Laughter In The Time Of Famine (Part 1)

GOG - 19 - 256 - 2019: Laughter In The Time Of Famine (Part 1)

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Laughter

Famine in the time of

(Part 1)

Pastor Nkechi Ene (Mrs.) 25 And there was a great famine in Samaria; and indeed they besieged it until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and onefourth of a kab of dove droppings for ?ive shekels of silver.

26 Then, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!”

27 And he said, “If the Lord does not help you, where can I ?ind help for you? From the threshing ?loor or from the winepress?”

28 Then the king said to her, “What is troubling you?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’

29 So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.”

2 Kings 6:25-29.

The two women had agreed on eating their children. One of them brought her son and they boiled him and ate. The other woman was to bring her son for them to also boil him and eat like they did the other woman’s son, but she hid her son. The Bible didn’t say why she hid her son. It may be that she was hiding her son from being slaughtered, maybe she had a rethink.

What if it wasn’t. What if it was because she wanted to eat him all by herself, so that the meat will last a longer time. Awful right? Everybody, including the children are on their own during the time of famine.

In this article and the next, we will be looking at the different stimuli that the time of famine presents to you. These stimuli when you recognize and deal with them in line with the Word of God, set you on the right part to enjoy laughter in the time of famine.

1 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.”

2 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which ?lows into the Jordan.

4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

5 So he went and did according to the Word of the Lord, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which ?lows into the Jordan.

6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.

7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you."

10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called

The Stimulus Of Sel.ishness The ?irst thing about a time of famine is that it is a time when everyone looks out for themselves and begin to ?ight the progress of other people. Enemies are also easily made because people who were your friends, quickly become your enemies. In other words, everyone is on their own. Even the leaders cannot help you. The Scripture in 2 Kings 6:26 says, the woman cried out to the king, “Help, O Lord my king!” but the king replied, “If the Lord cannot help you, where will I help you from? Is it from the empty threshing ?loor or from the empty winepress?” In a famine situation, sel?ishness becomes magni?ied.

The Stimuli Of Fear And Insecurity

to her and said, "Please bring me a little water in a cup that I may drink."

11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, "Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand."

12 So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of ?lour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die."

13 And Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it ?irst, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.

1 Kings 17:1-13

Another thing you need to know about the time of famine is that it is a time of fear and insecurity and the spirit of fear reigns supreme. The meaning of the acronym FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real.

This woman was so afraid that Elijah had to tell her, “Do not be afraid.” God is saying the same thing to you today, “Do not be afraid.” In a time of famine, anything that can possibly have just a small probability of going wrong is magni?ied by fear. You may ?ind yourself imagining things like your children’s school fees will be raised because it has happened before; or the landlord may have doubled the rent, and everything that can possibly go wrong.

This makes fear and insecurity to reign in the time of famine, and Elijah had to say to her not to fear. Is it not interesting that the woman said, “We are going to eat this and die?” When you are so gripped with fear, all that you can see in front of you is inevitable death, as far as you are concerned, but it is that fear that has so gripped you that is making you to rush towards death. God’s Word to you is that

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GOG - 19 - 256 - 2019: Laughter In The Time Of Famine (Part 1)

you shall not die! “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord” (Psalm 118:17). Hallelujah!

The Stimulus Of Threatened Seed God said to Elijah, “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). If God said to Elijah that He had commanded a widow woman there to provide for him, that simply means the woman heard the command!

God would not say, “I have commanded her,” if the woman did not hear God’s command to her; she received the command. The woman, therefore, was expecting the man of God and she knew what she was supposed to do when he comes. However, in the time o f fa m i n e , yo u r s e e d b e c o m e s threatened. There are two things you will do if you are to respond to this stimuli

feeling very good that she had an opportunity to serve God with a glass of water, but God said, “Stop! Come b a c k , t ha t is n ot wha t I have commanded you to give.”

You must recognize this stimuli when fear begins to tell you that what you have preproposed to do for God will not work.

Maybe you decided that you would start paying 20% tithe and then, the in?lation gets worse, and you say, ”Well Lord, you know, it was my heart’s desire before the in?lation, but now I can’t afford it.” When your seed is threatened to be reduced,

www.thecarpenterschurch.org Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

15 So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, "Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed."

Genesis 47:13-15

In the time of famine, money fails you.

This is because the value of money is not constant; it ?luctuates and when this happens, money becomes useless to you.

Therefore, it would be foolishness to make a god of something that fails. The only way it becomes useful is when you incorporate it into a system that works. If you put your

rationed or arranged into your plans; recognize that this is a natural stimulus you receive in the time of famine. God says, “No. What I have commanded you to

focus on money, it will fail you. I can con?idently tell you that I don’t pay attention to money.

do is what you ought to do.” In the time of famine, your seed becomes bread and satis?ies your belly. Are you beginning to

Back in the days, when you buy, you sell, you collect your money and then you plan, b u t t h a t d o e s n' t wo rk anymore. This good old system of buying and selling with cash does not

where your seed becomes threatened in a famine situation. They are: you could either reduce and

work anymore and the world’s solution to this cash failure is getting into

ration your seed that God who knew it was a time of famine commanded you

a credit system. Credit cards are the in thing now and when you get one, you

to give, or you could eat your seed completely.

feel very modern and sophisticated. That is the world’s response to the stimuli of failed money

This woman has received a command from God to cook for the man of God when he comes. I can tell you that when God, who is all knowing gave this woman this command, He had looked into her store and saw the handful of ?lour and the little jar of oil.

So, God knew what was there, yet He gave the command to her to feed the man of God, but because it is a time of famine where everybody is on their own and fear reigned supreme, the woman refused and rationed her seed.

That is why when Elijah said to her, “Go and get me some water,” she was very excited because that request was within the rationing that she could afford, but that was not what God had commanded her to do. She rushed off,

see the picture of a famine situation? I know that I am talking to people whose faith have been built up over the months and over the years, and have seen what God has done for them, and they have great plans for their seed but because their seed have turned into bread, all they can see is, “I’ve got a hungry son. Let me just eat this and go and die,” and you begin to ration and reduce it. That’s the stimulus of a famine situation.

The Failed Money System Stimulus 13 Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.

14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of

system. Money fails, so you have to get your eyes off money and if all you receive as a revelation, is to put all your focus on money whenever the topic of prosperity and ?inance are being talked about, then you have to receive a revelation today that will explode in your spirit. This will cause you to take your eyes off money because money will fail you. If it failed in the time of Joseph in Egypt, I can tell you, it will fail you still.

The goodnews is that you can laugh in the time of famine, when you are plugged into the system that works. We will ?ind out more on how you can laugh even in the face of famine in the next article.

Watch out!

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