These are tough economic times for our nation. Furthermore,
our government seems to be powerless in getting things moving in the right
direction. I submit to you that in these
times, one of the best things we can do is to place our faith in God for
meeting our needs. The Bible says, “God shall supply all your need according to
his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
God’s ability to bless us is not subject to the state of our
economy. He doesn’t need to borrow money from other nations, as our government
does. He is not dependent upon Republicans, Democrats, and Independents working
together. Rather, His source resides with Him in heaven, and He has an
inexhaustible supply. If He can create
the heavens, the earth, and all that is in them, surely He knows how to provide
for those who trust and obey Him.
This is not merely religious talk.
I truly believe in God's ability to meet the needs of His people. I say this
not only on the authority of the abovementioned verse and other similar
promises in the Bible, but also I have experienced this truth. During my last church
pastorate, I struggled financially for several years. My wife and I had five
children, she did not work outside the home, and my congregation was very small.
When I first began pastoring that
church, I worked full-time as an engineer. This job paid me well enough to
completely take care of my family. But my travel on that job sometimes made it impossible
for me to be at church during the weekdays when I needed to conduct our
mid-week service as well as lead our prayer meeting later in the week. It
became clear to me that I could not continue to do both. I knew the church
could not fully support me financially, but I was committed to being faithful
to my calling. After much prayer and agonizing over a period of many months, I
quit my job and devoted myself to the business of pastoring.
That decision was very tough on me and my family
financially, but I experienced God's faithfulness like I know I never could
have when all my needs were met, and I didn't need to seriously pray to God and
trust Him to meet my needs. I didn't live as a king or anything, but I saw the undeniable faithfulness of God times without number. I can write a book on my experience and perhaps one
day I will. But suffice it to say that God's faithfulness has become so real to me that I can say
without reservation that if you obey and trust Him, God can supply all your
needs. This He has promised to do, and God cannot lie.
Copyright ©2012 by Frank King. All rights reserved.
4 comments:
Amen. God is always concerned about the needs of His people, and has never forsaken those who serve Him faithfully and diligently. Psalm 34:10 says that "The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing".
Amen, God is faithful, and He wants His people to trust Him so He can prove His faithfulness and ability.
But Frank and Nuru, so many have given up jobs, relocated to different areas stating it was what God wanted them to do, and have fallen flat on their faces losing not only hope but family in the process too. Is it wise to not count the possible cost first?
Or, do you just take that chance and if it doesn't work out, say it's not what God wanted, whilst you deal with the damage?
Maybe my question should really be, how on earth do you differentiate between your inner secret desire and what God is actually telling you do? This may have worked out for you but I've seen too many people get defeated..
I ask this because I now feel that too many christians keep saying the fatal words 'God told me' when in fact it has nothing to do with God ( I hope this makes sense as not sure if I made my point clear enough).
That's an interesting and loaded question, far beyond the scope of a blog post. I do acknowledge that a lot a people outright lie on God saying He said something when He did not. I also acknowledge that there are many sincere Christians who claim to be following God, but who don't know how to discern the "voice" of God. But though these are true, they don't negate the truth about God and His faithfulness.
In this post, my goal was to do only two things. One, because I believe that the Bible is totally true, I accept Philippians 4:19 as fact, and I was simply expounding on this truth. My personal experience I shared was simply aimed at elaborating on the truth of the verse.
Two, in this post when I talk about the blessedness of obeying and trusting God, I am not talking about obeying Him, as in moving to another place that someone believes God is telling him or her to go to; rather, I am talking about living a life of obeying and trusting God in one's daily lives.
I totally agree with you that Christians are to quick to say "God told me." I do believe God has ways of communicating His specific will to us, but it's not a casual thing as many Christians try to make it.
Post a Comment