Today, because of the situation in the world, with the Covid 19 pandemic, and other troubles in this world, many people are not content, with their lives, with their jobs, with their amount of money, with their friendships, and with other things in general. There are many Christians, who for one reason or another, can not feel content, whatever the circumstances in their live. I have myself, felt the same way of not being content, with many different circumstances, in my life.
But if we look at Apostle Paul, especially what he says in Philippians 4:11-13, we can see, that Paul has learned something, about the circumstances in his life. Now, we remember what type of life, Apostle Paul had, after he became a Christians. That man, in comparison with many of us Christians, has been through all sorts of troubles, and lack in his life, with some beatings, lack of sleep and food, not having enough clothes, persecuted many times, nearly killed a few times, and yet, when we read what he says in Philippians 4:11-13, we see that despite of all that, he has learned a lesson. And that lesson, is absolutely and completely according to the will of God, for Apostle Paul, and for us Christians, because, obviously, he wrote about that, in the Epistle to the Philippians. The lesson Apostle Paul had learned, was that he knew how to be content, in whatever the circumstances. Paul did not grumble, about his life, or about his lack of food and clothing, or about the lack of other things he needed. Instead, he had learned to be content, despite the circumstances. Now, that is living by faith, and not by sight. If Apostle Paul was living by circumstances in his life, no way he was going to be content, as he said, that he was. No way! With all those horrible things happening in his life as a Christians, he would have a mental breakdown, and physical burnout. But no, he has learned to be content. If Paul was content not matter what happened in his life, that alone would save him, from all sorts of worries and anxiety, about lack of food, clothes and other things. He would be going to bed peacefully, and waking up peacefully, with not worries where or how he could get, food, clothes or other things he needed. Paul said that he can do all things, by him who was giving him strength. In other worlds, the reason why Paul was content always, is because he trusted that in any situation, in any needs he had, God will take care of him, and provide him not only the strength he needed, but everything else. God was providing Paul strength, in order to enable him, to pass through the lack of food, lack of clothes, lack of sleep, by the grace of God, so that he could by God's grace and strength, endure all that lack of things, and hardships, until God provided for him, all that he needed in his life. If we trust and believe God just as Apostle Paul did, God will provide us also, with the strength we need, to go through the lack of money, jobs, food, clothes, and other things, so that we can learn to be content, in whatever circumstances we finds ourselves in, until we receive the full provision from God, for all those things we need.
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Are you at the end of the rope financially? God will give you another one, without end! If God cares for every single animal, there is in the world, to feed them, would he not care for you, who are from the chosen generation, and from a royal priesthood? You are made in his image, and no animal is. Would God not take care of your financial situation, if you are the crown of his creation? Do not be like the disciples of Jesus, who could not see the Provider of everything, right there with them, and were asking, how they could feed the thousands of people, in a isolated place, with no money to buy food for everyone, after Jesus told them to give those thousands of people food, before he multiplied the few fish and bread by a miracle. Think about the Israelite during the time, they were in the wilderness. God fed them with the bread from heaven, the Manna, and provided them, with water from the rock, as recorded in Psalm 105:40, 41. He cared for them, for 40 years, while they were in the wilderness, to provide for their needs. They did not have income in the wilderness for 40 years, because what could they work, in a wilderness. They did not have social benefits, to rely on. Yet, God miraculously, took care of them. And now, if you are a born again Christian, you are under a better covenant, because we live under the New Testament now. By accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, you are given the status of being a child of the living God. I want you to look again, at Hebrew 13:5, even if you know that verse, because, that is one of the clear promises of God Almighty for you, and about the amount of money you have. It says, that you should be content with the amount of money you have. Now, you may be saying that you have very little money. If that is the case, then it does not matter. It does not matter really how much money you have now, and the reason for that is found in Hebrews 13:5. That is God talking to you personally, regardless of how much money you have now, in your pocket, bank account or wallet! God says to you very clearly, in Hebrews 13:5, that no matter how much money you have now, he will not leave you or forsake you, but that he is your helper! Do you see that? God does not care how much money you have now, because he is saying, that he will not leave you in need, and that he will not forget that you need money! That is what it is saying to you! God says in that verse, that he will not leave you in a situation, where you will be a needy person, lacking money or what you need! That is his promise for you personally! Take it, believe it, confess it, receive it by faith, and wait, letting him fulfil his Word, and the promise in his Word, because his Word never fails, but will accomplish what God has spoken it for! You might be thinking it is really hard to have all your needs met, well think again! Psalm 8112/15/2020 God is always interested to give you the best he can, regardless if that is food, clothing, employment, or other things.
