“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16)

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the
contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” (2 Cor. 10:4)

There’s nothing anywhere…ANYWHERE…that says we can’t pray over
our finances! In fact, when you consider the financial shape that a good
many of us are currently in (as far as appearances go!), then praying over
them seems like a pretty darn good idea! Remember, Goliath is your enemy.
He’s not going to just go away because we don’t like his presence. Use your
stones, guys, use your stones! And one of the most powerful stones you have
in your pouch is “Prayer”!

“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your
desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill
and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You
do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive,
because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on
your pleasures.” (James 4:1-3).

Among the thorns of condemning truths in this verse, one that stands out is
this: “You do not have, because you do not ask God.” And you can’t ask
God, unless you talk to Him…which is all prayer is…talking to God. Wow,
we could do another entire study just on prayer! Ask God for help, for
goodness sakes! Pray against your debt…demolish Goliath’s strongholds!
Ask for wisdom, and strength and encouragment… or don’t ask for anything…
just talk to Him once in awhile, just to be talking to Him…and listen, just to
be listening…

We take so much for granted. Where did we ever get the idea that God was
here to serve US? What is it that’s in our nature that makes us think that prayer
is demanding stuff from God? And that, for whatever reason, He OWES us
the answers we seek? And, yet, He still allows us the privilege of prayer…

Do you realize what a weapon you have at your disposal? Do you realize the
destruction and havoc your prayers could cause in the enemy’s camp? If you
don’t mind, may I help you with that for just a moment?

“Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was
given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar
before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints,
went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled
it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder,
rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.” (Rev. 8:3-5).

Read that again…read it again, and see it in your mind, will ya? The angel at the
altar…the smoke of the incense, and the prayers of the saints going up before God…
the angel swings the censer in a slow wide arc, filling it with fire from the altar…
and what makes up this fire from the altar? The prayers of the saints…..

The angel fills the censer to the very brim…smoke billowing from the mouth of
the golden vessel…filled with fire from the altar…the prayers of the saints…and the
angel looks to God…God nods His head…and the angel heaves this massive golden
censer over his head, swinging it around a time or two to build up a little momentum…
takes careful aim….and he HURLS it on the earth…

And there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightening and an earthquake.

Spiritual nuclear weapons raining down on Goliath’s kingdom….demolishing walls,
barriers, strongholds, bunkers…whatever fortifications the enemy has erected…

They crumble as dust…

Whatever you do, friends…don’t ignore the stone of “Prayer”. It’s never too late
to talk to your Father. And it’s far too powerful a tool to leave sitting on the table.

I think that about covers all I want to share with you on finances for the moment.
I would encourage you to use your stones. All your stones. Review some of the
principles on financing that we’ve covered. Spend time with God revamping your
budget. Talk to Him about the problems, and listen to His solutions. Know that
you WILL defeat your Goliath. Don’t be afraid of him or his intimidation tactics.
Be thankful for the abundance of TODAY. Don’t carry tomorrow’s stones until
tomorrow gets here…

So much to remember. So easy to forget…

I hope this study has been a blessing for you and that it has offered you some
insight on defeating your debt…I know I’ve learned a lot, and I thank you for the
opportunity to share it with  you…

Although the study on debt is ending, there is still a little more to look at concerning
Goliath!    

First though, there are a couple of loose ends concerning this Goliath of debt.
There seems to be a fairly common misconception that Jesus was a poor man.
Now, in truth, whether he was or not, in many ways, is irrelevant. At the same
time, it CAN be important, because many believe that since he was poor, we
are supposed to be poor, too…that money is an evil thing and all that. Because
of that mistaken belief, those folks relish their poverty without ever realizing
they are serving a Goliath of the enemy.

So…let’s look at this thing. If our God wanted us in poverty, then why in the
world, did He talk so much about our prosperity and abundance? And, once
again, prosperity and abundance isn’t limited to money, but I definitely believe
it INCLUDES money. Why would He repeatedly encourage us to GIVE if we
are not supposed to have anything to give? And, money, itself is not evil.
If you’ll go back and read those familiar verses again, it’s the LOVE of money
that is evil…not money, itself.

