by
Kraig J Rice
by
Kraig J Rice
Rev. Griffis' Father- groceries on the pourch
Bonnie Rice- money in the lid of the jar
Mina "Mom" Garrells- money on the sidewalk
Kraig Rice and Family- money in the envelope
A New Dress and Shoes by Vermeil Reddick
College Tuition by Dorothea Russell
Groceries Provided by the Lord by Dorothy Rugg
Pennies In The Till by Kraig J. Rice
How Will We Pay The Bills? By Dan Ray Crouch
"My walk often amounts to using God to solve my problems, as opposed to using my problems as reason to find God" |
Here are some testimonies of God giving provision(s) to His children. Each one is from a credible source. I have included some personal testimonies and also some from the Pentecostal Evangel Magazine from the Assemblies of God.
Human spirit fails
Rev. Griffis' Father- groceries on the pourch
Pastor Lenard Griffis, my late friend and pastor, shared another one of his testimonies with me...
"When I was growing up during the Great Depression Days around the year 1929, economic times were very hard.
My dad and mother were believers and we lived in a small town in Oklahoma. There was no work for my dad and one day we ran out of food to eat.
My dad and mother talked about it and decided to trust in the Lord.
My dad gathered his entire family around the supper table, each family member sitting in his place with an empty plate in front of him. There was no food on the table. My dad said the blessing thanking God in faith for the food He was going to provide.
No sooner had he finished praying when a knock came at the door. When we opened the door there were several bags of groceries on the porch, but there was no one in sight.
We lived several miles out in the country and it would have been easy to spot whoever left the groceries but we saw no one.
We all knew that God had provided that food for us!"
Bonnie Rice- money in the lid of the jar
"There is a place in the religious experience where we love God for Himself alone, with never a thought of His benefits"
Mina "Mom" Garrells- money on the sidewalk
Trials are not enemies of faith
Kraig Rice and Family- money in the envelope
My wife and I had read a book on George Muller, an Englishman in the nineteenth century, who had founded an orphanage on faith. Those were also the days of the faith missionaries when missionaries went on the foreign field with no visible means of support and God sustained them. George Muller had a philosophy. He would never ask a human being for money. Rather, he would only ask God for money while praying in his prayer closet. What were the results? The bills at the orphanage were paid and all of the orphans- hundreds of them- never missed a meal. I encourage you to read a book on George Muller sometime if you want to increase your faith.
Like George Muller, I agonized before the Lord in prayer. In response to our prayers, because my wife and children were praying too, God gave me a dream one night, but it was more like a vision. In the dream I saw the throne of God with God sitting on it. In his hand He had a white envelope full of money. He summoned an angel to approach Him. Then God gave the envelope to the angel with instructions to deliver it to me.
When I awoke the next morning I told my wife about my dream. We were sure it was a communication from God to us. We were sure that the answer to our prayers was on the way. On the earth God has no hands except human hands. I knew the Lord was going to use a human to work through but I just didn't know who or when. So we waited about 3 days. Delay does not mean denial. No one knew about our needs because we had told no one except God.
Then I got a phone call from my friend, Cal Midgley, who lived about 120 miles away from me. I hadn't seen him in awhile. He told me that he wanted to see me and wanted me to drive over. I had enough gasoline in the car to make the trip so I drove over to his house. We had fellowship in the Lord and then he handed me a white envelope full of cash money. The envelope looked identical to the one I had seen in God's hand. Cal told me that he felt "impressed of the Lord" to donate the money to me. I was sure glad that he was obedient. I never told him about my need after I got the money but I did tell him "thank you". The divine blessing in a transaction like that is always on the giver and not on the receiver. And it was the good Lord who I thanked in my prayer closet as well. He never let George Muller down. He has never changed. He didn't let me and my family down. And He won't let you down either if you will only trust Him completely with pure motives.
The amount of money was just enough to supply all of our needs for about a month or so. Wow, was I relieved. That money had come just at the right time. We praised God for being our Jehovah Jireh.
Life is like an echo
A New Dress and Shoes by Vermeil Reddick
I was the oldest of five children, and money was tight. Daddy said he could possibly buy one, but there was no way we could afford both. If I bought the shoes, I would be the only one with a different color dress; but if I bought the dress, I would stand out at the graduation in my black shoes. I searched for a way to earn some money, but nothing was available. So I talked to the Lord about it.
