Contents

Preface

1    Husbands Who Believe

2    The Tale of Two Trees

3    Idols Stopping God's Provision

4    A New Look at an Old Story: Famine in Egypt

5    Missing the Boat: Famine in Spiritual Places

6    Ravens, Widows, and Jezebels

7    Feed Your Enemies: The Leper's Tale

8    Seeking the Source Behind Closed Doors

9    Five Promises of Prosperity: God's Key

Preface

Has God been so good to you that you just have to share? This booklet is for that very purpose. God is so good; His bountifulness must be shared!

Several years ago, Charles and Frances Hunter called and asked if they could hold a Miracle Service in our church on Tuesday, December 3. They especially requested that no honorariums be given them. They wanted the total offerings to be given to Life For Laymen Ministries. I am certain you are well aware that the Hunters have dozens of invitations weekly. Yet they called us and asked for a service, then desired that the offering be given to us.

As I quickly glanced at my calendar, I saw that the date had originally been set aside for one of our rallies, but our guest had canceled. At that time my secretary had said, "Marilyn, keep your eye on that date. God has something special."

The "something special" was a Miracle Service with Charles and Frances Hunter. Life For Laymen was in debt $18,000 at that time (the most ever). When the offering was counted the following day, and after all expenses of the rally were paid, there was $18,000 left!

Jesus, the great big wonderful Source, has this kind of a miracle for you, too!

Happy reading!

1

Husbands Who Believe

Inflation is on! Recession is upon us! Depression could be around the corner! This is an alarming state of affairs indeed. "Fight inflation with our low, low prices!" cries the commercial world; "The worst is over and next year will be better economically," assures the politician; and the "poor" who have to meet today perhaps go without.

Is there any hope in such times of need? What does the Bible say? Does God's Word make provisions for times of soaring prices?

But wait... "Proof," they say, "is in the pudding," not in the recipe. Before we expound the scriptural formula for prosperity, let us begin by questioning experience to see whether these promises are for real in today's world:

Do these apply to me personally, in the "now" problems that assail me every day? Are the provisions of God in the immediate? In other words, does God meet our urgent needs instantaneously? Let us explore! Let us reminisce ...

I was only a novice then at proving God's Word in times of financial need. I believed in other miracles — miracles of salvation, deliverance, healing, and such—but financial miracles? No, I had not yet understood that God also intends monetary prosperity for His loved ones.

It was Wally, my husband, who had prior experiences in this "miracle area." He first introduced me to this side of God's dispensation of plenty. It proved to be the beginning of a rude awakening (to say the least) into pleasant green pastures of faith, living with our cup running over.

In the early months of our ministry for the Lord, we were conducting revival meetings in the Colorado area. Between two of the revival meetings, we had made a brief stop at home to refresh ourselves. I had no money on me; but Wally, I knew, was carrying our last $6.50 in his wallet. I had resolved that this should cover a $5 gas-fill, leaving a balance of $1.50 for lunch.

After freshening up, I suggested lunch on our way to the next meeting at Glenwood Springs. It was then that the rude shock jolted me: Wally said he had dropped a five-dollar bill in the offering at the previous meeting!

I was dismayed and hungry, not very willing to settle for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the refrigerator, but neither could I openly argue over what he had offered to the Lord.

Under my breath I muttered my disappointment at his over-generosity and lack of better management of our money.

Wally, on the other hand, was not one bit flustered. I heard him saying, "Let's go by faith. The Lord will provide."

We did, but I wasn't at all comfortable about it. We made a stop at my mother's for a brief visit before proceeding to Glenwood Springs. I was almost tempted to borrow some money from her; but Wally, I knew, wouldn't hear of it. Also, that wouldn't be "trusting in the Lord" for our urgent needs. So I determined to believe against unbelief. Needless to say, the Lord came through in a spectacular way, just to make my first experience of His dispensation of plenty more meaningful.

A friend and neighbor of ours, who knew nothing of our circumstances, was quickened by the Holy Spirit of our immediate need. She drove across the city to my mother's and handed us $10! That was double the $5 Wally had offered!

All our friend said was, "The Lord urged me to get here fast and give you this." To this day, I don't know (and yet I do) how she knew we would stop at our mother's on our way to Glenwood Springs, and even more than that, the exact timing of her trip to meet us.

"Wow!" I reflected. "What a mindful, mysterious God." Our need wasn't big, but it was urgent. He met just that specific requirement. He came through immediately! Praise the Lord, indeed!

The second impressive miracle happened only shortly afterwards. Wally, seemingly, was again the blunderbuss. This time, he dropped a $1,000 check into the offering bag! I didn't try to hide my feelings about my annoyance at Wally's action. We had so many necessities, like a new car to replace the battered one that was threatening to die on us any day.

The first time it was a smaller amount, and I could afford to go on faith; but this was different. Just like that, he had given away $1,000—months of savings for a new car. "God doesn't need our money," I reasoned. "It's we who are poor."

My first experience had taught me some faith in expecting financial miracles from the Lord, but I was yet to learn to believe daringly for God's plenty and to rely on Him entirely.

Wally was patient with me. He had full faith in God's provisions. Soon his calm trust rubbed off on me and I began to trust also, only it was more a resting in the Lord to provide than even an immediate expecting.

Six months passed by. Then an evangelist was visiting our church.

Though he knew nothing of our needs, suddenly in the middle of one of the services, he felt led of the Lord to take an offering for a new car for us.

"Wally, I see the letters 'c-a-r' flashing before me above your head. Do you need a new car?"

Without even consulting Wally, he called on the ushers to take an offering for us, the second offering of the service. Before I could even begin to be startled, the offering was taken. Later when the money was counted, there was more than $1,800. I was choking with tears and could only whisper, "Thank You, Lord Jesus; thank You immensely."

The Lord didn't stop at that. Our old car, which had held together to the last amidst precarious mechanical flaws, netted still another $300. Altogether, we had $2,100 toward a new car!

The Lord had indeed blessed us more than "double portion" this time. I had first experienced the Lord of the "immediate" need. Now I had a taste of the Lord of "plenty." My faith in this whole new miracle area blossomed. I dared to believe Him in the big necessities just as much as in the little ones. I began to trust Him for immediate financial needs, as much as to rest in Him with our entire finances.

Many more personal financial miracles began to pour in....precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little... (Is. 28:13). He had changed me to partake of His promises, to claim His every Word at all times and receive all the provisions that go with them. Personally, I had come a long way, and I was ready for new avenues of this financial adventure with Jesus.

Not very long after this, my third phenomenal experience with "the Lord of the Finances" unfolded in something more adventurous than I had ever attempted before in my personal life. I dared to launch out in a new ministry for the Lord — all on my own, without Wally and with practically no capital. Even I could not believe that I was really prepared and ready to go this far, but the Lord did. He was bearing me on His wings to new heights and broader horizons!

The "Life For Laymen" radio ministry was born with a meager $60 budget and a bagful of scriptural promises. With a few devoted pioneers, I began the ministry, clinging to those promises in the bag much more dearly than the measly dollars in the cash box. We proceeded in faith.

In just six months, the budget increased to $3,000 a month and moved into an additional outreach ministry on television. Our eyes continued to be fixed on the Word and not on the bank account.

Over the years of this ministry prosperity has rained from "the windows of heaven" because we have leaned wholly on Jesus, the Source of all plenty, and not on our meager financial budget and limited cash with which we had begun. The budget has multiplied beyond recognition of the original amount. Isaiah 28:13 has repeated itself refreshingly!

Experience has been a good teacher! It has led me to new avenues and has proved the Word!

Jesus is the Lord of the "immediate." He is the Lord of "double portion." He rains plenty from the windows of heaven on those who will trust and rest on His Word.

2

The Tale of Two Trees

Experience has spoken and testimonies have exposed the truth of His Word. As we explore the Word, let's consider the following questions:

Does God want us to be prosperous?

Does He promise deliverance in times of need?

What are His provisions for man?

Does that apply to all men, even me, right now?

If you will open the Bible to Genesis, you will find in its very first chapters the original provisions God had made in times of need. We are going to see God's provisions in the contrast between two trees.

The Tree In Eden

There were two trees in the Garden of Eden. One was a beautiful tree, very productive, called the tree of knowledge of good and evil:

And out of the ground made the Lord

God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9).

This tree indicates that it had food upon it, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and that Adam and Eve liked the tree. Every time they looked upon this tree of knowledge of good and evil, the tree looked beautiful. It was very enticing and bore luscious-looking fruit.

