Peter and Andrew and James and Johns were two sets of brothers who worked as partners in a fishing business. They fished at night because that’s when fishing is best. They weren’t fishing for pleasure. This was their job. This was how they fed and provided for their families. And that’s why they didn’t give up all night when they hadn’t caught any fish. When dawn came, they kept on fishing. Their families needed to eat. How else could they take care of their families if they didn’t catch fish? When the sun was up, they kept on fishing. They finally packed it in as the shores filled with people. They were washing their nets and listening to Jesus teach the crowds on the shore.

When he’s finished teaching, Jesus tells Peter to go out into the deep water and let down their nets. They obey, but they think it’s futile. They pull so many fish into the boat it’s almost sinking. James and John need to help them out. It’s the biggest payload they’ve ever had. But Peter recognizes the presence of God and fears being in Jesus’ presence because he is a “sinful man.” On shore they leave the fish in the boats, worth maybe more money than they had ever seen at one time, and they walk away, away from trying to provide for themselves. In a instant of realizing who Jesus was they were prepared to leave it behind and trust.

They don’t always understand that provision, but they get to experience God’s supernatural provision again and again. Are you ready to walk away from your means of providing for yourself if it means obeying and following Jesus?

The King Will Make a Way a story for the last days saint has been published! Get your copy here!

From the back cover:

This end-times story of faith and perseverance is an allegorical tale set in a village long ago. Gabe is the only one who knows the true King is still alive, but Vulpine is determined to become king himself and will stop at nothing to force the villagers to give him their loyalty.

Through storms, plague and persecution, the servants of the true King learn that there is one thing they can always be sure of — The King Will Make a Way.

“This is really magnificent. ‘Vivid’ is the word that comes to mind. Your language is rich…and the story itself is immensely compelling.”  Leslie Komarnicki

“You are in good hands when you read The King Will Make a Way. The author has crafted a carefully paced, well developed plot that will leave you challenged and inspired. The story is pure delight, not sentimental, but truly satisfying.” Ned Erickson, author, Falling into Love

*****

Also available on Kindle.

(Leave a review on Amazon.com after you’ve read the book!)

(Updated 2020) I do have old homeschool materials I made for the book if you are interested. It is also used in 7th level of EP All-in-One Homeschool where the students read it and write their own novel. Those lessons can be found here.

There was a time our family was without money.  We saw the money dwindling, dwindling, kept waiting for money to come from somewhere, but nothing came.

I hesitate to explain that we lived overseas at the time for fear you think our story doesn’t apply to yourself. We served the Lord among the Roma and had for years. But a year earlier we had left our missions agency, told our churches and supporters to send their money to orphans instead of to us, gave away the balance of our bank account to the same and jumped out of the boat and onto the water. We had decided to live by faith.

My husband had no work at the time, but he planned to tutor some students in English. We were about to move into the ghetto and were going to be living at the same economic level as our neighbors. We lived in a small two-room basement apartment in a crowded part of town. At first a handful of people contacted us and asked if they could support us still, saying they felt the Lord leading them to give to us. We accepted. The money was sent right to our bank account. Only one person gave a little each month. The rest was “random” to any outside observer. My husband also got a few students. That income fluctuated each month and never paid more than half of a month’s needs.

More than a year later we were getting close to the end of our money, I went to buy bread for breakfast and was planning on buying less than usual. On the way my daughter found a couple of coins so that we were able to buy the normal amount and then the store owner threw in some extra, just because. We had a feast.

But the money kept going away. I made homemade bread for breakfast because we didn’t have the money for bread from the store. I already had in the house everything needed. Everyone wished I did that more often. Who doesn’t love fresh, homemade bread?

We finally had left just enough for one more container of milk. We have four children [at the time] so milk is quickly consumed in our home. It would be needed in the morning. With that purchase the money would be gone, completely.

Students had been cancelling lessons, no one from church slipped us money as they sometimes did, and no one sent a gift to our bank account. We would know when someone did send a gift to our account because we’d get a notification of it as “pending.”  After that we’d wait three or four days for it to make it into “available balance.” There was nothing even pending.

We told no one of our need. We didn’t make any prayer requests for our finances, support or needs. We didn’t take out a cash advance on our credit card. We waited on the Lord to see His salvation.

We expected the Lord to provide. He had to provide. He meets the needs of His children. We had given and His Word says He’ll give back. He was a good Father who took care of His children. We knew we were following His will and obeying His Word as best we knew how. We knew this time He had to provide by miracle. It was too late for any of the “normal” ways to get money. Rent and other bills were due the next day.

