reciprocity
Taking a Business from the Bottom to the Top
By Tim Branson
The 700 Club
CBN.com –
It’s the off season on Topsail Island in North Carolina. Here empty beaches mean empty beach houses.
Locals Richard and Linda Baker are accustomed to the ebb and flow of summer dollars. They own Treasure Realty and manage more than 300 vacation rental units. They’ve weathered a lot of storms. In fact, if not for a miracle, Treasure Realty wouldn’t exist.
In 1990, before the couple married, Richard stepped out in faith and started Treasure Realty.
“I borrowed $80, 000 as capital seed money to get the company started and proceeded to have a real bad year. In fact, I was losing a lot of money. But during that time I stopped tithing, and the reason I stopped tithing was there was no profit,” Richard said.
He had learned years earlier that giving was the key to financial stability.
Richard said, “I graduated in accounting and I went to work for a company. And boy, when they gave me the letter of intent, $11,500 plus overtime, I thought I was a rich man. I went out and got a new car and rented a new place and pretty soon I was in a crunch.”
Richard was a 700 Club viewer. He called the counseling center for prayer. In turn, he received a letter from Pat Robertson.
From that point on Richard committed to give faithfully to God. He paid off his debts and began to prosper.
“It assured me, not that God would give me a specific amount, but I was doing what He wanted,” Richard said. “And if I was doing what He wanted, then He would do what He promised —- and that was to take care of me.”
Ten years later Richard was the owner of a struggling real estate company.
"The Lord asked me, ‘what do you need?’ I said ‘ what do I need? I need you to send me some sales.’”
Richard needed $50,000.
Richard asked God what he needed to do. “God [said] ‘sow into your need.’ And I said, ‘well I really do need this, and I’m going to have to pay my bills,’ and He said ‘I know that.’”
With his money, Richard resumed giving to his church and ministries such as CBN. Once again, he heard from God – this time through a word of knowledge Pat Robertson gave at a CBN partner’s conference.
“[Pat] said, there’s somebody here that’s seeking $50,000, and He wants you to know that He heard you. I said, ‘whoa!’ I cried for two weeks. I wasn’t out of my trouble, I was still writing that check and nothing was coming, but I knew the Lord was on the way. I knew He heard me,” Richard said.
Within weeks, a competitor sold one of Richard’s lots. The profit was exactly what he needed.
“I said there it is,” Richard said. “The Lord did it. He didn’t do it through my ability. He made sure that I understood that it didn’t come from my ability to grunt it out. This came from without, and the Lord got all the credit because it wasn’t me, and I knew it wasn’t me.”
A few years later Richard married Linda. They have been faithful in their giving in times of abundance and in times of need. And always, they‘ve seen God’s faithfulness through a principle known as reciprocity.
Linda said, “it’s like the law of gravity, it’s like any other law that exists. If you give, it shall be given unto you. There’s no question. It’s not that you give to get, but that is what’ll happen. If you go in a tree and jump, you’re going to come down to the ground. If you give, it’s going to come back! It’s really simple.”
Today Treasure Realty is one of the largest and most successful real estate agencies on Topsail Island. The Bakers give all the credit to God. And when it comes to giving, they offer this advice:
“Test Him, see if He won’t pour out a blessing you can’t contain. Give and see what happens. Just try God. Just give and see what God will do,” Linda said.
“I would say, the widow’s mite. He’s not looking at what you give, He’s not in to the numbers… the Lord said that woman [the widow] is giving more than them all-- He said she’s giving all she’s got.
We have a God who will not relent because He loves us that much. He’s after all we've got —- until we’re able to just give it to Him. That’s what He wants. He wants to bless us and have fun and be abundant with us, but He wants all we've got. That’s what giving’s all about,” Richard said.
Richard and Linda Baker discovered a powerful truth from God’s Word. Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” (NIV)
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