Today I want to talk about a subject that impacts every artist and creative person. The poverty mindset. The first reading this week comes from the I Kings 17. Ahab becomes king of Israel, he marries a princess named Jezebel, and she goes on a religious mission to stamp out the worship of God. God calls Elijah to confront Ahab, and tells him that there will be a three year drought in the land. Although there is no food or water, God sends ravens to Elijah who bring him food every day. And that worked until the water in the brook dried up. When the conventional supply lines dry up we are forced to depend on a word from God, and that's what Elijah did. Sometimes God brings you to a place where the brook dries up so that you will listen and move to where he needs you. Then the Lord speaks to Elijah, and God says to him, "I have commanded a widow in Zarephath to feed you." If you have one take away today, it is this: We are characters in God's story, God is not a character in our story. When you get this right, your thinking will begin to change. The second important takeaway is this: you have to let go and release if you are going to receive. God is asking Elijah to travel to an area that is in modern Lebanon, and to the area, Sidon, where Jezebel's father is King. So often, when God offers us a solution, it is about advancing, not retreating. Elijah is not on a mission to get food, he is on a mission to the place where the curse on the land originated. God is telling him to go to the most dangerous place he could go outside of Ahab's castle. God is always asking us to run toward the danger, not away from it. So Elijah travels to Zarephath. And when he gets there, he finds a widow who is gathering sticks. And he asks her for something to drink and for something to eat. And this is the clincher: She responds that she only has a handful of meal, and a bit of oil, and she is gathering a few sticks so she can make a cake and she and her son will eat, and then we will die. We are characters in God's drama, God is not a character in our drama. You have to let go and release in order to receive. Graham Cooke once said "poverty is not a lack of resources, but rather a lack of possibilities." In other words, when you fall into the poverty mindset, you think that what you see is the end. She saw dry dead sticks, an empty jar of oil and meal, and no options in the future. But there was something ahead that she didn't expect. Often we base our expectations on what we see and hear, and our knowledge. Knowledge can be a form of false faith. The first year I was here in the UK I was very diligent that I needed to have $2000 in the bank account at all times for a cushion. I remember the first time the account dropped below $2000. I panicked. And the Lord said to me, "Don't worry, there is more where that came from." Elijah looks at the widow, and he says, "Fear not." When you have limited possibilities you are going to be afraid. And when you make decisions based on fear, you are going to make bad decisions. This is one of the main reasons we are instructed to not be afraid. There is more where that came from. I will never forget the time God moved me from Akron to Boston. The first two years of living by faith were very hard. One day I was pretty annoyed at God, and I said, "What are you going to do, Feed me with ravens like Elijah?" I turned the corner to my apartment, and there was a huge flock of crows on the little patch of grass out front. And when I arrived they all flew up and around me. "Very funny, Lord." At the end of that season, I was really out of money. I was in deep trouble, and I had to get out of my apartment. And then to make matters worse, I missed my train, and had to sleep in the house of prayer. It was rough. The next morning my friend Kaye came in and said, I have something for you. It was a check for $2500. Unbeknownst to me, the organization that ran the house of prayer wanted to pay me retroactively for my time in prayer. I paid all the outstanding bills. Wow. If you think there are no options, and you have reached a dead end, there is probably something happening that you do not know. God is always moving and working in the background. Do limit your thinking with your limited possibilities. There is always a solution. So Elijah tells the woman not to be afraid. Make me a cake with the meal and the oil, and then make one for you and your son, because God is going to make the meal and the oil last until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth. There is only one way out of the poverty mindset. You have to take the spotlight off yourself and give up center stage. You have to become a character in God's story, and give up making God a character in your story. The only way to break free from poverty, and to release the flow is to let go. And letting go is scary, because letting go requires risk. Every time you make a choice to let go, you are acting in faith. And when you act in faith, you are exposing yourself to danger. When you are afraid, and you have no possibilities, you become tightfisted. You hold onto what you have because there will not be any tomorrow. And this is the heart of poverty. You become obsessed with cutting up and dividing a pie, but you have no thought about baking another one. I know the emotions that the woman experienced. She was being given a choice, to feed this stranger first, with the possibility of watching him eat her last bit of food before she died. Or to believe that this word was true and let go and believe that there would be enough. She was given the choice between life and death. And she made the choice to trust. And as she made that first cake for Elijah she looked in the jar, and there was more meal. And she made the second cake for her son, and she looked in the jar, and there was more meal. And she made a cake for herself and there was more meal. And there was more meal the next day, and the next day, and the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that, until the day that Elijah broke the curse on the land, and the water began to flow. The provision opened up for her, when she let go, put Elijah before herself, and trusted the word. It was a big risk, but it was what opened up the provision. In this instance, she moved from being the center of her own story, and became a player in a bigger story, the story God was writing with Elijah, the story God was writing with Israel, and the story that would become our Bible. Perspective is everything. If you are struggling with poverty, with limited possibilities, and a lack of cash, that is not the problem. Cash flow and provision and wealth are about the way you think. There is more than enough for all that God called you to. Would God call you to something that isn't supplied? Do not be like the Galatians who thought they had to add their work to the work of God in order to be in the Kingdom. I get a lot of emails from artists and creative people who just can't seem to get out of the poverty cycle. There are two critical things: getting in alignment with God's story, and listening to God. Sometimes God tells you to do weird things, like go to Zarephath. Sometimes God tells you to surrender, let go and then expect him to bless. Over the years I have heard the Lord ask me to give what seemed like a large amount of money, and then God released a financial miracle. God is very gracious with us and our weakness, but sometimes delayed obedience is disobedience. If God is asking your to do something, don't hold back, let it go. We are going to end this prayer with a prayer for release from poverty, and financial blessing. (You can hear the prayer on the audio.)
Christ John Otto writes at
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