sow seed beyond your tithe, know that He is leading you in this way to bless you and to expand your fruitfulness. Picture Him, smiling, hovering near, and ready to catch you as you obey His promptings. As you take baby steps in faith, your stride will grow increasingly more steady and broad, and you will not only be a blessing to others, but you, yourself, will be blessed.
Be encouraged!
Dorothy
Next: God’s supplemental insurance policy, part 1
Read MoreTithing
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:10-11
Tithing—giving 10 percent of every dime you earn or receive to the Lord—is a discipline I put into practice not long after I was saved. Nobody pounded this doctrine into my head; my first “church” had been a dorm room Bible study where we never took up offerings, and none of the churches in the small town where I lived during my first year of teaching were a fit for me, so I didn’t stay long enough in one place to hear a message on the topic. I simply saw it in the Bible, so I did it.
And I’m glad, because tithing is so simple and has borne such tremendous fruit in my life.
I was convicted as a young Christian about the legitimacy of tithing when I first read the verses in Malachi. In obedience to what I saw, I purposed to tithe consistently—a personal practice that has now spanned over four decades. Those verses reveal that the God of all things will open for you the windows of Heaven and pour out upon you a blessing that you cannot contain. On top of that, the Lord Himself rebukes the devourer on your behalf simply because you are consistent in giving Him ten percent of all your income. I feel sorry for believers who don’t tithe on a regular basis—they’re missing out on experiencing God’s regular intervention in their finances.
My life has been blessed—not in a flamboyant, ostentatious, in-your-face-I’m-so-wealthy sort of way—but all my needs have been met according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (see Philippians 4:19). I attribute this to the habit of tithing which I took pains to develop very early in my walk. I can’t imagine not giving the Lord the first ten percent; it has become as ingrained in my life as brushing my teeth or washing my hair.
Notice I mentioned giving the Lord the first ten percent. Proverbs 3:9-10 describes not only what you are to give, but also when to give. It reads “Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce; so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.” Although these verses do not specify the amount, they do specify the timing of your giving—first, before you spend a dime, not from the leftovers of your paycheck after you take care of everything else.
Where do you tithe? Malachi said, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.” In my opinion, the storehouse for your tithe is the church where you attend. However, if you disagree with this perspective, I believe you should tithe nonetheless—wherever you feel the Lord leads. When you disregard the tithe, in my estimation you are making a terribly risky decision.
Some people feel that the tithe in Malachi is legalistic and therefore non-binding to the New Testament believer. If that were true, then the rest of the book of Malachi would be non-binding as well. I wonder if such folks would be willing to say that Malachi 3:16-18 is also irrelevant to Christians: “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name. ‘They will be Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.’ So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.”
If the tithe is gone, so is the book of remembrance, so is the Lord’s deep esteem for those who follow Him, and so is the distinction between the righteous and the wicked. Is that what people mean to say when they assert that tithing is nothing more than Old Testament legalism?
Concerning giving offerings beyond the tithe—be led by God. He will probably lead you to give to other ministries, whether on an ongoing basis or from time to time. He will also lead you to give to individuals.
Tomorrow I will write about the subject of giving beyond the tithe and how to discern when to do so and to whom. In addition, I plan to show you the biblical permission I received to be unmoved by coercive, manipulative tactics. And lastly, I will introduce you to what I call my supplemental Bible insurance policy.
Take a closer look at tithing. It is a simple, doable practice that will reap lifelong, positive results as God—according to His promise—opens for you the windows of Heaven and rebukes the devourer on your behalf. Can Allstate, Progressive, or State Farm boast as much? I don’t think so.
Dorothy
Read MoreConcerning 9/11/01
Almost everyone 21 years old and up remembers where they were and what they were doing on 9/11/01, when they heard the news that our nation had been attacked in NYC, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
My eighth graders were taking a pre-algebra test. A girl returning from the restroom came to my desk and asked me if there had been a crash at the airport. Since our school was near that hub, and it was only 9:00 or so in the morning (CDT), I told her “No, honey, why do you ask?”
“Mrs. McDuffie and some of the other teachers are out in the hall crying, and I heard the word ‘airplane’,” she responded.
As she took her seat and the other students were completing their tests, I quietly poked my head out of the classroom and called Mrs. McD. over. “What’s going on?” I whispered.
Grasping my wrist, with tears streaming down her dark cheeks, my colleague responded, “Girl, it looks like America is under attack! The World Trade Center has been hit twice, and so has the Pentagon!”
Hardly able to comprehend what I had just heard, I returned to the class and walked around the student desks in restless bewilderment as the remaining few kids finished up their tests. When the last student turned in his exam, I quietly told the class what I had heard. I decided that since they were 13 and 14 years old, they would be able to process—at least as much as any of the rest of us—what was going on in our country; in fact, I felt they needed to know—and I had to know. I turned on the classroom TV bolted high on the wall in the back of the room, and all of us watched in shocked silence as we stared at the screen.
Later that day, when I returned home, I prayed, cried, and watched TV in stunned horror. I opened one of my devotional books which I read nearly every day, and to my amazement, the September 11 entry, published nine years before 2001, had a timely message for our nation. Ever since that fateful day, on 9/11 every year when I read that simple entry, I am amazed at the kindness and providence of God, Who, in advance, provided words of comfort and resolve to anyone who would open that little book in those dark hours.
Here is the September 11 entry, published in 1992, entitled “Don’t Be Disturbed”:
“‘The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: He maketh the devices of the people of none effect.” Psalm 33:10
“You may be facing trouble today that’s being caused by people who have willfully plotted to do you harm. They may be trying to steal your business, your home, your children, or even to destroy your marriage. If so, I have a word of encouragement for you. According to Psalm 33:10, God will bring the plans of those people to nought. He will make their devices of none effect. The counsel of the heathen is brought to nought, but the counsel of the Lord stands forever!
“Remember this: When you make God your stronghold in the time of trouble, no one can overcome you. No matter how powerful they are in the natural, the odds are in your favor because you trust in the Lord. They may think they’ve got an edge over you, but God is on your side and that gives you the advantage!
“Rest assured, you are eventually going to triumph over this trouble. In the meantime, if you’ll set your affections on the Lord, the thoughts of His heart continually will be coming into your heart. ‘The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide’ (Psalm 37:30-31). God’s counsel will give you stability when all the world around you is shaking. Evil tidings will not be able to steal your peace. The thoughts of God will immediately rise up and rebuke the evil tidings from taking root in your heart.
“Don’t let the temporary successes of the troublemaker disturb you. Instead, ‘mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace’ (verse 37).”
—Gloria Copeland, From Faith to Faith; September 11 entry, copyright 1992.
May God comfort you and give you resolve to stand strong as you follow Him.
Dorothy
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