Prophecy: Finding Favor in a Time of Famine

As I was in prayer and asking the Lord what is on His heart for those who are going through financial uncertainty, the Lord spoke to me prophetically and said, “seed time and harvest.”

I asked the Lord to explain, and He took me to the Scripture in Genesis 8:22 where it declares: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest,cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.” The Holy Spirit said that we are in the days the Bible calls “perilous times” in 2 Timothy 3:1.

The world calls it crisis, pandemic, destruction; however, there are times of revival, breakthrough and an awakening. This pandemic has created panic! In addition, many have gone through a financial hit. Many business owners, entrepreneurs, startup companies, ministries, churches and families are looking for financial relief. It appears that we are in a financial drought.

When the coronavirus started to build throughout the world, especially in the United States, we got word that there would be a quarantine, a stay-in order. Consequently, we’ve seen emptied grocery stores running out of essential supplies. How can we navigate through these challenging days?

Is it possible to live a victorious life in Christ while enduring a pandemic, when the world around us seems to be in a crisis? The answer is yes, and it is found in the Word of God. The Lord spoke to me “Hakeem, we are in a famine!” As I looked at empty streets, grocery stores, gas stations and places of business, these things confirm that we are definitely in a famine.

Ministries, churches, businesses and educational system have been reduced to going digital, virtual and electronic to practice social distancing. Small and large businesses were forced to close, and some may never reopen. Unemployment is skyrocketing, and financial relief is needed.

Furthermore, the government has introduced stimulus packages to come to the aid of the desperate cries of many, but that’s not even enough. God started to speak to me about “favor in famine.” The Holy Spirit said there is a key that will release heavenly stimulus in time of economic drought. He took me to the Scripture in Genesis 26:12-15 where it says: “Then Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold; the Lord blessed him. The man became rich and continued to prosper until he became very wealthy. For he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great number of servants so that the Philistines envied him. For the Philistines had stopped up all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father by filling them with dirt” (Gen. 26:12-15).

We can see in a time of famine, drought and economic uncertainty that He activated the supernatural faith to sow in that land and time and reaped. The Lord says that in this season. to access supernatural favor, harvest and financial breakthrough, you must implement and invest in what the Word of God says.

Isaac planted or sowed seeds in a time of famine and reaped a hundredfold blessing in the same year. This is not the time to save, as we were taught. There is a time to save and a time to give.

However, this is a biblical principle that will unleash the stimulus of heaven speaking of dew of rain on your life. Something happened to Isaac when he sowed in famine. He activated a famine preventive protection plan in a time of drought:

1. Sacrificial seeds to sow, plant or give.
2. Reaped in the same year a hundredfold harvest.
3. God blessed his seed.
4. He became rich and grew richer.
5. He became very wealthy.
6. Possessions of flocks and herds and a great household.
7. Enemies envied him.

We can see that because he sowed in famine, Isaac’s seeds produced a sudden harvest in the same year. God blessed his seed, and he became not only rich but wealthy. Also, he had many possessions and his household was blessed.

God is saying, “You will survive the famine. Your seeds will bless you as you sow into community outreach, missions, the elderly, authentic kingdom projects, ministries, churches, homeless shelters and into valid prophetic ministries or anyone who is in financial distress or dire need.”

God says you will begin to see that supernatural favor in famine be extended to you. Not only you will see favor in famine, but also when you are faithful in famine with the resources and the seed you sow, God will open the heavens over your life. I love that the Scripture says Isaac became wealthy and rich.

Keep in mind that this message is not about prosperity, or everyone would be rich or wealthy. However, God doesn’t want us to be a beggar but lenders. He desires for His children to be the head and not the tail, and first and not last. The Bible says in Psalm 37:25b, “Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor their offspring begging bread.”

We also know that the poor will be with us always. So, it’s not about being rich or wealthy but God desires that our souls prosper while being financially stable and reap divine financial blessings that comes out of working biblical principles. Third John 1:2 declares it like this: “Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, even as your soul is well.”

Moreover, the Bible says that obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Sam. 15:22). We as believers must understand the currency of heaven, how it works and how to obtain spiritual, natural and financial breakthrough blessings in times of famine or pandemic. We must know that there is a difference in being rich and being wealthy.

What matters to the wealthy is not how much money they make, but rather how much money they keep as well as how long that money can work for them. The real question is, can their wealth sustain them and pay for all of their bills for the rest of their life? In addition, can they travel the world, eat and drink without having to worry about how one will meet all these expenses? Not only do the wealthy have lots of money, but they also don’t worry about money.