He has promised in his Word, not only to satisfy your needs, but to feed you with the best food there is. Can you think about that for a moment? God is not only interested to satisfy your needs, but he wants to give you the best gifts he can give you. He has the best for you in mind. No believing it yet? Look at Psalm 81:16. Although, it is addressed to the people of Israel, the principle is the same, and it is, that if you obey and serve God, he wants to give you the best, of what you need. And we Christians are called a spiritual Jews, in the New Testament. In verse 16, of Psalm 81, God says that he will feed those who follow and obey him, with the finest of food. That is his intention, not to give you just what you need, but to give you the best of what you need. So, the next time you are praying for your needs, and ask God to give you what you need, remember what his Word says, that he wants to give you the best of what you need, and not only just what you need, regardless of what you are asking him to give you. If you are a Christian, then you must be absolutely sure, that God wants, has promised, and will supply all your needs! That is the truth, and that truth is a fact. That is not a wish from God for you, but is his promise to you personally!
God is interested in your needs, but is not interested in greed! Your needs attract his attention, but if you have greed, his intention is to remove it, from your and my life. In the book of Acts, chapter 14, and verses 16-18, the Bible says, that God cared for all those unbelievers in the past, to provide them with all their need, and fill their hearts with joy, despite the fact that people have been ignoring him in the past. In fact it says, that God has provided those people mentioned, with plenty of food. You see that! That is addressed to non believers, in Acts 14:16-18, and not to Christians. And now, you and me, we are Christians, and that means, we are children of God, and we belong to God's family, and are his treasured possession, just as the Bible says. God cared for non believers, to provide them with plenty of food, and not only that, but to fill their hearts with joy too. Maybe you are asking yourself, how come? Well, that is the common grace of God, for humanity. How much more, your needs will be supplied by God, and all that he requires, is that you trust him, that he will. He will supply your needs, just because you need some basic things in life like food, clothing, house, employment, and he is concerned for your needs. He does not ever forget your needs, because he created those needs in your life, when he created you. He created us to be with needs. Notice that it says that God provided people with plenty of food, in Acts 14:17, and it does not say that people provided themselves with plenty of food. That is vital, because it makes us realise, that God is our source of everything, including our food, and not we, as we sometimes think. We may think that because we have a nice job, which provides us with plenty of money, therefore, that is why we have plenty of food. No, we should not forget that God is our source and he provides us with food, just as Acts 14:17 says. He is our provider, that is why Jesus said, that we should not worry about what we shall eat, or what we shall drink. Why did he say that? Because he has always our needs in mind. He knows what we need, before we ask him. One thing is certain! That if you believe in God and follow and serve him, all your needs will be met! All of them! Not just some!
God is more than a willing and has promised, to supply all your needs! That is the truth, if you want to believe it or not! God does not want any of your needs, to be unsatisfied! Why should he care to supply some of your needs, and not another? When we read 1 Timothy 6:17, we can see that God wants to provide us with what we need. And not just provide for us what we need, but he wants to provide it in a very rich way! That is what that verse says! That is God's idea, that is what the Word of God says! That is not some prosperity man made teaching! This is the teaching from heaven, recorded on the pages of the Bible, the Word of God! Now we can agree with it, or not agree with it, the choice remains entirely ours. Even more than just provide for us, God is also concerned that he gives things to enjoy! God is not only giving you a thing you need, and say "Here it is, have what you need". No, he wants to give you things to enjoy! That is what the Bible says! That God richly provide us with everything, means he does not leave a need unmet. Richly means richly. Richly means more than what you need. Rich provision with everything, means no lack. How can you be needy and lacking what you need, and God not provide for you richly, just as he promised in his Word? No, he surely will do what he said and has promised, but God does not lie, and his Word is truth! God says, and does what he says in his Word, not like us people, promise one thing, but do something else! Promise from a man, is like a polite refusal to do something. Promise from God, is a fact, something recorded in heaven, and given to us on earth, something which can never fail to do what it is give for. Jesus said, that heaven and earth will pass away, but his Word will not pass away! How well you know your Shepherd, will determine how much of green pastures you see around in your life.
