I couldn’t even afford to buy a postage stamp

Reading Time 4 mins –

I couldn't even afford to buy a postage stamp.

Then, everything changed.

We finally had rest.

We could think about our future and not just about paying the bills.

We could dream again of good things instead of worrying how we would survive one more week.

Do you know my story?

Many years ago, well before we were in ministry, we lived hand-to-mouth. We lived in downright poverty. We were believers, and we had a great family life. We enjoyed our marriage and our family, but we were struggling. Really struggling.

We went to a church that taught us how God loves us and that He has great things planned for our lives, but we weren’t living it. We weren’t experiencing God’s promises in our lives.

We were barely surviving.

Pawnshops were a way of life. We didn’t own anything new. Everything we had was used, very used. The carpet on my kids’ bedroom floors had been retrieved from a trash bin. Their mattresses came from a nursing home. We had two cars that each had more than 200,000 miles on each of them and had definitely seen better days. The floorboards in both of them were rusting out; they were beat up and the frames were bent.

The little, 1800s farmhouse our family of seven lived in had also seen better days. We had weeds growing through any cracks that could be found in the window frames.

For years, our finances had been on a slippery downhill slope. Working on straight commissions in the insurance industry had left us with too much month at the end of our money time and time again. And while I always intended to pay off our debts, or whatever we may have borrowed each month, we only ended up further behind.

For nine very long years, we were in financial chaos. Not only did we owe on our broken-down farmhouse and two rusted-out, bent up, high mileage cars, we also had ten maxed out credit cards, three finance company loans at interest rates of 28%, more than $13,000 owed in back taxes, more than $26,000 owed to relatives, and judgments and liens filed against us.

Intense financial pressure anyone?

I remember one specific time I had to mail an envelope. Not a $10 envelope. A regular envelope. A letter.

But I couldn’t even afford the stamp.

We had borrowed money from anybody and everybody we could. We had exhausted all of our options. In fact, we owed money to nearly anyone you could imagine—hospitals, dry cleaners— everyone.

I had to call my dad to ask if he had change I could have to buy a stamp.

Let that sink in: I couldn’t even afford to buy a stamp.

“Do I have breathe for you, too?” my dad asked me.

Ouch.

My dad was funding everything, and he wasn’t a believer at the time. Drenda and I were the believers. But for nine years we lived like that.

I was sick during those days, too. I was miserable. I lived in stress. I was anxious and fearful. The doctors put me on medication to deal with the panic attacks I was having, but that only seemed to make things worse. Fear consumed my life. I even got to the point of not wanting to leave my house.

You can imagine how much that was helping my sales business.

Everyday life became a game of survival, and I was constantly looking over my shoulder, waiting for the next thing to go wrong or blow up.

I had no joy, no peace, and no rest.

I reached the end of my rope when an attorney called our house one morning and warned me that his firm was going to file a lawsuit against me if I didn’t give them $1,900 within three days.

I was desperate. I had exhausted all of my options. I knew it was over; I had nowhere to turn.

I clearly remember collapsing on my bed, desperately crying out to God. To be honest, I was shocked that God spoke to me immediately. He told me that I had trusted in debt to meet my needs and that I had never taken the time to learn how His Kingdom operated. He then went on and told me that most of His body, the Church, was in debt and that He wanted them free financially. He said, “Take the time to learn how my Kingdom operates.”

My life completely changed after that. Drenda and I began to learn how the Kingdom operated, and what we learned was amazing. When we discovered and began to apply Kingdom principles, it was like a light switch came on.

We truly began experiencing the promises of God in our lives.

In less than three years from that day, we were completely out of debt. We started new businesses during that time that kept growing. We paid cash for our cars, cash for our 55 acres of land, and built and paid for our new home. We were extremely excited, and still are! In fact, we’ve been on a mission ever since to help others experience the Kingdom of God.

Of course, all of those things were really exciting, but the best thing about our journey was that we finally had rest.