Let’s look at Jesus…the image of God…God manifest in the flesh, according
to 1 Tim. 3:16 (KJV). Why on earth do so many people have the idea that
Jesus was a poor man? Maybe it’s because of this passage…

“Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son
of Man has no place to lay his head.” (Luke 9:58)

Folks, this doesn’t mean that Jesus was stricken in poverty to the point that
he was homeless! The man was a traveling evangelist! If he was homeless at
all, it was by HIS choice! It was his desire and his mission to travel as much
as he could, to teach as much as he could and to reach as many as he could.
And the only way to do that was to move around!

I believe that any time he needed a place to stay, one was provided for
him…much like room and board is provided for traveling evangelists today!
After all, wasn’t the upper room provided for him for the last supper (Mark 14:5)?
While there is not a single verse to back it up, I’m convinced he had a home…
he just never had the opportunity to use it because he was out ministering to
the sheep!

We’re talking about a man that pulled money out of a fish’s mouth to pay, not
just his own temple tax, but Peter’s too (Matt. 17:27)! We’re talking about a
man that took a couple of tiny little fish and a couple of slices of bread and fed
5000 men (Matt. 14:21)…THEN filled up 12 baskets with the leftovers! Then,
he turned around and fed 4000 more (Matt. 15:38)!

If money had been an issue for Jesus, he could have simply charged a nickel
for each of his healings…he would’ve been set for life! Or, he could have turned
water into wine and sold it for a dollar a quart…

Jesus may not have been wealthy by the standards of the world, but he wasn’t
poor either! Need proof? How many poor men living today, have their own
treasurer? Jesus did…it was Judas (his treasurer!) that betrayed him! Right?
John 13:29 says Judas had charge of the money…which makes him the treasurer!
He “HAD CHARGE OF THE MONEY”. He couldn’t have had charge of the
money, unless there was money to be in charge of!

John 12:6 says that Judas used to help himself to whatever was put in the money
bag. There was enough in that bag, that Judas could slip a few bucks in his pocket
now and then without anyone noticing there was anything missing…

If that isn’t enough to convince you, how about this:

“When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four
shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was
seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.” (John 19:23)

Let me ask you this…assuming you could even FIND a seamless garment…
woven entirely in one piece from top to bottom…assuming you could find one
in today’s market…assuming anyone today could even MAKE one…how much
do you figure that baby would cost you? I dare say, the average person would
never be able to have one hanging in the closet!

Now, whether Jesus bought it for himself, or whether it was a gift from a friend or
a relative, we may never know. But that’s not important, anyway.What we DO know,
and what IS important, is that he did, indeed possess one. And, he apparently wore it
as part of his daily attire! After all, the soldiers that nailed him to the cross that day
were rolling dice to see who would get it. I can’t imagine he would have chosen a special
wardrobe to be crucified in…

Jesus may have been wealthy…and he may not have been…but he wasn’t poor.
Whatever he had or didn’t have, he didn’t flaunt either one. I don’t believe money
was important to him one way or another. I think he had some…but I don’t think it
mattered to him. I believe that he understood it’s just a tool for us to use in the
short time we’re here. And I believe he was the ultimate wise steward…but I don’t
believe he was poor….

So, if you happen to be one of those folks that believe Jesus was a poor, homeless
vagabond, and since we’re supposed to imitate him, we should be poor too, then,
in the name of Jesus, I release you from that lie…you are now free to live and prosper
in the name of our Lord! 

How about the widow in 2 Kings 4? To us, and using our method of measurement,
if you have a few ounces of oil in one jar, then when you pour it into another jar, you
should still have the same amount of oil in the second jar as you did in the first. But,
in God’s kingdom, and by His arithmetic, you can fill up that second jar, then a third,
and so forth…until you’ve used up all of your own jars AND all of your neighbors’
jars!

Here in our world, and according to our math, a couple of sardines and a few
crackers is enough for a small boy’s lunch…but in God’s world, and using HIS
math, a guy can feed 5000 men…PLUS their wives and kids…and then that
fellow, can collect twelve baskets FILLED with leftovers!