However, Adam and Eve were not to eat the fruit of that tree. God said,

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Gen. 2:17).

God gave a very strong command. He said, "Don't eat of that tree!"

But Satan came along and did everything he could to get the woman to eat of that tree.

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath

God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? (Gen. 3:1).

It is Satan's scheming mind that puts questions in God's Word:

Did God really say what was recorded in Genesis 3:1?

Does God really mean He wants to heal you?

Does God really mean He wants to make financial provisions for you, or does He want you to be poor?

If we begin to put question marks on God's Word, we can be assured that it is a result of Satan's instigation.

And the woman said unto the serpent,

We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said,

Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die (Gen. 3:2,3).

But the Devil completely negated what God had said to Eve:

And the serpent said unto the woman,

Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:4,5).

Satan said, "God doesn't want you to be as smart as He is, for you are liable to miss something good." And the Devil still says that today.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat (Gen. 3:6).

Satan saw to it that Eve ate of the tree.

The consequences of partaking of that fruit brought sin and death. God had said that if they ate, they would surely die.

When Adam ate of this tree, he was turned out of paradise. God put angels with swords east of the Garden to keep out Adam and Eve, so that they could no longer live in paradise. It was a very sad day.

The Tree at Calvary

The second tree — the tree at Calvary—had to do with Jesus. It was said of Him:

They crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet (Matt. 27:35).

The cross was a tree as verified by the Scriptures:

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree (Acts 5:30).

It might also be recalled in Galatians 3:13: ...for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. When we look at the cross, it must be remembered that God called it a tree. If we can look back in the Garden of Eden, we can perhaps see more clearly how this is a tree. The Golgotha tree was also planted in a garden, not by God, but by man.

Even apart from the fact that the first tree was planted by God and the second by man, there are other distinguishing features about the two trees.

When Jesus hung upon the cross, there was nothing beautiful about the scene; it was bloody. When Isaiah prophesied about Jesus, he said that Jesus was not pleasant to look at when he hung on that cross:

...he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him (Is. 53:2).

This was not true, however, before the time of Jesus' crucifixion. The Bible tells us he grew in stature and, evidently, he was an attractive person until He hung on that cross. The second tree — the tree of Jesus—was not pleasant to look at.

Of the first tree God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of it; but of the second tree — the tree that Jesus hung upon — God said, Taste and see that the Lord is good (Ps. 34:8).

Jesus even told man to drink of His blood and eat of His flesh:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:53,54).

God has issued an open invitation to everyone. Satan beguiled man to go against God's command concerning the first tree, but he hinders man from going to the second tree.

Adam and Eve lost life by "eating"; whereas, you and I gain life by "eating," eating spiritual food from the second tree. Man died by eating, but he can gain new life by eating of the Word of God. Jesus said,

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4).

When Adam and Eve ate of the first tree, they were forced to leave paradise. They had acted like thieves, quietly sneaking up to the tree and eating of the fruit that was not theirs.

When Jesus hung on that second tree, a thief who was hanging beside Him said,

Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Jesus replied, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise (Luke 23:42,43).

It is important to realize that this is the only time Jesus alludes to paradise. While Adam, the first thief, lost paradise; another thief gained paradise by taking Jesus. Adam ate and was turned out of paradise; the thief partook and was taken into paradise.

Jesus on the cross, the second tree, has every provision that we will ever need. When we partake of His every promise, when we eat of His Word and claim it as ours, then we can receive all the promises that go with it.

Man once lost it when he partook of what wasn't his, and the Devil still beguiles man to keep him from partaking of what is rightfully his. The Devil actually creates things that would put us on the wrong side of financial gain.

Let us examine some resemblances of the two trees.

Both trees were "in the midst." Genesis 2:9 says the tree was "in the midst" of the Garden of Eden. When Jesus hung on the cross, He hung "in the midst" of two thieves.

The next resemblance is unique and important. When Adam and Eve ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they were really in trouble! Do we Christians realize that when we partake of Jesus we receive the knowledge of good and evil? When we have Jesus, He said that His Spirit will lead us into all truth and that He will give us a knowledge of good and evil.

Let us ponder here and see what happens to a new Christian: He is suddenly turned off to the things he once wanted to do. Nobody, not even the pastor, forced him to change; it was Jesus. The things he once loved to do, he doesn't like anymore. He never desired to read his Bible or seek Christian fellowship, but now he can't resist them.

Do you know what that person has partaken of? The tree of knowledge of good and evil.

When we have Jesus Christ in our hearts,

He will show us everything. He will show us what we should or should not be doing.

One of the most beautiful experiences of being a Christian is that we can receive divine knowledge of good and evil.

Sometimes people wonder: "Do I really have that knowledge?"

Let me assure you that we have the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Phil. 2:5). All we have to do is claim it.. ..Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). When we find ourselves lacking, all we have to do is say, "Jesus, I have Your mind. You live in my heart."

When any man lacks wisdom, the Apostle James says he should do one thing: Ask. We can partake of that tree. All we have to do is ask.

Both trees are good for food. When Eve ate of the fruit, she found that it was good for food. When we eat of Him, Jesus, we find Him food for the soul.

The real secret of the abundant life in Jesus is to be constantly eating of Him—constantly in fellowship, constantly in communication, constantly feeding on His Word and letting it build us up.

Every time God does something, Satan tries to make a counterfeit. It is this that got me excited when I began studying about the stars.

For years I had been intrigued by the signs of the horoscope. I can understand how people can get hung up on this, but the Scriptures warn us about it very strongly. The Devil has put so much of a counterfeit in it that you can be sure God has the truth on the other side.

I decided to study it and see what God had in the stars for me. I found out He had a great deal! We more often emphasize the negative side, but we also should emphasize the positive side. What does God want to say in it? If the Devil wants to give a message, then what is God's true message?

God planted a tree, but the Devil took it. Then man planted a tree, and God used it to bring life to mankind. Let us see what the Devil did with his tree.

3

Idols Stopping God’s Provision

Satan must have said to himself, "If I can get the people involved in idolatry, I can keep them away from the truth."

What is an idol? Anything, perhaps, that you can put in place of God. In the Old Testament the people made an image with their own hands, but said it was God.

Let us now see the other side of this because God has something to tell us about images. Psalm 17:15 says, ...I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness. "Thy likeness" is a translation of the Hebrew word for "image." The image of God is stamped on the believer's heart.

Psalm 39:6 says man walks in a vain shew, which in Hebrew is "an image." Man will walk in an image of what he wants to be or of what Satan has prompted him to be.

What does society say about a self-made man? That he is a man who has lifted himself up by his own bootstraps. What is he doing? Trying to make himself a success. The Bible tells us that it is not in a man to direct his own paths.

Leviticus 26:1 talks of a graven image, which has to do with the image of imagination. Have you ever had your imagination build images and live in fantasy?

We can pick some easy examples of this among teenagers. A boy smiles at a girl and she invites him to the Junior Prom, though she doesn't even know his name. He just smiled as he walked down the corridor, and she fantasized. Another girl receives a letter from a boy and she reads between the lines. She is sure he is just crazy about her. Images, aren't they?

We can get images of God which are not true. First Corinthians 11:7 says,

For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God.

In God's plan, we are the image of God. I am; you are. Anyone who belongs to Jesus has the image of God in his life.

Satan, no doubt, had to confuse this truth. He didn't want man to think that, so he came along and introduced false images.

He let the people build idols. He let them get hung up on money, sex, even a personality, as long as they didn't get to the truth. He led them on to vain imaginations and wrong things.

He had them make a tree for an image which in Hebrew was called "Gilgal." The people took this tree, set it up in their houses, and began to worship it. Did you know they worshiped trees in those days? I didn't until I read it in the Scriptures. The Book of Second Kings says that the people worshiped groves and that Solomon was involved with groves of trees on a high hill.

To them, these trees symbolized the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. They worshiped these trees to receive long life. That was Satan's counterfeit.

We see in 2 Kings 23:7 that certain women wove hangings for the grove. They had little houses in those groves, set up by the Sodomites, where they worshiped the trees.

This raises the question, "What or who is a Sodomite?" Literally it is a man from Sodom, but it really means much more than that. A Sodomite is a homosexual, so the homosexuals were involved in the worship of trees, which was not the image of God. Trees were never the image God had set up; they were counterfeits.

