GOD’S DIVINE PROVISION STRIKES AGAIN
About a year ago, I began a journey of pursuit and understanding about the topic of God’s divine provision. I used to hear repeatedly about God’s limitless bank account, and how all of my needs are supplied, etc. Yet, in practice, this never seemed to come to fruition. Like many things in Christianity, it seemed like a nice idea; something nice that we think about to give us comfort while we continue to struggle like the rest of the world does. Something in there, is just not correct.
Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender. (Proverbs 22:7)
For those of you who know me well, you will know that before last year, I spent around 10 years floundering around in business, trying to make something work. I spent years in financial mess, I made very bad business decisions, worked with some terrible business associates, and overall just did everything wrong possible.
In the process, I managed to lose everything including my house and also ended up bankrupting my family, as well as ending up on government assistance for a period. I call it the “lost decade” of my life. During this time, the one bright spot was my amazing wife Lynn who always kept the fire going, and offered unwavering support to whatever I wanted to do. As a family, I made the executive decisions, that we needed to humble ourselves, admit our shortcomings, and thus we attended Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, which was a true gift from God.
I decided to stop leaning on my own understanding of this, and turn to how Jesus did things. I combined material and information I gathered from people like Curry Blake, Dave Ramsey, Tyler Johnson, Katie Souza, Joseph Prince, as well as a variety of others. Say what you want about any of these people, however, when you learn to pull the gold out of everyone’s teachings, without a religious bias, an amazing picture starts to form. They obviously know something, so I am willing to hear what each had to say and sift through the material.
I began with the same process that Jesus followed in Luke 9 to multiply loaves and fish. Isn’t it just amazing that when you do what Jesus did, you get the results he got. In the past year of following His model, we have been able to provide supplies to our ministry, to help people get work, help business owners increase their business and sales, and to demonstrate the REAL power of God’s provision to the new-agey, law of attraction/abundance types. (That was fun too!)
In an article on the ministry website, I wrote earlier in the year about some lessons learned and some initial application of these principles. You can find the article here: http://dominionfire.com/moneys-real-root-evil/
As with everything in the Kingdom, we go from glory to glory. So, I write this article not to brag or show off, or convince anyone how spiritual I am. I write this to show you that once you stop thinking about the world’s way of doing everything, supernatural things start to become natural, everyday life. On this side of the Cross, things are much more fun and exciting.
In January of last year, I had a fully paid off car, which I expected to drive until the thing blew up. Well, the thing blew up…much sooner than I expected. So, I had a mess to figure out. We had been seeing the initial revelation of how to operate in provision, and my new business was starting to really take off. We went to the car lot, looking for a used deal. I basically had a discussion with God, and said, that I would like to pay this off in one year. I am willing to work, and I don’t necessarily need anything for free. I am willing to work my tail off.
For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” – 2 Corinthians 3:10
It turned out that the difference between a used car and a brand new one off the lot was about a $1500 difference and the payments would have been almost the same. So, for this first time in my almost 40 years of life, I drove a new car off of the lot both nervous, yet quietly confident that God would show me the way. I didn’t go crazy with this. I bought a 2014 Kia Soul base model, 6-speed. Just the basics were good enough for me. However, this beautiful new car also carried a monthly payment of $226. It was going to be a long year, but I knew it would be good.
Over this past year, I began to pray every time I spent money according to what Jesus did in Luke 9. In addition, I gave love offerings to churches and ministries in Pakistan, some here in the US, and more importantly, I stopped being afraid of spending money. I started trusting that provision would be there. I would run the plan and wait to see what would happen. I learned along the way, several different lessons, on having a spirit of thankfullness FOR EVERYTHING. I learned about why being passive as a Christian leads you nowhere. I learned about being generous and giving without hesitation. I would tell you to stop wasting your time on “tithes” and trying to figure out what it all means. Just give to whatever the Kingdom needs, whenever it needs it and you will shoot way beyond what any tithe could do.
Most importantly, I learned about having a plan and executing the plan, per Proverbs 16.
Commit your works to the LORD And your plans will be established – Proverbs 16:3
I began in a new business doing voice over work, and just like in Proverbs, I committed what I do to God and showing how His Kingdom works. From the beginning, my orders took off, which funded some of our ministry needs at the end of 2013. Once I took this next step of faith, the orders just exploded. From January 30, 2013 when I purchased the vehicle, my workload filled up, I worked hours overnights, and continued with operating a ministry and managing a family. Somehow it all managed to work out just perfectly. Truth is, I don’t know how this all happened. I was the guy who bungled this stuff for 10 years. God just took the plan I gave Him, and we ran with it together.
Flash forward one year later, something amazing has happened. When I bought the car in January 2013, I said to Lynn, that in one year this car will be paid off, and God is going to have to provide for me. There is no other way.
Fittingly, as of December 24, 2014 the last batch of funds became available to me, which was enough to pay off the car in full. Yup, Merry Christmas to me!!
The down side was that when I deposited the money, there was a one week hold on it. So funds wouldn’t be available until December 31, 2013. God likes to do this thing where He makes His moves at the last minute, just to pull you through the faith element with Him. I didn’t get worried, I didn’t get upset. I just rolled with it. I just had to wait for New Year’s to celebrate instead.
I am happy to report that, as of December 31, 2014 my car has been fully paid off, with the funds coming from my new business that God and I worked out together. It took 11 months and 1 day, but it got done. Now, I wait patiently as my car title arrives in the mail, basking in the Glory of God, knowing that I have a reliable vehicle for at least the next 10 years. (The car has a 10-year warranty on it). This is huge triumph after many years of struggle, pain and tears. Finally, life is turning the corner, and I am loving what God has done for me.
From here, the possibilities are endless. I know that a ministry goal for 2015, is to start to teach this provision system to others. As in the previous article I wrote, when Christians control the money, we then control the discussion. It’s time for the people of God to take back what is rightfully ours, and start implementing this Kingdom the way we are supposed to.
For the record, I am not a “prosperity” preacher, nor do I endorse the law of attraction nonsense. These both have very negative spiritual influences that will not help you in the long run. I am also not a person (anymore) with a spirit of poverty on me. Christians are not supposed to be broke and poor. Jesus wasn’t and neither should we be. It’s time for a revolution in the Kingdom. Hopefully, through this testimony I can encourage you to wake up to that reality, and engage the realm of who you really are.
I don’t have full and complete revelation yet of how it all works, and I am not perfect in all of this. But the Kingdom is built with a constant and forward-progress model in mind. We have to continue in growth, learning and understanding and stop treating these concepts like they are far-away, long-lost powers only endowed to a select few. This is your inheritance and your birth right, and I suggest you go stake a claim to what it rightfully yours. I will share whatever I know on the subject to help you along.
In Jesus name, with much love, and a Happy New year!! Boom Goes Yeshua!!!
–Millian
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