This is a reprint from our March of 2006 singles newsletter.  I enjoyed re-reading it and I hope you do too.

Since the beginning of my walk with God I have heard about God’s favor. Whether I faced obstacle or opportunity, someone would say to me, “well you just name it and claim it and consider it as good as done.” Well, I always understood this mainly because I have always believed that I am a child of God; and simply put I favor my children over others, so it makes sense. As I have often done in the past, I was making God practical.

Like so many, I have wondered at the totally impractical concept that if no one else in the world existed, that Jesus would have died just for me. It still blows me away sometimes. When I first began to tithe, I responded that it was the practical thing to do. “The pastors had to make a living, the light bill had to be payed, and all of the giveaways in children’s church had to be bought by someone, etc.” I had to come to a place where I truly understood the tithing principle. God wants us to be a cheerful giver not out of need but want. Giving makes us feel great and that type of unexplainable joy is what He wants for each of us.

The root of my practicality problem was simple, I couldn’t fathom that  I was a priority to God or that I was His favorite (the coolest thing is , that we are all individually His favorite). I used to handle my finances with the thought that “God, I got myself into this and there are enough people and problems in the world that you need to be dealing with, I will get myself out of this don’t worry about me” Let me ask you, how well do you think that turned out? If you guessed not well, you’re a winner.

Once I figured out that my direction was wrong, I found out that I am not only a priority to God, but a top priority. I am the apple of His eye, and He never views my problems as a burden or an imposition. He sees an opportunity to hold my hand, walk with me through the obstacles, teach me new ways, and watch me become smarter and stronger than before. (This kinda sounds like what we are suppose to do with each other).

This year, my children and I had the opportunity to experience the unexplainable and non-practical loving favor of God. We won a cruise, not just any cruise, a Christian family cruise. The five day cruise was paid for and there were fourteen Christian bands on board. Now when I say bands, you are probably thinking its some youngsters trying to make a start, here’s where your wrong. Have you ever heard of Third Day, Todd Agnew, Building 429, Joy Williams, Jenni Owens, the Barlow girls? Just to name a few.  Yes, it was a praise and worship cruise of epic proportions and we had a great room, not some box down in the hull. Premier Christian Cruises an KLOVE put together a great time for all.

I won this through Charisma magazine and when they called me about it,  at first I figured “when does the vacuum cleaner demo happen?” When I realized it was real I was shocked, to say the least. I don’t know why, I had claimed my favor over it when I entered the contest and claimed it was mine, but here it really was, a reality. 

For the first few days I kept thinking “Did I tithe something extra?” as if my tithes are earmarked for wants in my life and then there was “Was I really nice to someone or extra holy lately?” As I sat in church thinking of what could I have done to make this possible ( that old practicality sneaking back up) God simply told me “Because I love you.” He reminded me that I sometimes get my children something when I am thinking of them and not for any reason or purpose and that is what He did for us. WOW! Is God awesome, or what!

All of this is written to state that, if we do not quit making God so practical in our walks, we will be in danger of not realizing the full potential that God has for our lives missing the blessings He wants to bestow upon us. Personally, I believe that this is a problem for many Christians that is often overlooked. The reason it is overlooked is because, it is a state of mind or a mentality that isn’t sinful in nature, like breaking a commandment. This “mentality of practicality” is the same as a spirit of fear, lack, or greed. We must treat it like a weed; discover the root, expose it, and kill it. These spirits or mentalities are like putting a cap on the greatness of God. Not only can he not operate in such a place but neither can we. We must seek God’s insight and continually seek forward growth. In conclusion, when we make the wonderful things of God practical we take away how precious God’s love is for us, the individual.

Now here is my disclaimer (it is printed smaller like at the bottom of TV commercials but see if you can read it fast like they do on the radio, this way you can read in stereo :)  I do believe that he wants us to be practical in many ways, for example don’t go jump off a bridge because you want to prove that God can heal all, that would be dumb and would not be a good witness to anyone.