Over the last six years since I have been writing stories for the House of Blessing that come directly from the front lines of the mission field, there have been story after story of the amazing things God has done on behalf of His people. These stories are easily forgotten over time and many readers who have joined the blog mailing list have not read them at all. Below is a partial reprint of an update from 2014. Enjoy!
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June 14, 2014
…There were miracles that happened this last week, the details of which may bring you some joy. As I have shared before, there was a great need for $50,000 in order to make a half payment on the next 7,000 Bibles which God had told Pastor R he should order. Believing for this amount of money was a stretch for many people. HOB had never ordered this many at one time before, yet this is what God had said. These Bibles needed to be ordered in time to get them printed and distributed before the start of Ramadan on June 27th. Was God able to pull such a miracle off? Were we all able to trust God to meet this great of a need? Here is what happened:
A week or two ago, a sheikh that had become a believer in Messiah Jesus, had sold some acreage and over a dozen cows in order to raise money for the needed Bibles. He had been able to raise $20,000. He decided to keep just one of the cows, but really didn’t know why. As he went out as usual to milk this cow, he began to notice that she was always full of milk, no matter how often he went out to milk her. He soon found out that she was producing 5-6 times the normal amount of milk that she used to! So, he was able to take all these many gallons of milk to the widows so that they could make butter, cheese, etc. If one were not aware, they would miss the wonderful miracle that God was providing in very desperate times for these folks who had absolutely nothing. But, they did notice! And God was continuing to multiply the output of this one cow to meet the needs of a great many people! What a God we serve! It’s not much different than the miracle recorded in the Old Testament when God continued to supply oil for a poor widow as she obeyed the prophet when he told her what she should do
But, there was another miracle of provision this last week. Many of you will remember the story of Nabil and his wife (Feb. 25 & 28 update)–who became a widow when her husband, a former head sheikh Nabil, was martyred. She had a dream one night about Nabil, her dead husband, appearing to her and telling her that she needed to go to the corner of their house nearest a tree that was just outside of the house. She was to dig into the ground at the corner of the house about half a meter deep and look for something. She didn’t pay attention to the dream, thinking it meant nothing. But, then she dreamed the same thing a second time…and then again a third night. After dreaming this three times in a row, she prayed and asked God if there was anything to the three dreams and what she should do! The Lord urged her to do what the dream said. So, she got several other widows to help her dig up the hard ground down half a meter as she had been instructed. When she did, she found a jar buried in the ground. When she pulled the jar out of the ground, she found gold sealed inside the jar. When she took it to a jeweler, she found that there was the equivalent of 600 grams of pure gold in the jar (about 21 ounces)! The value of it was about $25,000, but the jeweler could only offer her $20,000 on the spot. The Lord told her to take the price that was offered.
When the widows discussed the money that was received, they unanimously agreed that it needed to go for the purchase of Bibles. We might not realize the sacrifice that these women made as they were all living day to day, trusting the Lord to provide their needs–not for the next year or two, but for each and every day that they were living! Their gift to the Kingdom of God was no less than the widow that Jesus pointed out in Mark 12:42. As Jesus said about the widow in the Temple, these widows had given everything, and so had given more than anyone else! Believe me! I had to think through this again and again. We have been faithful as God has asked of us, but we have never given everything! To this point, God has not asked this of us, but if He did, how many of us would be willing to do so?
These widows had only one thing in mind…souls! The Bibles were needed for all the brand new believers that will be reached during Ramadan this year! Who knows? This may be the last Ramadan harvest before the KING of Kings and LORD of Lords calls His own home! I believe that God is going to reach a huge number of Muslim people this year with the Gospel of His love. They are going to find out who the REAL Messiah is in 2014! There will be a multitude reached through the ministry of House of Blessing. I believe that once that last person is reached who is recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life, who is to be reached before the Rapture of the Church, we are going to be called HOME. I also believe that there are a huge multitude who will be reached after the Rapture as well. The Bible shows this to be true.
So, as God worked it out, the first half of the need has been met. $50,000 needed to come in for the down-payment on the order of Bibles. $20,000 came in from the sale of the sheikh’s land and cows, $10,000 came from here in the States, and another $20,000 from the jar of gold that God had Nabil bury in the ground years ago–before he even became a believer!!! Then there is the $1,000 gift that came in as seed money from an anonymous source last week. That money will prove to be seed money for the balance that will come due when the Bibles have been printed.
Folks, we serve a very great GOD! Whatever we intend to do in His Name before we stand before Him, we need to do it today. Time has nearly run out and the end of the Age is within sight.
The Apostle Paul put it this way:
“Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. they do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly, I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (1 Corinthians 9:19-27)
Shalom and God bless you all and Keep Looking Upward!
Forever In His Service,
Jake Geier