19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Do you believe God is able and willing to supply your needs? Do you believe His resources are unlimited? Do you believe He is mighty enough to get whatever provision to you when you need it?
If you answered yes to those questions then why worry and stress about money issues? If God is the great supplier of all we need why don't we trust Him more and live in peace? One of the greatest stresses on marriage is finances. You can see the weight and strain on people barely making it to no fault of their own. They do not live extravagantly. They work hard to live within their means.
Then life hits. A major house repair arises. The car needs repair. An injury occurs necessitating medical attention. The insurance premiums rise. One spouse loses a job. A test reveals a major medical issue calling for surgery and aggressive follow up treatments to battle the disease. One of the kids needs financial help. A little here and little there and a family can find their back up against the wall.
Even in all of this God is still a great supplier. He is a great provider. He makes available His abundant riches to help in our time of need. His resources are not limited to money. He supplies strength, peace. comfort, guidance, and wisdom in abundance too.
What will we ever need that He does not already have the supply? He already knows our needs before we are even aware of them and has the supply ready in waiting to meet the need of the hour.
Verse 19 starts off with "And my God..." Read that again but this time substitute your first name for the word my. It might read, Jimmy's God, Wende's God, Eric's God, Jeff's God, Missy's God, Mike's God, Lynn's God, Greg's God, Terri's God, Julie's God, Linda's God, Dale'sGod, Jane'sGod, or Christi's God. He is your God. You are His child and He is your Father. He personally relates to each of His children and cares for them.
Your God. My God. Our God will supply. That means He will provide and make available. Out of His riches. Superabounding wealth. God owns everything. Psalm 24:1 (ESV)
1
10 For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
It is all His. Every creature. Every dollar and cent. He can access any of it as He pleases and share those resources with us when we need. He uses people to do this. Let me illustrate.
Brenda's car has 260,000 miles on it. We are blessed that it has lasted this long. Both of us hate car payments and are content to drive older cars with higher mileage than to be locked into a car payment. We have a great mechanic. He is a man of integrity, very thorough, and very fair.
On several occasions we've put Brenda's car in the shop for repairs. Each time our mechanic has found other issues that would have caused the car to malfunction if not addresessed. One time the bill ran over $900 a few years ago right before Christmas. Things were tight financially and we did not know how we would pay that bill. God prompted a couple to give us $1,000. We had not shared our need with anyone. We needed money to repair the car. God abundantly supplied.
Not long after we moved back to Paradise we had to put her car in the shop again. This time the bill totaled over $1,500. We did not have it. We had not sold our house in Seminole yet and I took a major cut in pay in our move. I can still remember this like it was yesterday. Kelly Hughes from Seminole was passing through with his wife Cassie. They stopped by to see us. Kelly handed me an envelope with $7,000 collected from several individuals from our previous church. With that money we paid the car repairs and I was able to purchase new tires for my truck as well. God supplied again.
Just about a month ago we had to put Brenda's car in the shop again. Our mechanic called to inform me of all the issues he found. The bill sept mounting. I finally asked him how much we were looking at. My heart sunk when he responded, "$2,500." He has always been wiling to graciously let us pay off the bills over time when needed. We hate debt. But on this occasion we had no choice.
Brenda and I both prayed for God's supply once again. We asked Him to reach into His storehouse and share from His abundance to meet our need. Weeks passed. Then our Heavenly Father stepped in again. A dear friend gave us the largest financial gift we have ever received unsolicited by us but solicited from God the Father. We used part of the money to pay off the car repairs and some college tuition for one of our boys.
Just in case you still really do not believe let me tell you one last story. Faith Community Church has never had an abundance of money. We have been forced to live up to our name repeatedly as the finances got tight and we put in our faith in God to help.
Recently I met with our leadership team in a grim meeting about finances again. Truth is we were about one month from not being able to make our monthly requirements. Several options were discussed. One of them was to cut back on some or all of our rent facilities. Even considering this and the elimination of utility payments by my calculations we would still have been about a $3,000 shortfall each month. We already operate on a scaled back budget.
We took the mater to prayer. Brenda and I were very concerned. God was not.
I was approached by a man recently who asked me a straight forward question. "How is your church doing financially?" I thought that an odd way to start a conversation. I responded, "Do you want the truth or me to tell you what you want to hear?" He wanted the truth. I told him everything.
He looked at his wife and they both smiled. God had prompted them to to give a financial gift to our church even though they attend elsewhere. My answer confirmed what God had already put in their heat to do. Once again God supplied abundantly.
I have walked out this truth for the past two decades. I have seen God supply over and over again. I have seen Him use creative ways to get the provision to where it was needed. I have witnessed Him use unlikely candidates to get His provision to the need.
My God is a great supplier. I tell my stories for one reason. It is not to get sympathy. It is not to manipulate people financially. I recently felt like this happened after I preached as a guest to another flock. I returned people's money out of conviction. I share my stories so God gets glory. I want people to know I serve a faithful, trustworthy, reliable, and dependable God. He knows the needs of His children. He cares. And He has the supply.
There are times when I wish He sent it earlier. There are times when I wonder why His children are tested so often. I may never know the answers. I do know this. HE Is A GREAT PROVIDER. He is more than able to supply anything you will ever need.
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