There was also another Hebrew word meaning "idol." This was Aven. The first word, Gilgal, meant "a tree of a log." Aven meant "a thing of nought," "nothing," or "doesn't amount to anything." The word Beth in Hebrew meant "house," so Bethaven would mean "house of nothing." El meant God, so Bethel would mean "house of God."

Hosea 4:15 is a verse which might seem to be a play on words, yet is not:

...come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, the Lord liveth.

Amos 5:5 says, Bethel shall come to nought. In other words, Bethel shall come to Bethaven. What does that say? The "house of God" shall come in and take over the "house of nothing."

People worry about their enemies hexing them—putting pins in dolls and causing evil spirits to bring harm to them—but what does the Word say? That it is nothing. The house of God will always overcome the house of nothing. The important thing, then, is to remain in the house of God!

In 1 Samuel, chapter 5, we read how the Philistines took the Ark of God into the house of Dagon, who was their god. What happened to this idol when it was brought near the Ark?

It fell upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord (v. 3), so that its head and hands were broken off.

What is God saying to us in times of need? Do we have to be afraid? No. Bethel will always overcome Bethaven.

As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one (1 Cor. 8:4).

If we don't get hung up on idols, we don't have to worry about them.

In Acts 14:15 Paul said,

...We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God.

Paul was saying that idols are vain things, vanities.

In Galatians 4:8 he said, Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. You don't have to worry about that.

Paul also said that covetousness is idolatry. (Col. 3:5.) Covetousness is wanting something that somebody else has. Money, houses, success, good clothes—these are some of the common things we could covet, but we could also covet another person's spiritual gifts. These are wrong attitudes in spiritual things, and the Bible says that coveting the possessions of another is idolatry.

We are concerned here with financial things, and it is important that our attitudes in possessing material things not in any way border on covetousness. If our attitude is to have a mink coat like the lady next door, if it is to have bigger things, to get ahead of someone, to be "top dog" in the group by trampling others in the process, then it is idolatry.

The Scriptures caution us against such idolatry. This is one of the key things we are to take care of in finding answers to our financial problems. We cannot covet because covetousness brings idolatry into our lives. It takes Jesus out of His rightful position and puts Satan in, where he doesn't belong.

The Bible tells us that Jesus has given us all things freely to enjoy, provided they are in their rightful place. (Rom. 8:32; 1 Tim. 6:17.) The anchorage for our financial stability should be in Him, not in ourselves; otherwise, our finances will not be successful. We can covet spiritual things, as long as we covet what is in Jesus and not in somebody else. The crucial thing is to look at the right tree—Jesus on the cross—not on Gilgal.

Let us look at another word for idol: Estev. This is an interesting word which means "that which causes labor." In other words, you are working endlessly to make that idol. You have worked so hard; but for all your labor, you don't profit from it.

For example, somebody likes money so much that they work hard for it. Just when they think they have made a lot of money, it somehow is not enough. They had their anchorage in the wrong place. The idol of their life had been Estev.

Another Hebrew word for idolatry is Shaktus which means "an abomination." (2 Chron. 15:8.) Money in the wrong perspective is an idol, a thing of nought, difficult labor that doesn't profit; and it can be an abomination. It can lead you into Satan's world, and even into rebellion.

Is there any hope? What should we do?

Switch our eyes from the idol as our source to Jesus. Everything we need is found in Jesus; He is our "all- sufficient" supply.

When Adam and Eve lived in the Garden, did they have to worry about anything? Were they concerned about tomorrow? Did clothing or housing or bills bother them? No. God was their total supply.

When Jesus came down to this earth, did He not come to be your total supply? The Bible says we are complete in Christ. In Genesis 3:16 God said to the woman, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. But didn't Jesus carry our griefs and sorrows? We don't have to carry them anymore.

It is also recorded further down in the same chapter that God said to Adam, ...cursed is the ground for thy sake (v. 17). Is the ground cursed anymore? No. The curse on the ground was taken off at the time of the Flood. Now it can bear fruit.

In Genesis 3:19 God decreed, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Did Jesus ever sweat? Yes. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He sweat great drops of blood! (Luke 22:44.) He took the "sweat" out of life.

So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life (Gen. 3:24).

This meant they could no longer eat of the tree of life. A sword kept them out of the Garden.

Then many years later it was a sword, piercing Jesus' side, that made the way for you and me to have access to the Source again.

If we will focus our gaze entirely upon Jesus, we will find that everything is met in Him. He is our total supply!

4

A New Look at an Old Story: Famine in Egypt

The famines of the Old Testament teach us a great lesson about inflation. They tell of God's great deliverance in times of dire financial stress.

God's provisions for His children are always in the now. If they were sufficient for the Israelites 6,000 years ago, they can be just as abundant for us today.

For starters, let's look at the famine reported in Genesis 41. Pharaoh dreamed and Joseph was called to give the interpretation:

There will be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Prepare for the seven years of famine and God will meet us there.

Joseph is one of the most beautiful "types of Jesus" in the Old Testament. When Joseph came to Pharaoh and interpreted his dream, Pharaoh was so excited about it that he gave Joseph a new name. He called him, Zaphnath-paaneah, meaning "Savior of the world." The name Joseph itself meant "adding." Both the old and the new names of Joseph symbolize something very significant—a truth about Jesus.

I want us to think about the first Adam. The first Adam subtracted, did he not? But what did Jesus, the second Adam, do? He added something in people's lives, and He was also the Savior of the world.

Pharaoh gave Joseph a bride. (Gen. 41:45.) Her name was Asenath, which tells us that she was a Gentile bride. What about the Bride of Jesus? His Bride is a Gentile bride, too. The former bride of God (Jewish) played the harlot, so God gave Jesus a Gentile bride. Let us read on.

Verse 46 says, Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Jesus, too, was thirty years old when He began His public ministry!

Here is another intriguing thought to mull over: Israel became God's own when they were in Egypt. It was because of the Egyptians, who were Gentiles, that they first sacrificed a lamb. Wouldn't it be something if the Jewish revival broke out because the Gentiles brought them the truth again? It looks as though it is going to be so! All signals point that way.

Joseph had two little boys. (Gen. 41:50.) One was Manasseh; the other was Ephraim. We see a parallel to this in Jesus' story also. Manasseh meant "forgetting." When Jesus came, the Jews "forgot" that He was their Messiah. They didn't remember the Scriptures and their eyes were blinded. Ephraim, on the other hand, meant "fruitful." When Jesus came, while the Jews "forgot," the Gentiles became "fruitful."

The Gentiles reaped the fruits of the tree of life—Jesus—while the Jews slumbered in oblivious amnesia. There are two parts — one group receiving and the other rejecting.

Joseph's two boys also represent God's past and future dealings with Israel. His past dealings very clearly depict His disappointment in them, while His future dealings promise hope for them. The Jews are "coming" yet! The period of forgetfulness will be followed by a period of fruitfulness.

After seven years of plenty in Egypt, there were seven terrible years of famine. After Jesus walked among the Jews and invited them to come to the Messiah, whom they rejected, they were in the midst of famine. It is a significant parallel which cannot be overlooked. In the Scriptures it is called "Jacob's trouble."

Joseph was a great blessing to the land of Egypt and to his family. He was the provider of bread in time of famine. He gave food to the Egyptians first; and later when his family came, he gave them bread. He was the dispenser of bread. Some 6,000 years after this story, Jesus was called "the Bread of Life."

Romans 11:11 says, ...through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles. Visualize the fate of the Egyptians had Joseph not come to them. Egypt would certainly have starved to death.

When Joseph met his brothers and they recognized him, they became afraid, recalling the wretched thing they had done to him. But Joseph was quick to assure them: You meant it for evil, but God took it for good. When Jesus was crucified by the Jews, even though they meant it for evil at that time, God took it for their eventual good. A striking parallel again!

Another unique similarity that we see in the two stories is the supply that was, and is, unlimited, both in the time of Joseph and today with Jesus. There was, and is, plenty to give, both in the barns of Joseph and in the tree of Jesus.

The supply was, and is, limitless.

Joseph was the giver of bread; Jesus is the Bread of Life.

Joseph was the source in the time of famine; Jesus is the Source in times of financial need today. Jesus is our Savior in the time of need, as was Joseph to the people of his day.

We must turn our eyes away from covetousness and turn them to the true Source —Jesus Christ. It is possible that any of us might have slipped into some type of covetousness without realizing it. All it takes is to redirect the gaze and bring it into proper focus on Jesus.

It has been demonstrated that if you take a frog, put it in a pan of lukewarm water over the stove, and turn the fire very, very low, he won't jump out. This is because he is not plunged directly into the hot water. He will stay there and gradually cook, never realizing the grave consequences.