A few days later an elderly neighbor called me over to her house. She said, "I don't know what your need is, but the Lord has impressed me to give you some money." She reached under the mattress and handed me a $20 bill. I told her I couldn't possibly take the money. Her answer was: "Honey, the Lord spoke to me to give you this money. If I obey Him, I will be blessed. So if you take the money, we will both be blessed. But if you refuse it, both of us will miss a blessing."
Reluctantly, but thankfully, I accepted the money. In 1944, that $20 bought both the dress and shoes.
I marveled then and still do that the Lord was concerned about a young girl having a white dress and shoes for her graduation."
This article quoted from the
God has no hands
College Tuition by Dorothea Russell
We had a commitment that we would not go into debt if at all possible, so we started saving for our son's college education when he was small. We had used the last of the saved college money to pay for his third year in the spring of 1998. God would have to provide. Our son was willing to work extra and take a little longer if necessary. We would do what we could to help, but no student loans.
About a week before the summer tuition was due, we received a check that was within a few dollars of what was needed. The money came from the well being redrilled. It had come in as the second largest gas well in Oklahoma history to that date. We continue receiving monthly checks that we save until the next semester's tuition is due.
Ten years before we knew to ask for Gods help, He saw down the road and provided."
This article quoted from the
Don't point a finger
Groceries Provided by the Lord by Dorothy Rugg
Two days before her birthday, a knock came on our door. There was a lady with two big boxes of groceries. It was someone we hardly knew who came from a totally different area and would not have known of our need. On top of the groceries were pork chops.
He meets our needs but also goes way beyond."
This article quoted from the
You are God's beloved
Pennies In The Till by Kraig J. Rice
I stopped at his store one night to get a cup of coffee to keep me awake on my all night run. We talked about the Lord and had fellowship but he was worried. I asked him what he was worried about and he told me that he was short of pennies in his cash drawer. He only had two pennies left or so, so he asked me to take a dollar bill and go to the rest of the stores around that area that were still open to see if I could buy some for him as he could not leave the store unattended. I did that but came back empty handed. The reason he was worried was that if he could not make correct change to his customers then it could reflect on his character and threaten his job security.
So I suggested that we pray. Our prayer request was that God would give him plenty of pennies that night and and that he never run out of pennies again after that. We held hands and prayed that prayer right there in his store after some customers left. Then I had to leave but I told him I would be back the next night to see what God would do. The next night he was beaming as he gave me the testimony. Lots of pennies came in the rest of that night from customers and he was never short. Furthermore, when Walter's boss came in the next morning, Walter told him about what God had done. Walter's boss said he would keep a supply of pennies on hand in the store from then on out- and Walter has never run short of pennies again. This story happened several years ago.
Trust God for the little things. Then it may help to trust God for the big things.
When God ordains
How Will We Pay The Bills? By Dan Ray Crouch
The winter had been difficult for the small church I was pastoring. The cost of the new building, heating bills, and the usual winter attendance problems had made a shambles of our budget.
My heart was at a low ebb as I sat looking at the bills screaming to be paid. Our abilities seemed so small! Unless God worked a miracle, it would take us a long time to catch up, and there were still 2 months of winter weather ahead! "0 Lord," I prayed, "what can we do?"
Just then the church treasurer knocked on the office door. He wanted to know how we would handle the finances for the missionary who would be speaking in the evening service.
"What do you think we should do?" I asked.
"Let's not hold back anything," he responded. "God will meet our needs."
God had already met many needs. The new building in which we were meeting was the proof of God's power to meet needs. When every bank in the county had refused us financial aid because of our size, God had laid it on our district council to loan us an unprecedented amount of money.
And how could I forget driving to an old farmhouse where I received a check to pay for the furnishings in the sanctuary? The elderly man could not attend many services because of his health, but he said God had told him what amount he should give. It was exactly the amount we needed!
"Yes," I replied, "let's not hold back! We'll handle the finances just like we normally do."
No sooner had the treasurer gone than a new sense of desperation tried to grip my heart. It seemed such an impossibility for the bills to be paid on time.
I read my Bible while awaiting the arrival of the speaker. My eyes fell on familiar verses in Genesis chapter 17. It was the story of a difficult time in the life of Abram. God had made him many promises and had been faithful, yet one promise remained unfulfilled. God had promised Abram a son. But he was now an old man, and he had no heir except for the son of his wife's handmaid. He knew it was not the will of God for Ishmael to be his heir.
