When Poverty Has a Source
"Ask Him to reveal to you what unclean thing is in your home." — Consider Joshua 7:13
A Family That Could Not Get Ahead
A husband and wife with three children, all of them serving God wholeheartedly. Hardworking people. The husband was genuinely gifted in business and had done very well — until about five years earlier, when things began to go wrong.
Then everything failed. The business collapsed. Every venture after it collapsed. By the time they sought help, both were working, and they still could not stabilize. They had lost their home and nearly every material asset they owned over those five years.
They had prayed. They had fasted. They believed there was a curse on their finances, and they could not break it no matter how they tried.
The Question That Broke It Open
After hearing the story, the counsel given was not to pray harder. It was to ask a different question: what cursed object is in your home?
They searched their memories and could think of nothing.
So they were told to go home, prostrate themselves on the floor before the Lord together, and cry out to Him in one accord, asking Him to reveal what unclean thing was in their house.
They did exactly that.
While they were praying, they heard a crash by the front door, and immediately another crash from the bedroom.
By the front door had stood a large, beautiful figurine — nearly three feet tall, with a weighted base so it could not tip over. It was a gift from the husband's father, who had found it on a trip abroad and bought it for the beauty of the artwork. It was now in pieces across the floor.
A year after that first gift, the father had found a smaller version of the same figure and given that one too. It sat on the bedroom dresser. It was also smashed across the floor.
They repented for having had the objects in their home, removed the broken pieces, and broke the curse of poverty off their lives.
That was several years ago. They have prospered since, and what was lost has been replaced.
What the Objects Were
Were these figures gods? Probably not. But they had evidently been made with something attached to them.
There are places in the world where artisans openly acknowledge placing blessings or curses on the pieces they sell to tourists, depending on the buyer. Nobody knows the history of any particular piece. Nobody asks.
And that is precisely the point of this lesson. You cannot know the history of an object you did not make. Which is why the guidance of the Holy Spirit matters more than your own assessment of an item's appearance.
Point to Ponder
You cannot know the history of an object you did not make. You can know the God who does.
Verse to Remember
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." — James 1:5
Question to Consider
Have I ever asked God directly to show me what is in my house — or only asked Him to fix what is happening in my life?
Today's Practice
Do exactly what that family did.
Gather your household. Get on the floor. Pray together, out loud, in one accord:
"Lord, we are asking You to reveal to us any unclean thing in this house. We do not know what to look for. Show us. We will remove whatever You show us."
Then be still and stay there long enough to actually listen. Do not rush this into a two-minute prayer.
Afterward, walk the house together and see what your attention keeps returning to. Pay attention to disagreements — if one family member is uneasy about an item and another is defensive of it, that is worth noting.
Prayer
Father, I have prayed about my circumstances for years and never once asked You about my possessions.
I am asking now. Reveal to me any unclean thing in this house — anything that carries something with it, anything made with intent, anything that was given to me for a purpose I did not understand.
I cannot know the history of what I own. You can. Show me, plainly enough that I cannot mistake it.
And Lord, give me a heart that will obey immediately when You show me, without arguing about value or sentiment. Whatever You name, I will remove. In Jesus' name. Amen.
You have prayed about your circumstances. Have you ever asked God about your shelves?