For those that may think that miracles don’t happen in our time, this may be a difficult story to accept, but it has happened before and it has happened again! Our God is sovereign and He will do what He decides to do when it is the right time to do so. We find one of the accounts of Jesus doing this very thing in John 6:
Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do…”Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down, and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” Therefore they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” John 6:5-6, 10-14
A story told me the last time Pastor R called me, was of a wonderful account of God sovereignly stepping in and making a provision that very much resembled the Biblical account recorded by the Apostle Matthew in the above reference. The story goes something like this:
In northern Syria, in one of the large refugee camps where sisters Mufiedah and Fadwa have embedded themselves, the supplies of food, medicines, water, and most of the necessities necessary for the survival of the refugees had run out. The people had not had anything to eat for several days and starvation was beginning to set in. This is when the Father spoke to sister Sarah, telling her to put together everything she could and follow the instructions the Holy Spirit was giving her.
The House of Blessing missionaries have learned long ago not to question what that still small voice inside urges them to do and so this is exactly what Sarah did. She was able to gather about 70 kg of lintels, 5 kg of salt, 25 kg of wheat, and some water. She was then directed to prepare a special soup for the people.
Sarah’s helpers got firewood together and built some fires.. Sarah then began putting the ingredients together and preparing the soup. At the same time, others took the wheat and prepared a kind of thick flat bread that would look much like large tortillas.
As the soup was being prepared, two or three very large bowls were set up in preparation for people to come and get their soup. When enough had been prepared to begin distributing, everyone stopped to pray and ask the Lord to bless the food. While they were asking a blessing over the food, they also asked the Lord to slow down the snow storm enough for the people to be able to get the food and take it back to their families.
The people were lined up in very long lines, some who had bowls for three children, some four, others for five or more. The Lord answered their prayers and the snow nearly stopped and turned into a light rain instead. As the soup was dished out to the hundreds who had lined up, and more was being prepared, those doing the preparing ran out of available water. Without water it would be impossible to make more soup! But, they had prayed, and had trusted God from the very beginning! God would not fail them now!
It was about that time that they noticed one of the tents near the location where the food preparation was being done, had sprung a roof leak. The strange thing about this leak was that it ran inside the tent as if through a funnel. Those preparing the soup were able to collect the rainwater and so continue preparing the soup! Some might say this was a coincidence, but, if you were to ask the missionaries who were there preparing the food, they would not agree! This was GOD’s doing!
The HOB missionaries continued distributing the soup and flatbread for over 3 ½ hours until they had fed over 7,000 people, and they had not yet run out!. They quickly got word out that they still had more soup and bread to give away and by the time it was over, 3,000 more had come and were blessed with God’s amazing provision! This however was not the complete story of what God did that day!
It was not long until the missionaries began receiving reports that people who received God’s miraculous provision were not only fed, but were also healed! The bread and soup that God had provided was healing hundreds! The refugee camps have had a major problem with the flu, diarrhea, bronchitis, severe colds, and many other ailments—many of them due to exposure to the elements. It is important to recognize that most of the people in these lines receiving the food were unbelievers. These folks experienced the love of God in a very literal, visible, miraculous demonstration…one that could only come from the Almighty Himself! And now, the harvest of souls is just beginning to come in! Isn’t God good?? Praise His Name forever!
In conclusion, please pray for the entire community of House of Blessing believers in the Middle East. They are living through very trying times, and because of what the Bible tells us concerning what is about to unfold, it is not going to get easier. But, God watches and takes care of His people. The return of the Messiah is imminent!
For those that would like to help with the ministry of the House of Blessing, please note the convenient PayPal button on the homepage of this website. All funds go to the work of the missionaries. There is no paid staff. Thank you all, and above all, please pray for the entire community of the House of Blessing! God has answered your prayers and will continue to do so! It has never been more critical than it is today! Again, thank you so very much!
Forever in His Service,
Jake