Page 74 - Evidence of Things Unseen

A Fresh Start

e arrived back in Georgia and returned to stay with our friends, the Barnes family. I
Wtold Tony what the Lord had spoken to me about getting our finances in order, but she
was terrified about the prospect of declaring bankruptcy. I told her we were shortly going
to be forced into it anyways, by our creditors, and I was certain this was what the Lord had
directed me to do.
We made an appointment to see a bankruptcy attorney, and on the drive there I told
Tony that the Spirit had spoken to me that morning and told me that I was to pack up our
possessions, for we were going to be moving. Tony was incredulous upon hearing this
remark and suggested that what I needed to be doing was finding a job. She knew we did
not even have the money to rent a place, and she asked me where we were going to move
to. I told her that I did not know, but I had heard the Spirit tell me to pack and I was going
to begin packing the next day.
I was reminded of a story the prophet Jeff Burke had shared some years earlier. The
Lord spoke to Jeff and told him He was going to show him what it was like to live as
possessing all things, though owning nothing. A short time later Jeff received a phone call
from a friend who had just built a new house on a lake. As soon as the house was built his
friend learned that he was to be transferred out of the country for a year by his employer,
and he asked Jeff if he and his family would like to live there for a year at no cost. I told
Tony that if God could provide a house for them in such a remarkable manner that He could
do so for us as well.
We arrived at the attorney’s office, and we learned some things about bankruptcy I
had never heard before. The right to declare bankruptcy had been written into the laws of
the United States as a right for all citizens, and it was partially a response to the debtors’
prisons that had existed in Europe. One form of Bankruptcy is Chapter 7, and it is
commonly referred to as “Fresh Start.” God had told me that He was going to give us a fresh
start, so this was a great confirmation to me. We would give our house and van back to the
creditors, and all of our outstanding debts would be made null and void.
I wondered about the Biblical precedence for such an action, and the Spirit reminded
me of the law of Jubilee in Scripture. Every fiftieth year all land was to return to its original
owners, all countrymen who had sold themselves as slaves were to be set free, and all debts
forgiven (Leviticus 25). This was a remarkable law that God had ordained for Israel that had
no precedence in any of the other nations. The year of Jubilee was called a year of release,
and every form of bondage that an Israelite could be subject to was to be canceled in this
fiftieth year. Around this time, we went with our friends the Barnes’ to visit a church they
attended, and I noticed a large banner across one wall that proclaimed that it was the year
of Jubilee. The Spirit was proving that it would be one for us.
After paying the lawyer the entire fee for the bankruptcy proceeding, we were told that
we would be assigned a date to show up in bankruptcy court, and they would notify us of
the date. We headed back to our friends’ house, and I told Tony once more that I was going
to begin packing the next day as God had told me to do.
That evening Tony went out with Barbara, and everyone else scattered in different
directions, leaving me home alone. I used the time to pray. I was confessing to the Lord that
I had done what He had instructed me to do by filing for bankruptcy, and that I was going
to begin packing in the morning, even though I had no money to rent a place, and I did not