“However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.” Matthew 17:27.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
There is no need for you to ever worry. I look ahead and see a problem before it arises and I have already provided for it. The provision—the solution—you need is there already. Like the path under the Red Sea. No one saw it, but it was there since the foundation of the world for just the time it was needed. And it is that way with everything I have made and redeemed.
You only need to open your eyes to it and take it by faith. Do not beg about it and worry if I will come through for you. I had the solution for all the problems that would arise in the world before I laid the foundation of the world—the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world—but He did not manifest in time until about two thousand years ago to pay all debts and break the power of the devil.
Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. Hebrews 4:1-3.
The solution is there, My works were finished from the foundation of the world. The problem is with your seeing it and taking it. You must call it in from the spirit realm to the physical realm.
God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. Romans 4:17.
Imitate Me as My dear children. I prepare paths, plans, in fact, the entire universe, in advance, and then I call them into being. I call them out of the unseen to the seen.
Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:9-10.
When you have a need, whatever it is, I have already prepared the answer to that need. I know what you need before ask and have it all prepared. All you have to do is call it in. Calling, that is, drawing upon the solution that is already prepared, transfers what is in the unseen realm into the physical realm, from the eternal to the temporal. I have already prepared, since the foundation of the world, the solution to every challenge, need, or attack that comes against you, it is just waiting there for your faith to show up, that is, for you to call it.
Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26.
And in today’s conversation, Jesus taught Peter a lesson that he never forgot and that made him comfortable even in a prison cell with a sentence of death on him for the next day. He knew I already had the solution that would work out for his good. He just had to not fear and reach out to take it. And that is exactly what he did. And like I had done for Elisha when it looked like he would be taken captive by the enemy army that surrounded his home, I sent My heavenly host. And that angel led Peter out of prison and out of Herod’s reach.
I have a solution before you even know you will have a problem. Same with Hezekiah, he spread out the need before Me and confidently called out the solution that I had there already. And I sent the solution, one angel took down 185,000 of the enemy so that the rest broke camp and went home without shooting even one arrow at Jerusalem. I am not limited in the solutions I provide. I work wonders, all prepared in advance.
You are never at a loss in any situation. You just need to lift up the need to Me and call in the solution that I have there for you. Daniel did that. He presented the need that was pressing and simply asked Me for the solution and calmly called the answer in by prayer and rested in Me for the night. When he awoke, I had given him the answer, which he then went and presented to the king and saved himself and all the wise men of the kingdom from death. The others panicked and got no answers. He prayed and called in the answer that was there for him since the foundation of the world.
Don’t cry, scream, despair, and fear. Just lift up the need and thank Me that I already prepared the answer and ask Me to guide and direct you to it. I told Moses stop crying at Me in fear and take the solution by just lifting up his staff, stretching out his hand and dividing the sea. And the path was prepared for over 2 million people and their carts, herds, and flocks to cross on a large plateau of day land in a path that had been hidden under the sea for just that moment to solve the need.
So let us look at today’s conversation and watch Jesus call in the solution in a most unusual way. But you must remember it was not unusual for Me. I had ravens bring Elijah bread and meat every morning and evening in a time of famine. And when it was time for him to move on to share the blessing, I had him join up with a widow and her small son to bless them with a pot of flour and a flask of oil that fed them for over a year and never ran out.
This conversation of Jesus with Peter developed when the Levites and priests associated with the temple administration came to collect the temple tax for the upkeep of the temple in Jerusalem. They had the authority to approach people and inquire about payment. They would collect the tax, which was equivalent to about two days’ wages. The origins of this tax was in the wilderness when I told Moses to take a contribution during the census after the Exodus from Egypt.
The LORD also spoke to Moses, saying, “When you take a census of the sons of Israel to number them, then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them. This is what everyone who is numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as a contribution to the LORD. Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, shall give the contribution to the LORD. The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the LORD to make atonement for yourselves. You shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves.” Exodus 30:11-16.
Just an aside here, do you remember what happened when David took the census without requiring the atonement money? A very serious plague broke out. “When you take a census of the sons of Israel to number them, then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them.” Have you noticed that most of the countries of the world were taking a census of their people, including the United States, with no contribution for My Church, the year that Covid broke out? 2020 was a census year in the United States, and it coincided with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many nations were participating in the 2020 World Population and Housing Census Programme, a global effort coordinated by the United Nations. Satan knows the law and is quick to enforce it against those who violate it. Think about that.
Later the Levites and priests began taking it as an annual contribution to maintain the temple, not just at the time of a census. The temple tax was distinct from tithes. The tax was a fixed amount, while tithes were proportional to income. And the tax was specifically for Temple upkeep, while tithes had broader purposes including support for Levites and the poor
So, as already stated, at the time of Jesus upon the earth as one like you, the priests and Levites would travel to various locations to collect the annual temple tax. When they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the half a shekel tax?” Peter replied, “Yes.”
And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?” When Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are exempt. However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.” Matthew 17:24-27.
Now do not just gloss over this. I had prepared this in advance. A shekel had been lost, dropped into the Sea of Galilee, and a fish had swallowed it and it was there for My fisherman Peter. You can think about a time I prepared another fish that just did not swallow a shekel to save it for Peter, the preacher of the Gospel, but swallowed Jonah for safe-keeping until it spewed him out at Nineveh as My preacher of repentance unto salvation for a city of lost people.
I hide things for you to find at the proper time. Like the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price.