The less we know Jesus Christ our good Shepherd, the more dry grass and no pastures we will find around us. God wants to lead you to a green pastures, if you are his sheep. God always wanted to give you green pastures, instead of a dry morsel. From the very beginning, God gave Adam and Eve a green pastures, and more, the Paradise. God hates lack in your life, as much as you do. Just read Psalm 23:1. The very two verses of Psalm 23, show that God hates lack in your life, and loves to take you to a place, where you will just relax, and enjoy the green pastures of provision from him, because you are his beloved child. And even if you walk in the valley of death, and the valley of Covid 19, and there is darkness all around you, God still wants to prepare a table in front of you, to supply your need and beyond, so much so, that even the enemies of your soul, will just look in dismay, at the abundance from God in your life, and not be able to do anything about it, apart from being jealous - Psalm 23:4, 5 Notice in verse 5, it says that your cup will overflow. You see that? God is not only concerned that there is no lack of what you need in your life, but he want your life, to be overflowing with his provision, just as Jesus did supply many baskets of leftovers, for the thousand of people, who were with him, listening for him and his teaching for days, leaving their daily engagements behind, in order to be with him. Seek first the Kingdom of God. The Word of God is full, with so many promises, for all those who believe, that their needs will be met by God!
If you find yourself lacking anything which you need in life, like, money, jobs, food, etc, then read, because the Word of God has to say something to your personally about that! There are some Christians, who claim for example, that if God has promised something in the Old Testament, then that is only for the people of Israel, and not for us as Christians. That is not so! In the New Testament, saint Paul says that we are spiritual Jews, because we are co-hairs with Christ. We are the children of the promise, children of Abraham, just because of our faith in Jesus Christ. Yes, we are not physically Jews, but we are spiritual Jews, according to saint Paul! When king David says in Psalm 103, that God satisfies his desires with good things, do you think that is only for him and for the people of Israel? No, because you are a child of God in Jesus Christ, therefore, that promise is also for you! God loves you as much as he loved king David! Why he should love us less! In Psalm 103:2, it says that we should not forget the benefits from God. What benefits? Well, all those blessings which God has given you in the past, or has given you today! That is all those things you needed in the past, like food, jobs, clothes, and any other spiritual or material blessings! The problem is that, when we face lack in our life, and when we wonder where we are going to teg the next meal, or the money to pay the bills, we tend to concentrate on the lack, and not on the promise of God, or the benefits and blessings, he has already given us in the past! You see, if we continue to thinks about all those good things and benefits God provided for us in the past, that will increase and strengthen our faith, to receive from God what we need now, or in the future! What we think about, will either increase or decrease our faith for provision from God! That is why, king David says that we should not forget all the benefits from God. God want to satisfy what we need from him, but often he uses our faith in him and his Word, to do that! Want a proof? Just look at how many times Jesus said in the Gospels, that it should be according to people's faith, when they asked something from him, and he did a miracle for them. Jesus often said to them "...according to your faith..." Why did he say that? Because he wanted to use their own faith in him, in order to do the miracle. He could do the miracles anyway, but he wanted to involve their faith in what he was teaching and saying. God always looks for our faith to be involved, in order to do a miracle. Meditating not only on God's promises in his Word, but on all those good things God has given you or done in your life in the past, will strengthen and increase your faith to receive a miracle from him, now or in the future. Do you want to terminate and eliminate the lack of what you need in you life, the way God intended it to be? Then read on, because there are sure ways from God, of how to stop living in not enough of all you need, be it finances, car, jobs, food, clothes and other necessary things in life!
