If Faith is to Grow it must be used!

Loren Cunningham comments in his book, "Daring to Live on The Edge"; “faith is a gift from God.  But for our faith to increase, it must be used and tested.” I have found this to be so true.  I remembered as a young Christian praying for God to increase my faith, but I did not sense any significant change.  When I began to obey the Lord and take the small risks He was asking me to take, then my faith grew.  Then one day He asked me to take on trusting Him for 185-acre campus.  This seemed absolutely crazy with our meager funding, and yet, as we sought God as a team God confirmed His word to pursue the purchase of what would become the campus for YWAM Orlando.

As we heard the stories of so many wonderful miracles in YWAM of property provisions, we assumed and hoped that we would have an instantaneous provision to purchase this land.  This did not happen, and as a result we now realize that God not only wanted to provide for us, but He wanted to teach us and grow our faith.  God dealt with us much in the way He did with the children of Israel. He told them; “remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness…that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. (Deuteronomy 8:2-3 - NKJV)  Fortunately, it was not a 40-year journey, but it has been nine years since I asked the question; “Will you sell us this land?”  Within a week or two we will dedicate our kitchen and dining facility and hopefully by the end of the year we will have seven additional dormitory buildings completed.   This will give us the 200 beds we need for the initial core of our campus. As I write, I realize that many of our current students were only eight or nine years old when we started our journey.  No one in our YWAM Orlando Community would deny that although our process to obtain our campus and make it usable was extremely difficult, God has taught us so much about His ways and His character.  I am tremendously grateful for God’s leadership on our journey and I can also say with confidence that those that have walked with us on this journey have had a major increase in their faith and an understanding of the ways and character of God!

Follow on journey both here at bergfamily5.com and at ywamorlando.com