This is so true of Americans today. We have been so blessed with material things that we have been "cooked" in it. Covetousness has come on us so gradually that we haven't recognized it and hopped out.

God began to bless our land and has continued to bless us, so that we have wanted more and more, never being fully satisfied. We are so numb with luxury that we haven't recognized that as Christians we cannot afford to be covetous. It has been a very gradual heating.

I trust, however, that the heat of today will provoke us to jump out of it. I trust the Word of God will really make it unbearably hot on us in all areas of covetousness in our lives.

Turn from petty covetousness and meet His conditions to appropriate the unlimited supply from the Source—Jesus. Turn to Jesus in times of need. The total supply from the once-forbidden tree of life is now at your disposal. It is Jesus, the Living Bread, the Savior Himself. Don't settle for small portions; go all the way. Drink and eat all of Him. Taste His limitless bounty!

5

Missing the Boat: Famine in Spiritual Places

And there was a famine in the land: and Abram (Abraham) went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.

Genesis 12:10

This is the first famine recorded in the Bible. It would, no doubt, be beneficial to study God's particular provisions at that time and see what this first man, Abraham, did under these financial pressures. Did he recognize and acknowledge the true Source of all supplies and direct his gaze in the proper path? Or did he fail?

Abraham was called to go to Canaan, the Promised Land. He left part of his family, including his wife, but took with him his father and nephew. When he reached the Promised Land, there was, to his great surprise, famine in the land!

Could there be a famine in spiritual places? It doesn't seem right, does if? How can there be any "need" in God's spiritual grounds?

How did Abraham react? (Probably like any of us had we been in his place.) He wandered off to Egypt and lived there, for the famine was grievous in the Promised Land.

What happened to him when he was in Egypt? First he lied and said that his wife was his half sister. Then he picked up somebody in Egypt that he could have left behind — Hagar, a handmaid.

When Abraham brought Hagar home, Sarah, his wife, said, "Why can't you live with Hagar? She can have a child, and we can raise him as ours." But that was never God's plan.

Abraham spoiled it all for himself, having listened to Sarah.

What does that story teach us today? What is involved when we go to "Egypt"? We look to the wrong source and reason away what God can do in and out of our circumstances.

Could we stay in Canaanland and trust God to meet us there in times of famine? Yes, we could, for who wants a "Hagar"? We don't want those kinds of problems. Personally, I don't want another woman in my kitchen, do you?

It may not be covetousness here, but it certainly is reasoning away the promises of God. And to what end? It may seem to be good sense to leave Canaan for a little while and go to Egypt, but then we miss God's provisions by letting our reason become the source. It got Abraham, the patriarch of faith, into trouble. Can we escape? Can we afford to repeat the mistake?

There was another famine recorded in Genesis having to do with Isaac:

There was a famine in the land, beside the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines unto Gerar. And the Lord appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt (Gen. 26:1,2).

God said unto Isaac, "Don't do what your daddy did." Rather,

...dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of; sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father ( v. 2,3).

And Isaac obeyed.

In our present lingo, how would this be said? "Stay put. Don't leave. Listen to Me; I will bless you and bless you, until it comes out your ears!"

Our reasoning would have replied: "Daddy went to Egypt and came back with a lot of money. Uncle Lot came back with a lot of money, and Mother came back with a new maid. It didn't seem all that bad."

Piercing through our reasoning, however, would be the voice of God, loud and clear, saying: "Don't repeat the mistake of your father. Stay put and I will deliver you."

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble (Ps. 46:1). He is a definite help in times of need, whether it be a famine in the Promised Land of yesteryear, or a recession in a comparable land that God has promised to lead

us in today. He is our all- time Source.

Scriptures are for our instruction. Experiences of our forefathers are for our guidance. We cannot repeat the mistakes of our fathers and miss God's land of plenty. Abraham's experience is a warning; Isaac's is an example. We should withdraw from repeating Abraham's mistake and follow diligently Isaac's pattern of conduct in this story. We must let God be our Source. God did bless Isaac in a big way. Truly, He is our total supply!

From 2 Samuel, chapter 21, we can see some extreme reasons and answers for financial needs.

There was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites (2 Sam. 21:1).

Saul had been somewhat presumptuous in his wild frenzy and zeal to act spiritual. The Israelites were supposed to kill the Canaanites, and the Gibeonites were descendants of the Canaanites. But the Gibeonites had a covenant with the Israelites. They even worked in the tabernacle of the temple, and later became one of the most spiritual people Israel had.

However, Saul had overlooked this fact and had impetuously killed the Gibeonites. God said this famine was because of what Saul had done and that David must make it right.

We have seen three things that hinder our receiving answers for financial needs: covetousness, the mistake of idolizing money, and the oft-repeated temptation to reason away what God can do in specific times of financial need.

If you say that you have sensed nothing personally, then you have nothing to worry about. God won't deal with you without first showing it to you clearly. He is not nebulous. He will make His intentions very clear.

You don't say to your children: "I don't know whether you ought to go to bed at 7 or 11." If nine o'clock is bedtime, you don't ambiguously whisper it to your children. You are specific in your instructions. God is the same way. He will let you know.

God will deal with us to correct the wrongs in our lives. If He reveals an area of wrong to you, confess it and do your best to get it right.

Again, don't miss the boat by ignoring God's insistent messages and spiritually audible reproofs. Make the necessary corrections. Steer the lifeboat back on its proper course, and you will be blessed.

In God's grounds, what is promised will be there! He Himself is the spiritual ground, the promise, the tree of life! He is the total supply of all financial needs at all times.

6

Ravens, Widows, and Jezebels

Again, there was a famine in the land of Israel. For three years there had been no rain, only drought upon the land. The people were starving.

God led Elijah into a tiny place by the brook called Cherith. (1 Kings 17:2-7.) Then He kept Elijah and sustained him in a very unusual way in this seemingly "God-forsaken place." Not only did God give him water, but He sent ravens to bring bread and meat to him twice every day. Elijah actually had two meals a day, which was quite a bit considering the famine.

Ravens were unclean, vulturous birds, so Elijah could have legitimately complained, "Wrong kind of birds, God. Send me an eagle." Did he do that? No.

In the same way God can bring finances to us in such an unusual way that we say, "This way of receiving Your plenty doesn't fit. Wrong way, Lord." Elijah didn't say, "Wrong bird," Should you?

Another interesting fact was that the ravens were hungry, too. They could have eaten the meat themselves on their way. After all, famine hit the birds, too! But God knew how to get the ravens to feed His children and not eat what the children were supposed to have.

There may be "ravens" in your life that are eating what you are supposed to have, but God can take care of those "ravens" so that they supply you without feeding themselves.

While Elijah continued to live a blissful life by the brook, oblivious to the hardships of famine, the brook eventually dried. Sometimes God can meet our needs in a certain way, then change the course on us. At such times we question, "Where is God now?" He is just changing the course of the pipeline, so you won't get your eyes on the mailman or on the wealthy uncle or on that philanthropic friend. He can change the type of His dispensation.

God said to Elijah, "Go to Zarephath; I have prepared a widow to feed you." Zarephath was in Zidon. (v. 9.) If I were Elijah, I would have said, "Not Zarephath, Lord. You know what Zarephath is. That's Jezebel's hometown!"

Jezebel hated Elijah. The last time they had met, she said, "If it's the last thing I do, I'll kill you!" So Elijah took off to the wilderness and hid himself.

Now of all places, Elijah was being sent to Jezebel's hometown! What if Jezebel came there to visit? Somebody could say, "Guess who's in town, Jezebel? Your best friend — Elijah."

What was God doing to Elijah? He was getting his eyes away from the problem and bringing him to a total dependence on the total Source — Himself.

Then God said, "I have a widow to sustain thee." But that didn't sound very promising either. Why couldn't God pick somebody more appropriate? Maybe this widow was a rich one; but as it turned out, she wasn't. However, Elijah obeyed God and went to Zarephath.

When he came to the gates of the city, there was the widow woman gathering some sticks. (A rich widow couldn't be doing that!) Elijah called her and said,

Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink (v. 10).

As she went to bring it, Elijah called after her and said,

Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand (v. 11).

Her reply to Elijah was even more astounding:

As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die (v. 12).

A dying widow woman was to sustain a prophet of God? God couldn't be that blind!

Elijah was in a spot: On the one hand, there were the perils of death due to starvation; on the other hand, there was a wicked woman hunting for his blood. Even the strangest fiction can't beat this story!

