KFLCC Kingdom Economics

Parabolic Principles of Financial Growth and Blessing

Three words in Scripture reveal how God manipulates time. In Ephesians 5:16 we are told to “redeem the time.” To redeem in this reference means to rescue from the loss. If a church is about to close, a business is about to fold or your finances are about to collapse, to redeem the church, business or finances would mean there is an intervention that rescues it from the possible loss. We see this when individuals enter a redemptive covenant with Christ. After many years of emotional, physical and spiritual abuse and manipulation through sin, the power of redeeming grace and faith brings a restoration and the believer makes up for those wasted years. The second word is in Joel 2:25, where we read that God will “restore the years.” This word restore refers to making amends or making up for the loss. Restoration occurs after something has been lost or is in ruin. When ancient Israel was taken into Babylonian captivity and Jerusalem was in ruins and total destruction, God promised the Hebrews a total restoration from destruction and a blessing to be returned to the land. Loss and devastation for a believer is never permanent. Just ask Job who lost his wealth, ten children, and his health; yet years later, he was blessed with ten more children, double the wealth, and a restoration of his health (see Job 42). A wonderful passage in Habakkuk 3:2 reads that God will “revive the years.” To revive something is to keep it alive. When Abraham was told at age seventy-five that he would father a son, twenty-four years later at age ninety-nine he was childless and his wife Sarah was barren. But God kept His promise alive by reviving the bodies of Abraham and Sarah, who at age ninety, gave birth to a son named Isaac (Gen. 21:1-5). This is one reason why it is important to trust God in the area of finances and financial security for your daily needs and future plans. God’s ability to manipulate time should encourage us to understand that He is able to bring results faster than expected and restore losses and remove hindrances. G OD C AN M ANIPULATE N ATURAL L AWS The natural law of gravity causes a heavy piece of iron to sink in water. In 2 Kings 6:6, a man was chopping wood with a borrowed ax head. The heavy head slipped off the handle and sunk in the depths of a river. The man cried out to the prophet Elisha, who through an act of faith caused the ax head to float to the surface where it was snatched up by the appreciative wood chopper! If men can take iron from the earth, melt it, and form panels to build a floating battleship,

51