John Wesley: Get all you can without hunting your soul, your body, or your neighbor

[The rich] are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life. 1 Timothy 6:18-19

“Get all you can without hunting your soul, your body, or your neighbor. Save all you can, cutting off every needless expense. Give all you can. Be glad to give, and ready to distribute; laying up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that you may attain eternal life.”

John Wesley (1703-1791) in widespread attribution.

In this context, “hunting your soul” seems to imply pursuing wealth or any worldly gain in a way that harms or your spiritual wellness and sacrifices your moral integrity.

To hunt your body and your neighbor adds to the meaning that God does not want our pursuit of getting to harm ourselves physically or bring harm to others.

This brings socially responsible stewardship into view. Many generous people have wealth in portfolios doing not so good things to their soul, body, and neighbor and many do the damage unknowingly.

I’ve learned from GTP board treasurer and world expert in impact investing, Tim Macready, of Brightlight, that you don’t have to hunt your soul, your body, or your neighbor to make a great return.

It’s also why the GTP Trust Fund is invested with MB Foundation. They produce a great return and use the funds to generate kingdom work.

“Get all you can without hunting your soul, your body, or your neighbor.”

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:6

Remember that C.S. Lewis was a young Atheist who was surprised by joy when God hunted for him. In plain terms, notice how he articulates that he did not find God but God found him. The mouse does not find the cat but the other way around.

“Really, a young Atheist cannot guard his faith too carefully. Dangers lie in wait for him on every side. You must not do, you must not even try to do, the will of the Father unless you are prepared to “know of the doctrine.”

All my acts, desires, and thoughts were to be brought into harmony with universal Spirit.For the first time I examined myself with a seriously practical purpose. And there I found what appalled me; a zoo of lusts, a
bedlam of ambitions, a nursery of fears, a hareem of fondled hatreds. My name was legion.

Of course I could do nothing—I could not last out one hour—without continual conscious recourse to what I called Spirit. But the fine, philosophical distinction between this and what ordinary people call “prayer to God” breaks down as soon as you start doing it in earnest.

Idealism can be talked, and even felt; it cannot be lived. It became patently absurd to go on thinking of “Spirit” as either ignorant of, or passive to, my approaches. Even if my own philosophy were true, how could the initiative lie on my side?

My own analogy, as I now first perceived, suggested the opposite: if Shakespeare and Hamlet could ever meet, it must be Shakespeare’s doing. Hamlet could initiate nothing. Perhaps, even now, my Absolute
Spirit still differed in some way from the God of religion. The real issue was not, or not yet, there. The real terror was that if you seriously believed in even such a “God” or “Spirit” as I admitted, a wholly new situation developed.

As the dry bones shook and came together in that dreadful valley of Ezekiel’s, so now a philosophical theorem, cerebrally entertained, began to stir and heave and throw off its gravecloths, and stood upright
and became a living presence. I was to be allowed to play at philosophy no longer.

It might, as I say, still be true that my “Spirit” differed in some way from “the God of popular religion.” My Adversary waived the point. It sank into utter unimportance. He would not argue about it. He only said,
“I am the Lord”; “I am that I am”; “I am.”

People who are naturally religious find difficulty in understanding the horror of such a revelation. Amiable agnostics will talk cheerfully about “man’s search for God.” To me, as I then was, they might as well have talked about the mouse’s search for the cat.”

C.S. Lewis in Surprised By Joy (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1955) 213-214.

Though you can’t see the pheasant sitting on the ground, I had an epic late afternoon. Imagine driving 600 miles or 1,000 Km and then hunting for about 90 minutes and shooting 3 wild pheasant on a gorgeous day.

The phrase “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me” came to my mind. God’s goodness shined on me on my first of five vacation days. Best of all, Grace quartered and pointed like a veteran hunter.

Then I got to my room and found this gem from my favorite professor, C.S. Lewis. He was an atheist and describes how the absolute Spirit hunted him down. Think about it. God does that for us.

His goodness (undeserved blessings) and His mercy (not giving us what we deserve) follow, or literally chase after us, all the days of our lives.

How does it make you feel that God generously hunts and chases you all the days of your life?

“But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks. Jeremiah 16:16

“The apostles were fishers of men; we have to be hunters of men.

Let us toil away, brothers and sisters, without ceasing, doing all we can, whatever the sweat, with loving sentiments toward God, toward them, among ourselves. It would never do, after all, for us to create new rifts among ourselves, while wishing to allay their old quarrel.

