Supernatural Source
I was preaching in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India in October of 2023. A handful of a crowd had gathered for this evening service. While the crowd was small, the atmosphere was charged with faith. At one point in my message, I was talking about the provision of healing through the stripes of Jesus Christ. In that moment, I sensed I had a word of knowledge. “This would be risky,” I reasoned. I sensed that there was a woman with pain in her right leg. Do I dare share this? There were only about 25 people there … likely only about 15 women.
“What if I was wrong?” I surely would look foolish.
“It’s probably best if I don’t share this. That way if I’m wrong, I won’t shake their confidence in God,” I reasoned some more. The truth was more likely that I didn’t want them to lose confidence in me.
This whole conversation took place in my head over the course of a few seconds. Finally, I settled it. I’m going to step out.
I shared the word of knowledge. No woman indicated that this was their situation. That short moment of exposure of failure seemed to last forever. However, almost immediately, from the back and to my left, a man started to make his way down to the front.
Well, I sensed it was a woman. Here’s a man coming forward.
I asked him if he was experiencing pain in his right leg. He answered, “no.”
Great. Reinforcement of nervousness set in even further.
He went on to say that he was experiencing pain in his left leg from sciatica nerve issues he had experienced for the last two years.
By this point, I’m looking rather foolish, so there’s no reason to stop now. I asked him if he was experiencing pain that moment. He answered that he was.
I invited the congregation to pray with me. We prayed a short declarative prayer of appropriation of Jesus’ healing work toward this man now. I checked in with him about the pain. He said it had lessened. We acknowledged what God was doing. We prayed again. The man testified that the pain was entirely gone! We experienced a miracle. And it certainly wasn’t because of my mastery but because of the master desiring to work through me.
Scripture
Just then the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
“Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him,” said the angel, “for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your only son from me.”
Then Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram in a thicket, caught by its horns. So, he went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son. And Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. So to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” Genesis 22:11-14
Points to Ponder
· Scripture is very clear about a foundational principle of sowing and reaping in the natural and spiritual. Most of the original hearers of scripture lived in agrarian societies and, therefore, would have been very familiar with this process.
· We should understand this process from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. It’s qualitative in that you reap what you sow. It’s quantitative in that you reap sparingly if you sow sparingly and reap bountifully if you sow bountifully.
· I believe there is another level to this principle; I am calling this Supernatural Provision. Abraham experiences this provision in a miraculous way and honors God, referring to him as, “the Lord Will Provide,” and naming the place accordingly. This type of provision is seen when we follow God’s direction out of our common environs and into extreme places – vulnerable and exposed places. We feel vulnerable and exposed because we have outstepped our ability to be the source.
· Be careful. Extreme places can rarely be identified quantitatively. Abraham was obeying God to sacrifice one person, but he was the son of promise. Moses had only one staff in his hand; God used this as a powerful sign The widow at Zarephath had only a handful of flour and a little oil. God multiplied it. The widow in Jesus’ day gave a very small offering, yet she gave “more than” the rich.
Kingdom Strategy
God is continually calling us to extreme places where success solely comes from his supernatural provision. These places expose our inadequacy as the source, and even more, our potency, when we partner with him as the source. Yield to his drawing into these glorious places.