"Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shall find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee."
- Matt. 17:27
God's plan is never according to how we think or how the world thinks. He has always had his own way of doing things. Nowhere in the scriptures do we ever find where catching a fish and finding money in its mouth was a method God used before. Nowhere in the scriptures do we ever see it happen again. What does that tell us? It says that God's methods are so far reaching that we cannot even begin to fathom the magnitude of his resources to get us what we need.
Paul told the church at Philippi, "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:19). Very often we overlook this simple phrase, "his riches in glory." The Greek word for riches is PLOUTOS. It is defined as: money, possessions, wealth, fullness, plenitude, or that by which one is enriched with. Of course, we know that God doesn't have money in heaven such as the printed dollar, but the wealth he possesses can make tangible whatever it is we need in this natural world. According to the Psalmist, "God owns the cattle on a thousand hills" (Psa. 50:10). We find over in the book of Haggai, "The silver is mine and the gold in mine, saith the Lord of Hosts" (Hag. 2:8). In fact, David said, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" (Psa. 24:1). So really, there are no resources in this earth that God cannot access when it comes to meeting yours and my needs. The problem we have to deal with is our "limited expectation" for what he is capable of doing. We have to develop a level of expectation that knows that there is no need so great it is beyond resolving. And that is where our faith comes into play.
Faith is the hand that reaches out and draws from the unseen realm. It is the tool we are to use to transfer the wealth of heaven into this earthly economy. See, all the wealth of heaven functions on a supernatural economy. It doesn't require banks or depositories to house what it holds. It just simply requires believing to make real to us what already exists in the spirit realm. Faith can create what is tangible out of that which is intangible. What you cannot see doesn't mean it doesn't exist! It exists alright, but it can only be transferred out of that unseen realm by having such a firm conviction of its reality that nothing shakes you or moves you off of what you know to be true.
When you become so settled in knowing what exists as "riches in glory" then no need becomes too great for your expectation to be able to draw from your heavenly supply.
But here is where most people fail. Faith does not just believe it also speaks. Whatever we believe with our heart must be released with words! That is what determines the force of faith. Faith has all this potential energy, but it will never become kinetic until it is released with faith-filled words. In other words, what you say is what fashions your faith so that it becomes productive.
Whenever you speak to your circumstances, and you believe for those circumstances to change, you have to be fully convinced the outcome is going to come just as you desired based upon your expectation. That is what it means "Faith is the substance of things hoped for (confident expectation); the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1). Just as you speak according to your own expectations, you have to learn to do the same when it comes to your body, your marriage, your mind, your job, your ministry, and your money.
Listen very carefully. When God said, "Let there be light and there was light" (Gen. 1:5), he spoke what he understood to be light, and light responded. Words were released and that which was not suddenly came into existence. What had no materiality heard those words and materialized. Everything that exists in heaven, in earth, and under the earth, even that which does not yet exist, will respond to words so that they come together to form whatever it is that faith demands! When you hold fast to your confession of faith you are calling those things which be not as though they were. Your level of expectation is affected by the soundness and consistency of saying only what you believe. You cannot be back and forth, talking faith one moment and then saying how bad the situation is the next. "Holding fast" means you say only what faith sees. Just as you speak to your body to be well, you need to speak to your finances to be well. Say out loud, "My money is well! It is so well, it is flourishing!" Begin to call money to come just as you would call healing or deliverance to come. Be confident it is so, and watch how things will change even as the ocean tides change day by day!
