WHEN GOD PROVIDES

There is tremendous relief in living under the guidance and provision of God. It takes a lot of worry off your shoulders. I don’t have to wonder where my next meal is coming from or whether I’ll have a place to lay my head. I know that God is in complete control and He has never let me down.

Early in my ministry I worried about my children. I knew that my background would haunt me, and I wondered if the curse my parents were under would bleed over into my family. I knew that Satan didn’t like the way I assaulted him week after week and the way I did it in his own backyard. He taunted me constantly, and I knew he would do the same to my wife and children.

As an evangelist I spent a lot of time on the road, away from home, and as a young man I spent hours praying that God would take care of my family, protect them from the harm that Satan wanted to do to them. 

Many nights I lay awake in a hotel room praying, “Lord, You know that I try to be the best husband and father I can be. I love my children and Gloria more than I love my own life. I couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to them. Please take care of my family. Please watch over their hearts. Watch over my babies, Jesus.”

The more I prayed that prayer, the more God put a sense of peace in my spirit. He told me that if I would stay faithful to His calling on my life, He would take care of Gloria and the children. He knew my heart. He knew how much I wanted to serve Him and how much I hurt for the lost and helpless of the world, so He commissioned me to reach out to them at every opportunity. And He wanted me to do so without worrying about my family.

It was one of the many conversations that God has had with me through the years. He promised to take care of my family, so I released them completely to His care. And He has always kept His promise.

Nicky Cruz, internationally known evangelist and prolific author, turned to Jesus Christ from a life of violence and crime after meeting David Wilkerson in New York City in 1958. The story of his dramatic conversion was told first in The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson and then later in his own best-selling book Run, Baby, Run.