Every Promise Fulfilled

BY: Koji Bell, Director, Restored Marriage

It was a difficult moment for us to wrap our heads around.

In 2016, Deana & I had just returned from a Family Foundations International Conference on the year of the Jubilee. Deana & I prayed in earnest to hear God's will for us concerning our finances. At the conference, we had the opportunity to learn from Jonathan Cahn (Author of The Harbinger), Os Hillman (Founder of Marketplace Leaders), Craig Hill (Founder of Family Foundations International) and Chuck Bentley (CEO of Crown Financial Ministries) and they all shared one common message that convicted the two of us to make a leap of faith we had not yet dared to do.

The Lord told us to sell our home.

Several years prior, the enemy attacked our marriage and had us headed towards divorce. We had had 2 homes for a time period (the original home that Deana was living in and a new rental home for myself), private school expenses, attorney fees, broken heaters and cars, and medical bills that accumulated into an avalanche of debt. We fought to reclaim the lost financial ground, but serious damage was done. We knew we couldn't do it alone.

We were taught at the conference to increase our faith and our giving, if we wanted financial breakthrough. We knew He had not restored our marriage only to have it suffer in financial ruin. We began to declare His promises over our finances. Our God is a God of complete restoration. Not just restoration of marriage. We knew He would restore us financially. We just had to sow into our faith.

“Now I am about to go the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and soul that not one of all the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed. Every promise has been fulfilled; not one has failed.” Joshua 23:14 NIV

We did something bold. Some (in the world) might even say irresponsible. Even though I was unemployed at the time, Deana & I heard from the Lord that we should give at the same levels as we did when I had a high paying salary. Where would this money come from? It went far beyond tithe as a percentage of income, but we both were certain that we were to stretch our faith and give – sacrificially. We knew it was always His to begin with and He would put it use where it was needed the most. Our job was to increase our faith through giving.

The second action we took, was to lay the responsibility of where we would live at the foot of the cross. We quite literally handed our living arrangements over to Jesus. Practically thinking, selling the home would allow us to pay a large percentage of accumulated debt. That part was easy. But where would we go with no down payment to make on another home?

Why is this important, at the end of the year, to a Covenant Keeper? Because, for us, it exercised our faith. Believe me, we were, at times, breathless with the idea that we had no where obvious to move to. But we had the faith to know that Jesus would find us a home and put us back on the path of financial stability. We just had to walk it out.

The end of a calendar year is a great time to ask yourself if you did something to really stretch your faith? Have you taken the opportunity to trust God to catch you in a leap of faith? Were you worried that by giving your tithe (10% of income) and your offerings that there wouldn’t be enough for all the things that are needed to be done? Its ok. I understand. In the thick of mounting debt and big bills, I was right there with you. But after seeking the Lord, He began to show me that sacrificial giving was not a duty but an opportunity to exercise my faith. I had to become dependent upon him for a home, for financial provision,  and for a way out of financial crisis.

Looking back, I know that what I gave to Him was an absolutely desperate heart. I had no idea what to do. I had to pray and ask him every step of the way. Deana and I didn’t make a single financial decision without praying about it first.

In the end, we trusted His faithfulness. We know that God restores marriages. We pray and declare it over Covenant Keepers worldwide. But He also restores your finances too. Every bit of ground lost to the enemy, He will prevail and overcome.

As for us, God used that moment of desperation and complete dependence upon Him to shine His glory. God found us a new home. It turned out that our financial crisis was an answer to prayer for another amazing Christian family that was stretching their faith to give sacrificially to another family in need. Their faith increased as they rented their beautiful home in the Pennsylvania countryside to us at a fraction of the market price (which just happened to be within our budget).

God miraculously saw to it that I got a new job – one that saw miraculous financial success that ultimately led us to our new permanent home in the Lake Country of Charlotte, NC.

Peter, shares in that Acts 10:34-35 “…God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.” Believe me, I was undeserving of the provision the Lord saw fit to entrust in me. Perhaps, he saw that when we had no income, we had faith to give to Him first before anything else. Perhaps it was my desperation and complete dependence upon Him.

Either way, I learned that the key is Faith and obedience. This year as you look over where you placed your financial resources, pray and ask God what He wants for you in 2020. For Deana and I, we knew back then, as we know now, that our Father will be faithful and will rule in our marriage and our finances.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39 NIV

Nothing will separate us from the Father and faithful giving will be used by Jesus to sow into covenant marriage restoration all over the world. In the last and final days of 2019, please consider giving to Covenant Keepers, Inc. Your donation is tax deductible if you give by December 31, 2019. Your giving will be used to sow into marriages all over the world.

In addition, it might just be the thing you need to stretch your faith. By placing your complete trust in the Lord, for your marriage and this sacrificial giving, we believe that you will see complete restoration – both in your marriage and in your finances. Deana and I are not special. What He did for us, He will do for you. You need only trust and obey.

We thank you for your sacrificial giving. We trust that Jesus will use this time to stretch your faith so that you may glorify the Father with the miracles that will come as a result. We promise you that whatever you give, big or small, we, at Covenant Keepers, will be diligent and trustworthy, to seek God first for its use.

God bless you and God bless your marriage.

Pastor Koji Bell
Co-Director, Covenant Keepers, Inc.