Hi all,
In the late 1980’s I was the pastor of a small church in a rural community in eastern Colorado. Though the church was doing well, it was an agricultural town and winters were difficult. By January our income after the church paid our rent and utilities was $15. ($40 US today). By the last week of the month we had no food.
Around 4pm (16.00) Barb asked what I had in mind for dinner, because she literally had nothing in the pantry, nothing in the refrigerator, nothing in the freezer, to feed us or more importantly, our 3 little boys. She opened the refrigerator in desperation showing me. She opened the cupboard to reveal bare shelves. She was rightly concerned.
I replied: “I don’t know, but I know I am doing what the Lord has called me to do, so I know He will provide.” I told her I had peace in my spirit, I had double checked my motives, the Father gave me peace, so I stayed focused on the peace in my spirit. But she was mom, so she had a right to know where dinner was for her 3 boys.
She was willing to go with my peace, though it is her nature to second guess situations: Was it really the Lord that brought us there? Did He want John to get a job (though my hands were full with the church)? What was wrong with John that he would risk his family for what, faith? Was it pride? What are we going to do? All these were questions any wife and mother would have in that situation. But in the end, she trusted me.
This was the point of ‘according to your faith be it unto you’ – The choice was simple: Trust the peace or take matters into our own hands with ‘Plan B’.
About 20 minutes later a family from our church pulled into our drive in their big Chevy Suburban, which was at the time the largest SUV made. It was loaded full with groceries and even fresh milk from their dairy farm. In 10 minutes our refrigerator and cupboard went from completely empty to completely full.
Barb was thrilled as you can imagine. This couple had an idea float into their minds late that morning they recognized as the Lord; to buy us groceries. We lived out on the prairie of eastern Oklahoma so it was an hour drive to a store.
They drove over an hour to the store to load their vehicle, then an hour back AND they stopped at their house to get fresh milk on the way to our house – they were thrilled to be so used of the Father, and we were thrilled they had obeyed. In 10 minutes we went from empty to full. Amazing grace.
God’s provision was already at work when Barb and I were talking and making the choice to trust the peace in our spirit. If I hadn’t had a revelation in my spirit and the accompanying peace from the Father that He had dinner supplied, it would have been foolish. But I had a peace, so I stayed in that.
I was being moved from revelation, from peace in my spirit. This was faith, not foolishness. According to your faith be it unto you. Many times people have a revelation, have a peace from the Father, but fear creeps in, they second guess themselves.
They fall back on their own strength and working out their own ‘Plan B’. Because they give in to the fear instead of subduing it by the peace in their spirit, they never see the miracle – and then wonder why God let them down.
“According to your faith be it to you” Matthew 9: 27-30
This is stated only once in the New Testament, but it is repeated many times in different ways and terminology.
“And when Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed him, yelling loudly, saying, You son of David, have mercy on us. And when he had entered the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus said to them, Do you believe that I have the power to do this? They said unto him, Yes, Lord. Then he touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.”
Why did He say, ‘According to your faith’?
This was not a sovereign move by the Lord. This was according to the faith of the blind men. Why was it ‘according to their faith’?
First, they called Him the Messiah by calling Him the Son of David. This is perhaps the most well known of Jewish terms for Messiah, and Matthew starts his gospel in 1:1 stating that was what he would demonstrate in his gospel: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham..” They had a revelation from the Father exactly Who Jesus was. They had faith.
Key point #1 – a personal revelation
This is the very key to anything we do called ‘faith’. We first get a revelation from the Father about it. If we hear bad news, we check with the Father to see what His instructions and provision might be. When Peter exclaimed; ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God’, Jesus said he knew that by revelation from the Father. The whole kingdom flows from and functions in revelation from the Father.
I’ve shared how II Peter 1: 3-4 has been a foundation for me for decades: “Accordingly, His power has provided all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue.”
That’s either true or it isn’t. He has either provided all things that pertain to life, or not. Year ago I let that revelation saturate me, exciting my spirit. He has provided EVERYTHING that pertains to life. I would never have to worry again. I just have to let that provision be revealed in His timing and ways. THAT is where we grow – to trust His timing and way of providing.
Also, realizing every need has already been provided mean an honest assessment with self on what is a need and what is just a desire.
A test of my faith
I was taking 5 cows to be sold at a barn about 40 miles away (70km). I had Chris in the seat with me, but for some reason I left his wheelchair at home. At a stop light about 10 miles from our house (18km) the truck quit. I had just enough momentum to roll to the side of the highway.
Remembering II Peter 1: 3-4, I said: “Father, all things that pertain to life and godliness have been provided, so please reveal your provision, because we’re stuck!” Just then a red pick up truck coming the other direction, slowed, cross the median, circled in front of us and asked if he could help.
Explaining the situation to him, he said he would take our cattle to the sale barn – I was amazed. We rolled the truck away from the trailer, hooked it to his truck, we lifted Chris into his truck and away the 3 of us went. He brought us back after we had dropped the cows off and I was able to call our middle son to come and get us.
According to your faith be it unto you. I had revelation from the Word and from experience, the kind of faith that comes by considering the Father’s faithfulness through the years. Based on that ongoing revelation and His record in my life, I simply made the choice to act according to my faith, asking Him to reveal His provision. And He did.
Next week about times I missed it, and more from the Word…until then, blessings,
John Fenn
