Page 39 - The Divine Quest

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A few days later I was asking the Father for further confirmation, and I heard the
Spirit tell me to go to my computer and look up the first occurrence of the number
fourteen in Scripture. I typed the word ‘fourteen’ into my Bible program and ran a
search. A snippet of each verse that this word occurred in appeared on my screen,
and the very first one startled me. It said, “I have worked for you for fourteen years.”
This quote was from Genesis 31:41, and it was from Jacob’s conversation with his
father-in-law Laban as Jacob was leaving his household.

This was a tremendous thing that God was calling me unto. I did not personally
know any other saint, not even any minister, who was trusting God for their financial
provision in this way. I had been raised among churches whose members lived by
sight, and where faith was a rare commodity. I lacked the confidence that would have
been mine had I seen numerous examples of others who were living in this way.

I did leave my job, and for eighteen months our family lived in complete dependence
upon the Father. I could fill many pages recounting the miraculous provision we saw,
and one day I hope to do so. Yet, despite all of this, I continued to struggle in my
faith. The main reason was that I was receiving much discouragement from other
saints and ministers, telling me that the way I was living was unscriptural. I received
many accusations and condemnations of this walk of faith. I was carrying around
many wounds that I had received from the hands of the brethren. I had even been
put out of the church I was ministering in for preaching a message of faith, and for
living it out by my example. This was the most difficult thing, as the ministers who
rejected me were close brothers whom I had shared many experiences with, and who
had at one time declared their intention to follow God in faith wherever He led.

So after eighteen months of struggle I asked the Father to give me a tent-making
occupation as Paul had in order to take away my reproach and give me time to heal.
He miraculously opened up a job teaching computer concepts to college students,
and this had the effect of removing the reproach I was receiving from all quarters. It
also gave me the time I needed to heal from many hurts, so that I might go and rejoin
the battle again. The job was to last for two years, though the Father began slowly
drying up the stream to teach me to not trust in the job for my provision, but to trust
Him instead. When I first began the job I was given thirty hours a week to teach, and
this was adequate to pay for all of our needs. After about nine months my hours were
reduced to twenty hours a week, and after another nine months my hours were
reduced to ten hours a week.

Working ten hours a week was insufficient to meet the needs of a family of four, as
it barely paid our rent at the time. Yet the Father made up what we were lacking in
a variety of ways. We never knew lack in food, clothing, shelter, or any good and