And above all let us be very careful to hold on to the most steadfast love among ourselves. They are frozen stiff in their iniquities; how will you thaw the ice of iniquity in them, if you are not on fire with the flame of charity?

Nor should we worry about appearing to be troublesome to them by driving and prodding them.” Let us consider where we are driving them to; that should reassure us. Is it to death, after all, and not rather away from death? Altogether, in whatever ways we can, let us treat these old wounds, but discreetly.

And let us take care that the person being treated doesn’t pass away in the hands of the doctor. So why should we care that the boy is crying when taken to school? Do we have to bother about the person who’s being lanced pushing away the surgeon’s hand?

The apostles were fishermen, and the Lord said to them, I will make you fishers of men (Mark 1:17). It was said by the prophet [Jeremiah], however, that God was first going to send fishers, later on hunters.”

First he sent fishers, later on he sends hunters. Why fishers, why hunters? Believers were fished with the nets of faith from the bottomless depths of the sea of superstition and idolatry. But where were the hunters sent to? When believers were wandering through mountains and hills, that is through the proud elevations of men, through the swollen elements of different countries.

Donatus was one mountain, and Arius another; another mountain was Photinus, another mountain Novatus. These were the mountains they were straying through; their straying, their errors, called for hunters.

And that’s why the offices of fishers and hunters were distributed to different times; in case perhaps these people should say to us, “Why did the apostles not apply force or compulsion to anybody?”

Because he’s a fisherman, he casts his nets into the sea, hauls in whatever has got caught in it. But the hunter surrounds the woods, beats the thickets, drives animals into the nets by multiplying terror on every side: “Don’t let it go this way, don’t let it go that way; confront it on this side, beat it on that, frighten it on the other; don’t let it get out, don’t let it escape.”

But our nets mean life; only let love be maintained. And don’t consider how irksome you are to him, but how lovable he is to you. What sort of loving care are you showing, if you spare him, and he dies?”

Augustine of Hippo (354-430) in Sermon 400.11.

I took the new header photo on a beautiful autumn morning while walking my son’s dogs in Colorado. It was a crisp, cool, and peaceful morning.

Today, I am driving from Colorado to North Dakota to hunt pheasant with my German Shorthaired Pointer, Grace, and meet up with my friend John Roswech and his dogs. It’s a long drive so Grace and I will enjoy some solitude.

Yesterday, while packing and getting ready to go, I asked myself this question: “I wonder if one of my favorite preachers in Church history, Augustine of Hippo, ever preached on hunting?”

Sure enough, I located this excerpt from Sermon 400. The theme comes from Jeremiah 16. God declares that the wickedness of his people had exceeded their ancestors.

As a result he would search and hunt for them. So what does hunting for men really mean and what does it have to do with generosity?

Perhaps the best word picture I can think of comes from Jesus when he references the 99 sheep and the 1 that wandered away. See Luke 15:3-7. He goes and hunts for the sheep.

We can easily think of people who make poor choices as stupid and deserving of their demise. When we pause and think honestly, we realize, that speaks of all of us.

Today, I give thanks for how I saw my parents do this with their siblings. The last surviving one, Uncle Jim Gregg, went home to be with the Lord over the weekend.

Like all of us at times, Uncle Jim did not always follow Jesus. But I have many memories how my parents hunted for him. Eventually, he made his way back into the fold by the grace of God.

Each of us needs to discover the importance of hunting for people. Generosity comes into view as hunting for wayward folks and bringing them into the proverbial fold.

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Ephesians 6:13

“Do you see what it means to “stand”? We do not try to gain ground; we merely stand on the ground which the Lord Jesus has gained for us, and resolutely refuse to be moved from it. When our eyes are really opened to see Christ as our victorious Lord, then our praise flows forth freely and without restraint. Singing with melody in our hearts to the Lord, we give thanks for all things in His name (Ephesians 5:19–20).

Praise that is the outcome of effort has a labored and discordant note, but praise that wells up spontaneously from hearts at rest in Him has always a pure, sweet tone. The Christian life consists of sitting with Christ, walking by Him and standing in Him. We begin our spiritual life by resting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus. That rest is the source of our strength for a consistent and unfaltering walk in the world. And at the end of a grueling warfare with the hosts of darkness, we are found standing with Him at last in triumphant possession of the field. “Unto him . . . be the glory . . . for ever” (Ephesians 3:21).”

Watchman Nee or Ni Tuosheng (1903-1972) in Sit, Walk, Stand (Carol Stream: Tyndale House, 1977) 49-50.

