Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” (1 Kings 17:9 )

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On June 27, 2008, I wrote a devotional titled “Attention Grabbers” [http://yourdailyblessing.com/attention-grabbers/] talking about times in our lives when God reaches out in an extraordinary way to grab our attention.

Well I had one of those “Attention Grabbing” days on Sunday January 25. I believe that when this happens to me, God wants me to share His message with the world. So here you are. This is a wake up call for many of you too.

In the early morning on Jan 25, I had one of the richest 2-way prayer times of my life. Some of it is too personal to share with all of you, so I’ll just share a few snippets.

My prayer began like this, “Lord Jesus, thank You for the financial wake up call yesterday at the SPC Financial Workshop that Matt led.” When I wrote out … I realized my behavior must change dramatically.”

After several more paragraphs of pouring out my heart to Jesus, He responded, “Randy, you’ve been like Elijah at the Brook Cherith watching the stream dry up. Now the stream is dry and it’s time to move on. I bless you with joy and peace and love that won’t let go. I bless you with deeper knowledge of the Father’s love. I bless you with a steadfast faith. I bless you with the dreams and visions your heart goes after.” That prompted me to find the scripture (1Ki 17:1-9) about Elijah being at the Brook Cherith and being commanded to a poor widow to be provided for.

1Ki 17:1-9 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”

After pasting that scripture into my two-way prayer entry, I continued my fruitful dialog with Jesus. Then I go to Soul Purpose Church (SPC) for the 10:30 am worship service and Matt preaches a fantastic sermon titled “Giving ALL The Props Away.” In that, he talks about giving everything we have to God and then shares these “4 P’s of Giving” from Andy Stanley’s book “Fields of Gold:”

1) Priority giving – Giving to God before anything else
2) Percentage giving – 10% is a good start
3) Progressive giving – Keep growing as a giver
4) Prompted giving – Additional spontaneous giving as God leads

Who shows up at SPC for the first time in a long time? Beth Spangler, Ryan (her boyfriend), and Beth’s two kids. Now Beth happened to be one of my first 3 JIREH Marketing (Web 2.0) apprentices who began a 3 month commitment on Sat Jan 11 along with Matt. God is making Beth a trophy of his redemptive and restorative power. She has a phenomenal testimony of deliverance after 10 years of addiction.

During his sermon, Matt told a story of a guy walking in a desert by himself. Everywhere the man looks is sand. It’s impossible to tell distances. He has completely used up his water supply and is quickly becoming dehydrated. All of a sudden he sees what looks like an oasis in the distance. But he’s not sure if it’s real of a mirage. As he gets closer, it becomes apparent the oasis is real. When he enters the oasis with Palm trees, he finds a well with one bottle of water and a note that reads, “Read this and follow the instructions before doing anything else.” The note instructs him to pour the entire bottle of water down the well, which will prime the pump, make the well work, and supply all his water needs and the needs of the next traveler to come this way.

What would you do? You’re dying of thirst. You have a bottle of water which you desperately want. And you have this note from someone you don’t know asking you to trust him. Well, the man pours all the water down the well and sure enough, the pump gets primed, and all his water needs are met.

Around 2 pm I got home from SPC, ate lunch, and then decided to watch TV for 30 minutes. That’s very unusual for me on a Sunday. When I turned on the TV, I was prompted to switch to TBN (Trinity Broadcast Network). I ended up listening to a 30 minute message titled “When The Impossible Meets God” by a pastor I’ve never seen before in my life. That pastor shared the same story about the man and well that Matt had just shared a few hours earlier. The scripture he used was 2 Kings 4:1-7 about Elisha (Elijah’s disciple) and a widow.

2 Kings 4:1 A certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And the creditor is coming to take my two sons to be his slaves.” So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” Then he said, “Go, borrow vessels from everywhere, from all your neighbors-empty vessels; do not gather just a few. “And when you have come in, you shall shut the door behind you and your sons; then pour it into all those vessels, and set aside the full ones.” So she went from him and shut the door behind her and her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured it out. Now it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, “Bring me another vessel.” And he said to her, “There is not another vessel.” So the oil ceased. Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”

Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, over the past 8 years since committing my life to Jesus, I’ve given everything I have to You. I’ve watched my retirement account dwindle down from $1.6 million to practically nothing while loving You with all my heart, my mind, my soul, and my strength. I’ve followed and obeyed You to the best of my ability, trusting in You completely. I’ve sought Your Kingdom and righteousness first nearly every day for the past 8 years and I’ve shared the love of Jesus in a transparent everywhere I’ve gone. Julia and I have manifested strong faith for tough times. Now we’re desperate for a financial miracle and depend on You to lead us to a widow to provide for us. Jesus, thank You for bringing me to your city of refuge. I love You so much. Amen and hallelujah!

Blessings to surrender all you have to God!

