Thriving In Difficult Times

It’s been a while since I blogged and the crazy thing is that I, the one who used to blog alone now has so many other expressions, so much so that my first love – my blog – has been cast aside. But I am finding my way back little by little I believe. I have a few posts I need to make before I can ‘officially’ begin for the year and one of them, believe it or not is to chronicle how my year 2019 went. Yes I’ll do that in March 2020 (shock!) but once I am able to clear some of those backlogs, then I can proceed with what I have on here for the year…

But for today I felt a bit of urge to put out this post on THRIVING IN DIFFICULT TIMES.

It is no news about how the world has been presently thrown in a deep turmoil of a plague breaking out in different cities of the world. Worse than the turmoil is the fear accompanying it and the economic crunch many are experiencing at different places right now.

Some streets are also empty as many have been quarantined in their homes. Some businesses that thrived on walk-in customers must also be facing hard times because the customers are not there.

I speak to the world at large today but specifically, I speak to believers:

GOD IS NOT TAKEN BY SURPRISE BY ANYTHING AT ALL THAT GOES ON IN OUR WORLD.

I want to share with you some things that have been striking my heart from the word of God that have also been informing my prayers in this season.

One of them is Isaac’s story.

GENESIS CHAPTER 26

1 There was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the
days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, in
Gerar.
2
Then the LORD appeared to him and said: “Do not go down to Egypt; live in
the land of which I shall tell you.
3
Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your
descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
4
And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will
give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of
the earth shall be blessed;
5
because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My
commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
6 So Isaac dwelt in Gerar.
12 Then Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; and the LORD blessed him.
13
The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous;
14
for he had possessions of flocks and possessions of herds and a great
number of servants. So the Philistines envied him.”

We see in this scripture that there was an economic crunch in the land. Isaac had also felt the crunch at first and that was the reason why he wanted to move but glory be to God, the Lord appeared to him and spoke to him.

And this will be the very first thing I want to point out from this story on how to thrive in difficult times.

1: HEARING THE VOICE OF THE LORD:

Now let’s be real, a lot of things are speaking to us in this time. The news media is speaking to us and everyone has versions of their own story. Your business and job may also be speaking threatening words to you but we thank God that as believers we can hear the voice of the Lord. How the world sees things is most likely not the way God sees it.

So the Lord said to Isaac, don’t go anywhere because in this same economy where there is a famine, I will bless you and expand and enlarge you and the second thing we see is that Isaac obeyed the Lord which brings me to my second point on how to thrive in difficult times.

2: His mother said to the servants,
“Whatever He says to you, do it.

-John chapter 2:5

In the above passage we see Jesus turning water into wine in a situation that would have spelt disaster and not enough at a wedding. But the miracle was wrapped in “OBEDIENCE’ – whatsoever He says to you, do it.

As we seek the Lord’s face for what we should do in these times, the Lord would speak but our miracles would be tied to our obedience. As Isaac stayed in the land and didn’t move because of the famine, guess what happened?

The Lord prospered him as he sowed in that land, that he grew to become so prosperous, men began to envy him.

This is a classic case of THRIVING IN DIFFICULT TIMES.

All over the Bible, if you read through the Bible, you would see that God ALWAYS makes provision for HIS PEOPLE during famine or difficult times. There would ALWAYS be an exemption between the people who are of God and the people who are in the world.

Check out the book of Exodus where plagues broke out in the land of Egypt; the Lord exempted His people so much so that IN THE SAME LAND, one group of people would experience something and the other would be protected and exempted.

Check out the famine in the book of 1^st Kings, God provided a way of escape also for Elijah.

We see the same pattern playing out here:

1^st Kings Chapter 17

1 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As
the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew
nor rain these years, except at my word.”
2
Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying,
3″Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.
4
And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and
stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan.
6
The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and
meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.
7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying,
9
“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have
commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the
city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her
and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.”
11
And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me
a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12
So she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.
14
For thus says the LORD God of Israel: “The bin of flour shall not be used up,
nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.”‘
15 So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days.
16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah.

Hear the word of the Lord, obey the word of the Lord and whatsoever plague or famine etc. shall NOT come near you. You shall be exempted.

I know it seems so simple BUT the gospel usually is.

