Living By Faith

Recently, on the way to a viewing, my wife and I were listening to the radio when suddenly we heard several programs from the past.  Some dated at least back to the seventies and some of them I hadn’t heard since that time.  It was wonderful.  This went on for about an hour until we lost the signal.

On the way back home, near where we had lost the signal, we turned in again.  What a time!  One of the preachers was Lester Roloff.  I remember hearing him and some of the singers from his home for troubled girls (the Honey Bees).  He sang a song called “Living By Faith” and told stories about how God had delivered him through many trying times.  Back then, as Claire and I were going through some pretty hard times, I was really moved by the song and stories he told.

One was the story of George Mueller.  Mueller had an orphanage in England in the 1800s.  One day they were out of food and the children were standing waiting for their morning meal, when Mueller said, “Children, you know we must be in time for school.”  Lifting his hand he said, “Dear Father, we thank thee for what thou art going to give us to eat.”

There was a knock on the door. The baker stood there, and said, “Mr. Mueller, I couldn’t sleep last night.  Somehow I felt you didn’t have bread for breakfast and the Lord wanted me to send you some.  I got up at 2:00 AM, baked some fresh bread, and have brought it here.”

No sooner had this transpired when there was a second knock at the door.  It was the milkman.  He announced that his milk cart had broken down in front of the orphanage; he would like to give the children his cans of fresh milk so he could empty his wagon and repair it.  No wonder, years later, when Mueller was to travel the world as an evangelist, he would be heralded as “the man who gets things from God!” (from The Life and Ministry of George Mueller by Ed Reese).

Not long after hearing these stories, a day came that our three sons were at school and we had no food in the house—not even a slice of bread.  Claire set the table; we sat and asked the blessing for the food.  Just then I heard the squeak of the mail box.  Running to get the mail I found a check for $125.00 from a church where I had spoken months before.  We hopped in the car, cashed the check, and then took off for the store.  When the boys came home we had dinner.  God is faithful!  Remember Hebrews 13:8…Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.

With that in mind I shared this story with a preacher friend of mine.  It was a week or so afterward when he and his wife were in the same situation.  They did just as Claire and I had.  Just as he said “Amen” to his prayer there was a honk at the end of his drive from the mailman.  My friend went to the mailbox and there was a check for $250.00 from a church.

This is not the last time that God has rewarded our living by faith.  In the last month, the Lord has supplied our heating oil for the winter, a 2001 Buick for our transportation (this is another story in itself), and we once again finished a racing season with enough support to make all the events.  At the beginning of the season the finances just don’t work out on paper.  But here we are, eleven years into this faith walk with Team RFC, and we are still seeing God work miracles.  

God protects and provides for people who follow him.  Even though we may doubt it, God’s faithfulness does not waver.  Trust God’s promises.  Just make certain it’s His promise and it’s not just something you want to see done without working for it. Hebrews 11:1 says “Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.”  Let’s all learn to live by faith!

Dan Laterza