Today marks the last post from this Watchman Nee classic. Thanks again for sharing it Jud Savelle.

Why learn to sit and walk?

We do it so we can learn to stand. This marks the reason before every GTP trip we state our aims. And why, we arrive and pray Joshua 1:3 and Psalm 2:8 in every nation.

And why, at the completion of our trip we send a report. To show the ground we have claimed for Jesus that He has already won. We claim it by standing firm.

Pray for Trevor Lui (GTP President & CEO) and Paula Mendoza (GTP Chief Administration and Mobilization Officer), as they do work in USA with the Chinese and Spanish teams over the next two weeks.

Pray with me for them, having learned to sit, and walk, that they stand firm.

Imagine Chinese- and Spanish- speaking churches and ministries across USA following standards and getting ECFA-accredited to position them for flourishing.

My week will shift to time of solitude with God and Grace, our German Shorthair Pointer.

I am packing today for a week of pheasant hunting in North Dakota with my friend, John Roswech. Pray for a safe drive tomorrow and a good week of rest from work and an ice chest filled with birds.

I am not sure where I will turn the attention of my reading next. Will pray about that today and discern that direction tomorrow. With you.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5

“In the work of God today, things are often so constituted that we have no need to rely upon God. But the Lord’s verdict upon all such work is uncompromising: “Apart from me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). Such work as man can do apart from God is wood, hay, stubble—and the test of fire will prove it so. For divine work can only be done with divine power, and that power is to be found in the Lord Jesus alone. It is made available to us in Him on the resurrection side of the cross.

That is to say, it is when we have reached the point where in all honesty we cry, “I cannot speak,” that we discover God is speaking. When we come to an end of our works, His work begins. Thus, the fire in the days to come and the cross today effect the same thing. What cannot stand the cross today will not survive the fire later. If my work, which is done in my power, is brought to death, how much comes out of the grave? Nothing! Nothing ever survives the cross but what is wholly of God in Christ.

God never asks us to do anything we can do. He asks us to live a life which we can never live and to do a work which we can never do. Yet, by His grace, we are living it and doing it. The life we live is the life of Christ lived in the power of God, and the work we do is the work of Christ carried on through us by His Spirit whom we obey. Self is the only obstruction to that life and to that work. May we each one pray from our hearts, “O Lord, deal with me!”

Watchman Nee or Ni Tuosheng (1903-1972) in Sit, Walk, Stand (Carol Stream: Tyndale House, 1977) 44.

Someone asked me about the focus of our time at the GTP Global Gathering earlier this month.

I told them that we had spiritual time and strategic time. For the spiritual time I made everyone read Frank Laubach’s book Letters by a Modern Mystic so they learn to hear God’s voice. And that I taught them the Surrender Novena to teach them to get self out of the way and practice surrender daily.

For the strategic time, we discussed five points related to GTP 2.0 and collaborating to form PAGs worldwide.

But please notice closely the investment and emphasis. I wanted everyone to learn to hear God’s voice and to practice surrender. If they take that posture of listening and surrender, then God can do His best work through us together. If we do not, then all our work, sadly, is a waste of time and God’s money.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have lots of patience but it runs thin when we waste time and God’s money.

I will not stand for it. You shouldn’t either. Think about the people you support. Do they exhibit this posture of surrender? Or are they just focused on doing things they can do. Do you see God’s power at work in them? Perhaps the best way to end today’s post is how Watchman did?

“O Lord, deal with me!” Show me the pathway to my most generous service. As self is the only obstruction, teach me to die to self. Try the surrender novena daily to get there.

Jesus, I surrender myself to you. Take care of everything.

To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me. Colossians 1:29

“We have to remind ourselves that we are often not right. We fail, and it is always good to learn from our failures—to be ready to confess and willing to go beyond what is necessary in doing so. The Lord wants this. Why? “That ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:45). The question is one of practical sonship. True, God has “foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:5), but we make the mistake of thinking that we have already “come of age” —that we are already mature sons.

The Sermon on the Mount teaches us that the children attain to the responsibility of sons in the measure in which they manifest kinship of spirit and of attitude with their Father. We are called to be “perfect” in love, showing forth His
grace. So Paul also writes, “Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us” (Ephesians 5:1–2). We are faced with a challenge. Matthew 5 sets a standard that we may well feel is impossibly high, and Paul in this section of Ephesians endorses it.