This scripture emphatically makes a difference between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God. It says that the wisdom of God can ONLY be spiritually discerned meaning that that wisdom may not make sense to the mind BUT it is the wisdom of God and as the Bible says, that wisdom would be proved by its results.

Let’s build one final case for this again by looking at the book of 1^st Corinthians chapter 2:

If you want to thrive in difficult times, IF THERE IS ANYTHING that we as believers need right now, I would say GO FOR THE WISDOM OF GOD.

6
“However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the
wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9
But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit
searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
11
For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
12
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13
These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but
which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned”.

1st Corinthians 2:6-14

And how do you get this wisdom of God?

The Bible says it is revealed unto us by the Spirit of God.

Are you a born again child of God?

Are you baptized in the Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues?

Then the Bible says in 1^st Corinthians 14 that when you speak in tongues you literally are speaking the divine mysteries of God not known to the human mind but received directly from God.

How do you know what to do and what God is saying in dire times like this? PLUG INTO THE SPIRIT. Plug into the means by which you receive DIVINE WISDOM and mysteries from God. Plug into praying in tongues in this season like your life depends on it BECAUSE it does!

That’s where the business ideas you can do IN THIS TIME that would prosper are.

That’s where you are to stay and you would be shielded are.

That’s where your innovative idea that would cause you to prosper and become very prosperous like Isaac even in famine lies.

MORE THAN EVER before we are being made to know that speaking in tongues and praying in the SPIRIT is a VERY IMPORTANT medium of communication with God in these times.

We want the mysteries of heaven to be told to us. We want the wisdom of God. We want to know what to do, what seed to sow in the land, how to advance… WE WANT THE WISDOM OF GOD!

If you need help with this, I invite you to join us on our ministry page by 4pm-8pm today for four hours of PRAYING IN TONGUES and let’s download mysteries and secret things from the heart of the Father.

Remember the steps to thriving in difficult times:

1: Hear the voice of God.

2: Obey the voice of God.

3: Seek after the wisdom of God alone.

4: You do all the above MORE THANE EVER in these times by praying in the Spirit.

5: If you can join us for a time for four hours of praying in the Spirit today, Saturday March 22^nd 2020 by 4pm, to be streamed live here

LET US PRAY:

Father we ask that you would release hope and faith through the airways. Through the atmosphere, let faith rise. Let believers indeed arise and shine with new wisdom and revelations as solutions for our modern world today. As we press into your heart, give us the wisdom that we need for now and give us grace to obey also in Jesus name.

We declare that men and women of God would begin to prosper NOW in this time till they grow and become very prosperous. We thank you that even NOW the Kingdom of God advances and the gates of hell cannot prevail over or against it. We thank you that we, our families and everyone around us is kept safe, hale and healthy in Jesus mighty name amen.

Please get the Women At The well audio prayers for our families from Psalm 91 we will put up on our Instagram page here.

A FEW THINGS:

Guys, I shared on the blog about my NEW BOOK RELEASE (thank you sooo much for the love). I’d love to now share that the very first BOOK LAUNCH for my new book SURVIVING SINGLEHOOD is holding In Warri, Delta State Nigeria on Sunday March 29^th 2020 by 3pm-6pm.

I truly look forward to connecting with you if you are in the city of Warri. Please register for FREE here.

Also the hard copies of SURVIVING SINGLEHOOD are now available for purchase and you can order for 2000 naira only throughout this month of March 2020 as prices go up to 2500Naira after the month of March 2020 ends.

You can order for copies using this link.

Please say a prayer for me, if you have been receiving my newsletter then you know God has been speaking to me on FRUITFULNESS and this book is the first of many fruits to come. We still have an Asaba Delta State book launch to plan, University of Nsukka, and Dubai.

If you are in any of these places and you want to help plan with me please do reach out to me at okorofrances@gmail.com

May our God-given dreams thrive, grow, established and be established by the Lord upon the earth in Jesus name amen.

P.S: Please share my book launch flyer on your social media channels.

Hey guys and girls in Warri!Come attend this SINGLES HANGOUT FOR FREE! And grrove in these times of gloom oh! YOLO! Click To Tweet

It’s open to BOTH MEN AND WOMEN.

Thank youuuu and God bless you!

Till my next blog post here (which will be sooner than you think),

Lots of love,

Hephzibah Frances

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Read this and Learn how to thrive in these times of the CoronaVirus here… Click To Tweet