Throughout Christian history many people have given up stable sources of income to go headlong into a new adventure with God, just because they believed that He asked them to.
One of the ultimate acts of faith is to depend on God to provide our next meal, a roof over our head, and the direction we take rather than depending on our employer or the Government.
Usually people have a clear vision for this mission: to travel, serve the poor and reach out with the gospel. They may end up with employment, but there are often many leaps of faith along the way. They have to take Matthew 6 very seriously, in particular:
“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:31-33, NLT)
Here are some examples of people who’ve taken this leap of faith:
Carl Beech wrote on his public Facebook page last week: “It was 20 years ago a couple of months back, that I left the world of banking to plant churches and do evangelism as my main thing. We didn't have a clue how we were going to earn any money and just trusted God and went for it. Man alive it's some roller coaster and it's been an epic adventure so far.”
Since then Carl set up the charity Christian Vision for Men, and he now runs The Message Trust, a Manchester-based charity that has its own story of living by faith as it reaches out to young people with the gospel in the UK.
Sadhu Sundar Singh came to Christ in the early 20th Century, and was disowned by his Sikh family as a result. He knew that his calling was to preach the gospel, but he did it in the Indian way of a Sadhu—a travelling guru. Sundar set out for the villages with just bare feet, a saffron robe, a blanket and a New Testament. He resolved never to beg, but just to take food that was offered to him and trust God for the rest. At times he would eat the plants by the roadside. Initial reception to him in the villages was usually warm, though he would often be chased away when he preached about Christianity. He said of his relationship with Jesus: “I feel my beloved Jesus so close to me that I place my hands in his… When morning comes and I have to leave my prayer, it is an effort to break away from my beloved.”
Jackie Pullinger, as a young adult in the 1960s, felt called to go to Hong Kong after a dream, but no missionary society would accept her. She asked the advice of a vicar in Shoreditch, and he told her that she should just go, if God was telling her to. Her autobiography, Chasing the Dragon records his words: “If you had a job, a ticket, accommodation, a sick fund and a pension, you wouldn’t need to trust Him. If I were you I would go out and buy a ticket for a boat going on the longest journey you can find and pray to know where to get off… You can’t lose if you put yourself completely in God’s hands, you know.”
Jackie liked the sound of this and went, with little spare change, to Hong Kong. Her work in the infamous, dark ‘Walled City’ led to literally thousands of people being set free from addiction by Jesus and they continue to do so today.
Thomas Fischer is a street evangelist in the US who offers healing prayer and has posted many the encounters on YouTube during the past 6 years. He says of living by faith: “The Lord provided in many miraculous ways as I continued to do what I felt called to do. I learned to be led by the Spirit because that is what he finances.”
Other stories come from Heidi Baker, George Mueller, CT Studd and their testimonies are a great inspiration to anyone who is feeling called to taking that step of faith.
Some of these people are well-known, some not. Some were more extreme or radical than others. But all of them looked to God for their strength and trusted Him with their lives for safety, for food and for shelter.