Before bed my husband checked the bank account online one more time as he had done frequently those last days. And there it was. Our miracle. One thousand dollars in “available balance.” It was a “direct deposit” according to the bank. It wasn’t through Paypal or by check like every other gift we received. We did check with the few people in the world who had our bank info and could have deposited something, but no one knew anything about it. It was a gift from God, and it was enough to cover rent, bills, and food for the next month.

There are many other times the Lord provided through people. People we have never met have sent us money. People at church have slipped us cash. A few faithful continue to support us even though they get no tax receipt for it.

God has sent Roma (Gypsies) to our door with food, clothing, shoes, blankets, rugs. We have never lacked a thing. God provides for His children. Now you might say, “A worker is worthy of his wages,” so we were due provision where “normal” people aren’t. But if you are following Jesus and obeying His word and have a need, then your Father is going to take care of you. He will provide.

And may I also add, we don’t live in a continual state of broke. This was a test we had to go through, and knew we would go through, when we told the Lord we were going to trust Him all the way with our finances. The money is always there. We always have all we need, and the Lord doesn’t repeatedly make us wait until the last second to provide. He’s a good Father.

I started another post with Scriptures on God’s provision, but let’s first continue with examples of God’s provision for God’s people. We’ll skip the long list of amazing provisions the prophets received of food and lodging, safety, the waters parting, and supernatural strength and go to the New Testament this time. By the way, I’m not doing this trying to pick examples to make a certain point; I’m just making observations.

Joseph

NEED: guidance — first to marry Mary, then to escape Herod

PROVISION: dreams  (Matthew 1:20, 2:13)

REQUIREMENT: We know that he was chosen by God and a righteous man.

***

The people of Israel with every kind of sickness and disease and pain, as well as demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics and the blind, deaf and mute, and also a couple of dead people

NEED: healing, deliverance, resurrection

PROVISION: healing, deliverance, resurrection  (Matthew 4:24, Luke 7:14-15 and many other places)

REQUIREMENT: having a need (we are often told Jesus was moved by compassion), seeking help from Jesus (but not all came and asked for help), and being an Israelite, meaning God’s chosen

***

Centurion and the Mother of the Demon Possessed Girl

NEED: healing, deliverance

PROVISION: healing, deliverance (Luke 7:9-10, Matthew 15:28)

REQUIREMENT: faith — They both had great faith. They were both Gentiles.

***

Those Following Jesus Listening to His Teaching

NEED: food (seems they had been three days without food)

PROVISION: bread and fish (Matthew 15:37)

REQUIREMENT: Having a need, Jesus was moved by compassion

***

Peter

NEED: to pay his taxes

PROVISION: money  (Matthew 17:27)

REQUIREMENT: the faith to obey Jesus’ command to cast a fishing hook into the sea and to look in the mouth of the first fish he pulled up

***

New Believers (Acts 2 and also in 4)

NEED: need (“as anyone might have need”)

PROVISION: needs were met by other believers who were supernaturally moved to sell their possessions to meet the needs of others (Acts 2:45)

REQUIREMENT: having a need and being a part of the close community of believers

***

The World

NEED: Savior

PROVISION: Jesus

REQUIREMENT: He met the need while we were sinners and didn’t deserve saving, but we receive salvation by faith.

I’d like to start encouraging you in how God provides in every way for His children. We are taught by the world that “God helps those who help themselves”. While the book of Proverbs does say wise things about work ethic and being prudent that every unbeliever should follow, the New Testament offers a deeper understanding of the work required of a believer and of when God “helps.”

Even though I want to get to the New Testament, let’s start at the beginning. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He’s always been a loving Father who will provide for His children everything they need.

Adam and Eve

NEED: decent clothing

PROVISION: God made them animal skin clothing, Genesis 3:21

REQUIRED: Nothing. They didn’t deserve it, but He knew their helplessness and cared for them.

***

Abraham

NEED: a sacrifice

PROVISION: a ram, Genesis 22:13

REQUIRED: the faith to obey God’s command to sacrifice his son

Joseph’s Brothers

NEED: food

PROVISION: free food whenever they needed it

REQUIRED: Nothing. The didn’t deserve it, but God wanted to meet their need and display His goodness and be glorified.