How is this possible? Because God’s math is far superior to ours! Because with
God, all things are possible (Matt. 19:26), whereas, we humans set limitations
based on what our eyeballs tend to focus on. If we see that we have a balance
of twenty dollars in our checking account, and we spend ten of it, then we should
have ten left…right? In theory, yes…but let me tell you something about God’s math…

There was a guy that had reached a point that he could no longer pay his bills. He
and his wife had filed bankruptcy because of a large amount of medical expenses
from some complications from her first pregnancy…even with insurance, there was
a large amount due. The day to day expenses added up to more than he was bringing
home, and she was a stay-at-home mom because neither of them believed in having
strangers raise their kids while the two of them worked, and under most circumstances,
the expenses usually end up cancelling out the income for families that work two jobs,
by the time you add in child care, lunches, transportation….

This fellow finally reached a point where he had absolutely NO idea how he was
going to provide for his family for another week, let alone another month. As fate
would have it, he “just happened” to be reading on tithing in the book of Malachi,
when these words jumped out at him: “”Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty”
(Malachi 3:10).

He thought about the Lord’s challenge, and his own situation. He reasoned within
himself that if he wasn’t making enough without tithing to meet the family’s needs,
then, how in the world would he be able to do it if he DID tithe? He argued with
the Lord, using that same worldly wisdom…and each time he thought about it, the
Lord replied, “TEST ME IN THIS and see if I will not throw open the floodgates
of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”

After a great struggle, and knowing that the welfare of his family was on the line,
knowing that if he began to tithe there was NO WAY he would be able to keep
lights on in his little run-down mobile home….he took a deep breath and said to
God, “Lord, I’m going to trust you with this. It’s up to you, now. Take my money
and do with it what you will.”

The fellow took a deep breath and took the first tithe out of his next check (he
tithed on the gross amount, by the way) and tried not to worry about how he
was going to make it through the week. Every time he began to wonder and
worry, he would think to himself…”Lord, it’s up to you now…I’m trusting you
with this…”

He was surprised to find at the end of the first week, that for the first time that
he could remember in recent months, he didn’t have a negative balance in his check
book. He only had a dollar or so left, but it wasn’t in the NEGATIVE! He thought to
himself, that it was probably because some of the bills hadn’t come due yet…and
he had no idea what would happen when they did. Against everything in his nature,
he tithed again…and at the end of the second week…no negative balance. The
third week and the fourth? No negative balance. He wasn’t much on the positive
side…just a dollar or two a week…but he was on the positive side for the first
time in MONTHS!

He pondered this thing. He wasn’t making any more money. His expenses had
not decreased. In fact, by tithing, they had INCREASED…and yet…

It took him a while to understand that it was because of God’s math. God doesn’t
have rules like “two plus two equals four.” How in the world did he make it? That’s
just it…he DIDN’T make in the world. He made it in God’s kingdom…with God’s
math! Just how he made it, only God knows…after all, it’s HIS math…

This is a true story, by the way. Just like the widow with the handful of flour, and
the widow with the few ounces of oil…like the little boy with the fish and crackers.
My boys were around 3 and 4, I guess, when I made that decision to tithe. Of course,
I had always given a little here and there, but I had never TITHED. From that very
day to this one, AS I WRITE, I have not, even ONCE since then had a negative
balance at the end of the month. Sometimes the balance has been zero…sometimes
it still is…but it has never been negative…and my boys are almost thirty now…

If you ask me how, I honestly don’t know. Using the math of the world, it is
totally and completely impossible. Believe me, I know, because I’ve added and
re-added, and subtracted and re-subtracted…I’ve even tried to mulitply and divide
to get it to make sense, and I truly, honestly don’t know how it happens…because
it doesn’t add up. It never has. Using wordly math, it adds up to be negative…it
always has…except that it DOESN’T!

The only thing I can tell you is this: It’s God’s math…it’s true, it’s real, and somehow…
somehow that MY feeble mind can’t explain…somehow, it works….

What is the ONE single most important decision you can make in your
ENTIRE earthly existance? The decision to follow Jesus, correct?

Now, bear with me here…

“…if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with
your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that
you confess and are saved.” (Rom. 8:9,10)

If it is true (and it must be, because we just read it) that if we confess with
our mouth and believe in our heart that “Jesus is Lord”, then we will be
saved, when this is the ONE SINGLE most important decision we will ever
make….then wouldn’t it also be true of the lesser decisions we make?

For example…if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that
“I never have any money”…wouldn’t our belief and confession of that faith
make it a truth in our lives? For it is with your heart that you believe, and it is
with your mouth that you confess…only this time, it’s not for salvation, but
rather for your earthly well-being (or lack of)…

“…for out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45)

Actually, let’s look at that entire passage from Luke…verses 44-46:

“Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from
thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out
of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out
of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth
speaks.”