The trouble is that we just do not find in ourselves by nature the means to attain to that standard—to walk “as becometh saints” (Ephesians 5:3). Where then lies the answer to our problem of God’s exacting demands? The secret is, in the words of Paul, “the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20). In a parallel passage (Colossians 1:29) he says: “I labor also, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.”We are back again in the first section of Ephesians. What is the secret strength of the Christian life? From where does it derive its power?

Let me give you the answer in a sentence: The Christian’s secret is his rest in Christ. His power derives from his God-given position. All who sit can walk, for in the thought of God, the one follows the other spontaneously. We sit forever with Christ that we may walk continuously before men. Forsake for a moment our place of rest in Him, and immediately we are tripped, and our testimony in the world is marred. But abide in Christ, and our position there ensures the power to walk worthy of Him here.”

Watchman Nee or Ni Tuosheng (1903-1972) in Sit, Walk, Stand (Carol Stream: Tyndale House, 1977) 22.

When this posts, I will be somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. The most common comment I hear from people related to my work travel is that they hope I get some rest when I get home.

Every time I hear that I want to share thoughts like those in today’s post remembering that all generosity finds its source in Him.

Our God-given position reveals the secret to living the Christian life. We find everything we need not by ceasing travel but by resting in Christ.

In that light, if you want to position yourself for greater generosity, don’t focus so much on making more money, focus on resting more in Christ.

If you want to be perfect, stay humble, strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works within you, and remember these words today.

“Children attain to the responsibility of sons in the measure in which they manifest kinship of spirit and of attitude with their Father.”

In plain terms, you will only grow in generosity (or any other aspect of the faith) to the extent in which you surrender and engage with the work of the Holy Spirit.

If that seems too lofty for you, perhaps slow down and read it again. You’ve got this. God’s got you.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. Matthew 5:38–42

“Nothing has done greater damage to our Christian testimony than our trying to be right and demanding right of others. We become preoccupied with what is and what is not right. We ask ourselves, Have we been justly or unjustly treated? and we think thus to vindicate our actions. But that is not our standard. The whole question for us is one of cross-bearing.

You ask me, “Is it right for someone to strike my cheek?” I reply, “Of course not!” But the question is, do you only want to be right? As Christians, our standard of living can never be “right or wrong,” but the cross. The principle of the cross is our principle of conduct. Praise God that He makes His sun to shine on the evil and the good. With Him it is a question of His grace and not of right or wrong.

But that is to be our standard also: “Forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32). “Right or wrong” is the principle of the Gentiles and tax gatherers. My life is to be governed by the principle of the cross and of the perfection of the Father: “Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

A brother in South China had a rice field in the middle of the hill. In time of drought, he used a waterwheel worked by a treadmill to lift water from the irrigation stream into his field. His neighbor had two fields below his, and one night made a breach in the dividing bank and drained off all his water. When the brother repaired the breach and pumped in more water, his neighbor did the same thing again, and this was repeated three or four times.

So he consulted his brethren. “I have tried to be patient and not to retaliate,” he said, “but is it right?” After they had prayed together about it, one of them replied, “If we only try to do the right thing, surely we are very poor Christians. We have to do something more than what is right.” The brother was much impressed. Next morning he pumped water for the two fields below, and in the afternoon pumped water for his own field. After that the water stayed in his field. His neighbor was so amazed at his action that he began to inquire the reason, and in course of time, he too became a Christian.

So, my brethren, don’t stand on your right. Don’t feel that because you have gone the second mile you have done what is just. The second mile is only typical of the third and the fourth. The principle is that of conformity to Christ. We have nothing to stand for, nothing to ask or demand. We have only to give. When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, He did not do so to defend our “rights”; it was grace that took Him there. Now, as His children, we try always to give others what is their due and more.

Watchman Nee or Ni Tuosheng (1903-1972) in Sit, Walk, Stand (Carol Stream: Tyndale House, 1977) 21-22.

It’s a long post so I will be brief.

When you read this I will have finished my remarks to the 1,000 delegates from 125 countries as well as my workshop connecting the role of Christian workers in demonstrating accountability to growing generosity.

I can’t describe how exhausting this week has been. Every day from like 8am to 12 midnight, or later.

I started to complain in my heart and the Lord convicted me. Whenever I voiced “this is not right” I caught myself and realized that my role is only to give and trust God.

And I must confess something to the world.

God brought it to my attention today. This is humbling. In 2022, someone did something to me that was “not right” to me. That caused that relationship to get stuck.

Now read this again.

“I have tried to be patient and not to retaliate,” he said, “but is it right?” After they had prayed together about it, one of them replied, “If we only try to do the right thing, surely we are very poor Christians. We have to do something more than what is right.”