They can afford their all of their essentials as well as an extravagant lifestyle with no worries of money. Those who are wealthy know how to produce or accumulate a lot of residual income or financial streams and cause their money to grow exponentially. This pandemic is the greatest time for creativity and ideas to come forth. Time to sow seed into your future here and now!

God wants to shift us from a pandemic to a planned-emic. What do you plan to do with your seed of faith? We can see that when Isaac sowed in famine, he became rich and richer to the point that he also became very wealthy. We must know that money will work for you and not the other way round. If you don’t believe in prosperity, you will live in a realm of need and poverty spiritually speaking. God wants you to be a benefactor to bless others, not a just a beneficiary to receive from others!

“Give, and it will be given to you: Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will men give unto you. For with the measure you use, it will be measured unto you” (Luke 6:38).

Pray to the Lord that He sends givers to sow into your bosom and you become a giver to sow into others’ bosoms. Isaac became a benefactor, that is, a giver, sower and planter in famine!

Furthermore, we see that Isaac had many possessions as well, and that mean that he had excess acquired that kept him going and doing what he could in famine as long as he wanted, and his financial blessings and excess did not get diminished. Isaac had the blessing of the Lord on his life because of one faithful act of seed sowing in a time of famine, which cause him to possess infinite wealth that sustained him after the famine was over.

Favor in famine is connected to your faithful obedience to take what you have and sow it into someone or something beyond yourself. God has me sow many financial seeds sacrificially to prophetic voices, ministries, people in need, churches and whomever He instructed. God in return has supernaturally sustained me for the last 60 days in this time of pandemic and quarantined.

God wants to release supernatural favor in famine. Do you feel like you are in a financial or economic drought and need divine relief? Well, here is something God said to me in prayer. He said, “This is not the time to save but sow!” You sow in unusual times and seasons like Isaac did that unlocked the floodgates of heaven and opened the earth to yield a hundredfold blessing in the same year.

Do you want to receive your harvest in the same year? If you answered yes, then the principle and secret is taking advantage of this season to sow. Find someone or something to sow into. Your seed has the potential to produce the destiny and future you want. The Bibles says it like this in Proverbs 18:16 (NIV), “A gift opens the way and ushers the giver into the presence of the great.”

In other words, our charismata or Holy Spirit gifts will not bring us in the presence of greatness. But the Bibles say our financial seed does! Are you a giver or eater? In this pandemic and being quarantined, are you giving, sowing and meeting the needs of someone else? This is key in receiving favor in famine. The Bible says that we are better to give than to receive.

“In everything, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus Himself: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive'” (Acts 20:35, BSB).

The Bible says God gives seed to sowers or givers, not the eaters.

2 Corinthians 9:10 (MEV) says, “Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness.”

The above Scriptures says that the Lord gives seed to sowers and bread to eaters. These terms are being used metaphorically to talk about how the Lord provides extra to those who are givers and supplies the basic needs of eaters. Below will determine if you are a sower or eater:

1. Eaters are those who are using their finances primarily for their own needs.
2. Sowers are those who use their finances primarily to give to others and meet primarily the needs of others.

Basically. this principle is about the attitude of the heart toward giving and sowing. Those who desire more money so they can get more material things or stuff, per se, are eaters. However, there are those who pray to the Lord for more money so they can give more are considered sowers. Absolutely, sowers have to eat too but they understand the currency of the kingdom principle of sowing and reaping, giving and receiving.

So a sower understands that as the money comes in, there is always more than enough for them and for others. But for individuals (eaters) who only seek to get their needs will only get their needs met. Sadly, they will not experience the abundance Isaac experienced of overflow that comes with sowing in famine and giving. Eaters are always focused on what they need, and therefore, Father God doesn’t grant them an overabundance. They would just spend it on themselves selfishly.

I love what the apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 9:7-8, “Each one should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not out of regret or compulsion. For “God loves a cheerful giver.” And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

Notice that the reason the Lord makes grace abound toward us is so we may also abound unto every good work that we are called to do in Him. Keep in mind that favor in famine is not just for you. The harvest is to sustain you and those you are called to and depends on you.

I believe prosperity is not for us. It’s so that we may bless others. That is true kingdom prosperity, obtaining eternity and following biblical principles in giving and priority.