We could think about our future and not just about paying the bills.

We could dream again of good things instead of worrying how we would survive one more week.

Friend, that is real rest, and that’s what I want for you this year.

You may find it hard to believe right now, but I assure you that what Drenda and I discovered is just as much available to you as it was to us.

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The power of rest is a law of God’s Kingdom that frees you to stop chasing after money. It’s one of the most life-changing principles God has ever taught me and I share it in my book Your Financial Revolution: The Power of Rest . I really believe the Holy Spirit has given me a message that is going to change the way you work forever! Get your copy of Your Financial Revolution: The Power of Rest today!

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5 Steps to Release the Kingdom in Your Life

By Gary Keesee • 10 Apr, 2024

Reading Time 2 mins 13 secs – In John 6, we read the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. Do you know it? It’s where we see Jesus teaching the disciples how to release the Kingdom of God into the earth realm. Basically, a large crowd was following Jesus, listening to Him teach, and watching Him perform miracles. It got to a point where the people needed to eat, and Jesus asked the disciples what they planned to feed the people. Of course, Jesus knew the disciples would freak out. They couldn’t feed 5,000 people. In fact, they started talking about how it would take more than half a year’s wages to buy just a bite for that many people. Jesus was teaching the disciples, and He was teaching us— the Kingdom of God has all the answers you need . How can you release the Kingdom of God into your life? Here are the five steps Jesus took. 1. Look at what you have. Jesus asked the disciples what they had to feed the people. What do you have in your life that you can give God to work with? Jesus multiplied bread into bread and fish into fish. What do you need multiplied in your life? Find some of it. That’s your seed. Also, remember that money can be named. You don’t sow money to believe for more paper or digital money. Money represents your life and can be named to be the thing you need multiplied. 2. Make sure you’re in faith. “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see” (Hebrews 11:1, GNT). You have to know how to judge whether or not you’re in faith. How? Do you have the right picture? When you close your eyes, what do you see? Do you see yourself with the thing you’re believing for? Can you defend your position? Why do you believe it? Prove it! Because you can be sure that between the “Amen” and the “There it is!” the enemy is going to contend for it, so you better be able to defend it. Do you have joy, expectancy, and peace? Are you in agreement with your spouse? 3. Confess over what you have, and release it in faith. Be specific. Say exactly what you’re believing for and release the seed to God. 4. Get the plan from God. Be ready for new direction, new ideas, and new concepts by revelation from the Holy Spirit. Carry a notepad and a pen. Write everything down. 5. Act quickly! When God gives you the plan, MOVE! It’s wise to have counselors and get wisdom, but you need to act swiftly on any direction you receive from the Holy Spirit.

Want Growth and Success? Here Are 10 Steps to Help Take You There

By Gary Keesee • 13 Mar, 2024

Reading Time 2 mins 34 secs – How can you make sure you’re equipped for the growth coming your way this year? Here are my 10 steps to posture yourself for opportunity and success. 1. Ask yourself how you’re handling your current responsibilities. Don’t run from your responsibilities. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, you should be a success. People will still see the evidence of God even if you think you’re in the wrong spot. 2. Detox your life of the things that keep you from having time to think. We live in a fast-paced world. There are plenty of things that can keep you distracted. But it’s in the moments that you stop to think that you’ll find ways to solve problems, and that’s where the opportunities are. So figure out what is consuming your time. Start saying no to some things. Find time to think. 3. Don’t hang around people who are always losing. I know people hit rough spots, but if the people in your life are chronically losing, it’s time to expand your circle. Hang around people who are better than you are, who don’t see things as impossible, and who have vision. It may be uncomfortable for you, but their influence will cause you to think differently. 4. Write down EVERY idea that you have, no matter how strange it seems. Most people filter opportunities and ideas through what they perceive their ability to be. This means most people discard ideas by the dozens because they don’t think they can do them. But God isn’t limited to what you know how to do. The ideas He gives you might seem so weird to you that you can’t process them fully. Write them down so you have time to think about them. 5. Research. Research. Repeat. You don’t need to know how to do something; you need to know how to learn how to do it. Research until you find what you’re looking for. 6. Count the cost before you jump. A lot of Christians hear God and jump out too soon, resulting in catastrophe. There are seasons for everything. God will prepare you for where He wants you to go. Be patient. 7. Always be in agreement with your spouse. Never, ever march out into battle without your spouse being in total agreement and your faith aligned. 8. Ask God for direction. Ask Him to help you, to show you where to go, and what to do. And always remember that prophecy from other people shouldn’t lead you; it should only confirm what God has already said to you. 9. Commit to never quit. Quitting is not an option. Once you’ve moved, don’t move again until God speaks to you. Stay with it. Walk it out. Don’t quit. So many people have so much potential, but they get uncomfortable and they quit. If you want to win, you should always be stretching. 10. Get ready to embrace bigger things. Your ability to see the big picture will keep growing as you change and grow on the inside. You’ll pick up on even more opportunities. For more principles, check out this FREE video on success.