Today I chose to do something more than right and to learn only to give.

God help me, teach me to give the grace, love, and forgiveness that you have given to me. Teach me to go four miles rather than two, and may that only be just the start of my giving. Amen.

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9

“Let us be clear that the body of Christ is not something remote and unreal, to be expressed only in heavenly terms. It is very present and practical, finding the real test of our conduct in our relations with others. For while it is true we are a heavenly people, it is no use just to talk of a distant heaven. Unless we bring heavenliness into our dwellings and offices, our shops and kitchens, and practice it there, it will be without meaning.”

Watchman Nee or Ni Tuosheng (1903-1972) in Sit, Walk, Stand (Carol Stream: Tyndale House, 1977) 19.

The focus of the World Evangelical Alliance Global Assembly centers on “The Gospel for Everyone” as a guiding theme. They invited me to speak because this theme won’t happen until ministries put their houses in order.

Pray for receptivity to my plenary, panel, and workshop remarks on the biblical and practical links between accountability and generosity on Thursday. For now, join me in soaking in the Scripture for today and aiming to pass the test real test.

Ask yourself this question. Does your conduct in relation to others reflect that God has transformed you into a heavenly person? Few people model this like my mom, Patricia “Patsy” Hoag. I celebrate her today as it is her birthday!

Thanks Mom for how you “bring heavenliness into our dwellings and offices, our shops and kitchens, and practice it there.” Your generous giving, living, serving, and loving passes the real test. God help us imitate you as you follow Christ.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

“We have sought to make it clear that Christian experience does not begin with walking, but with sitting. Every time we reverse the divine order, the result is disaster. The Lord Jesus has done everything for us, and our need now is to rest confidently in Him.

He is seated on the throne, so we are carried through in His strength. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that all true spiritual experience begins from rest. But it does not end there. Though the Christian life begins with sitting, sitting is always followed by walking.

When once we have been well and truly seated and have found our strength in sitting down, then we do in fact begin to walk. Sitting describes our position with Christ in the heavenlies. Walking is the practical outworking of that heavenly position here on earth.”

Watchman Nee or Ni Tuosheng (1903-1972) in Sit, Walk, Stand (Carol Stream: Tyndale House, 1977) 18.

I got good rest last night. I am so thankful as that is not always the case with international travel. Now I will take breakfast and walk to the subway station.

From there I will continue rich interaction with about 1,000 delegates from 120+ countries, with 5,000 Korean pastors, and another 2,000 Korean participants.

After you have taken rest, refreshed in body and renewed in spirit, is it time for your to walk in generous service? Imagine how this fresh perspective shapes your generosity.

But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-6

“Do you think that if you cease trying to please God, your good behavior will cease? If you leave all the giving and all the working to God, do you think the result will be less satisfactory than if you do some of it? It is when we seek to do it ourselves that we place ourselves back again under the Law. But the works of the Law, even our best efforts, are “dead works,” hateful to God because ineffectual…

Just you stop “giving,” and you will prove what a Giver God is! Stop “working,” and you will discover what a Worker He is! The younger son was all wrong, but he came home, and he found rest—and that is where Christian life begins “God, being rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us . . . made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus” (Eph.2:4, 6).”

Watchman Nee or Ni Tuosheng (1903-1972) in Sit, Walk, Stand (Carol Stream: Tyndale House, 1977) 17.

The last few days, the header photo features the playing field of the World Series. Today’s photo features a different world gathering. The 2025 World Evangelical Alliance General Assembly. The 14th gathering in history. It happens every six years.

The disorganization of the global church has resulted in a reputation of corruption. Pray that my involvement representing GTP as Founder can help show national alliances how they can turn corruption to credibility and unleash local generosity to God’s work.

To urge people to put order and oversight in God’s house (Titus 1:5), in my speaking I often say, “Stop preaching the Gospel. Put your house in order first.” It gets the attention of listeners. They say, “What?”

Notice that same approach is what Watchman takes today and he is right when he says, “Stop giving.” Watch God do it and discover what a Giver He is and be involved with Him, lest your behavior appear as a return to the Law.

The giving of many people appears as a return to the Law. Such people give 10% of their income and live as if the other 90% is theirs. Watchman would say to these people, God does not need your money as He wants your hearts.

Does God have yours? Is your giving a return to the Law? If so, stop giving. Watch Jesus. Notice the practices of the early church. See people not distributing a percentage but in proportion. As they are blessed, they bless.

Now go and do likewise. The future of the spread of the gospel depends on it.