This certainly doesn't sound to me like good provision from the Lord. Elijah replied to her with a confidence that matched the provision:

Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son (v. 13).

The Bible tells us that under all circumstances we have to bring our firstfruits unto God. You may say, "But I can't afford it." Do you think this widow woman could afford it? Do you think she could afford to feed Elijah first? Certainly not. Don't ever let your reasoning take you out of faith.

What was this widow really doing? Was she depriving her son to give to God's man? No. She was providing for her children by her faith. This was her test to look to God as her source.

Elijah continued:

For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth (v. 14).

There was something else that was interesting in this story: the supply did not last throughout the whole famine. It lasted just until the rain started, maybe for about two and a half years.

God does not send manna, then let you sit in front of the television eating chocolates. When the rain started, the meal barrel and the cruse of oil stopped supplying, and they had to go to work.

We may say, "I will have faith and sit and wait for God to bring it in." God isn't making lazy people out of us by putting us on spiritual welfare. That is not His way of providing for us. Faith is very active.

Miracles take us through only what we cannot do, not what we can do. Miracles are for a real time of desperation. Once that time is over, what does God say? The man who doesn't work, doesn't eat. It's that simple. God prospers what we do. When there was a famine in the land, God made provisions for a woman who was willing to take the last bits she had and give it to God's work.

Do you know what happens to most of us when such clamps are on? We say, "I'm going to cut my giving." Do you know what we are doing then? We are cutting our Source.

Has faith ever been reasonable? If faith had been reasonable, Elijah would not have gone to Zarephath. If faith had been rationalized, the widow woman would not have obeyed. But she did obey.

Let's see what happened:

And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days (v. 15).

How long? Many days. Who else ate? Elijah! This was a lesson to Elijah: first the ravens, then the widow.

God has such strange ways of meeting us. Don't ever try to reason out how He is going to do it. He has many ways in which to work His wonders. Trust Him.

In one of our miracle services we gathered around to pray over our billfolds, but no one prayed over his own. In such giving in prayer, they received. Many called in after the miracle service and testified to the financial blessings they had received.

One man called in to say that he received a large percentage raise. Another said he found a lucrative job. Many good things began to happen. Why? Because God was becoming the Source in their lives.

The supply of meal and oil did not fail the whole time Elijah abode there. God was taking care of all three of them: Elijah, the widow, and her son. Doesn't God perform His miracles in unique, unusual, and sometimes unreasonable ways?

Let us look at another famine in 1 Kings, chapter 18. Here the Lord said to Elijah,

Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth (v. 1).

At that time there was a severe famine in Samaria.

Ahab had appointed Obadiah, who feared the Lord, as the governor of his house. As governor, Obadiah was in charge of the storehouse; he bought the "groceries" for Jezebel. Let us look at his actions closely; it is very important.

When Jezebel cut off a hundred of God's prophets, Obadiah took them, hid them in a cave, and fed them with bread and water, so their sustenance was coming from Jezebel's table! She was already feeding 450 of her own prophets.

When she went over the grocery bills with Obadiah, she screamed over inflation prices. Little did she know that she was feeding a hundred extra mouths daily. Could you imagine Jezebel feeding a hundred of God's prophets? Jezebel couldn't, but then she never knew!

Do you see how God met the needs of His people? He used a variety of instruments — ravens, widows, and even Jezebels! God can meet your needs, too. It may not always be a reasonable means, but a simple trust in the right Source will bring surprising results.

Do you think it is God's will for us to prosper financially? There are many scriptures to confirm this. Something fantastic and unique can be found in Isaiah 48:15. Here God does not say you will be prosperous, but that He will make your way prosperous.

It is important that you be constantly aware of the Source, and not the supply. God's ways are above our ways. (Is. 55:9.) Though He is a mysterious God, He is also the total supplier of all our needs!

7

Feed Your Enemies: The Leper's Tale

Second Kings, chapter 6, narrates another peculiar miracle of God. We know that God loves His children; therefore, He really loves you. When you love your children, you never want them to go hungry. In fact, you probably stuff them with food every chance you get!

God is concerned about you even more than you are about your children. But in this miracle, God feeds an army of the enemy's camp instead of His children. We will not go into all the details of this story, only the essential lesson that we may draw from it.

The Syrian army had come to fight the Israelites, and they were mad because Elisha, the man of God, was giving away all their military secrets. They were after his blood. First, they came down and surrounded the little town of Dothan, where Elisha lived. Dothan means "double feast," so this name fits the town where a miracle was later performed.

While the armies surrounded Elisha's town, the servant of Elisha first spotted them, saw the enemy, and was panic-stricken. He cried to Elisha, "Did you see? I just raised the blinds and saw the whole Syrian army surrounding us! What is to become of us now?"

Elisha prayed, "God, raise the blinds on the eyes of my servant."

When the servant was enlightened, he cried even louder and said, "Now I see the Lord round about the place, and I see chariots of fire!"

Then Elisha prayed another prayer. He said, "God, blind the eyes of the enemy," and God did. When the enemy came walking into town, they could not find their way and were confused. They walked straight into Elisha and, not knowing who he was, asked him where they could find Elisha.

Elisha said, "Come with me," and he led them right to the king of Israel. That was a seventeen-mile march!

When they got to the king of Israel, Elisha said, "God, open their eyes now."

How ridiculous they must have felt when they realized what had happened. They raised a cry, but to no avail. They screamed, "That was not at all what we meant! We wanted to be led to Elisha, not to the king!"

The king of Israel wanted to kill them, but Elisha said, "Don't kill them; feed them!" (What did Jesus say to do to your enemies? Feed them; be good to them; bless them.) So the king of Israel fed the whole Syrian army, and they went home, never to bother the Israelites again.

Out of His goodness, God is leading people to repentance. For the sake of leading a soul to surrender, God will even provide food for them. His provisions include even the people in the enemy's camp. He is a total supplier!

Second Kings, chapter 7, tells another strange story about the real price of inflation of that time. If you think that inflation in our times is bad, you need to read this story. Today's needs are nothing compared to the atrocious prices of Elisha's time.

Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord, Tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel (v. 1).

That must have been the craziest statement of that day. There was a famine in the land, and the most incredible and worthless food items were costing a fortune.

In chapter 6, verse 25, it tells us that for fourscore pieces of silver you could buy an ass's head. That equals $51.20 in our money. A fourth of a dove's dung could be bought for five pieces of silver, or $3.20. Dove's dung wasn't literally that, but a type of grain that was fed to the dove.

If that wasn't an inflated inflation, how else could you describe it? I would say that the inflation of our day and age would be chicken feed compared to those days of dove's food and donkey's heads!

Elisha came into this situation and with a calm, cool audacity announced that everything was going to change the very next day. Can you imagine how furious that would have made a starving, hungry mob of people?

Do you know how fast God can change things? "Some day," you say, "God will give me these things. Maybe next month or next year when I am retiring. He will make me comfortable."

But do you know that it could be the following day? In Elisha's time, God brought inflation down in just one day. That God is the same today. His power hasn't diminished with usage over the years, nor is His concern any less for us today.

Elisha said, "By this time tomorrow, flour will be a penny and two measures of barley will be a penny."

The irritation of a majority of the people at this statement showed forth in one man—the king's servant. "Never can that be. It is preposterous!" he shouted.

Elisha said, "Don't believe it now, but you will see it with your own eyes and never be able to eat it."

The whole story is the most extraordinary one I have ever read. God used four lepers! I have heard of Jezebel feeding the prophets, but never have I heard of lepers being the source.

Four lepers were starving to death along with the rest of the people. They were saying, "What shall we do? Shall we leave the city, or shall we stay here and die, for we will die either way." They decided to go out to the Syrian army at twilight.

The Bible tells us that God caused the Syrian army to hear a noise. You saw how God can close eyes, but He can also cause people to hear strange things. In one place it was the eyes, in another it was the ears, that played tricks on the Syrian army. Believing that another army was coming after them, they ran off!

When the four lepers arrived on the scene, they didn't know what was going on. They walked into the Syrian tents and found an abundance of delicious food. They sat down before that fabulous table of all those delectable goodies and ate and ate! The clothes they tried on were just their size! They ate and drank, then they ate and drank again!

When they were finally exhausted with all that eating and drinking, they said, "Maybe we ought to go back and tell the king."

They went back and told the man at the gate. He ran to the palace, woke the king in the middle of the night, and told him what the lepers had seen. Of course, the king was skeptical and said, "I'm sure it's a trap. It has to be a trap!"