God created you with needs, so he is more than concerned to satisfy and provide for those needs, as he has promised in his Word. All thought the Bible, be it Old Testament or New Testament, we can see our God as being the provider of all people have needed in the past. But that is not only for the past, because he has promised to provide for all his children, past, present or future! Our God is not like some politicians, who promise us something, but fail to deliver! No, God does not waste his time and our time, with false hopes, about our needs being provided for! Our God is never limited by our circumstances. He creates something out of nothing, just as he created the heaven and earth by his Word, out of nothing. No mountain of lack, and not enough, is too big for our Father God in heaven, to be removed! There are so many passages in the Bible, which show that God can provide for needs of people, where there is not even any reason to think so. Think about the Israelis who spend 40 years in the wilderness, how God provided for all they needed, even though, they doubted that he can! He provided for thousands of people in the wilderness, without them being able to work for it, or pay for it. He fed them and provided for them, in a place, when logically, not person would think, that you can get your needs met in whatever way. That is in the wilderness. What type of food can you get, for a few thousand people, on a daily basis, in a wilderness? Nothing! Yet God proved to them, that he will provide for them, for 40 years, daily! Not 40 days or months, no, 40 years of daily supply of all they needed, and yet, there were some, who still doubted where their next meal is going to come from. When we read Psalm 37:19, we can see that God has promised that in the time of disaster, you will not wither, and in the time of famine, you will have plenty! Do not try to figure it out, how can you have plenty, in the time of famine! That is not what God wants from you, to try to figure it out, and reason it, or try to explain it. Yes, it does not make sense, that when there is famine around, you will have an abundance of things to enjoy, but God does not care, about our common sense, and he does not depend on it at all, in order to supply what we need. Famine can never produce plenty, but our God can and will, for those who trust and believe in him. All that he is asking of us, is to trust him, and believe that what he said, will be accomplished, regardless of circumstances! God is not a man, that he should lie, and his Word is truth, because Jesus is the Word. Our faith and trust in God pleases him, first of all, not our reasoning. In fact, in the book of Proverbs, God commands us not to rely on our reasoning, but to trust him with all our hearts. His ways are higher than our ways, and his thoughts are higher than our thoughts, so are his way of doing things, and providing miraculously for our needs, when we can not provide for ourselves, because we find ourselves in a time of famine. This Covid 19 has created a lot of famine and lack, in the life of many people globally, but Covid 19 is not strong enough, to stop our God, providing for our needs! It never will be! You can break free, from anxiety and worry about, how you will pay your next bill, where to find a job, or to be healed from disease! That is what God promises in so many places in his Word for his children! Do you find yourself, in a situation where you are stuck with an incurable condition, or you wonder how you can pay your bills, or you worry about how to find an employment, and more money for your needs? Well, all this situation in the world, with this Covid 19 stuff, is really making the world wonder and worry, what will happen next. But, if you are a Christian, read on, because the one who created the world, has put his attention on you, and your situation. God either cares for us, or he does not. What matters is that he has said that he cares. He cares for your bill to be paid, he cares to restore you to health, and he cares to provide what you need! That is a fact established in heaven, and in his Word. The Bible says that no word from God will fail! Your illness, your lack of money or lack of employment will fail to accomplish its own purpose, but the Word of God will never fail to accomplish its own purpose, but will fulfil the reason, why God sent it on the first place! If you look at Psalm 9:9, you can clearly see that is says that God is our stronghold, in a time of trouble. Well, living in a Covid 19 is a time of trouble, but God is our stronghold, and we can surely run into the protection and the provision from God, in that time of trouble. When we are in a time of trouble, it is the time to run to God and come close to him for help, and not run away from God. In Psalm 9:10, God says that he will never forsake us. That is about God not forsaking us, or forgetting about us, especially when we are in a time of trouble! That is what it says, because it says so, in verse 9, of Psalm 9. That means God will not forsake you, or forget about your illness which is waiting to be healed from him, and he will not forsake or forget