For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’
(1 Kings 17:14)
It’s a vivid memory I’ll never forget. It was March 1977. My wife, Renee and I were going to get married in the fall of that year. I was being forced out of the place I was renting because the owner needed the house back.
It seemed like the perfect time to look for a house for Renee and I to buy. We couldn’t find one we both liked until one day when I wasn’t looking, there it was. As I was driving down a street when I saw a house with a “for sale” sign that I knew was our future home.
I stopped immediately and looked at it. I loved it. Renee looked at it that night. She loved it. We put in a bid the next day and we got it. What I haven’t included here is ten pages of miraculous signs and wonders that complete this story.
You know what I mean. It seems like so many people I talk to have miracle stories around the purchase of their homes!
If anyone had asked me if I believed that the house was God’s will for us, I would have said, “without a doubt.” I was so confident that it was hard to understand when I suddenly got laid off from my job because of a strike just two weeks later.
Someone asked me prior to the strike, “Do you think there will be a strike?” “Absolutely not,” I said, “The Lord wouldn’t have had me buy this house if there was going to be a strike!”
Well, I was right and I was wrong. The Lord did have me buy that house. It was His will. But there was a strike. God simply wasn’t deterred from providing my needs because of a strike. I just didn’t know that.
When the strike happened, I sat down with Renee and cried – just like a baby! Why? Because I let myself be overwhelmed with fear over the circumstances.
When Renee and I began to pray, there was a comfort that came over me like a blanket. The Lord was speaking to me letting me know that everything was going to be fine and that I just needed to follow His leading.
I knew then that He’d show me what to do. I’d just have to walk it out. His voice brought peace. Immediately. I was in so much peace that my peace came on Renee. My faith lifted her faith. Our agreement was strong and we expected that God would show us what to do.
It was less than three months later that we’d have to have the closing costs on this house we were buying.
We didn’t know what was coming, but as a couple, it was the real first test of our faith walk together. We later called this one of many “Adventures in Faith” that we would experience together.
“Adventures” like this are never any easier to walk out than your ability to stay close to the Lord. You either feel like you are walking across a busy intersection by yourself with a blindfold on, or you feel like you are walking across a busy intersection with a blindfold with the Lord walking by your side tightly gripping your arm and leading you.
There is still a feeling of caution in either instance but with the Lord you have the sense of trust and peace where you would otherwise feel terrified.
One of the many places the Lord led me to meditate was 1 Kings 17:14, which says, “For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.'”
This is a story of a widow and her son at the time of the end of their natural provision. There was no more. They were going to eat their last meal and then she thought they’d die of starvation.
The prophet Elijah came to their home and asked her to give him a meal feeding him first before she and her son ate.
Can you imagine that? What kind of story and expose’ would the news media do on that horrible abusive religious kook? Asking not just a woman – but a widow for her last meal – to the exclusion of her and her son?
Every network broadcast would have a hay day on what they would consider this to be – abuse.
The woman did as Elijah asked. She exercised her faith. She fed Elijah first as an act of her faith. She knew blessing Elijah was blessing God. When she did, she discovered her first miracle beginning. Her oil did not run out but instead only increased.
Only God can do that. God has a system of finance and blessing that does not fit into the realm of reasonable explanation. The miracles flow from there. The news networks will never understand it!
Our miracle came as God led me to start my first business – a painting company. That’s another long miraculous story but the short of it was, I made double the income I would have made at my job.
I had always tithed my income to God. He blessed us back. It was more than provision. It was a time of great adventures in faith.
Are walking out these tests ever easy? Not usually. Peace comes in staying close to the Lord and leaning on the promises of His Word.
I feel a tighter and tighter grip of His love and guidance as He walks me through busy intersections, even though I may be blindfolded. For God’s righteousness – the working of His grace, mercy, divine provision and help, are walked out and grow in us from one adventure in faith to another.
As Romans 1:17 says, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.'”
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Timothy Burt is a pastor, author, and writer. He is best known as the author of Fresh Manna, a daily devotional and online Bible study.
Pastor Tim became a part of the leadership team at Living Word Christian Center in 1984 and was an Associate Pastor from 1989 until May 31st, 2017. He and His wife Renee, also a Pastor at Living Word, resigned after being a part of Living Word for 33 years on May 31, 2017. They felt impressed by God to pursue the tremendous growth of their ministry "Fresh Manna," as well as teaching conferences and seminars and increasing their involvement in the mission field through Tim and Renee Burt Ministries. Tim has a Bachelor of Theology degree and is a Christian blogger who has been writing a daily inspirational and teaching devotion three days a week called "Fresh Manna" for the past 22 years. It has been read in over 227 countries (official countries and territories). Tim was named one of the top 55 blogging Pastors. He is one of the top Social Media influencers in Minnesota with a strong presence on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TimBurt with over 187,000 followers. Between Tim's Fresh Manna Devotional and Twitter influence, he virally averages reaching over 4 million people daily with the gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of God.
Prior to working at LWCC, he worked at Northwest Airlines for 13 years. In 1985 he founded and was President of American Infant Care Products which marketed his patented invention, the first fold-down commercial infant changing table now used worldwide in public restrooms.
In their tenure at Living Word, Timothy Burt and his wife Renee created a Small Group Ministry when the church was about 800 people in size. Under the leadership of Sr. Pastors Mac and Lynne Hammond, the church grew to over 10,000 people. Pastor Tim and Renee led a diverse Small Group Ministry of over 200 groups. Tim also led weekly men's groups and a monthly Men's Breakfast of 250 plus men called Manhood for 27 years. Tim's responsibilities also included oversight over the Visitor and Member Relations Department, Leadership and Volunteer Development, and the Pastoral Care Department. Pastor Tim was also the Minnesota State Director of Christians United for Israel from 2006 thru 2017.
Tim and Renee are the parents of four children and have seven grandchildren. Tim loves to write, golf, run, and walk, and is a master gardener. He is a five-time marathon finisher. He is also a three-time award-winning gardener winning the Grand Prize in his city for his beautiful home garden and is a Master Gardener for the University of Minnesota's Master Gardener Extension Program.