He sent out a handful of his men, and they looked around very cautiously. They had to be careful for they had only four horses left because they had eaten all the rest of them during the famine. The soldiers found that the Syrian army was gone, and there was all that food and enormous wealth that had been left behind. They couldn't believe their eyes, nor could they understand why the Syrian army left without their possessions. It was a huge army and their supplies were plenty.

In the face of such plenty, nobody questioned why this much food was left behind, nor did they waste a thought wondering who could have frightened them away. A hungry mob of soldiers and civilians alike went crazy, clamoring to get at the food.

The next day the soldiers brought all the goodies into the city and sold them at the gates. The people were buying barley and flour for practically nothing. Inflation was already a thing of the past. Prosperity had boomed overnight!

The king's servant exclaimed, "This could never be unless God had opened the windows of heaven." God did: He had opened the lepers' eyes. But when did "heaven" become "lepers"? When the eyes of those four hungry lepers were opened and they found all that food, they became the heavenly angels of good tidings to a starving, famine-stricken crowd of people.

Like everybody else, the servant of the king saw the plenty and raced to the gates of the city to get his share. But the people stepped on him before he could reach the food, and he died in the stampede. His ears heard Elisha's prophecy, but his heart refused to believe. His eyes saw the prophecy come true, but his belly couldn't be satisfied with the food, and he died while reaching for it.

Can you see what unbelief can do to you? It can cause you to die while everybody else is getting their provision.

I want to say this very seriously to all Christians: "If you want to live, believe in the Source, or else you will die in unbelief." When you do not believe in Jesus as your Source, then you will die in spiritual poverty. God can open your windows in this most unique way. Believe Him!

Isn't this a strange story? Would you have ever thought of putting together something like this?

Who was the Source of everything? Was it Elisha? Elisha could not have put it together. God is always the Source. Inflation can hit us badly, but in God it can be deflated the very next day. Whether it be a raven, a widow, another Jezebel, or even a worthless leper, when they become God's channels of flow, the very windows of heaven will open through them!

Deflate inflation by centering on the true economic Source—Jesus Christ!

8

Seeking the Source Behind Closed Doors

Let us look at the story of another widow in 2 Kings, chapter 4. I think God takes the worst cases so He can show us that it doesn't really matter how bad the situation is. We tend to say, "Their case isn't as bad as mine," so God says, "I will show you the worst."

This is a particularly great and interesting miracle story because it involves a family. When you study miracles in the lives of Elisha, Elijah, and Jesus, you will see that a number of their miracles have to do with family life. This is where we need miracles the most.

Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen (2 Kings 4:1).

Here was a woman in desperation. Yet the Scriptures don't emphasize that. They simply state that she cried.

Looking into her background, I noticed that there was something interesting about her husband. Here she said to Elisha, "Your servant, my husband." Undoubtedly, her husband must have gone through the school of prophets under Elisha and Elijah. It was the well-known school for prophets in those days. Surely her husband would have trained there.

Many Bible scholars believe, and I agree, that the man, who was the dead husband of this widow, was Obadiah. Obadiah, you might recall, was the one who hid the hundred prophets and fed them from Jezebel's table.

When the widow said, "Your servant feared the Lord," she was talking of someone who truly feared the Lord, one who was willing to risk even his life to feed the prophets of God.

Here lies a nugget of golden truth we cannot overlook. If we fear the Lord and remain faithful to Him in our sphere of activity, He will honor us and our families. We can be sure that when we make a stand for God on His Word, it will always be rewarded. It is absolutely impossible for the Word of God to return void. (Is. 55:11.)

The widow cried because she was in desperate need of help from the man of God. She presented the best line of argument that she knew: She pleaded with the prophet on the strength of her husband. She was making a case for herself and she could not have chosen a better line: "My husband was a godly man!"

This is a good basis of approach unto the throne of grace today when we find ourselves in a similarly bad situation. "Lord, my household and my forefathers have always feared thee." The Lord cannot help but honor that kind of stand, for He has promised blessings unto a thousand generations of them that fear and love Him. (Ex. 20:5,6.)

Because Obadiah had passed away, his poor wife and her two sons were without any money and without a breadwinner to take care of them. The creditors were after them to take the sons away to be their bondsmen as was the custom of those days.

When somebody owed a debt and could not pay, they had to give their sons, not to be slaves for life, but to serve the creditors for a specific time period in lieu of the unpaid debt. It was the law of the land that God had set up in Leviticus.

However, this widow did not get dismayed, even in the face of such perilous threats. Instead, she remembered the man of God under whom her husband had served the Lord. She cried out loudly.

It might seem strange to you, as it did to me, that the story talks about only one widow who cried out. There must have been other widows in similar hardships, but only this woman cried out to make known that she was in dire need. Also she obviously knew to whom she should go in seeking help. She released her faith.

This story can be looked at in three ways. First, there is always a connection to a miracle. There will always be some little link— somebody who will be God's connection to unfold the miracle. The widow's connection was Elisha. Elisha means "God is salvation." The widow probably said to herself, "I am going to the one who knows that God can bring deliverance (salvation) and I am going to seek him out," and she did.

As a pastor friend of ours was going to a fellowship meeting, he ran into a snowstorm. The roads were icy, and his car was not equipped with snow tires. As he drove down the highway, he spotted a man whose jeep had run into a ditch. When our friend offered to pull him out of the ditch, the man asked if he had snow tires. Of course, he didn't, but he had the Lord on his side. He assured the man that he could handle it.

He hooked his car to the jeep, then carefully pulled it out onto the highway and to a filling station.

Amazed, the man got out and said, "I want to thank you for what you have done." Then he bought our friend two snow tires, pulled out his billfold, gave him two $100 bills, and drove off. There are always connections, sometimes divine connections, to miracles!

The second point of this story has to do with receivers of miracles. Who do you think can receive miracles? A man on the street, an unsaved person, a phony Christian, a hypocrite, or a Spirit-filled Christian? Actually, anyone who has a need is in line for a miracle.

The woman who came to Elisha had a real need. Being a widow, she had no one to take care of her. If her two sons should leave to pay the debt, then the woman would, in all probability, starve to death. She said, "I have to have a miracle; there is no way out. My only connection is Elisha."

It was good that she went to Elisha. That was the right thing to do, but the reaction of the prophet was far from what you would have expected.

And Elisha said unto her, what shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? (v. 2).

Let's assume that you came to me and said, "Marilyn, I need to borrow a hundred dollars from you."

If I should reply, "What do you want me to do about it?" How would you react?

If I had said, "What do you have in the house? Got any leftovers in the refrigerator?" What would you have done? Your thoughts might have been: "Look, I'm asking you for help. Don't ask me if I have anything to use."

There are some key points in this miracle. Elisha did not do one active thing, not one. He just turned around and asked her two foolish questions: "What am I supposed to do?" and "What do you have in the house?"

She replied sweetly, "Your handmaid has nothing in the house, except a pot of oil." She had searched through the house and couldn't find much!

Notice what he said, "Go and borrow all the empty vessels you can get from your neighbors. Don't take just a few, but a lot." The real test of this miracle is right now.

Suppose that when you came to me to borrow the hundred dollars, I had said, "Why don't you borrow from somebody else?"

Certainly that would not have sounded good to you, would it?

When looking on the map, I found that this widow lived in the northern part of Israel near Zidon, the tiny area where the tribe of Asher lived. The Scriptures say that Asher would dip his foot in oil. (Deut. 33:24.) I am sure that at the time of this story there were olive trees in this area for God had prophesied through Moses that the tribe of Asher would live where there were many olive trees. Their main source was probably oil.

This widow woman was living in that area; yet she was going out to borrow empty vessels. I suspect that everybody needed a miracle, that the entire city was in financial distress and everyone had empty pots.

We say that the economy is tight today, but our times are not nearly as bad as those. We don't know anything about famine in this country. Even if 8% of our people are out of work, the remaining 92% are still working! At the time of this Bible story, apparently 100% were unemployed for all their vessels were empty!

All these people had empty vessels, and Elisha says, "Go get them all."

Then he told her the strangest thing of all: "When you get home, close the door upon you and your two sons; then you pour into all these vessels. When they are full, set them aside."

Why did she have to borrow a lot of empty vessels? Because faith is active, never passive. It always involves action.

