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Break up: To burst or open by force; to crack, to part or divide, to separate to stretch; to strain; to break up, to dissolve or put an end to; to open or lay open; as to break up a bed of earth; to plow ground the first time; or after lying long unplowed; to burst; as, a storm or deluge breaks; to burst forth.
Hebrew: Nir [Neer]: break up [2]. a root probably identical with that of (niyr), through the idea of the gleam of a fresh furrow; to till the soil :- break up. Strong's Talking Greek & Hebrew Dictionary.
This is the scripture the Lord spoke to me in April 1985, some 40 years ago. I was struggling as to whether I should be in the home building business and what direction I should take. During a time of fasting and praying, this is what the Lord said. It was revelation to my heart and spoke to me in large numbers. “I want you to start developing your own land and build on the land of other developers who have been ‘setting’ on their lots for many years.” You see, in our town we were in the final throngs of a full-blown depression. As a matter of fact, Lima, Ohio was written up twice in 1985 as the most depressed city in the United States, according to the Wall Street Journal and I am standing in the middle of this whole thing and had no idea where to turn. I had no houses to build, no homes to remodel, and no land to develop. I had 3 small children and a stay-at-home mom and had to find a way of providing for them. This was the most difficult time of my life, and I knew God wanted me to learn to trust Him and give Him praise and glory despite what I seen and was experiencing. Our town went from 55,000 TO 23,000 in just 5 short years. I felt like Abraham being taught by God that He would bless Abraham, even in a sun-scorched land.
But even though it looked impossible and I had not built a single project in a few years, I trusted what the Lord had said to me, and I began to reach out to other lot owners. I started in Findlay, Ohio [the beginning place of Nascar racing for Jeff Gordon] and built a model there first. It was nothing short of miraculous as I had no money and no economy and all the builders in the area were totally shut down. After this, I had an opportunity to build a model on a bank’s ground in a local subdivision with the bank financing a model. Then that opened to an opportunity to build a home in Cincinnati, Ohio. From there, the business began to grow, and God began to place me in a high place where He could bless me and all who were around me. It was a scary time of my life, but I knew I had to break out of my ‘comfort zone’ and do something extra ordinary. It had to be something so unusual that people would have to look by me and say, ‘Only God could have done such a thing!’ That is exactly the testimony the Lord developed in me. It gave me strength in believing not quite like anything I had ever experienced before. And as a matter of fact, I found no one at that time who had ever experienced anything like this.
This is what God requires of us. Believe Him for big things, things that are way bigger than we are so that He can show up and show out to be the Great God, the Creator and Redeemer. He wants to show himself to you and how much He wants to bless, heal, forgive and prosper you in every area of your life. It is your move, first, not Gods. He will act on your faith, for without faith [or the using of your faith] it is impossible to please Him. Put your first foot forward and move. It will set you free, it did me.
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