"Today" - A prayer

Today I am weak and my tasks are too great for me.  You, God, must accomplish the work or my labor will be in vain.  (Psalm 127:1, 1 Cor 15:58)

Today I am alone and my heart is full of sorrow.  Be with me, Father, and show me Your loving kindness.  (1 Sam 12:22, Psalm 27:10)

Today I am fearful.  I see with my eyes but fail to trust You.  Open my eyes to see Your perfect purposes!  (Psalm 119:18, 2 Kings 6:17)

Today I am impatient.  I doubt Your perfect timing and prefer my own plan.  Lord, calm my heart and cause me to wait on You with courageous expectation!  (Ps 27:14, Phil 4:6-7)

Today I am jealous.  I witness other believers prospering while I receive less.  Help me to trust You and joyfully lay down my life as Jesus did.  (John 21:21-22, Phil 2:1-11)

Today I consider myself a beggar, defeated and hopeless.  Remind me of Your wonderful plan and purposes for me!  (Jer 29:11, Mt 28:19)

Today I will neglect Your Word, preferring lies that promise much.  Cause my false beliefs to fail and Your Word to fill me once again!  (John 17:17, Psalm 19:7-11)

Today I will doubt Your goodness, Father.  Evil surrounds me and there are few doing good.  Reassure me of Your infinite goodness and love!  (Gen 50:20, Psalm 119:68)

Today I will stray from you in sin.  My heart will wander from You and not want to return.  Good Shepherd, would You rescue and restore me?  (Psalm 23, 51)

Today I will blame others for my failures.  I will hate them unjustly and turn on those I call friends!  Holy King, lead me to repentance and help me see myself rightly!  (Mt 7:5, Romans 2:1)

Today I will pursue things that are not God.  I will trust in my money and in my methods.  I will run to selfish desires and distractions.  I will foolishly glorify these as though they can save me!  Show these to be false idols, worthless and powerless!  (Jer 10:3-5, 1 Kings 18:17-40)

Today is just like every other day;  I am in need of salvation and You alone are my Savior!  (Romans 3:23, John 3:16)

You do not have because you do not ask

"You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask." (James 4:2, HCSB)

I distinctly remember the first time I read those words in the book of James.  I can recall it so vividly because it was the first time that I, since becoming a Christian, put down the Bible and declared, "Now THAT simply couldn't be true!"

(I still had much to learn about humility.)

Why did those words illicit such a strong response?  It was because I could not believe that any Christian would lack something simply because of not praying!  "Why in the world," I wondered, "would any Christian NOT ask God for something?  Isn't it a basic truth of the gospel that Christians are God's adopted children, and that they need only ask for an egg to receive one?  James must be mistaken!"

(I still had much to learn about human nature, too.)

Yet my baby-Christian brain was really onto something here!  Should it not be a wonder to us that we are ever lacking?  Should our lack not immediately draw us into fervent, desperate prayer?

Yet it often doesn't.  It doesn't for me, anyway.  I've begun countless nights of calls without even acknowledging the very God who called me to do fundraising in the first place.  I've sent out dozens of written appeals without the smallest request of the Father who gave me people to ask.  I've arrived at so many in-person appointments without pausing at all to ask for my Savior's intercession.  Why should I have been at all surprised when my lack of asking lead to lack of having?

In fact, there's only one thing that amazes me more than my lack of asking - and that's my lack of lacking.

If God were only just, He'd be perfectly righteous in denying me every unasked-for penny.  Rather, our God is infinitely gracious even in the midst of our unending pride!  What a wonder that He would give me any appointments or any donors when I've assumed so often that I'd earned them all myself!  In my blindness I'd go about thinking that I was being so competent and so diligent and so faithful while He patiently waited week after week for me to repent and see His grace behind my so-called works.  What kind of love is this???

While I no longer doubt the truthfulness of James's words, I wish I could say that after so many years I've finally mastered James's challenge to ask.  I haven't.  But I do ask much more often now.  And when I do, I ask out of a far more grateful heart than I'd had years ago.

(I'll always have much to learn about the gospel, too - praise God!)

