Once when I was very poor I was seeking the Lord about supplying my needs. He told me as plain as day, “If you would trust Me to supply your needs, you must be willing to give away even that which you need.” Not long after that He told me to give away all our money to others more needy than ourselves.
I told my wife and son about it and we gave our money away. We had no savings, no income, and no assets, other than clothing and second-hand furniture. We kept all that. Within days the battery on our car went dead. I jumped started it and drove to Sear’s Auto. They checked it and said it would no longer hold a charge and was pretty much worthless.
The man attending me tried to sell me a battery. I told him it would have to wait because I had no money at the time. And without my asking, he spoke to his supervisor and asked if he could give me a battery on my word alone that I would pay for it when I had the money. I was standing outside the door and heard what they were saying. The supervisor said no and the worker said, “Come on, it’s the right thing to do.” The supervisor gave in and I left with a brand new battery. This was in a huge city in Florida where people move in and out constantly and these gentlemen didn’t have any idea who I was. Still they gave me a battery on my word.
A few days after that we ran out of food. My wife told me our son was hungry and we needed to get something right away. I excused myself and went into the bedroom to pray. The Lord told me to take my wife and son to Pizza Hut, and specified which Pizza Hut we were to go to. We had never gone to a Pizza Hut the whole time we lived there.
We arrived and we were the only customers in the place. A waitress asked what we wanted and my wife said, “Just a second, please.” She looked in her purse and found some change she had forgotten about when we gave our money away. There was just enough for three drinks, so we ordered three drinks.
The waitress returned with our drinks and asked again if we were sure we didn’t want something to eat. I said, “No thank you, ma’am.” She said, “If you change your mind, there are several pizzas we’re just going to throw away. Our noon buffet just ended and we don’t need them anymore. If you like, you can take them all home.”
There were at least five or six whole pizzas left over. We thanked her and we ate pizza for lunch. We didn’t take any home because the Lord had just sent us there for one meal.
That same day, or the following day, not sure, we received a hundred dollar bill anonymously in the mail and bought food with it. (We told no one about our needs.)
There were many other things the Lord did during that time, and I learned the lesson He wanted to teach me, that if I would trust Him to supply my needs, I must be willing to give away even that which I need.
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
jondavidbanks.com 