Does your tree produce faith and abundance or doubt and lack? Remember,
now, the righteous will live by faith…and that we, as Christians are to live by
faith and not by sight. We can walk on water, or we can slip beneath the waves.

Just for the sake of argument, let’s dabble with God’s word for just a moment,
and then we can put it back like it was… 

How about this?

“The man of faith brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and
the man of doubt brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.”

For some, it may be a stretch to call doubting evil…and when you compare it
to many other things, it doesn’t seem evil at all…not even a little bit! But when
you stop and think about Hebrews 11:6…”without faith it is impossible to please
God”…well…now that whole doubting issue has a little more sting to it than it
did a minute ago, doesn’t it? Ouch!

Ok, let’s try this again…

“The good man brings things of faith out of the good stored up in his heart, and
the evil man brings things of doubt out of the evil stored up in his heart.”

“For out of the OVERFLOW OF HIS HEART his mouth speaks.”

What do YOU believe in YOUR heart? A God of abundance, or a God of lack?
The answer is pretty easy…it’s whichever one you speak about when you open
your mouth.

“I can’t afford it.”
“I don’t have enough money.”
“I never have …………… or …………………”  (Fill in the blanks however ya like)

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men,
who have been made in God’s likeness.” (James 3:9)

With statements like the above, you’re cursing yourself…you, who have been
make in God’s likeness. STOP doing it! 

To say it’s too expensive is one thing, because most things ARE too expensive!
To say it’s a waste of money, can also be true…to say that you have decided you
don’t want to spend your money on it can be true…but I believe, that if you say
you can’t afford it, that will be true too, only the truth of THAT statement is self-
inflicted.

Your exercise for this post (to go along with the one from yesterday) is to STOP
speaking curses on yourself, and start speaking blessings! STOP saying you can’t
afford it and that you don’t have money! Instead, perform the exercise from the last
post…”Lord, thank you for the abundance of TODAY!”

That doesn’t mean you should buy the item(s) in question. You can thank God for
His abundance WITHOUT spending money on something you feel like you can’t
afford…it’s called wisdom! Keep thanking Him for His abundance TODAY…and
stop speaking curses on yourself, and maybe next week you CAN afford it! 

This one verse actually covers the last two Biblical principles at the same
time. Give thanks in all circumstances, and pray continually! Let’s take a
quick look at prayer…

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the
contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” (2 Cor.10:4).

“The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16)

I’m pretty sure that none of us really know what goes on in the spiritual
world when we pray. It’s rather mind-boggling to know that God can and
will move heaven and earth for you…and for me. There really aren’t a lot
of words a person can think of to say about such a thing….it’s just too much!

And, of course, we all have reasons to be thankful…whether it FEELS like
it or not!! If God never gave any of us anything else in this life, He’s already
given us far more than we could ever deserve…

I don’t want to spend too much time on giving thanks and prayer right at
the moment. But I do have an exercise I’d like to give you for the next
few weeks. I believe it will make a big impact on you, and a bigger one
on your Goliath! In fact, I’m hoping you’ll do it for more than just a few
weeks!

If you would, take a few moments to skim back over some of the past
few posts to refresh your memory just a little. Remember, you want to
be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so some of these things are
important weapons in your arsenal…

Now, then…this is what I would like for you to do…and you’ll have to
trust me here…but I’m telling you it will help you tremendously!

Every morning when you wake up, before you do anything else, speak
these words…whether you mean them or not…whether you FEEL them
or not…just speak them…

“Lord, thank you for the abundance of TODAY.”

That’s it. Repeat it as often as it comes to mind during the day. Do this,
along with those common sense things we talked about awhile back…
and do it with a little thankfulness and a little faith…

“Lord, thank you for the abundance of TODAY.”

The results will amaze you! In the next post, I’ll be sharing some important
thoughts along this same vein, and give you another exercise to work on!

“He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise IN
YOUR MINDS?” (Luke 24:38)

That’s why we have to have our minds renewed! We have to practice
living by faith instead of sight. Our sight can be deceiving and limiting.
Isn’t it interesting that for thousands of years, it was considered to
be humanly impossible to run a mile in under 4 minutes? Yet, once it
was done the first time, back in 1954, the 4 minute mile has been broken
repeatedly! How come? Because people found out it could be done!

