Fr. Malcom’s sermon on January 27, stressing how our covetousness and desire for superiority over others affects our attitude toward money, has been most thought-provoking. It reminded me of how, many years ago, the Holy Spirit dealt with my own inability to give freely, with a generous heart.
Praying by myself, the Lord gave me what Julian of Norwich would call a “showing.” I “saw” a stone cottage on a bleak moorland in Scotland: one room—small, dark and cold—with a mother and several young children, unsatisfied after a barren meal, huddled in blankets around an inadequate fire.
Unspoken, the words were: “We might not have enough for ourselves.”
Might not have enough. Not would not have enough, but might not.
It was not a statement of fact, nor of covetousness; it was a statement of fear and anxiety.
My mother’s family was Scotch-Irish, and I believe this “showing” was from the mindset I had inherited from that past generation. So I prayed repentance for my family’s anxieties and grasping, tight-fisted ways. I renounced the lies we had believed that God would not care for us. I asked the Father to forgive and cleanse us with the blood of Jesus. Standing in Christ’s authority over demons, I rebuked the spirits of poverty, fear and anxiety, and commanded them out of my family line. I stated and repeated the truth: My God shall supply all our needs. My God shall supply all our needs.
In the decades since then, I have been able to give freely, appropriately, and with a light heart. My God has indeed supplied abundantly, sometimes in unexpected ways.
Elizabeth came to CTR from Christ Church, and was a very prayerful, integral part of our church’s beginning. She is a member of the healing prayer team, is well known for her macaroons, and attends the 11am.
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