"God will make a way where there seems to be no way."

"Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: that wisdom preserves the life of its possessor." —Ecclesiastes 7:12

"The Almighty is my gold and precious silver."

"It is the Lord who gives us power to get wealth."

In a time when everyone pays attention to recession, we need to remember—I need to remember—that there is no recession with God. But when the collective mental culture of the day is heard in statements like 'these are hard times', 'things are not getting better any time soon', we suck it in as truth. But is that really the truth? If we were to look around, we would see there is abundance everywhere; but when our concentration is on lack, then that is all we see and experience.

I got out all of my inspirational material and focused on my memories of God's provision in the past to bring me back to my place of strong faith in the God who is able to provide for our every need and more. I had to remind myself again that if God has done so much in the past for me (I do not know about you, but I know my story full well), He will do it again.

There are a few things we tend to forget when lack or limitation confronts us. We forget we are not alone in this journey. We forget God never fails. We forget we have something to work with—always. But the big question to be answered is this: why do we forget? I believe we forget because we take in too much wrong information or information that weakens our faith. We hang around people with negative mindsets and language. We listen to all the bad news circulating and we remember our so-called bad experiences—all things we should not be doing.

When our situations seem to be too challenging for us, all we have to do is focus on how we made it thus far. Did we keep and sustain our lives all by ourselves? Did we make a way out of no way for ourselves in the past? Did we give ourselves gifts and talents? Well, then, does it make sense to continue to trust the Source at all times, whether things appear to be up or down?

So things may change for us, but our Great Provider never does. If you consider that your needs have always been met—even when they were not met the way you wanted them to be met—that is what is most important. And I am not referring only to financial needs. When I think of how some things fell into place for me so many times, and how things that looked so impossible actually happened, then all I can think of is how great God is.

There is a reason why we are instructed to pray at all times. We have to remember this—when we pray, we are not doing God a favour, but rather keeping ourselves close to the Giver of all good in and out of season. So we do not pray only when we have a need that is so urgent that it drives us to our knees. Doing so suggests we see God as an ATM, except that we are not putting in much but expect to get much out. Ouch.

Thankfully, God is not calculating and still blesses us as every loving Father does, but we should develop a relationship with Him so that we do not feel guilty (and like strangers) when we pray. Aha. "In all thy ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your path." Maybe if we handle all our business this way, we may have no needs. Maybe...

I would like to get to that stage where my faith is so strong that I do not fear because I understand, know for sure and accept "the Lord is my Shepherd therefore I shall not want". I want my faith to be so strong that my knees do not buckle when there is a need—large or small; I always want to remember at those challenging times that "I would have lost heart unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living". Now is the appointed time, my friend, for us to experience the answers to our prayers.

So let us walk on water because weak faith panics, growing faith prays and seasoned faith walks on water in the midst of the storms.

Much love.