about your need of money or employment. That is what God is concerned about not forsaking you! He just says that you will be helped, provided and healed from him, only if you do one thing, and that is to trust in him and his Word. If you can do that one thing, as it says in Psalm 9:10, to know God's name, seek him, and trust in him, then the rest will be done for you by God himself! If you seek first your employer, or your doctor for your disease, very often you can be disappointed with the trust you have in them, because that trust can often crumble. But God is saying 'Trust me, because I am trustworthy'. How many times you can trust God? Any time, without limit, just as he is not limited. That is all he asks, that we trust him, and his Word. God has a good solid reason, to ask us to trust in him and his Word, and that reason is, that he knows that his Word is true! That is why Jesus said so many times in the Gospels, 'truly, truly I say to you'. Your hope in God, to help you in your illness, find a job, or money, will never perish, if you continue to trust him! That is what Psalm 9:18 says, meaning that if you are afflicted by unemployment, illness or a lack of money, your hope to be helped by God, will never perish, but what you hope to get from God, will be accomplished, because he has promised so! Can we really say 'Goodbye' to the lack of money in our life as Christians? Well, if we look at the Word of God, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, we surely can! In Hebrews chapter 13, it talks about God never leaving us and never forsaking us. Often, we would think it talks about God being present with us, just as Jesus has promised us, that he will be always with us. But here, in Hebrews 13:5, it talks about God never leaving us without what we need. In fact, it talks about us, being content with what we have. But the fact is, very often we are not content with what we have. Why is that? Is it because we get bored sometimes with the things we have, and therefore, what something new and exiting? Well, that is not God has said, in Hebrews 13. He did not say that we should look for new things, if we get bored with what we have already. No, what he said is that we should be content, that our needs are met. That is what God wants us to be content, despite the fact, that often, we are not content with the stuff we have. In Hebrew 13:5, talks about us being free from the love of money. Why is that? Because having more money is not the point, according to God. According to him, I am surely convinced, that he sees money as the means for us to get things we need, and not the final goal or destination. The love of money is when we are not satisfied with the amount we have. But Hebrews 13:5 tells us to be satisfied with what we have. We seem to never have enough. And God knows it, that is why he says to us to be content with what we have. We tend to want more money, even when we really do not need them, and that is what the love of money is. Money in itself, is not good or bad, but the question is, how we use it, for what purpose we use it, that makes it good or bad. He said in Hebrews 13:5, 6, that he will not leave us, and that he is our helper. That is talking about God not leaving us without what we need. That is what it is talking here, in Hebrews 13:5, 6. It is not talking about God always being with us, and never leaving us, but about God never leaving us without what we need. Although, that fact that he is always with as, as he has promised, also remains. During these difficult time of the Covid 19 pandemic, many of us, find ourselves concerned and worried of where will get money to pay our bills, or buy food and other things we need. But if we look at Hebrews 13:6, we can see that God wants us to be confident in what he says, that he will provide for us, and not leave us without what we need. Read verse 6. It says that we can say with confidence that God is our helper, and that we will not be afraid. Afraid of what? Afraid that Covid 19 pandemic seems too strong, to curb our ability to get what we need, for our daily life, like food, cars, clothes, paying bills, etc.. The level of our confidence that God will not leave us without what we need, depends on what we believe about the God we believe in, and how much we know him. At the level of our knowledge of who God is, and what we believe about his Word and promises, will determine, how worried or confident we are, that he will supply our needs. Our confidence in what God has promised, depends on what level is our personal relationship with him. It is like two best friends. The more they know each other, and the more time they spend together, the more they can trust each other, that if any of them needs something or is falling into a difficulty, the other friend is always there for them, when they need them. The bigger the knowledge and trust of each friend about the other, the bigger the confidence for help from each other, when they need it. Our God comes in, when the whole world has left us. A friend is recognised in need, and Jesus called us friends. |
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