I suppose you have to have a little faith in yourself, for starters. But the
REAL power comes from having faith in Jesus to do the things he said
he would do! I’d like to direct you to Acts 3:1-10 for a moment. It’s the
story of the lame man laying at the temple gate asking for money. As
you probably already know, the man was healed by Peter. The healing
was a glorious thing! But this is what I want you to see….

Skip down to verse 16:

“By faith IN THE NAME OF JESUS, this man whom you see and
know was made strong. IT IS JESUS’ NAME and THE FAITH THAT
COMES THROUGH HIM that has completely healed him, as you can
all see.”

Peter had already seen the storm. He had already slipped under the
waves a few times. He was learning by now, not to look at the “storm”
of the crippled feet…but to keep his eyes on Jesus…and LOOK
WHAT HAPPENED! The man at the gate, crippled from birth,
jumped to his feet and began to walk and jump!

There’s something about the name of Jesus that invokes a power
that you and I don’t have on our own! His name can open doors for
us that no other name can open, folks! And, as Christians, we have
the right to use his name, to stand on his name! But you have to have
a little faith in it…

It’s been a little while since we started off with David and Goliath, but
I want to refresh your memory on something very important. Just before
David took off running toward Goliath, swinging his sling over his
shoulder, he yelled out these words….

“David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and
spear and javelin, but I come against you IN THE NAME OF THE
LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have
defied.” (1 Sam. 17:45)

You have to know where the power lies. I can promise you, that
when you’re facing any Goliath, the power does NOT lie with YOU.
David knew where the power was. When he was telling Saul about
the lion and the bear he had killed, he also made this statement:

“The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of
the bear….”  (Vs 37)

The Lord rescued him. He went against Goliath in the name of the
Lord. By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know
was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him
that has completely healed him, as you all can see…

Don’t be afraid to take on your Goliath head-on…but use a little wisdom.
Your greatest weapon is the name of Jesus…USE IT…and have a little
faith in it!

Actually, it’s not the question that we want to look at, but the reply:

“Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.””
(John 6:29)

Faith. There’s that stone. The stone of Faith. “The work of God is this: to believe
in the one he has sent.”

If we can learn to have a little faith in the one whom God has sent, we’ll find that,
not only our debts, but our lives as a whole, are much easier to manage. We’ll
find that our Goliaths, whatever they may be, don’t seem quite so menacing and
scary. Why is it that faith can be such a hard thing sometimes?

Because it goes against our nature. We live backwards. We’ve be taught to live
backwards all our lives. It’s hard to undo a lifetime of being backwards…it takes
a little time. How do we live backwards? We live by sight…but we’re SUPPOSED
to live by faith….

“The righteous will live by faith.”  (Rom. 1:17)

“For we live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor. 5:7)

Not everything we see is real. Our enemy is a master deceiver, folks! Disguised
as an angel of light. The walls we see before us, often aren’t really even there,
except in our own minds. The monsters in the closet are usually just a pile of
clothes lying in the shadows…

But if that ol snake can keep us in fear by his deceptions, then he will. As long
as we’re cowering under the covers, we’re not doing anything for God. The truth
is, though, there is nothing the enemy can throw against us that God can’t overcome.
And where is God? Within us….

We’ve got to exercise that faith a little. If what you see scares you a little bit, it should.
It’s scary stuff to look at…but how about this? If what you see scares you, close your
eyes. Close your eyes and stand on the truth! Let God be God and do what He does
best…

When Peter was walking on water toward Jesus, he was doing alright to begin with,
wasn’t he? It was when the storm got a little too scary, that he started to slip under
the waves….but what if he had simply closed his eyes and taken another step?

Let’s look at that story for a minute (Matt. 14:22-32). First of all, let’s look at
what Jesus said as Peter began to sink…

“You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

Ouch! Is that us, or what? “You of little faith…why did you doubt?”

Ya GOTTA have that faith stone! And the only way to give it a little work-out is
to use it once in awhile. You don’t jump out of the womb and start running. You
lay around awhile, then you learn to crawl, then to walk and THEN you run. You
have to work your way up to the running. Faith needs a little room to grow, too.
But you have to use it, in order to give it strength…

But more importantly that what Jesus said is what he did:

“Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord,
save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.”

