Branham Stories
God Loves a Cheerful Giver- Sister Hattie
E-57 And we was talking about building the new church up there, the tabernacle, and--and Mr. Wright said to me, "How's the pledges coming on up at the Tabernacle?"
I said, "Brother Wright, I'm not there enough to know."
And said, "You know what?" Said, "Hattie wanted to pluge--pledge fifty dollars towards that church, and Brother Roberson, the--the trustee of the church, one of them, the chairman, wouldn't let her give it." Said, "Because that'd take her about six months to dig fifty dollars out of them hills over there." And said, "But she give twenty, and Brother Branham, she wants..."
I thought, "You know what? I--I got twenty dollars here in my pocket. Meda give it to me to pick up some eggs." I said, "I'll just give her that twenty 'fore I leave back. And just... She's away from here, and you'll never know it. So I'd--I'd bought her ice boxes and things, 'cause I felt so sorry for her up there, that little old mother trying to work away on that hill." And so, I thought, "I'll just give her these--this twenty dollars, is what I'll do. When I leave I'll just slip it so she'll get it and that's her twenty dollars she paid in on the church up there." So I thought, "I'll just give her that."
So when I said... Something said to me, "But your Lord stood one day by the side of a--a wall and seen rich men putting thousands of dollars into a treasury. And a little widow come by and she only had three pennies, all her living. And now, what would you have done if you'd have stood there? You'd see that little widow put them three pennies in, you'd run, say, 'Oh no, sister, don't do that, don't do that, because we got plenty in here; we don't need that.' But Jesus never told her not to do it. He let her go ahead and do it. Because He knowed He had something for her down the road (See?), little something better." You see? So He just let her. God loves a cheerful giver.
So I said, "Well, I will just keep my money in my pocket then (See?), that's all right then; I'll just let it go 'cause maybe the Lord..."
E-58 And we was setting there, and I said, "Now, these vision that come..." Now, listen close now, we're fixing to close to something else. Now, remember, this has been less than two weeks ago, or just about two weeks ago. And I said, "The thing that puzzles me, Brother Wood..." And he was setting, like here by the side of me, still at the table, little old porch of a thing out there, been--had been screened in; they'd walled it in to try to make another room out of it. An old clapboard shingles and houses, holes all through it... And I said, "What's bothered me always has been this. On those squirrels," I said, "where... Brother Wood," I said, "we're supposed to be good squirrel hunters. I hunted since I was a little boy." And I said, "And--and you're an expert hunter." And I said, "Since little boys we've hunted squirrels. Under those conditions, Brother Wood, where did those squirrels come from?" I said, "I can't never figure it out. I was standing right there looking over the grounds, and I said, 'There shall be a squirrel right there.' And I'd been setting there for forty-five minutes. And no more than I took my finger down, there was a squirrel. And each time it was that way. The squirrel come from nowhere."
E-59 And I said, "The only thing I could think it to be, would be this, when God was trying to tell Abraham, what--how He was going to bless him." I said, "If this be my new ministry that's coming in, something greater, that He will finally confirm in that little building..." I said, "If it be that, like Abraham, the thing that Abraham needed was a sacrifice instead of his son, in Genesis 22. And then when God held his hand from sacrificing his son, there was a ram there. Where did that ram come from? He was a hundred miles from civilization, three days back, a journey. Any man can walk twenty-five miles a day. I walked thirty and thirty-five lots of times. And today we travel by car and--and so forth. Them days their whole way of travel was either by riding a donkey or--or walking. And he was three days back, and then lifted up his eyes and saw the mountain far off. And besides that, he was up on top of the mountain where there was no water. And what would the ram be doing up there? And it'd killed by wild beasts if it'd been away from civilization. Where did the ram come from? That's the reason Abraham called the name of the place Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide for Himself a sacrifice. He's able to speak it into existence."
I said, "If the Lord was confirming my ministry there, to let me know that He's going to help His people and let me do it," I said, "then the same Jehovah-jireh... I was in need of a squirrel the same as he was in need of a ram, and I believe Jehovah-jireh placed it there by His same spoken Word. It wasn't me anyhow, 'cause I didn't know what I was saying. He said it Himself."
E-60 And little old quiet Sister Hattie, setting back there, little dust bonnet on like the country women wear there. And she'd put on a little clean dress to come over to help her mother cook me a dinner. And she was setting with her hand like this, and she said, "That's nothing but the truth." She said the right thing. Here's my Bible, and as a servant of God, I say this. I could hardly hear the last she said. Her mother was trying to say something, but I didn't get it. I...
Just as she said that, she said the right thing. The Spirit of the Lord said to me, "Tell her to ask what she will, and you give it to her."
I--I couldn't speak. That room, everybody, felt strange. I said, "Sister Hattie."
She said, "Yes, Brother Branham."
I said, "THUS SAITH THE LORD, speak anything that you desire; I don't care what it is. If you want to know that God's give this ministry, speak anything that you desire. THUS SAITH THE LORD, if you'll speak it, I'll speak it behind you and you'll have it right here." Eight people standing there looking...
She said, "Brother Branham, what shall I say?"
I said, "It's up to you."
E-61 There set her crippled sister, her aged father. She was poor; she could ask for--for money. She could've asked for anything she wanted to. I said, "Ask anything that's in your heart, anything that you want to; you ask it, and THUS SAITH THE LORD, I'll speak it behind you and you'll have it."
She said, "The salvation of my two boys."
I said, "You have it, in the Name of the Lord." And those two little modern teen-age snicklefritz boys, that had hated the very cause of Christ grabbed one another and begin to scream the blessings of God. The power of God struck that place. Banks fell into his plate. I don't know what happened for about ten minutes.
Friend, do you realize what that was? I have never in all my life had felt such anointing. The first time it was ever performed on a human being, it bypassed aristocrats, it bypassed everything else, and went to a poor little old widow woman living up on the hill there. And God knowed what she'd ask. Her two boys was gloriously saved the very minute it was spoken. If she'd have asked for ten thousand dollars, it'd have been given to her. If she'd have asked for her sister's healing, it'd been given to her. Anything she would've asked, it would've been given to her.
E-62 I believe that the church of the living God is moving into a sphere now that's going to shake the whole world. That's the first time it's been since the days of Jesus of Nazareth to a human being. "Ask anything that you will, and it shall be given unto you, anything you desire." Don't you see the words of Jesus Christ being fulfilled? Oh, it's going to come to pass pretty soon. I'm looking for it to happen in this meeting. I'm wanting it to happen now, that that anointing will strike the whole church of the living God, and she'll rise to her feet like a mighty marching army. The sick will be healed by a word; the blind will see; the deaf will hear; the dead will be raised up; and the power of God will shake the world with the church of the living God. We're in the process of it now. I believe it's soon coming to pass. I believe it will be just exactly that way. I believe it's going to strike the church of God soon, and it's going to start a revival that'll shake the world. I believe it."
