Recently a friend of mine asked me what our church did when 911 hit, when Columbine happened, when Katrina hit land, or when we went to war in Iraq. That's easy. I remember clearly that we asked our church to pray, counseled people who were effected by the tragedy, and even reached out to those in need around us. Then he drove his point home by asking, "What are you doing in light of these crazy economic times that we are experiencing these days?" 

After thinking about it we are doing somethings. We offered a seminar on how to deal with the mortgage challenges (you can still listen to that on our website on our calendar page), we have been praying for those effected by the down turn, we offer free financial and budget advice to anyone who asks (email me and I will get you hooked up), and we have encouraged people in our sermons to turn to God for help. However, we have never given a short and clear explanation of how to weather this time in our history. Well, until now. Hope this helps somebody.

To thrive in these days I want to encourage all of us to pray to God, promote generosity, purposefully spend, praise God for what you have..

PRAY first and foremost. Jesus in Matthew 6 gives us the best advice for anytime in our lives, especially when things are challenging. "Seek for the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you!" These things are our basic material needs. We have to, of course, do this in faith. We have to have faith that God knows what is good for us, he knows what we need and he is actively going to provide for us tomorrow even though we don't know how. Fear is the enemy of faith. Better yet, fear is faith that the enemy is more powerful than God and will thwart God's plan to provide for us. Take courage! This is not true! Have faith, God will provide tomorrow so seek Him with all you have! Are you praying?

PROMOTE GENEROSITY every chance you get. This is a shining moment for the church! Which means this is a shining moment for you - the church! Throughout history God's people have expressed God's love to the world through charity and generosity. We start hospitals, we comfort those who are dying, and we feed those in need. We do what Jesus did for we are his body! While the world is holding back, taking care of numero uno, we should be looking for and taking every opportunity we can to love those who are in need, offer practical help and counsel, and be what we were intended to be - people of love! So how about it? Are you generous?

PURPOSEFULLY SPEND the resources God has given us. When times are good it is easy, really easy to be exact, to spend like there is no tomorrow. We have all been there and probably more than we want to admit. The good thing about times like this is it forces us look carefully at our spending. Great question to ask yourself before you buy something is, "Do I really need this?" Actually a way better question is, "Does this fit into my budget?" Of course you have to have a budget first. Do you?

PRAISE GOD for what you have. Be thankful in all things Paul tell us. Learn to live in good times and in bad, with lots of things and without anything, for you can do all things through Christ! A thankful heart is a lot more content than a greedy heart. Greed never lets you rest, it puffs up unsettled emotions and tells you that you are empty or short something. Truth is you have all you need in God even if you having nothing here on earth. This is a great moment in your history to learn the joy of being completely and truly content with the God who made you, who fills you with his Spirit, and who is simply and surely ENOUGH. May I suggest you read Philippians 4:4-13 this week and ask God for that heart. It might even be helpful to make a list of all the things in life you have been given by God already and then sing his praises!

Well, hope this helps. If nothing else it helps remind me of where I need to place my hope and faith. 

On the journey with you,

Joe Darago

Lead Pastor