Mark 5:25-29 tells us about a woman that is must like each and every one of us... she had issues.  Look at someone and say "We all have issues."  She spent all that she had and got worse instead of better.  And once she was in a condition that she could do nothing, she had to believe Jesus to do something.  Hard times are designed to break you and make you.  God cannot do you a favor until you know you need one.  He brings honey out of a rock.  He brings light out of darkness.  He brings life out of death.  He takes all things and makes them work together for the good of them that love Him and are called according to His purpose.  Satan knows that you are on the edge of a breakthrough so when he turns up the heat, get excited!  It's always darkest before the dawn.  When the devil has done his worst, God is about to do His best.  When you get down to nothing, know that God is up to something.  

 ¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

God is not concerned with what's in you hand.  He's concerned with  what's in your heart.  God wants a broken and repentant heart.  Some people have to be broke to be broken so when you get down to nothing, God is up to something!  Hard times are designed to break you and make you! 

Luke 24:15-16 & 31-32 

 ¹⁵And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.

 ¹⁶But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. 

³⁰And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.

 ³¹And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.

 Luke 24 says that the disciples knew who Jesus was by the blessing, breaking, and giving process.  That is how He does it.  You are already blessed!  You were blessed when you were still a sinner.  You were blessed when He caused His sun to shine and His rain to fall on the just and the unjust.  You were blessed when you didn't have bird-sense.  The birds of the air don't sow, don't reap and don't save but God still takes care of them.  When you didn't sow, and didn't reap, and didn't save you were still blessed because God was still taking care of you.  Say "God takes care of me!"  You've been blessed but you had to be broken.  The bible says a broken spirit and and a contrite heart.  God can't give us until we are broken.  But the process is that He blesses you, breaks you, MULTIPLIES YOU, and then gives you.  God is about to multiply you!

*Getting down to nothing is the sign of the end of one season and the beginning of a new one. 

1 Kings 17:7-15

 ⁷And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

 ⁸And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,

 ⁹Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.

 ¹⁰So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

 ¹¹And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.

 ¹²And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

 ¹³And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.

 ¹⁴For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.

 ¹⁵And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her hou se, did eat many days

God will turn your last into your first if you put Him first!  The widow at Zarephath was down to her last until she put it in the preacher's hand.  Then, when she was down to nothing, God was up to something. When she got down to nothing, it marked the end of her season of lack and the beginning of her season of abundance.  When you have gone as low as you can go, SHOUT, because there is only one way you can go from here....(UP)!  When your back is against the wall, SHOUT, because the pendulum is about to swing in the opposite direction.  Things are about to swing in your favor.  It"s still favor time in 2009!  God is about to do you a favor!

THERE ARE THREE THINGS YOU HAVE TO DO:

1.  WHEN YOU GET DOWN TO NOTHING, YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE SOMETHING.

           You have to believe God can prepare a table in the wilderness because if you ask "Can God?" then He has to keep you in the wilderness to show you that he can.

           You have to believe He is God on the mountain high and the valley low.  You have to believe He is God in the light as well as in the dark.  You have to believe that

            He is the God of heaven and He is God when you are going through hell.  When you get down to nothing, you'd better believe something.  You'd better believe that

           God is still God.

2.  WHEN YOU GET DOWN TO NOTHING, YOU HAVE TO EXPECT SOMETHING

       You have to expect God to come through for you.  When will He come through?  ...EVERY TIME!!!

3.  WHEN YOU GET DOWN TO NOTHING, YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING

         Galatians 6:9 says And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

You don't have a due season if you don't do something!  "How do I do it!"  Let's go back to Mark 5:25-29 to see how.

Mark 5:25-29

 ²⁵And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years,

 ²⁶And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,

 ²⁷When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.

 ²⁸For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole

 This woman did what she did because she said what she said.  She said what she said because she heard what she heard in her spirit.  She heard what she heard in her spirit because of "When she had heard of Jesus".  I believe God is telling you something right now.  It may be something new.  It may be something He already told you to do.  Whatever God tells you to do, do it!  Do it like it's all or nothing, because it is.  Do it like you life depends on it, because it does!  If it seems outrageous, do it!  If it doesn't make sense, do it!  Because if it makes sense, it's not faith!  Do it by faith so people can see you testimony and say "That don't make sense!"  It doesn’t make sense,

…because it’s FAITH!  When you get down to nothing, have faith and believe that God is up to something.