God’s Blessings of the Day

1) When The Impossible Meets God -outstanding video sermon by Pastor Jeff Schreve

2) “SEO Is Simple” FREE webinar at 11 am EST today (Tuesday January 27, 2009)

3) “Experiencing God Through Journaling: Write The Vision Down” FREE webinar at 6 pm EST today (Tuesday January 27, 2009)

One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple. (Psalm 27:4)

Where do you find peace in the midst of the financial storm?

Our nation in under the judgment of God. We are seeing the consequences of years of greed, selfishness, immorality, etc. The potential ramifications of the current financial storm are much worse than the terrorist attacks of 9-11 or Hurricane Katrina.

Two weeks ago, we witnessed our federal government scramble to come up with a $700 billion bailout plan for some of our major banks despite three fourths of Americans being opposed to that.

According to an article at Forbes.com yesterday evening, “The stock market finished mixed on Friday (Oct 10), capping off a gruesome week that wiped out $2.4 trillion from the stock market as investors grew fearful about stubbornly tight credit and the prospect of a severe recession. The Dow Jones industrial average, after eight consecutive daily losses, finished at its lowest level since April 2003, and suffered its worst weekly percentage loss ever.”

For the week, the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq are down 18%, 15%, and 15% respectively. For the year, the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq are down 36%, 39%, and 39% respectively.

If we add this up, that’s a loss of more than $3 trillion for Americans in two weeks. If we divide this large amount by 100+ million households in America, that’s $30,000 per household. But the loss around the world is much greater than that because the U.S. crisis has shaken the stock markets in Europe and Asia as well. The Forex (Foreign Exchange) is the largest market in the world and trades daily about five times what the U.S. stock and bond markets do combined.

If you research the underlying factors in the current U.S. financial crisis, you will discover that our foundations are much worse than they were before the Great Depression in 1929. Now superimpose all the greed, selfishness, immorality, etc so prevalent in our nation and we have a recipe for disaster. In just one day, each of us can lose everything financially that we have saved for so long.

Our government doesn’t have a clue to what it’s purpose is anymore. It’s grown to the point where it’s trying to be all things to all people. We have hundreds of thousands of laws that erode away at personal freedoms instead of building our foundation on the Ten Commandments which God gave us. One of those Commandments is “Thou shalt not covet!” Covetousness is a big reason why we are experience such a financial crisis.

OK, so where do you find PEACE in the midst of this financial storm? It’s in the house of the LORD as Psalm 27:4 describes above. It’s in prayer – communion with God. And praise is the prayer that changes everything. God inhabits His praises.

Yesterday evening after riding my bicycle 18 miles, I spent about 2 hours watching various “Jesus” and “praise” videos on GodTube first and then YouTube. Finally, I found one that I knew was the right one for this message. Watch it at today’s Link of the Day.

Prayer Power
LORD Jesus, we praise You as the God who offers peace in the midst of any storm. Barack Obama doesn’t have the answers. John McCain doesn’t have the answers. Our government doesn’t have the answers. Only You do. May each of us keep our eyes focused on You, Jesus. May we be bold and step out of the boat to walk on water and do what You have called us to do. May we live our lives on purpose – for You and not ourselves. May we prepare the way for Your soon coming. Thank You Jesus. Amen.

Link of the Day
Chris Tomlin – How great is our God – YouTube video with more than 2.3 million views

Blessings to find peace with Jesus in the midst of this storm!

“Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)

What if the life you really want is hidden in your biggest problem, your worst failure?

Yesterday I talked about how my God connection to GW Dameron led me to Mark Batterson’s personal blog and then to the Chase the Lion website. The slogan for Chase the Lion is “How to grab life by the mane.”

As I spent more time on the Chase the Lion website, I was so inspired by Mark’s messages and his child-like faith that I have decided to dedicated the next week and a half of my devotionals to these topics that Mark discusses:

Defying odds
Facing fears
Overcoming adversity
Embracing uncertainty
Taking risks
Seizing opportunities
Looking foolish

In today’s Flash video Link of the Day, Mark discusses “The Chasing Gene.” Kids love chasing things. Something happens as we get older – we stop chasing and start settling. We stop chasing our dreams and start surrendering to our fears, our adversity, and uncertainty.

Each of us has certain childhood memories that are unforgettable. These are moments in our lives where we really come alive. A lot of times they are obscure experiences, almost like screen savers in your mind. My question for you is:

What lion do you need to chase?
What fear do you need to face?
What uncertainty do you need to embrace?
What risk do you need to take?
What opportunity do you need to seize?

God is calling us out and calling us to more than just running away from what’s wrong. God is calling us to chase those God-ordained lions in our life. And when we do, there is no telling what God can do. Chase the lion!

Prayer Power
Heavenly Father, thank You for the “Chasing Gene” You have placed within each of us. Coach each of us to chase the lion – to grab life by the mane as we defy odds, face fears, overcome adversity, embrace uncertainty, take risks, seize opportunities, and sometimes look foolish in the process. Bless us to live adventurous lives manifesting child-like faith. Thank You Jesus. Amen and hallelujah!

Link of the Day
The Chasing Gene – Flash video by Mark Batterson

Blessings to grab life by the mane and manifest your chasing gene!