To prove the negative of this, let me share a comical story about my husband's great-uncle who lived next door when my husband was a boy. Day after day, this man would sit in his rocking chair on the front porch, rocking back and forth, and rhythmically repeat, "I wish I had a million dollars." Do you think he ever got that million dollars? You are right—he didn't.

There are Christians who say, "I wish I had a miracle...I wish I had a miracle." But they will never get it until they act on the Word.

This widow had to borrow empty vessels. You may think, "What am I going to do with all those empty pots and pans?"

Let us look now at the crucial point of this miracle that we had briefly mentioned earlier. This story involved the whole family. (God always wants the whole family unit involved when He performs a miracle.) I wonder how her two sons felt about these things. They certainly were involved in this miracle. It was the sons who went out to borrow the vessels from their neighbors. They were probably like my children, who hate to borrow even a cup of sugar for me. However, they knocked at every door in the neighborhood and brought back empty vessels.

What was the mother's place in this miracle? What was her activity? She did the pouring: Elisha didn't do it. The sons didn't do it. I wonder why? Maybe because that was the most foolish thing of all, and it takes big faith to act foolishly. Here she was with all those big vessels and just a puny jar of oil—and she had to pour! Elisha, the man of God, told her to do it, so she did!

She left Elisha, shut the door behind herself and her sons, told them to bring the vessels to her, and started pouring. But then something happened: The oil just kept coming! When one vessel was full, she moved to the next. She poured and poured, and finally said, "Bring me yet another vessel." When her son answered, "There are no more vessels," the flow of oil stopped.

How far will your faith extend? As far as your actions. When the supply of vessels stopped, what happened to the oil? The supply of oil stopped, too. If there had been more vessels, there would have been more oil.

What did she do after the miracle was performed? She told the man of God. His reply was, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest (v. 7). Not only was there enough to pay the debt, there was also enough to live on. The Bible doesn't say how long it lasted, but I suspect it lasted until the famine was over.

Some say they retired on that income, but I think not. The supply lasts only for the time of need. When conditions return to normal, God's miraculous flow ceases and man's natural effort begins once again.

Now, let us look into the requirements of the miracle: Close the door; pour into the vessels; set aside that which is full.

You are perhaps thinking you can understand getting the vessels and pouring the oil, but why close the door? Why did Elisha say, Shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons ? (v. 4.) There was a good reason for this: to keep out the doubters.

Recall the time in Mark, chapter 5, when Jesus healed Jairus' daughter. What did Jesus do? He put out all the mourners and closed the door. Only Jesus stayed inside. Peter, James, John, and the parents of the damsel were believers, but Jesus was routing out unbelief.

One of the secrets of getting a miracle is closing the door on unbelief in yourself and others. You have to close that door.

Peter did it also when he raised a woman who was dead. (Acts 9:36-41.) She was the president of the Women's Missionary Council and sewed lovely things for the poor. When she died, they mourned. Peter had to put out all unbelief. He prayed for her in seclusion, away from unbelief, and she was raised from the dead.

The unbelief may not always be your own. It may be that of a loved one or a neighbor, even that of your pastor. There is a time when you have to close the door on unbelief. It is essential that we take the Word and stand on it and it alone.

Let's not miss another point in our miracle story. When the miracle occurred, it was not Elisha who was present, but the widow and her family.

How many times we say, "If Brother So-and-So had come and prayed, I know my husband (or child or aunt) would have been healed." Elisha was getting the woman's eyes on the right Source, and away from himself. He was only the connection of the miracle. He only spoke the Word. She was the one acting out the miracle, and God was the Source of the miracle supply. The connection of your miracle Is God's Word.

The widow, went for advice after the miracle, inquiring of the prophet what she should do with her supply. Many times when we begin to prosper, we go on a spending spree. What should we do with what we get? Go to God and ask Him what He wants us to do with it.

This widow's behavior was exemplary throughout this miracle. First, she cried; then she said, "I am desperate. I have to have help." She sought out Elisha, followed all his directions, involved her family, and closed the door. She did all the foolish things; but then when she had the answer, she didn't say, "We are going to have steak and lobster tonight." Instead, she went back to the man of God and asked how she should use the oil.

He said, "Sell it and pay your debt; then you and the children can live on the rest of it."

Notice how practical God is. He had her pay off her debts first, then live on the rest. Many times we live it up, then try to pay the debts with what is left at the end of the month.

That is not God's way.

Let's recapture the widow's every activity in this miracle:

She cried for, help. Why didn't everybody in the tribe of Asher receive a miracle? Because they didn't ask.

She acknowledged her spiritual background and addressed God as Lord. She said, "Your servant, my husband, is dead. You know he feared the Lord."

The original word for Lord was Jehovah. If she had said that her husband feared God, the text would have used the word El (or Lom) which means "the Creator." The word Jehovah means "the God Who reveals His personality to me in my need." In effect, she said, "You know Thy servant, my husband, whose God had revealed His personality to him in the time of his need."

It is beautiful to note that in the Old Testament, every time they met God in a new way, they gave Him a new name, and vice versa. When God appeared to Abram and said, "Abram, I am El Shaddai, and I am going to call you Abraham because you are going to be father of many." El Shaddai means "the many-breasted one," or one who has total nourishment, a whole or total place of supply.

If we had looked at Abram, we would have said, "Abram, you and your wife are too old to have children. There is no way out." But God said, "That is when I become the total supply of what you need."

Having looked up every reference in the Bible to El Shaddai, I found that two other people had called God El Shaddai. One of them was Job.

The name El Shaddai is used more times in the Book of Job than any place else. Do you know what Job was saying? "God, I don't have anything." Job had lost everything, so it was little wonder then that he addressed God as El Shaddai. When Job acknowledged Him thusly, God gave him a double portion.

When I found that Job called God El Shaddai more times than anybody else, I said to myself, "Lord, that must be a mistake. Job couldn't call you El Shaddai because he was one of the poor ones."

God said, "Yes, it is the poorest ones who meet God as the total Source of supply."

We read in the Book of Ruth about another person who called God El Shaddai - Naomi. She said, ”El Shaddai has dealt very hard with me:

He took my husband; He took my sons; He took one of my daughters-in-law. I am very poor and don't have anything." Her theology was off course, but she used the right name.

Who was her total Source of supply? El Shaddai. Naomi came out of her poverty to become the babysitter for a baby of the royal line. She took care of a little boy, who was in the lineage of Jesus Himself. Then she overflowed with what God had.

You may be very discouraged and say you have nothing, but that is just opportunity for a miracle—when you are totally out of selfconfidence. When God has to be your total Source, you are on the right ground for a miracle.

Do you ever get excited about having a need? I do. Let me give you an example. When our radio outreach was new and our financial needs were many, I held a small study retreat in Fort Collins, with a handful of people from an Episcopalian church. An elderly couple was there, and at lunch- time the wife asked if she could talk to me for a few moments. I was sure she wanted counseling; but when we met, she said, "My husband and I want to know how much the radio broadcast would cost."

I said, "You mean the one in Denver?"

"Yes."

"If you mean for a day, it is $15.50 a day."

"No, I mean a year."

I was beginning to understand her motive behind the questions and could just mumble, "I don't know."

"Then multiply it out," came the reply.

I quickly grabbed paper and pencil and multiplied it. The total was almost $4,000. I almost fell off my chair when she called her husband and said, "Honey, write out a check for $6,000."

As I received the check, my hands trembled with excitement and my heart fluttered in ecstatic joy and thankfulness, soaring to the very heights of my Source. Hallelujahs were buzzing all around me. I did not know the lady, but she was the last one I would have expected to be a connection for a miracle.

This is the kind of exciting life you will have when you say, "Lord, I am empty, but I have Your fullness. You are my Source."

God said, "I am El Shaddai, the One Who reveals Himself to you in the time of your need." A needy life can be an exciting life, full of God's goodness!

The widow woman, described in 2 Kings 4, acknowledged her need. She allowed her faith to be tested by the prophet and, when questioned, was very honest with her reply. She borrowed the vessels, closed the door, and poured. She did not hoard the jar, but poured. The more she poured, the more she received.

The woman in 1 Kings 17 gave her first cake to Elijah; then the meal and oil increased.

"I will never fail," saith the Lord. Hoarding does not bring increase, but giving away does.

The woman (in 2 Kings 4) asked for directions to handle the miracle. What does redemption mean? To buy back. Elisha told her, "Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt." In a sense, she was buying back her children. He then said, ...live thou and thy children of the rest.

In this case, not only was the price of the debt paid off, but the miracle supply of oil kept coming. The debt was paid; the sons were free; and a new living was made for the entire family.