***

Israelites Enslaved in Egypt

NEED: deliverance

PROVISION: a deliverer

REQUIRED: They called out to God, but God hears and responds because He has seen their suffering and has compassion. Exodus 3:7

***

NEED: protection from God’s wrath

PROVISION: flies did not swarm in Goshen, Exodus 8:22; cattle of the Israelites live, Exodus 9:4; there was no hail in Goshen, Exodus 9:26; there was light in their dwellings, Exodus 10:23; not even a dog will bark against an Israelite because God distinguishes between Egypt and Israel, Exodus 11:7; the firstborn among the Israelistes are spared, Exodus 12:23

REQUIRED: being God’s children, having God in their midst (Exodus 8:22), the faith to obey the command to kill a lamb and to spread its blood on the door posts

***

NEED: deliverance from Pharoah’s army

PROVISION: the parting of the Red Sea (and its closing back in on Pharoah’s army)

REQUIRED: “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (That’s the NIV. The NASB is “while you keep silent.”) This is Exodus 14:14. God tells Moses to stop crying out to Him. God wants Moses to stand in quiet confidence in the Lord. Moses also has to show faith by obeying the command to stretch out his staff. This is not the first time Moses has been asked to stretch out his staff. The Lord has prepared him for this trial. We don’t know how much faith the Israelites had, but they walked across on dry land between walls of water.

***

NEED: water

PROVISION: water

REQUIRED: Moses again has to obey in faith (throws the tree branch in the water). The rest are provided for even though they are grumbling, but they are God’s people.

***

NEED: food

PROVISION: manna, meat

REQUIRED: Let me just focus on the manna here. There are rules about picking up the manna. But even when those are broken, God continues to provide manna, for forty years. The Israelites continue to show disbelief by their disobedience, but God still provides this basic provision for His people.

***

I don’t know if I will continue this exercise or not, but I think I will be continuing on this topic in the next post. I hope it is encouraging to you to think on how the Lord provides for His children.

I hope you see how the Lord takes care of His children. He provides food and covering for them even when they don’t deserve it. He acts in compassion for His children when He sees them suffering. He doesn’t require saying “the magic words,” faith formulas of proclaiming His provision. He wants quiet confidence displayed in acts of obedience.

I have written recently about faith that ends in rest in God’s promises. And I have written recently about obeying the word of the Lord. Here’s a story from Jeremiah where the remnant of Israel doesn’t have faith but are fearful. Their fear leads to disbelief when Jeremiah tells them the word of the Lord. Because of their fear, they don’t believe the word, and the evidence of their disbelief is their disobedience to the word.

*****

Jeremiah 42:11-16

Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands.  I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.’

“However, if you say, ‘We will not stay in this land,’ and so disobey the LORD your God, and if you say, ‘No, we will go and live in Egypt, where we will not see war or hear the trumpet or be hungry for bread,’ then hear the word of the LORD, O remnant of Judah. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you are determined to go to Egypt and you do go to settle there, then the sword you fear will overtake you there, and the famine you dread will follow you into Egypt, and there you will die.

*****

They didn’t believe the word of the Lord coming from Jeremiah. His words that the Lord will deliver them agrees with the Scriptures.  But they didn’t believe the word. They didn’t want to believe the word because they didn’t want to obey it.

This is a frequently used method for justifying disobedience, sin. If we say the command isn’t true, then we feel we don’t have to obey it. But, of course, it’s not up to us to decide what’s true and what’s not. God’s word is always true. If you want to believe what the Bible says about salvation, then you have to take the whole of Scriptures.

In the story in Jeremiah 42 they didn’t want to believe and obey because they were afraid. They didn’t trust in the Lord to deliver them. They wanted to trust their flesh, what they could see with their eyes. It seemed safer to disobey.

And God’s response was to send on them all the things they were afraid of. I can actually think of three instances of missionaries who went back to America or went to another field because they perceived it to be safer. There was fear of the place where God had called them to minister. In each case someone died shortly after moving to the “safe” place.

The only safe place is abiding in Christ. If we walk by the Spirit, obeying the Spirit and not the flesh, then we have nothing to fear. The fear of the Lord is the only fear that should grip us and direct our steps.

I’m not saying there will be no hardships. We are promised persecutions if we live in righteousness, but we are also promised deliverance.

God tells us:

The Lord says, “I will save the one who loves me. I will keep him safe, because he trusts in me.” Psalm 91:14

And who is the one who loves God:

“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me…” John 14:21