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Confidence in the promises of God ... never misplaced!

I was asked to prepare some ministry on the guiding principles of WEC - Faith, Holiness, Sacrifice and Fellowship - and how they work themselves out in a contemporary world. In preparing I was encouraged by my conclusion that in as much as the principles are based on biblical truth, then they are eternally relevant.

What each generation has to grapple with is bringing His promises and His truth into their contemporary world, and come to the place of realising that we can confidently build our whole life and sphere of activity on them. Why? Because they are an expression of who He is!

Let me give you a practical example of what I mean.

In our principle of faith we state that ... We are totally dependent on God as supplier of every need in our lives and ministry, and totally trust in Him to bring His revealed purposes to pass in spite of opposition, difficulty and apparent impossibility ... Psalm 23:1, Mt 6:33, 2 Cor 9:8, Php 4:19, Heb 11 ....

Now the passages are familiar for most Christians, but there is a world of difference between believing that our Father CAN supply all our needs, as we seek to work in obedience to His leading, and believing that He WILL supply and so pressing ahead in what He calls us to do.

So what does this look like in practice? In the first instance, we don't need to make appeals to funds to anyone other than directly to Him, as provider. He will, in His wisdom move others to give, at the time and in the amount of His deciding. Secondly, we can make plans not based on what we have already 'in the pot' but rather by what conviction we have that the Lord is challenging us to move ahead - trusting His promises.

What liberty comes when we can make decisions on this basis, and what joy and celebration when He proves Himself faithful time and time and time and time again ..... but why are we surprised by this? ... He is a faithful God!

I truly believe that the Father is longing to demonstrate to all His people that He is faithful and able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, but how can He when our lives are sometimes so tightly managed, with so many support structures around us - in case things don't work out?

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