See that? IMMEDIATELY Jesus REACHED OUT HIS HAND and CAUGHT
Peter. He let Peter begin to sink…but he didn’t let Peter go under. IMMEDIATELY
Jesus REACHED OUT HIS HAND and CAUGHT him.

Go back a few posts…remember that what he’ll do for one, he’ll do for you. He
may let you begin to sink, but he won’t let you go under. He will immediately reach
out his hand to catch you…you of little faith…and me of little faith….

Why, oh why do we doubt?

God isn’t surprised by your situation. He never was. He knew it was coming
long before you were even born! And He already has the solution! Why, then,
are we so lacking in faith? I suspect that most of it comes from lack of exercise.

“What signs will you show me?”

What about all the signs you showed me YESTERDAY? The ones that are
already gone from my memory, apparently. I’m not sure how I can forget
so quickly, when my stomach is still full of barley loaves and fish….even though
there wasn’t enough for 10 men, much less 5000…

Since I seem to have such a hard time with yesterday’s activities staying in
my mind, let me think about today…

I am exactly ONE breath…and ONE heartbeat away from my eternal destiny
at all times. Any tiny thing can disrupt either…and yet, even in my fragile state,
you woke me up this morning. I suppose you’ve done it so often, I no longer
consider it to be a miracle, but, really it is….

Once I realized I was awake, Lord, I opened my eyes…and I could see.
As I awoke, I became aware of sounds around me, which means I am able
to hear. You gave me strength to sit up…and then to stand…and then to walk.
All miracles, Lord, considering that there are so many who can’t do any of them.
In fact, there are many that didn’t wake up.

So far, you’ve done a great deal for me today. But you’ve done even more.
My family, all of whom are just as fragile as I am…my family woke up under
your power, as well. All with sight, all with hearing…and all with a degree of
strength. Each of us woke up already possessing the greatest miracle of all.
The miracle of eternal life, through your blood.

There are many families that don’t know the eternal destination of the ones
they love. I’m blessed…I know where my family and I will share eternity. To
me, that’s a miracle. I don’t have to wonder about any of them…even down
to aunts, uncles and cousins, nieces and nephews. I seldom take time to reflect
on the awesome impact of just that one act of divine power.

What other kind of miracle can one ask for, Lord? Yet we do ask for more.
There are many others you freely give, whether we ask for them or not. More
often than not, they go unrecognized or unappreciated.

The very fact that you woke me up this morning indicates yet another miracle.
That someone like me still has a purpose to serve for you. That in itself, is a
miracle of great magnitude. I don’t know what that purpose may be, but I have
one…otherwise, the miracle of you waking me up never would have taken place.

Among billions of other people, it’s easy to feel insignificant. Especially when
many of those billions will do great things for you today. But, me? I am nothing,
Lord…nothing but your prodigal child…and yet, that’s enough to give me a
purpose.

“What signs will you show me?”

Why do I need signs, Lord? Haven’t you already done enough?

We seldom stop to think that maybe the way WE thought it was supposed
to go, wasn’t the way it was supposed to go at all! Now, generally
speaking, I’m not a “name it and claim it” kinda guy. There are some things,
though, that I DO believe fall into that “category”. For instance:

If I want a new car, there’s nothing wrong with asking God to provide
one for me. If I want to walk around naming and claiming that car in the
name of Jesus, there’s nothing wrong with that either. BUT…nowhere in
the Bible did God promise me a new car! On the other hand, if I get sick…
He DID promise me healing! That I will name and claim until I’m healed
or taken out of this world….

The thing is, we go around naming and claiming things He never promised
us, then when we don’t get them, our faith suffers…even though it’s not our
faith that’s misplaced, but maybe our naming and claiming.

I think, too, that often times we’re not patient enough. If our prayers aren’t
answered the way we think they should be…WHEN we think they should
be…then we think God’s asleep. Or that He’s punishing us for something.
Or that He just doesn’t like us much in the first place. He answers other
people’s prayers…He just doesn’t answer mine…

There are numerous holes in our thinking. I don’t want to take the time
today to get into all that, but there are holes in our thinking, friends! 

Another big problem we have, is we’ve been cursed with short-term
memory in certain areas. Perfect example: John 6.