The Consequences of Strife: Why You Should Never Allow It in Your Life

By Drenda Keesee • 14 Feb, 2024

Reading Time 2 mins 59 secs – A stuffed toy laid in the road at the scene of the accident. As we passed, the Lord spoke to me, “ Okay, this is your last warning. Are you going to continue this? You know you are opening the door to the enemy.” Gary and I had had a disagreement just before we had left the house for our family road trip. And there we were six hours in and we’d barely said a word to one another. Six hours. You think driving from Ohio to Tennessee is a long stretch of highway? Try doing it while giving someone the silent treatment. One word: torture. Then we passed the accident. Gary and I both felt the same conviction when we passed it, especially because it clearly involved children. But... pride. We knew what we were doing wasn’t good. (What kind of example is it to your children to ignore each other?) But neither of us wanted to lay down our pride. I kept hearing the voice of the Lord, and I’d think, No, I’m not going to fix this thing, because then I’ll have to talk to him. It was almost a competition to see who could hold our grudge for the longest. But strife is dangerous stuff. What is strife? Drama, conflict, friction, disagreement, bickering, arguing, bad blood, disputes… whichever words you use to describe it, it’s dangerous. Whether it’s between you and your spouse, you and your child, you and a friend, you and a family member, or you and a coworker, you don’t want to let strife remain in your life. The Bible says that where there is strife, there is confusion and there is every evil work (James 3:16). Our small argument between Gary and I had gone unchecked and had escalated, and neither one of us were listening to the voice of the Lord. And there were consequences for our strife and outright disobedience. About an hour after we passed the accident, a car pulled out in front of our vehicle, and we were in what could have been a very serious car accident. I started yelling the name of Jesus, and God supernaturally protected our entire family. Initially, it looked as though there were going to be serious issues. They told us our son’s spleen might rupture. I was pregnant, and the doctors worried that I might lose the baby. Through all of these things, we stood on the Word of God, and we all came out unharmed, including the young preacher’s son who had pulled out in front of us (he was in disobedience at that moment too). Even in the midst of this difficult situation, through our prayers, standing on God’s Word, and our children’s words to the medical personnel, we had opportunities to minister and impact the little county hospital we had to visit. The enemy tried to take us out, but he lost. We were responsible for opening the door to the enemy. But the name of Jesus is more powerful than our mistakes and circumstances, and that is what kept us protected. You MUST stay on guard and not allow strife in your life, with anyone. How? Here are just three quick tips: Bite your tongue. You don’t have to say everything you think. Don’t lash out or give the silent treatment. Work on communicating with others in a healthy way. Repent quickly and forgive quickly. Take responsibility; admit when you’re wrong. Say you’re sorry and ask for forgiveness. Don’t hold onto hurts. Forgive as you’ve been forgiven by Jesus.