If I was to ask you to sit down and list every need you have, could you do it? At first you might think this would be an easy task but what I discovered when I did this myself is that it is actually an impossible task! We may know our immediate needs or the needs that are in our near future but none of us know all our needs. With each new day come new needs according to the circumstances we find ourselves in.
This reality can leave a person disheartened and anxious if they believe they are the ones who have to figure out how to meet those needs. I think of my unsaved friends who are constantly in a state of panic with every new need, trying to figure out what they are going to do to meet it. They are completely self-reliant because they have no other source to draw from to help them meet their needs. What saddens me is when I see Christians who do the same thing because they have a promise from God that He supplies all their needs. Philippians 4:19 in the Amplified Bible says, “And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”
This verse doesn’t say He will supply some of our need or most of our need. It says that He supplies EVERY need. And it doesn’t say He supplies it according to our need. It says He supplies it according to His riches in glory IN Christ Jesus. With our limited understanding of the fullness of God there is no way we can know what all of His riches in glory are because we are only human and this side of heaven we only know the fullness of God, in part.
In 1 Corinthians 13:9-12 Paul says, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”
Sometimes I imagine that when I get to heaven God will hand me a treasure box that is full of all of the blessings He wanted to bestow on me while I was on earth that I never asked for or believed for. I know this is not going to happen but the thought of it makes me expand my expectation of God! It helps me to wrap my mind around the truth that the fullness of God’s riches in glory IN Christ are available to me if I will believe by faith in what God has promised.
This opens my mind up to looking with hopeful expectation for God to supply ALL of my needs and it keeps me from adopting a mindset of doubt or fear. As believers in Jesus Christ the fullness of God’s riches dwell IN Christ and when we accept who we are IN Him and who He is IN us we begin to believe for the promises of God to manifest in our lives.
For example let’s look at a physical scenario so you can gain a better understanding of what I am talking about. Let’s say that you have a financial need. If you knew that there was a bank with your name on it and it was filled with riches that only you could access would you go to that bank when you had a financial need? The obvious answer is yes, of course you would. But what if someone told you this bank existed and you didn’t believe them. Does your unbelief change the reality of the truth they have shared with you? Absolutely not! All your unbelief does is it keeps you from ever accessing the riches that are stored in the bank because unless you believe the bank really exists, you will never look for it.
This is what I came to understand when I meditated on Philippians 4:19. Up until then I didn’t believe God had riches in glory IN Christ stored up for me. Did it change the truth that He did? No! Did it change the truth that the bank had my name on it? No! Nothing about the truth changed just because I didn’t believe. The only thing my unbelief did was keep me from looking for it which kept me from being able to access the riches that were rightfully mine that were stored up in it! For years I strived in my own strength to meet my needs; financially, physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and relationally. This striving left me exhausted and frustrated.
As soon as I chose to believe by faith that only God knows ALL my needs and only God has the riches to meet those needs everything changed! I redirected my focus from looking at my needs, to looking at His riches in glory IN Christ Jesus! This is when I began to be filled with hopeful expectation of seeing Him meet my needs and since then that is exactly what He has done. This is my prayer for all believers because it is in knowing and believing by faith in this truth; where we become a beacon of hope for the unsaved world. If you struggle in this area spend time meditating on Philippians 4:19. If this is not a struggle for you find someone who is struggling and mentor them in the Word. Let’s all build each other up so we can begin to see the manifest blessings of God be poured out in the body of Christ!
Prayer: I choose to believe by faith that You supply ALL my needs according to Your riches in glory IN Christ Jesus. I believe by faith that You have a bank with my name on it and through faith I have full access to the riches that are stored up for me in it. I praise You for loving me so much that You made Your one and only Son poor so that IN Him I can be made rich! (2 Corinthians 8:9) Amen
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