Shortly thereafter, He spoke to me about going on radio. Already preaching almost seven days a week, I did not want to do it. So, I put it off for a while. When The LORD got onto me about it, I said, “You spoke to Moses through a burning bush. I claim a burning bush experience. If You give me one, I’ll go on the radio.”
Don’t ever be that stupid. If God tells you to do something, just do it. Don’t ask for a sign, just obey. Back then, I didn’t have that much sense. So, in His mercy, God accommodated me. One day the phone rang in our little office and my secretary told me it was Jimmy Swaggart calling.
I thought she was joking. Brother Swaggart was on radio stations all over the country, and we’d never even met.
“Really, it’s him!” my secretary said. Doubtfully, I picked up the phone.
“Why aren’t you on the radio?!” Jimmy hollered. Then he proceeded to tell me he was going to set me up with his media buyer and help me get started.
'There’s your burning bush,' The LORD said.
See? God already had a plan, and it was already underway. Before He ever told me to go on the radio, Jimmy Swaggart was already listening to my tapes and getting excited about my ministry. But The LORD didn’t tell me that. He didn’t say, “Now, I’ve contacted Jimmy. He’s going to help you get on the radio. So, don’t worry.”
No, He wanted me to walk by faith.
That’s what Jesus wanted the rich young ruler to do! He wanted him to step out by faith, trusting that whatever Jesus asked him to do would ultimately work to his benefit. But instead, he walked away. Afterward, Jesus said to His disciples, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!” (verse 23, "NKJV").
If the disciples had been poor men, they would have immediately agreed with Jesus. “Yes! Preach it!” they would have said. But instead, they “were astonished at His words…. Who then can be saved?” they asked (verses 24, 26).
Jesus answered them by saying again, “Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!” (verse 24). In other words, He told them the riches aren’t really the issue. The trouble comes from putting your faith in them instead of in God.
That was the young ruler’s problem. He didn’t live by faith in God. He lived by faith in his money. He would have had to change his way of operating to obey Jesus. He would have had to use his faith first to sell, then to find out where to give. He wasn’t used to doing that. He was accustomed to being financially independent, buying whatever he wanted whenever he wanted, and paying whatever price he wanted to pay.
BVOV : 7
