Bruce Wilkinson, The Author Of The Extremely ...  PRO

Bruce Wilkinson, the author of the extremely popular, Prayer of Jabez, tells about an experience of his that illustrates this truth.

I was taking a coffee break during a family conference in Kentucky when Will walked up and stood beside my chair. He was about nine. He asked if I wanted to donate to a missions project.

“What would the money be used for?” I asked.

Will held out a radio. “This radio runs by sun power,” he said proudly. “It’s for people who live in the jungles. People can listen to this radio to learn things and hear about Jesus.”

I decided on the spot to make Will an offer. “Tell you what,” I said, “I’ll give to your project, but I have a rule that says you have to give money first.” On one of his donation cards, I wrote out my proposal:

Will,

If you give one to five dollars,

I’ll double what you give.

If you give six to ten dollars,

I’ll triple what you give.

If you give eleven to twenty dollars,

I’ll give four times what you give.

I signed my name and Will read the card. By the time he was finished, his eyes were as big as saucers. Then suddenly his face fell, and he stared at the floor.

“Don’t you like my idea?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he said, shuffling his feet.

“Well, what are you going to do?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“I can’t,” he said. “I already gave everything I had.”

I felt a pang in my heart. “You mean you put all your money in your own fund drive?” I asked.

He nodded.

“So you can’t buy any more snacks for the rest of the conference?”

He nodded again.

At that moment I knew what I needed to do. “Actually Will,” I began, “I also have a rule that if you give everything you have, I will give everything I have, too.”

As it happened, I’d just been to a bank to withdraw a considerable amount...

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