God's supply of oil is always grace. The widow woman didn't deserve it; she just got it. You don't deserve it; you just need it. She said, "O Lord, I have a need," and He said, "I will bring a miracle supply that will pay the debt and enough will remain to take you through."

God not only cleanses us from sin, but says that He will take us through this life in victory. We have abundant life.

Friends, it pays to ask for the miraculous in your life. You are not going to have it unless you do. Close the door on unbelief and ask! Ask the right Source, the total Source — El Shaddai!

9

Five Promises of Prosperity: God's Key

There are unique scriptural meanings to numbers because they speak God's mathematical language: Three is the number of the Trinity; seven is the perfect number; six is the number of man.

Since five is the number of grace, I decided to look up the number five in the Scriptures:

And he (Joseph) took and sent messes (portions) unto them from before him: but Benjamin's mess was FIVE times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him (Gen. 43:34).

To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave...FIVE changes of raiment (Gen. 45:22).

In this situation Joseph, who was a type of Christ, showed unmerited favor on Benjamin. What does God do? On His own, He pours forth unmerited favor, too.

Interestingly, the miracle story of the widow's oil multiplied, which we studied in the last chapter, happens to be the fifth miracle of Elisha's life. Coincidentally, and yet I believe not, this is the fifth major miracle study of this book.

This fifth miracle is a total miracle of grace, of unmerited favor. The widow's miracle continued even after the miracle of the pouring forth because she let it be so. She went back to the man of God, who was her link with the Source, and maintained the relationship with the Source. The secret to her success was in letting God do it—before, during, and after. As far as she was concerned, the provision was totally His.

Many financial problems in our lives today are due to our misspending money. Credit cards haven't helped because, for the most part, they have been abused. Undue celebrations over interim prosperity have, in many cases, been the cause of ruin. And these misdirections are continuing because we do not go back to the Source, like this widow did, for guidance in budgeting and in paying our debts.

Basically, grace is "letting Jesus do it." The all-inclusive key to prosperity is Jesus Christ and our letting Him be gracious unto us all the way—from blessing us with prosperity to making us tithe, directing us to pay the debts, helping us budget and even save it to reinvest (but not hoard!). It is letting Him handle our financing and our finances! The widow woman did precisely that.

How do we, in our day and age, identify with her behavior?

How do the experiences of the personalities of these Bible miracles apply to us? Very simply —by appropriating in our lives today their experiences with the total Supplier.

God's today provisions are for us as His yesterday supplies were for those in need then. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow! (Heb. 13:8.) He is the all-time, all-inclusive key to prosperity.

Now you know the Source of your miracle —Jesus. You know the richness of His supply— unlimited! Try Him in your current financial struggle (if you have one) and see whether He will finance you. Taste the fruits of the tree of life, for they have been proven good. Turn over the finances that you are blessed with through the luscious circle of giving and receiving.

Try, taste, and turn over — the rule of three for divine prosperity.

Finally, remember the five crucial activities that are involved in this divine monetary flow. Two are His as the Supplier. Three are yours as the receiver. The key to prosperity—Jesus—will open the very windows of heaven if these activities are respected and done. They are in His Word.

1. God wills that we prosper.

His attitude is always that we prosper:

Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth (3 John 2).

...he (the Lord) shall make his way prosperous (Is. 48:15).

This is not that we will be prosperous (a stationary condition), but that He will make our way prosperous (implying action). The God of heaven will prosper us; therefore, we—his servants—will arise and build.

Did you know that angels are involved in prosperity? Genesis 24:40 says,

The Lord, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way.

You can stand on God's Word and know that it is His will for you to prosper!

2. We begin to claim prosperity.

This is one of the key scriptures for our day and time:

Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place (Ps. 66:12).

If you are going through fire and water in your financial situation, what does God promise you? A wealthy place. Take this Word and stand on it. It is His intention for you to

Riches come many times in the days of famine and persecution.

They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied (Ps. 37:19).

You may feel that you can't prosper in a time of recession, but did God say that? No. God's Word says,

Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him...to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine (Ps. 33:18,19).

You may say, "But, Marilyn, what about men who get all hung up in money, who just dote on money?"

We are not to be hung up on money, only on the Supplier of money

....give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain (Prov. 30:8,9).

If I am too rich, I might say, "Who is the Lord?" If I am poor, I might curse the Lord and steal. So I say, "God, feed me with food convenient for me."

3. When we keep His Word, God will prosper us.

Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do (Deut. 29:9).

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it (Is. 55:11).

And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified (Acts 20:32).

Keeping God's Word is an essential activity that will cause the very windows of heaven to gush forth with His prosperity.

4. As we seek Him, God prospers us.

...as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper (2 Chron. 26:5).

Normally, I don't think we get very desperate about seeking the Lord.

Perhaps at night we pray, "Now I lay me down to sleep..."; then we wake saying, "Now I'm awake; take care of me today." We race out into the day without really seeking the Lord. We say we have done well during a day if we have read one psalm. That is not seeking the Lord!

...who hath hardened himself against him (God), and hath prospered? (Job 9:4).

You cannot hide from God and prosper for very long; but if you seek Him, He will make your way continually prosperous.

If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you (John 15:7).

He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness (Ps. 107:9).

Seek God and spend time in His presence. Make your hunger known to Him. Put Him first in your life and the tree of life, so full of prosperous fruits, will be yours.

5. The lips of the righteous feed many.

Your prosperity depends on what you say with your mouth. We have seen that it depends on our activities, such as seeking God and keeping His Word. Now God's Word is saying, "Claim the Word."

A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled (Prov. 18:20).

God's Word says that what you are saying with your mouth is feeding your stomach.

The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many (Prov. 10:20,21).

By confessing prosperity scriptures for other people and other families, you can stand in proxy faith for others and receive blessings for them.

The law of poverty says:

Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread (Prov. 20:13).

(That cuts you out of sleeping in the morning!)

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing (Prov. 20:4).

In other words, financial partnership with Jesus rules out laziness!

The law of giving says:

He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor (Prov. 22:9).

He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord (Prov. 19:17).

He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hideth his eyes shall have many a curse (Prov. 28:27).

Giving to the poor will bring prosperity into your own household. It is a sure financial transaction with the Lord!

This book of sharing is just words to encourage you to partake of God's bountifulness. Take God's exciting road and hundredfold blessings will be yours.

Are you ready for a plunge into financial partnership with the Lord Jesus Christ? Bow your head and follow these articles of this partnership prayer:

I acknowledge my need; it is________. I turn my gaze from interim sources of prosperity to my total Supplier and close the doors to all unbelief.

Open, dear God, Your door of prosperity. I have the key, Jesus Christ, right in my heart. The grooves of the key (the five activities) are all precisely etched in my heart to smoothly operate the lock, and I turn the key right now! Amen ?

For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us (2 Cor. 1:20).

Dear Jesus, honor the faith of everyone who reads these pages.

The Beginning (of God's financial flow)

Marilyn Hickey has a teaching ministry that is reaching the United States and touching the world.

Early in her ministry as she studied God's Word in depth, opportunities began to open for her to conduct seminars and miracle services throughout America.

Today Marilyn is answering God's call to awaken the "sleeping giant" of Christian laymen and reveal the authority of God's Word as a creative power. By teaching the Bible in a simple and practical way, she is bringing the life of God into the lives of people all over the world.

Marilyn is wife, mother, homemaker, and founder of Life For Laymen Ministries. She and her husband, Wallace Hickey, pastor Happy Church in Denver. Her ministry also includes teaching via radio, television, books, and cassette tapes.

Your

Miracle

Source

God’s Plan for Supernatural Supply.

God is the El Shaddai —

The One Who reveals Himself to you in the time of your need.

Jesus is the Lord of the “immediate.”

Jesus is the Lord of the “double portion.”

He rains plenty from the windows of heaven on those who trust and rest in His Word.

Marilyn Hickey teaches from Old Testament stories God’s miraculous provision in times of dire need. God’s provisions are for us today just as they were for Bible believers in the Old Testament.

Table of Contents

Preface

1 Husbands Who Believe

2 The Tale of Two Trees

3 Idols Stopping God's Provision

A New Look at an Old Story: Famine in Egypt

Missing the Boat: Famine in Spiritual Places

6 Ravens, Widows, and Jezebels

7 Feed Your Enemies: The Leper's Tale

8 Seeking the Source Behind Closed Doors

9 Five Promises of Prosperity: God's Key