The Pipeline That Built Itself

In 1857, a Scottish minister named George Muller ran five orphanages in Bristol, England, housing over two thousand children. He never once asked for a donation. Not a single fundraising letter. Not one public appeal. Each morning, the children sat before empty plates while Muller prayed, and each morning — without fail — a baker would arrive with surplus bread, or a milk cart would break down outside the front door, its driver offering what would otherwise spoil.

Critics called it reckless. Sensible people said you cannot feed two thousand mouths on prayer alone. But Muller kept meticulous records: over his lifetime, the equivalent of nearly one hundred fifty million dollars flowed into those orphanages, every penny unsolicited.

Zechariah understood this arithmetic of the Spirit. When Zerubbabel stood before the rubble of Solomon's temple — a handful of weary exiles with no army, no treasury, no political leverage — the Angel of the Lord delivered a word that defied every spreadsheet: "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts."

The golden lampstand in Zechariah's vision burned continuously because oil flowed from living olive trees directly into its bowls. No human hand refilled it. The supply was built into the design.

When God assigns the task, He has already engineered the provision. Our job is not to generate the oil but to stay connected to the tree.