I am the LORD who teaches you to profit and the way you should go. Peter was skilled as a fisherman. He knew how to catch fish. So the way I supplied for his need was by the trade he knew how to do. I prospered the work of his hands, but here without toil. When you walk with Jesus there is a difference between you and others of your same profession, as there was for Peter with other fisherman when he let Jesus guide him to the fish. If you know where the fish are and can call them in, it is all prepared for you in advance.
Jesus called this miracle in. He spoke it in the spirit realm before it was manifested in the physical. But once He called out the preparation the result took place. The fish was there, the coin was there, and now the combination took place and it was time to put down his line for the catch. And Peter answered the call and ran with the vision.
I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved. Then the LORD answered me and said, “Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who proclaims it may run. For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come, it will not delay. Habakkuk 2:1-3.
You hear it, write it, read it, and proclaim it and it will certainly come at the appointed time, just when you need it, the grace is there. But though grace makes it, faith takes it. And the spirit of faith is your believe in your heart AND speak it with your mouth. You must release it. You must call it to this realm by faith.
Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4.
When Paul was taught a prayer for you by My Spirit it was not about Me doing something for you it was about you becoming aware of what I have done for you and what you have. He prayed that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened, so that you would know what is the hope of My calling, what are the riches of the glory of My inheritance in those who believe, and what is the surpassing greatness of My power into you who believe in accordance with the working of the strength of My might which I brought about in Christ, when I raised Him from the dead and seated Him at My right hand. Ephesians 1:17-20.
The greatest act of power is the resurrection. And when you believe in your heart in that power (“believe in your heart that I raised Him from the dead”), the power that raises you from the curse to the BLESSING, from death to life, from poverty to abundant riches of glory, from darkness to light, from sickness to robust health, from defeat to victory, from condemnation to acquittal, from guilt to confident assurance, from fear to bold faith, it is then you are justified and made righteous. And when you declare with your mouth the Lordship of Jesus, the culmination of the resurrection, sealing all I did for you in Him, you too are sealed in Him, and that resurrection power at work in Him is now fully operational and working in you, giving you salvation in every situation. It is all prepared for you in advance in Him, you only have to put your roots deep in Him and draw it out. Precious plans that outnumber the sand. They are prepared forever.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10.
I have prepared a life of good deeds for you in advance that you might walk in them. Ephesians 2:10. And it is all prepared and provided for in advance. Many are the troubles of the just man, but I deliver him out of them all. Psalm 34:20. All.
And that is the way it all begins. In your heart and in your mouth, but a heart and a mouth filled with My resurrection power. And that will take you from the ash heap to a seat among princes at My right hand with Christ Jesus, your risen and reigning Lord. And as He is so are you in this world—the body of Christ. I gave Him to you. You own Him and in Him are all treasures. Live through Him. Take His prosperity. He died to give it to you by the power of the resurrection, the same power that is working in you.
But when things do come against you, you must realize it is not of My making, Isaiah 54:15, 17, and that I will make it work out for your good and provide you a way out. There is a solution there already and you can have by faith. Nothing is too hard for Me. And nothing takes Me by surprise. I am, I was and I am to come. Past, present and future are all covered by Me. But you need to reach out and take the solution or it remains inoperative in your life.
In any problem, do not fear. Enter My rest for everything you need is there since the foundation of the world. Just lift up the need and smile at Me and say thanks for the solution already prepared, as Jesus did with the five loaves and two fish to feed over 5,000.
Never panic or blame. Always look to Me for the solution and then proceed in faith to do the impossible. Nothing is impossible to Me and all things are possible to those who believe that. Together we can get the job done. I provide the solution but I need your cooperation and participation. So next time you have a problem or trial, know that it is not a surprise to Me and I already have provided a solution. “Be with me LORD for I am in trouble,” sang David. And what was the solution? “Send forth Your light and fidelity and they shall lead me on to your holy mountain.” Psalm 43:3. Where I have a feast prepared in the sight of your foes.
My Word verifies this so often. And I had already covered for the sin that brought on all of the problems in the world, that of man’s rejection of My jurisdiction in the Garden of Eden. I foresaw this and provided the solution. The Lamb slain since before the foundation of the world. Revelation 13:8. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God that I chose as your ransom long before the world began, but did not reveal it to you until these last days. 1 Peter 1: 19-20.
If I looked ahead and provided the death of My own dear Son to solve your sin problem and give you back the eternal life you lost, you see from this that I can provide a solution to any problem. If I looked ahead and saved you from death and decay to existence forever in Heaven, will I not give you all things besides? Will I not solve anything that comes against you? Of course I will. Next time you get worked up and go into an attack of anxiety, stop, look up at Me and smile and say, “Sorry, Father, I forgot that you already have the solution all prepared. I just have to call it in. I call in your solution now.” And I will show you the path to the life and fullness of joy in My presence, the delights at My right hand forever. I will show you My Yeshuah.
I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare (shalom) and not for your woe, plans for your prosperity and not for disaster, a future and a hope that does not disappoint. Jeremiah 29:11. And I tell you how you can have those plans: when you pray to Me I will answer and when you seek Me with all your heart you will find Me with you. Jeremiah 29:12-13.
Through the finished work of Christ you can come to trust in Me. And you can place your faith and hope in Me because I raised Christ from the dead as the first born of many brothers and made you joint heirs with Him. 1 Peter 1:21. Nothing evil can bring you down if you look to Me and walk with Me.
I love you. Next time a problem comes against you, do not panic. Just know I had the solution before you had the problem. Pray that I open your eyes to see the solution, just as Elisha did for his attendant. And when you see it, take advantage of it and take it. Do not ever just sit around and cry. Get up and go forward with Me. Just like I told Joshua so long ago as he lay on the ground bemoaning defeat, “Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face?” Joshua 7:10. I am with you.