Unexpected Answers
Recently some leaders of the Madison Christian Giving Fund met to pray. We figured that since we exist to advance the Kingdom of God by supporting grass-roots ministries who serve people and lovingly share the gospel with them, we should be praising and listening to the King.
Using the familiar ACTS acrostic (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication), we worshiped the King by praying through 1 Chronicles 16:8-36, reflecting on every verse and thought. The main take-away was God has done marvelous things and He is still doing them in Madison. We realized that if anything at all was happening in Madison, it was because God was directing and empowering everybody’s efforts. Therefore, it is appropriate to give Him all the praise and glory, which we did.
We then had a time of confession, sharing with each other how we had fallen short of our assignment as leaders. This too was a cleansing and freeing process, directed by the Holy Spirit.
When we reflected on the fact that we have raised and granted over $700,000 since we started this journey 6 years ago, we were moved to thank God for all of our volunteers, partners, donors, and stories of transformation.
By now it was time to ask God for direction and provision for the future of the FUND. This is when the unexpected came. We all felt a strong prompting to pray specifically for each of our 23 2019 Grantees. We lifted up each one by name, prayed for their leaders, their boards, their ministries, and their impact on the people they serve. We realized that something very powerful was going on here. Our modest financial contributions to these organizations was an encouragement to them, and enabled them to take on initiatives they would not have been able to launch. In a spiritual sense what in our minds was a trickle of resources, was actually a river of living water flowing out into the community, serving people, transforming lives. We all were humbled at what we heard and learned.
We did get around to the supplication part, praying for breakthroughs in funding, volunteer participation and the impact of the organizations we serve. We are excited to see how God will answer these prayers in the days ahead. We returned to 1 Chronicles 16:36 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting” and closed by singing the doxology.
The bottom line for me is I still don’t know specifically what direction we are supposed to take, but the King does. This is His city. This is His work. I do know that we are on the right track and He will direct and provide. For the sake of the Kingdom.
Author: Fred Grossenbach
