MAKE IT PAY!
DO 684
3/78
1. Good witnessing should PAY! If you're OBEYING, God will be BLESSING you in some way & will take care of your needs. If you are NOT obeying God & REFUSE to obey, then He will have NO part in you!
2. If you don't know how to let your fish & friends know that you need money, you ought to get out of the business! It's nice to win souls, but it's got to PAY for itself.
3. If your area can't afford to SUPPORT you, then you'll have to MOVE, but I know it CAN. There is no reason why MOST countries can't support a FEW little Homes. There's just no excuse!
4. If you're paying exorbitant RENT, you're not going to make it. You're going to have to PAY for your luxuries. If you're going to live in a MANSION, you're going to have to get out & work HARDER to PAY for it. If you're only going to earn enough to live in a TENT, you've got no business living in a MANSION!
5. And don't tell me KIDS can't litness! I'm just dumbfounded to find the Homes think that kids are a liability & they can't litness & somebody has always got to stay HOME with them!
6. Our FAMILIES ought to be our biggest ASSETS. Where did this business begin that we had to have some kind of SINGLE SHINERS to support works & Homes?
7. It certainly wasn't so in my own little family & it wasn't so in the early days. People who had CHILDREN could do more litnessing than ANYBODY!
8. Who can turn down a little child? I even give those dirty little beggar boys something. The idea that you always have to leave somebody home with a bunch of kids because they can't litness is ridiculous!
9. Every child should be an asset & be taught how to litness & provision. Take them along when you go provisioning.--What man could resist a poor mother with a babe in arms & a few little tykes tagging along on her coattails?
10. We ought to start sending MOTHERS & CHILDREN out as PROVISIONERS! Our mothers & childcare workers could be out going from store to store provisioning.
11. Teach the little kids to be a family of singers & instrumentalists like we did ours & go out to the park. The kids have a good time & then they earn their money while it's nice & sunny. "When it's SUNNY, it means MONEY!"--Get out in the park & sing & play & pass the hat!
12. I think you ought to especially do MAIL provisioning.--Write some letters HOME. Raise the money back HOME. That's what MOST missionaries do. They get their support from HOME. They don't expect the poor natives to support them.
13. TELL THEM WHAT YOU NEED. If you were THERE they'd be getting it for you. Well, now you're HERE & you're working for the LORD, & it's their business to help SUPPORT you.
14. If ANYBODY'S going to be interested in you, it's your PARENTS & relatives, or your working brothers & sisters back home. Of course, if you can't report to them that you're winning souls & you're preaching the Gospel, they're not going to be encouraged to support you.
15. A few of the kids have found out it pays to advertise, but some of them are too proud, they're too ashamed. They haven't kept on good terms with their parents. They've been lazy, they haven't written Home even once a month.
16. I supported our little family for years on PRAYER LETTERS because I did it FAITHFULLY. It was our LIFELINE & I knew I HAD to do it, & folks responded.
17. Some people say they can't afford the POSTAGE this month & refuse to pay their LIT bills! That's like the farmer saying, "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to EAT our SEED corn because we don't have enough to SAVE!" You know what happens when you do that? You won't have any corn to PLANT & therefore you won't have your next HARVEST!
18. IF YOU'RE TOO PROUD TO DO A LITTLE BEGGING, THEN YOU'RE TOO DAMN PROUD & your needs aren't going to be met. People are accustomed to religious outfits begging, & most people will give to the people who have the strongest appeal & the most desperate need.
19. I never found any branch of the Lord's Work where pride pays at all! Pride does NOT pay, & it doesn't pay the BILLS. We've got every reason in the World to ask for help for His Work.
20. In all the years we've lived by faith, God has NEVER failed! I never missed a MEAL for God's lack of supply, never! I never missed paying the RENT even when we had nothing & were nobody.
21. If God didn't SEND it in, I got myself a job & EARNED it! There's no excuse for anybody not having enough money to pay for their NEEDS & their BILLS.
22. Otherwise, if you CAN'T witness, go home & get a JOB & support the folks who CAN! Whatever you can do, get back to WORK! "He that shall not work shall not eat!"--2Thes.3:10. God bless & help you make it PAY!--Amen?--Love--Dad.
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family