His heart was in a turmoil! How could the promise come to pass? He was too old to have another son. It seemed impossible!
However, God spoke to him, giving him reassurance: "Abram, I am the Almighty God"
The words of the chapter took on new meaning for me. The All-sufficient God would meet the needs facing us. He had met Abraham, and He would answer us!
Once again someone was knocking on the office door. I opened it, and a member of the congregation handed me an envelope and then made his way to the sanctuary.
Opening the envelope, I noticed the enclosure was from a family that did not attend the church. The note folded around the check stated simply, "Use where most needed!"
As I looked at the amount on the check, these words came again: "I am the All-sufficient God." The $2,000 would go a long way in helping us catch up!
The bills on my desk suddenly stopped screaming and grew very quiet and small. They were only another lesson in faith— another way in which I could learn more about my God, the All-sufficient One!"
This article quoted from the
www.breadonthewaters.com
unless
The Holy Spirit fills
One mannerism around our house in Lodi, California in 1985 was for my wife to take our food money and place it in a jar. The jar had been empty for quite some time but one day my wife decided to check it anyway. When she took the lid off of the jar there was a $20.00 bill stuck to the inside of it. It had not been there before and so she came and asked me if I had put it there. I told her no- that I did not have any money. She said she had not put it there and that if she had, it would not have stuck to the inside of the lid. Then we both realized that the good Lord had put it there and praised Him for it. We bought some food with it that month and so all in all God met all our needs.
- A.W. Tozer
In 1967 "Mom" Garrells (Norfolk, Virginia) related to me the true story, when years previous, she ran out of food to eat. She knew God loved her and that he was true to His promises, so she decided to leave this matter in God's capable hands. She prayed about it and as she left her house and was walking down the sidewalk, a five-dollar bill came tumbling down the sidewalk, blown by the wind, and wrapped around her ankle. She thanked the Lord for it, bought food with it, and gave Him the glory.
but
are opportunities to prove God's faithfulness
There were five of us living in my family in the fall of 1988. We were living on faith with no visible source of income. My ministry had very little money coming in- not enough to live on. I was suffering from a damaged right ankle and could not work a secular job. We had bills coming due. We liked to eat on a regular basis. We were between a rock and a hard place. In the normal our circumstances looked hopeless and had us checkmated.
What you send out
You receive back
"In spring 1944 I was looking forward to my high school graduation. Since we would not receive our caps and gowns before the baccalaureate service, the girls were asked to wear white dresses and shoes for the baccalaureate and to wear white shoes to the graduation exercises.
PENTECOSTAL EVANGEL, NOVEMBER 12, 2000, number 4514, page 20
written by Vermeil Reddick, Mustang, Oklahoma
But our hands
"In 1988, our son was 12 years old. I worked as an accountant for a man who had many business interests, including oil and gas holdings. He gave me a bonus that year of a small working interest in a gas well he was drilling in Oklahoma. The well was drilled, but was never very productive. In fact, my interest was so small that after the expenses were paid, I did not get a check.
PENTECOSTAL EVANGEL, NOVEMBER 12, 2000, number 4514, page 20
written by Dorothea Russell, Watauga, Texas
Lend a hand
"My husband and I were pioneering a home missions church. Sometimes we received a salary and sometimes we did not. Our daughters birthday was coming up. I had asked Hannah what she wanted for her birthday supper. She said she wanted pork chops, twice-baked potatoes, a vegetable and cream puffs. I told her we didn't have the money to buy meat but that we would pray. She and I prayed and thanked God for taking care of us— and she asked for pork chops.
PENTECOSTAL EVANGEL, NOVEMBER 12, 2000, number 4514, page 20
written by Dorothy Rugg, Dalton, Pa.
I drive an 18 wheeler semi-truck for a living. My friend, Walter Fennell, works at night in a convenience store as a cashier in Coalinga, Calif. Walter is 2 weeks older than I am. He graduated from the North West College of the Assemblies of God and I graduated from Bethany University of the Assemblies of God.
He sustains
"Bills! Bills! Bills! My desk seemed covered with them.
(Hebrew, El Shaddai— the All-sufficient God). And it was not long until Isaac was conceived.
PENTECOSTAL EVANGEL, NOVEMBER 25, 1979, page 11
Written By DAN RAY CROUCH who was Pastor of Christian Assembly, Middletown, Ohio, at that time.
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