Miracles Financial
When Israel left Egypt, they received miraculous provision for their journey of clothing, silver and gold. When Jesus was born, He received miraculous provision for His journey to Egypt of gold, myrrh, and frankincense. When Israeli tax collectors quizzed Peter about the fact his Master’s intentions regarding the temple tax which was due, he received miraculous provision for paying his and his Master’s, even though his Master informed him that they did not owe it. When over 5,000 people were listening to Jesus’ teachings for days and had run out of food, miraculous provision of “half a year’s wages” was made (John 6:1-11) to provide for them.
Our free economy education has instructed us that Paul’s instructions to the congregations in Thessalonica applies to us: if anyone isn’t willing to work, he shouldn’t eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10). When we are confronted by a beggar, our first thoughts are usually either affected by Jesus, when He said, “Give to everyone who asks of you…” (Luke 6:27-35), or by the work ethic described by Paul, and we examine the beggar regarding whether they deserve what we have worked to obtain.
The miraculous provision we frequently need, though, is beyond what we can work to obtain and beyond what we deserve. The work we must do to be in the position and condition in which we can obtain the miracles is exercising faith. When we don’t have enough, but the Spirit says give something to someone anyway, we are demonstrating our faith by our works (James 2) when we give what we were instructed. When the Spirit tells us not to give, even though we have more than enough, and the person asking for help has done all they could, we are demonstrating our faith by obeying, and not giving. The Holy Spirit may want someone else to meet the need, who needs to learn generosity or obedience. He may be teaching the beggar how to listen regarding whom to ask.
When we are asking for miraculous financial provision, some of the points from these facts to keep in mind include: we need more than we can earn to obey the King’s instructions for our responsibilities and for sharing; we don’t deserve miraculous provision; part of what qualifies us for some miraculous provision is how we have shown our faith by our works in the past; Jesus wants to provide for us and He wants to increase our faith, so sometimes He uses those two facts to affect each other.
When He leads us to a place where we need faith, accessing it and walking in it increases our capacity for faith. Some problems only exist so that we learn how to overcome them.