LEARNING DAILY

 

Philippians 4:19, And my God shall supply all of your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

 

As Believers in this world right now, facing perilous times, and reading headlines and getting emails warning us of food shortages, $6.00/gallon gas prices, dollars being turned into digital currency, government shutdowns and all the rest of issues that cause us to worry, what do we do? They are valid concerns, right? However, worrying about these things will cause great stress and anxiety. The promise in today’s verse tells us that God knows how to take care of His people, those who place their faith in Him. We have already seen in other promises that he can take care of all that stress and anxiety and turn it into peace when we trust in Him.  After all, has he not been providing for His people since the days when he provided for Adam and Eve?

 

Let’s begin with what should be understood. Need and want are not the same thing! Needs will be met through Jesus Christ; He created all things and is in control of all things. Remember the manna He provided for His people who wandered around in the desert for forty years. The devil is always around, attacking scripture by making it confusing and trying to get it to say what it isn’t. For example, he uses prosperity preachers to get people to believe that by living for Jesus, all should be living in luxury and prosperity. That is just not true.

 

What is man’s greatest need? It is spiritual! In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave important teaching about this. He told us to not be concerned about what we wear or eat because our heavenly Father knows that we need these things. Instead, we are to seek His kingdom and His righteousness. The birds of the air, animals on the earth and those in the waters all know God provides for them. Isn’t it interesting that humans are the only part of creation that worries about food, clothing, and shelter! Humans seem to think they need to be concerned for these things and take care of this on their own. Please understand what I am saying here – God provides the opportunities for these things and it is up to us to use the opportunities for Him and not build our own pride.

 

While Jesus was on earth, He had nothing, no place to lay His head. Yet, He did not starve, was not attacked and eaten by wild animals, had shelter, never complained about his dress or sandals being old or outdated. His Father took care of Him. It was His faith and our faith needs to believe that our Father in heaven is looking out for us and takes care of us.

 

God has given me and my family more than we need. We have food, shelter, too many clothes and shoes. We can enjoy going to the coast to fish when we want, can still “enjoy” working out, and have good health. I can enjoy what God has provided or I can be depressed at what needs to be done with the house, lawn, or what might be coming! Instead, I can spend some time with the Lord each morning. I have to tell the devil to leave me alone constantly because of his attacks on my thoughts; I have to make a choice to come before God in prayer and to spend time reading/studying/ meditating on His Word every day. And, I must decide to spend time writing something that hopefully encourages others to walk a narrow way into God’s eternal kingdom. The promise is when we seek Him first and live like He desires, he will provide that which we need.

 

This verse can be taken out of context; I do not want to have done that. Believers will experience need in their life; the secret, in my opinion, is to place our trust in the One who can give what we need. There are days I need His strength to get me through the circumstances I face. I believe he will give that strength to meet the challenge. There are times we must go to Him in humility for help knowing that He supplies the power and the grace to we need to follow and serve Him and endure whatever we face. He supplies us with all we need – talking spiritually – because we are “in Christ”.