Asking for help

It's been a while since the last Gospel Fundraising post!  No, I didn't die.  Or quit fundraising.  But I did end up getting a new role that requires me to think about fundraising basically every single day.  This means that I simultaneously have much more to write about and less time to do it =)  But I've committed to doing it more regularly again.  May God use these further musings as a blessing to those who make their living from the gospel. -Tom

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My 2-year-old has a fascination with eating icicles.  For the past several weeks, every time he looks outside our bathroom window, he beholds these big, dripping triangles hanging from our roof.  His little voice then calls out: "Daddy, can you help me get one?"

Meanwhile, my 5-year-old has a fascination with Legos.  He still mostly wants to follow the instructions, and so it's fairly common for him to stare in confusion at the picture indicating where to place a particular piece.  His little voice then calls out: "Daddy, can you help me with this?"

Daddy, meanwhile, has a fascination with saving money.  I enjoy doing small-to-medium-sized home projects, but it's fairly common for me to get to a point where the next step is no longer obvious.  The thing simply won't come off or fit in or turn on or whatever else.  In those cases, do you know what I call out?

Usually... nothing.

It's tragic that somewhere along the line I lost the childlike dependence on "Daddy".  Perhaps it's pride.  Or the "self-made man" American mindset.  Or an "orphan mentality".  Regardless, it's hard for me to ask for help from anyone.  And especially from God.

Yet, in areas like fundraising and ministry, it should be way, way, way obvious that I can't do it!  I can ask for support, but God has to lead others to give.  I can lead a Bible study, but God has to change others' hearts.  I've tried doing both those things plenty of times without God and seen the sad results.  And, thankfully, I've also tried doing both with God and seen results well beyond what I could have expected.

Here's how Jesus puts it:

I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you.  (Luke 11:9, ESV)

and

Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.  (John 15:5, ESV)

My two- and five-year-olds know that they need help to get what they need; God-fearing fundraisers would do well to follow their example. Are you short on contacts? Has your support level plateaued for weeks or even months? Has your time in the Scriptures been dry for a season?

Have you asked for your heavenly Daddy's help?  Why not do it right now?

Soon enough, by God's grace, you'll be enjoying your tasty icicle, completed Lego and/or fulfilled support goal.

When giving under compulsion is good

Most Christian fundraisers know this verse:

"Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV)

We know that verse means that we should never pressure people into giving. We should rather trust that God will guide people to give and will bless those who do - and those are the people we want on our support teams.

However, how do we handle those people who say that they want to give - even declaring it decisively and cheerfully - but who never start giving?

If you've done fundraising for any length of time, you've experienced this. I've had a number of people over the years leave me in that awkward position. On the one hand, they've said that they want to give. In some cases, they've even affirmed it repeatedly. But on the other hand, they refuse to return phone calls, emails, Facebook posts, letters and whatever other methods I've tried.

These situations make up one of the hardest parts of fundraising. They cause you to feel rejected, lonely, defeated and unmotivated. As days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months, the thought of trying again leaves you with tightness in your chest. "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." (Pr 13:12)

In these cases, how can you keep from losing heart?

Jesus tells us:

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.'" And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:1-8 ESV)

The Lord's point could not be clearer: we ought always to pray and not lose heart. Why? Because if an unrighteous judge can be convinced by constant pestering, how much more responsive will the Righteous Judge be?

Note then the implication: though we should never lead another human being to give under compulsion, Jesus plainly encourages us to lead God to give under compulsion!

Now to be clear, God never actually gives reluctantly or under compulsion. He bows His knee to no one, regardless of how much they may plead with Him. However, there are easily a hundred other ways in which Jesus could have encouraged His disciples to not give up - yet He chose to do it by comparing His Father to a flabbergasted atheist jerk. Why? Because even though God never actually gives reluctantly, our repeated cries to Him are effective; God hears each one and each one matters to Him. So much so that it could even seem to us that our compulsive behavior is what does it.

What really does it, however, is the fact that God's precious Son gave His life so that we would be considered absolutely delightful children in God's sight - children that God finds great pleasure in blessing.

How do you keep from losing heart when trying to reach those who have said they want to give? Consider asking them less and asking God more.

