God’s Provision and Desiring God’s Need

We have a significant need that we’re asking God to provide for, which we would like to share with you. But before we do that, we want to highlight some extraordinary gifts that God has provided to Desiring God this year:

• International Outreach staff and volunteers now have more than 600 translated resources to use around the world, many available online at DesiringGod.org for free.
• Events hosted by Desiring God will serve more than 9,000 people this year alone, and all the presentations are and will be made available online for free.
• More than 3,400 prisoners will be blessed with free resources.
• More than 2 million different people will visit DesiringGod.org this year, and every resource that can be downloaded or viewed online is provided without registration and without cost.
• God is providing a new facility for us, just when our current lease is expiring and with more than twice the space for less than the current cost of our space.

But none of this would matter if God was not also producing fruit through Desiring God – and he is! This testimony recently came from Belgium:

It was about two years ago when I admitted to myself that I was finding more pleasure in sin than in God. It scared me to death as I quietly acknowledged that sad reality. . . Sermon by sermon, verse by verse, God has used Desiring God to help me build a biblical world view. . . What a joy to see that my tastes are changing. What a joy to see an increasing love for Him and for people. Thank you again for extending such love through your ministry - to help bring me closer to God.

Older saints are using Desiring God’s resources to encourage themselves and others:

Even as she read this book [Don’t Waste Your Life] at age 86, Nana was determined not to waste her life. She lived for Christ, and now (because of Christ) her death is her gain. She is with her Lord and Saviour.

Prisoners are finding real freedom in Christ, and sharing it with others:

You ministered to me for over three years while I was incarcerated in Alabama’s Department of Corrections. . . As the inmate pastor for over two of those years, my walk of faith in Jesus Christ was encouraged, challenged, and strengthened as I “followed you as you followed Christ”. . . [I am] prayerfully approaching the planting of a church/ministry. . . Be encouraged and contend well in all of your God-exalting endeavors, Pastor John. There is an ex-drug dealer, ex-felon, ex-“enemy of the cross of Christ” praying for you in Montgomery, Alabama.

From our whatever-you-can-afford policy for books and conferences, to the free resources online, to new partnerships with spreaders in other countries, we want to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

Our desire is to help you worship God and express your gifts to his church!

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. (Rom. 12:6-8)

Gifts that differ according to the grace given to us! What an astonishing statement – we are gifted by a great and perfect Giver! It is our joy to fuel your passion for Jesus, and that of millions of others as well, through the resources of Desiring God!

We trust God to provide for all our needs. And Desiring God has significant needs.

As we approach the final quarter of 2008, our budgeted income has not kept pace with our budgeted expenses. Our move to Hope Commons is also taxing our resources. For the last two months we have been asking God to provide $1.9 million in donations to Desiring God by the end of the year.

I am writing to you to ask for your prayerful consideration in how you might partner with us in our financial need. Desiring God is not underwritten by a few major donors or a denomination, but on the accumulated generosity of our friends. Every gift of every amount is gratefully received as a provision from God.

As God leads, you can donate online, call us at 1-888-346-4700, or write us at:

Desiring God
PO Box 2901
Minneapolis, MN 55402

Whether you are able to make a financial gift or not, please pray for us. We have gone to God first, gathering every day to pray about our needs and bringing all our plans to him. God will provide all that we need, and we trust him. Your prayers will also be a means God uses to meet our need.

For the supremacy of God in all things,

John P. Knight, Sr.
Sr. Director of Development