I have received a word from the Lord for us and it is a promise “Living in Abundance in the Season of Famine”.
God has asked me to announce to my audience that the Lord is sending us an abundance even though it is globally the season of famine.
Amen!
Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine will follow them. Then all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will ravage the land. The abundance in the land will not be remembered, because the famine that follows it will be so severe. Gen 41:29-31NIV
This is actually a response I got from the Lord in my time of private prayer. I declared seven days of fasting and prayers with some leaders in the PNUR family from 30th of June and we will end on the 7th of July 2025.
I pray that the river flowing from my bowels will flow into yours in Jesus’ name.
Let us start by saying that everyone faces a season of famine. Let us put it in another way; when there is famine in the land, godly and ungodly people experience it. There is no guaranty that while the rest of mankind is facing a famine that some special people of God will be enjoying a good season.
Abraham experienced a famine, even though he was known as a friend of God and he had an eternal covenant with God
Isaac the child of divine promise experienced famine even though he was God’s miracle child to Abraham
Jacob faced famine that forced him to Egypt even though he often talked with angels and enjoyed divine protection.
Our main text is from an account of Joseph telling Pharaoh that they should prepare for a coming famine. That means that Joseph faced the famine too. Go through the Old Testament bible and you will find that even the man after God’s heart, King David faced famine. Good kings and bad kings faced the famine in their own time.
If you think that things should be different for the people of grace who operated under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, read the following scripture;
During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul. Acts 11:27-30NIV
The prophet of the Lord announced that a famine was coming but he did not bind the demon of famine nor did he release a prophetic word to ward off the famine so that it would not affect the people of god, rather he told them to prepare to face the famine.
Let me repeat here; famine is part of life and everyone faces the famine.
There is an irony here; our main text said that God had to warn Pharaoh to prepare for the famine that will hit the whole world. God told a Gentile king to prepare for the famine that will come upon the whole world but not Jacob who carried the Abrahamic covenant. Prophet Agabus warned the Gentile church in Antioch and they were the ones that sent support to the people of God in Judea. Till date it still appears that the people of the world are often more prepared than the members of the Body of Christ in dealing with famine. That must be the reason God gives them advance information.
Child of God, I am called by the Lord to warn you to prepare for the coming famine.
There is another strong message there; there will be an abundance before the famine. Like the matter of famine, abundance also gets to everyone but after the abundance, the effect of the famine will totally wipe out all the benefits of the abundance and the painful effect of the famine will make people to forget that they ever had abundance.
So we see here that God’s way of giving us preferential treatment is by warning us to manage our abundance well.
Let us take these 5 points.
1. God will always warn us before he sends an abundance and a famine.
We saw this consistency in the account of God giving Pharaoh a warning and the prophet Agabus warning the Church in Antioch.
2. It takes a decerning mind and connection with the Spirit of God to hear the warning.
God spoke to Pharaoh and he was wise enough to seek the interpretation. I strongly believe that God would have spoken to Jacob and other people around the world but they did not show the determination that Pharaoh had. There are other natural signs that could precede a famine. These could be weather changes but often our minds are captured by the present abundance that came before the famine.
3. God will likely supply us with the guidance on how to face our famine season.
In the time of Isaac, God told him not to flee the famine but to stay back in the place of famine and continue his business.
Now there was a famine in the land — besides the earlier famine of Abraham's time — and Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines in Gerar. The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham. Gen 26:1-3NIV
God tried to forestall Isaac repeating the mistake of Abraham who went to Egypt in the time of famine and that was where he got Hagar who became a generational problem in his family. Many of God’s people fail to listen to God and their attitude is to rely on the view point of the world in dealing with their famine.
In the case of Pharaoh, God made an advance arrangement to connect the bottler to Joseph in the prison. Pharaoh was humble enough to consult the services of a condemned prisoner in the dungeon. For some people, pride would have kept them from talking with Joseph.
4. God sends an abundance before the famine.
That was actually what God wanted to prevent. Many people who are going through their season of famine now, had wastefully used their season of abundance because they did not hear the warning about the coming famine. As deliverance minister I have counselled people who came to me seeking deliverance from evil forces that drained their resources; some had four cars but presently have none; some had plenty of houses in major cities but today they have none; some occupied high political offices but today they are down trodden. All these people strongly believe that some agent of darkness was their problem. After prayers, I could not observe the activities of satan or his agents. Most of these people had enjoyed their abundance but did not make plans for the famine.
5. You cannot pray the famine away
There are people who erroneously believe that prayer and fasting will take care of the famine. Some believe that being a covenant child of God will protect them from famine.
Here is the recommendation of Joseph to deal with famine;
"And now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine." Gen 41:33-36NIV
Here is how Isaac prospered in the time of famine,
Isaac planted crops in that land and the same year reaped a hundredfold, because the Lord blessed him. The man became rich, and his wealth continued to grow until he became very wealthy. Gen 26:12-14NIV
Because Pharaoh heeded the warning from the Lord and obeyed the counsel of Joseph, the land of Egypt had abundance in the season of famine.
There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh's palace. When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, "Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is used up." Gen 47:13-15NIV
Did you read where it said that the famine was also severe in Egypt but read further, they grew wealthier in the season of famine than they were in the time of abundance.
Halleluiah!
That is why God is sending you this special message. An abundance is coming but understand that if you use it well, you will grow richer when other people famine in the future.
Can you begin to pray now; "Holy Spirit, I connect my spirit to you for your guidance as I walk into my abundance". Pray fervently.
Happy New Year
God's word for us this year is BLOSSOM!
I will love to hear from you.
Emma your brother pnurnigeria@gmail.com