Jesus had just fed a crowd of five thousand men with five small barley
loaves and two tiny little fish. They all ate til their tummies were full and
THEN they filled up twelve baskets with the left-overs. Remember the
story? (Btw…another great example that our God is a God of abundance!
He COULD have stopped with “enough”…but He didn’t!)

Anyway, five small loaves, two small fish, five thousand men and twelve
baskets FILLED with left-overs. Got it in  your mind? Just take a moment
to picture what it must have been like! Now…picture this:

When evening came, Jesus and the disciples went across the lake. Next
morning, the crowd wakes up, finds out Jesus is gone and goes looking for
him. They found him on the other side of the lake in Capernaum. The first
question they asked him was “Lord, when did you get here?”

The second question was, ““What must we do to do the works God requires?”

The third question was…are you ready for this? It used to really make my
blood boil to think about it, until I realized that I AM JUST LIKE THEM!
Now it makes me even more angry, because I don’t WANT to be like them…

With their bellies FULL of barley loaves and fish that hadn’t even had the
time to digest yet…with twelve baskets FILLED with leftovers piled up on
the other side of the lake, just beginning to rot in the morning sun…with the
smell of those fish STILL ON THEIR BREATH…

It hurts me deep inside to say this…and it really, truly honestly brings tears
to my eyes to think about it…their third question was this:

“What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you?
What will you do?”  (John 6:30)

Bunch of ungrateful bastards…and, as much as I hate to say it, I’m one of em.
I don’t WANT to be one of em…and I try not to be one of em…but I AM one
of em…because I’m a human being. How I do despise being one of us,
sometimes…

How quickly we forget the miraculous moments that occur every single day
in our lives. We don’t even think about it before we open our big mouths to
ask the question, “What signs will you show us?”

Is it any wonder that Jesus said SO many times….”You of little faith…”

I don’t want to have little faith anymore. I don’t want to ever ask the question,
“What signs will you show us?”  And every single time that I doubt Jesus, his
willingness, or his ability…that’s exactly what I’m doing. Asking that same
foolish, selfish question….

I don’t want to ask it ever again….

I would think most of us know the story of Moses and the Red Sea. Most
of us, by now, should now the story of David and Goliath. How about the story
of Elijah and the widow (1 Kings 17) or the three Hebrew guys tossed into the
furnace (Dan. 3)? Backing up to Elijah, again, how about when he faced the
prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18)?

The list goes on and on and on…

What God did for one, He will do for you. Our topic is defeating Goliath. I
suppose a sub-topic would be debt…so let’s look at a little debt story, shall
we? Oddly enough, this one is about a widow, too….

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha,
“Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord.
But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”
Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in
your house?”
“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a little oil.”
Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask
for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons.
Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought
the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her
son, “Bring me another one.”
But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your
debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”  (2 Kings 4:1-7)

First of all, did ya notice what the problem was? THE CREDITOR WAS
COMING TO TAKE HER SONS! Wow! Just like some of those other
passages we’ve already looked at, huh? Next thing to look at, is that she
didn’t have any money. In fact, she didn’t have anything at all, except a little
oil. NOTHING! If I were to speculate, I would say that it’s likely she already
sold everything that had any value to it…

Nothing left, but a little oil. That tells me, that we don’t need much. You and
I don’t need much of anything…IF…and this is a big if…IF we offer what little
we have to God and allow Him to use it for our benefit. He can handle our
situation a lot better than we can…if we let Him.

There are a couple of other things we need to take a quick look at. God is
not a God “enough”. God is a God of abundance! He didn’t just fill a jar or
two…didn’t give her just enough to pay off the debt and keep her sons. He
filled up ALL the jars and provided enough for her to live on for the rest of
her life. But that’s not all…if you noticed, there was also enough for her SONS
to live off of, too!

The next thing? When all the jars were full, the oil stopped flowing. Not one
drop too little….not one drop too much. That widow woman was a poor
woman. She was a nobody. The only person that paid much attention to her
was the creditor, and that was the kind of attention she could have done without.
Nobody offered to help her. Nobody cared about her or her situation.

As it turns out, there WAS Somebody watching her. And He was watching
closely enough that when the last jar was filled to the brim with oil…when that
jar couldn’t hold even one more drop…the oil stopped flowing…