There are those who will read this and disagree because their wealth and possessions are what makes them who they are. They forget the one who blessed them. However, I am reminded of the story in Matthew when a rich young man asks Jesus what actions bring eternal life.

First, Jesus advises the man to obey the commandments. When the man responds that he already observes them, and asks what else he can do, Jesus adds: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (see Luke 18:18-34).

Many people believe prosperity is all about greed, and that’s why they oppose it. But true Bible prosperity is so we can be a blessing to others. The mindset that states: “I’ve got enough. I would never ask or desire for more” is the wrong mentality. That’s selfish. That’s an eater attitude basically and, not a sower.

If you are a sower, God will bless you with a supernatural abundance of finances that will more than supply your essential needs and enable you to sow freely as you are led of Holy Spirit.

“Let him who steals steal no more. Instead, let him labor, working with his hands things which are good, that he may have something to share with him who is in need” (Eph. 4:28).

The above Scripture is stating that the purpose we work is so that we can give to those that have need. Favor in famine is connected to your faithfulness to God to obey and sow into others with what He blesses us with. However, there are those who would misinterpret the reason. We do work so we can provide for our own needs and pay our bills. But that’s not what this Scripture is saying.

The purpose for our work is so that we can bless others. When you are in position to bless others, meaning you have more than enough regardless of a national crisis, pandemic or drought. I can just hear people reading this and saying, “But what about my needs? Doesn’t the Lord want me to be blessed as well?” Of course He does. But the way to blessing isn’t in trying to meet your needs. It’s in meeting the needs of others. The Bible says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be given to you” (Matt. 6:33).

Lastly, I am reminded of the story in 1 Kings 17 that introduces the prophet Elijah and gives the account of his encounter with a widow from Zarephath. The chapter notes that the Lord was withholding rain from Israel (verse 1).

Due to the rampant idolatry in the nation by the royal couple, Ahab and Jezebel, a famine was the judgment God sent through the prophetic voice in Elijah. In verse 8, God instructed Elijah to go to Zarephath, a town outside of Israel, where a widow woman would provide him food. As he obeys, he finds a woman gathering sticks (verse 10).

Elijah instructs her to “Please get a small cup of water for me to drink” and “bring me a morsel of bread in your hand” (1 Kings 17:10b, 11b). As we know, the widow was in the same situation as Elijah. She responded, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, but only a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a jar. I am gathering two sticks, that I can go in and make it for me and my son, so we may eat it and die” (1 Kings 17:13).

In a famine, she was certain she and her son would die of starvation and only had enough for two, not three. They both were in survival mode. Elijah’s response to her was surely a test of her faith.

But he instructed her to make some food for him first anyway, using her only essential ingredients in an economic drought. He released a prophetic word of hope to her: “For thus says the Lord God of Israel: The barrel of meal will not run out, nor will the jar of oil empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth” (1 Kings 17:14). The widow’s faith was evident in her obedience that released favor in famine.

We can see that later, supernaturally, the Lord was faithful to His prophetic word by the prophet: “she, he, and her household ate many days. The barrel of meal did not run out, nor did the jar of oil empty, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Elijah” (1 Kings 17:15b-16).

The widow’s food supply was supernaturally extended as promised. Elijah stayed there for some time, living in an upper room of her house. The woman’s son eventually died of an illness and, in her grief and disbelief, she blamed Elijah for his death—assuming the Lord was judging her for her sin (1 Kings 17:17–18).

But Elijah cried out to the Lord: “”O Lord, my God, I pray that You let this child’s soul come into him again” (1 Kings 17:21b), and the was revived suddenly through prayer. When the woman saw this, she said, “Now, because of this, I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth!” (1 Kings 17:24b).

Favor in famine comes by obedience to give sacrificially to meet someone else’s needs. The widow took little, and God supernaturally gave her more than enough not just for two but for Elijah as well. She and Elijah needed each other and survived the famine with heavenly favor! {eoa}

Dr. Hakeem Collins is an empowerment specialist, respected prophetic voice, apostolic leader, governmental minister, life coach and sought-after conference speaker. He is known for his keen accurate prophetic gifting and supernatural ministry. He is the author of best-selling books: Heaven Declares and Command Your Healing. He’s been featured on many television shows: Sid Roth’s It’s Supernatural! The Word Network and Cornerstone TV, just to name a few. He is host of the Prophetic Breakthrough podcast on Charisma Podcast Network. Follow him on: facebook.com/drhakeemcollins/and hakeemcollinsministries.com.