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:7-11 ESV)

I'd better pray again

By God's grace, my wife and I are nearing our fundraising goal. As a result, last week I mailed out an appeal letter to several monthly donors who had been giving at their current level for at least several years. My desire was to let them know that their gifts are making a big impact and then ask if they'd help us reach our goal by increasing.

As I sealed each envelope, I prayed for the donor and also asked God to provide and lead them to increase as the letter had requested. As I neared the end of the small pile, however, a familiar feeling began to creep into my heart...

Fear.

What made me afraid? A thought process that went something like this:

What if this letter offends them? What if they think I only care about money?What if this letter makes them realize how much they've given over the years and conclude that they should direct their funds elsewhere? What if I need to go do significant fundraising just because I wasn't willing to settle for less than our goal? What if God stops providing for us tomorrow?

Then I actually had a moment of clarity! I thought to myself, "I should stop fretting and just pray!"

So I prayed.

When I was done praying, I thought to myself, "Hmmm... that could've been better. I better pray again."

So I prayed.

When I was done praying that time, I thought to myself, "Some of these are fairly big 'asks'. I better pray one more time just in case."

So I prayed.

Though this might initially sound "holy", I was actually wandering further from the Lord.

But praying is good, right? Absolutely! And many of us, myself included, generally ought to pray more. 

However, in this case I wasn't trying to rely on God through my many prayers. Rather, I was trying to convince God to do something because of my many prayers. I was essentially trying to say a magic spell as though I could control my own fate if I just willed it enough.

The Scriptures, however, tell me that that won't do me any good whatsoever:

"And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." (Matthew 6:7-8 ESV)

How true! God has proved this to me in every possible way. Even the fact that I have faithful, multi-year donors already giving generously every month means that God knows what I need and provides it. Rarely are those monthly gifts sustained by "many words", yet they've kept coming.

Our very conversion stories illustrate this as well. Few if any of us heaped up prayer upon prayer to God so that we would come to know His Son Jesus. Rather, most of us merely uttered pathetic little prayers that the Father heard and accepted nonetheless. Moreover, even those prayers weren't of our own doing but were rather a cry of the Holy Spirit back to God the Father, made possible through the blood of Jesus. It just so happened that the words came out of our mouths as a result.

So pray! Pray often. Pray passionately. Pray when you feel frightened or weak or lonely. But remember that your fund balance, your future and your fears will not be affected by how you pray or how much you pray.

They're affected by Whom you pray to.

Don't waste your hurricane!

I can currently hear Sandy whipping against the walls of my house. Already the power has flickered a number of times, and I won't be surprised if we lose power any moment.

While Jesus and His disciples didn't have to worry about power outages, they sure knew what it was like to be in the middle of a fierce storm:

On that day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mark 4:35-41 ESV)

While it's entirely possible that Jesus will speak into this storm to calm it in an instant, history shows us that most of the time He simply has us ride out the storms. Thankfully, like the storm Mark records, Jesus is with us now as well. He's resting just as easily as He was then, calling us to do the same by faith.

With that in mind, don't waste your hurricane! Even if the power goes out, here are a few practical ideas for how you can respond in faith even in your fundraising:

• Write some thank yous to your donor team. For many years thank-yous were written by candlelight. I hear it's still possible.
• Spend time in Scripture. If you find it hard to read by candlelight, use this time right now to charge up your phone or back-lit Nook to spend some time with Jesus in His Word.
• Pray: James 4:2 says, "You do not have, because you do not ask." Have you asked God for help in your fundraising recently? (To my shame, that's often my second or third resort after exhausting my own efforts!) Pray boldly. Pray specifically. Pray for your donors, your remaining need and your sanctification.
• Be still: At the risk of being overly metaphorical, fundraising tends to create storms within our hearts as well. Jesus's words are just as powerful: Peace! Be still! Consider the power of the storm outside, and consider that Jesus calmed it with but a word. Consider, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" Consider that He did indeed care that we were perishing, and He chose to perish in our stead. Be still, and know that He alone is God. (Psalm 46:10)

If it takes a hurricane for me to slow down, recognized my dependency and trust Jesus, let's take full advantage of it. 

Don't waste your hurricane!