5 Methods God will use to bring money (part 4)
Miraculous provision
The subject of finance as it relates to the church is a controversial subject to many people because of the misuse and abuse of it. And because of the abuse of it by some clergy, people have had a tendency to throw the baby out with the bathwater. But the truth of the matter is a person can take anything good and abuse it. Money is a tool and it's a good thing because God says money answers all things (Ecclesiastes 10:19). Without it we would not have any options. Without it we could not even obey the word of God to its fullest because we have been admonished to provide for our personal families because the Bible says he that provides not for his own house has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel (unbeliever); And how would this be possible without money.
Jesus who is our example dealt with money while on earth because Luke eight and three declares there were those who financially supported his ministry. Not only that he also had a treasurer and why would one have a treasurer with nothing in the treasury. This next method that God will use to bring money has to do with the miraculous because God still works miracles today. There are many financial miracles in the Bible but the one that I will use as an example can be found in one of the synoptic Gospels, Matthew 17:24-27. I know there may be many who do not believe that miracles exist today but first of all the Bible says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) and the miracles that he worked in the past he is still working today and will continue to do so in the future.
Furthermore there are many documented cases of the miraculous and a person with an experience can never be at the mercy of someone who does not believe (smile). Personally I had said for years that God was my source because that's what I've always heard and believed. It had to be proven in my life if that's what I really believed. Financially speaking I was working at the same job for 26 years. One day unexpectedly I had a sharp pain in my back in 2006 and to make a long story short I had to go on retirement disability. For the first two years I did not have any income coming in from anywhere and I totally had to trust God and his word. These were the hardest of times for me financially but they were also the greatest of times because I experienced God's provision in miraculous ways. May I also tell you that I did not receive any financial help from my local Department of Social Services, so when I say I had no financial income from anywhere, I really did not.
Miraculously God would touch the hearts of people and they would put money in my hand and there were even times when I received unexpected mail with money inside. Month after month my bills were paid and I did not lose my home in foreclosure. I went from saying God is my source to a person with an experience knowing that God is my source. May I tell you that God has no respect of persons and what he does for one he will do for another if the conditions of his word are met. I wanted to share a portion of my experience so that you my readers will know that I have personally experienced what I am writing about in the area of finance. Again in Matthews 17:24-26 it gives the story of Jesus and Peter and the financial miracle that transpired. Taxes otherwise known as tribute money in the Bible needed to be paid for Jesus and Peter but instead of going into the treasury, finances were miraculously provided. First of all Jesus told Peter to go fishing; in other words he told him to go do what he already knew how to do because Peter was a fisherman by trade.
There's not a person that God has not put something inside of in the form of a gift or talent, that they can do. A person must believe in themselves enough to be willing to invest in themselves. Jesus tells Peter to go fishing and to take the first fish and reach inside and there he would find a coin and he was to take the coin and pay Jesus taxes first and then his own. The principle here keeps the Windows of heaven opened to continue to receive miraculous provision from God when one puts God first in financial matters. The Bible says in Proverbs 3:9 to honor the Lord with thy substance and with the first-fruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. This is simply talking about if we put God first in financial matters he would be responsible for helping us to increase. As Peter open the fish's mouth he found financial provision and obeyed the Lord's command to pay Jesus taxes first and then his own taxes.
May I tell you this financial principle of putting God first does not make sense to the natural mind because the Bible says the natural man receives not the things of God for they are foolishness to him. It seems foolish to take a portion of a person's hard earned money which may not be enough for life's necessities to begin with and give to God first because obviously there will not be enough. But the one time in Scripture that God says to prove him is in Malachi 3. This means one has to walk by faith and not by sight and trust God and his word and see if he will not do what he says he will do. Prove him with your finance and see if he will come through or no. If a person meets God's biblical conditions, he will come through.
