Are you fully dependent on the Lord for your resources?

Luke 21:4 (NIV)

All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.

In the 1920s and 1930s many Chinese Christians broke away from the traditional denominations and formed their own groupings. The most successful of these was the "Jesus Family" begun by Jing Tianying in Shandong in 1927.

Shandong is China's third most populous province with approximately 100-120 million people. The Jesus Family originated in the village of Mazhuang when Shandong was racked by poverty and war. A man by the name of Jing Dianying organized the villagers and established a cooperative silk factory in 1927 that became known as the "Jesus Family". Although, it is estimated that this movement had no more than 12,000 total believers involved in it throughout China, several believe that this group had significant impact on the "House Church" movement in China.

In 1942 there was a tremendous drought in northern China. Aid began to pour in from the outside to help those people who were starving. The "Jesus Family" refused to take the aid. They continued to feed their people--not only that, but to give away the harvest. They worked up from 10 percent to 20 percent, and finally they worked up to where they gave away 90 percent of what they harvested. They supplied the food for five hundred people from forty-three acres of land. The Communists could supply less than half that amount per acre.

Somebody asked the "Jesus Family" leader: "Why would you refuse aid when others were starving?" He replied: "Those foreign churches would have robbed us of our anchor. It is our financial needs that drive us to our knees and force us to cry to Him."

Are you fully dependent on the Lord for your resources?

Dear Lord, thank the You for all that You have blessed us with.  Help us to show Your love to others and give help the needs of others.to those in need. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.