God Provides---Everything
For many in our nation, life has taken a turn; probably not what most would refer to as a good turn either. The prophesied economic downturn has indeed hit the nation in a number of areas. What does this mean for Christians, for believers in Jesus Christ? Absolutely nothing. I mean that quite literally. Nothing, absolutely nothing. If you are a believer and your family is in the middle of a new season of life, please don't take offense at the words just written. They are true---just please hang in there. I have a story to share, one that may take a while. Maybe several days. We'll just have to see how the Father leads.
Throughout our married life, My Beloved and I have lived by Faith in more seasons than not. When I say "By Faith" I mean literally and totally "By Faith" (utter and complete reliance and trust in the supernatural provision of God). Now, for the sake of clarification, I will state that at times we were living by faith due to nothing more than the foolish decisions of youth. No matter the reason, after gazing upon the balance in the bank account, supernatural provision from God was our only resource available to us time and time again. Time after penniless time the only comfort we had to turn to was our belief and trust that Philippians 4:19 "And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus" was true. The more arrows (children) the Lord added to our quiver (family), the more provision we found ourselves trusting for.
At first, we did what any hardworking, independent set of young parents with two babies would have done. We tried to figure it out ourselves. Yeah, well, let's just say that a couple years of that approach were...well...less than successful. As a matter of fact, we have only finished paying off the credit card balance from those early years within the past five years. Word to the wise: DON'T LIVE OFF OF YOUR CREDIT CARDS!!! IT WILL NOT WORK!!! Not to mention, God's provision is SO much better. How do I know this? I know this because I have been living a lifestyle of financial trust in God for many years. Now a mother of six arrows in the quiver I have long since given up trying to figure out how to fix situations, circumstances, or people in my life. I'm learning to live in a level of trust that was completely unknown to me all of those years ago. God has been and always will be so good.
Financial trust in God doesn't happen overnight. Trust must be learned. To quote an evangelist I once heard "You can't trust someone you don't know, and you can't get to know someone you don't spend time with." Yes, this applies to our relationship with God. Ouch! I know. The truth of how little time I actually spend with God each day is a great concern of mine. But what does trust have to do with getting by on next to nothing, nothing at all, or finding a new job? Everything! Let's visit a little longer, and I'll tell you more of my story. Then I think you will be able to see.
One of the first steps toward financial trust in God was learning who God is and that He is good---all the time. This isn't about adopting a religious cliche' thrown around among Christian circles several years ago. It's about really, truly knowing God as He is rather than as He has been portrayed. No, I'm not going off on some whacked out tangent. Don't worry. My story is biblically sound. However, it may stretch a bit, and I definitely pray it will attack any and every religious attitude, thought, and opinion that has implanted itself in any brother or sister in Christ. Not only do I pray that all religion is attacked, but I pray in the name of Jesus that all deception and false theology be broken off and removed. Christianity is NOT a religion it is a relationship, and relationships must be nurtured. They require the utmost care and attention, even devotion.
It is a sincere desire of my heart that somehow the depth of freedom our family experienced upon learning of God and the immensity of His love towards us be accurately expressed. The more we learned of God's grace, His love, His truth, the more scale after ugly scale of deception fell away from our ears and eyes. Step by glorious step of faith we were being set free from the bondages of religion! Our loving heavenly Father kept bringing articles, magazines, teachings, and meetings in our lives that taught us His Word in its entirety. We had both been raised in church. Both of us were saved, Spirit-filled believers, but never had we experienced the Love of God like this before. Like a hungry sponge I faithfully watched men and women of God on television every day. I took notes and shared the truth from the Word of God with my small children as I learned it myself. When My Beloved came home after work each day, he eagerly wanted to hear what had been learned that morning. Often we would watch even more teachers at night. We just couldn't get enough of Jesus. For you see...we were desperate. Church as usual just wasn't going to cut it for us. It simply wasn't enough. We needed more. God either had to be exactly who He said He was in His Word and do exactly what He promised to do for His children in our lives or we were sunk. We didn't have the luxury of following the Christian crowd. We needed a miracle, and we needed it right now.
The phrases and words I'm using to tell my story may sound a bit dramatic, but storms and trials tend to be dramatic seasons in our lives, both physically and spiritually. My Beloved and I were young, fiercely independent, and passionate. We weren't the kind of people to do things half-way; it was all or nothing. Learning about living by faith wasn't any different. Over fourteen years have passed since the first sack of magazines about faith were given to me. Fourteen years of trials, storms, and testings in the body, the soul, and the spirit. Fourteen years of supernatural provision, healing, leading, and loving. Fourteen years of blessing after glorious blessing. When I look back at those fourteen years I wouldn't believe so much living could be packed into that amount of time, if I hadn't lived it that is. God is SO good!!!
Here are the scriptures:
Throughout our married life, My Beloved and I have lived by Faith in more seasons than not. When I say "By Faith" I mean literally and totally "By Faith" (utter and complete reliance and trust in the supernatural provision of God). Now, for the sake of clarification, I will state that at times we were living by faith due to nothing more than the foolish decisions of youth. No matter the reason, after gazing upon the balance in the bank account, supernatural provision from God was our only resource available to us time and time again. Time after penniless time the only comfort we had to turn to was our belief and trust that Philippians 4:19 "And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus" was true. The more arrows (children) the Lord added to our quiver (family), the more provision we found ourselves trusting for.
At first, we did what any hardworking, independent set of young parents with two babies would have done. We tried to figure it out ourselves. Yeah, well, let's just say that a couple years of that approach were...well...less than successful. As a matter of fact, we have only finished paying off the credit card balance from those early years within the past five years. Word to the wise: DON'T LIVE OFF OF YOUR CREDIT CARDS!!! IT WILL NOT WORK!!! Not to mention, God's provision is SO much better. How do I know this? I know this because I have been living a lifestyle of financial trust in God for many years. Now a mother of six arrows in the quiver I have long since given up trying to figure out how to fix situations, circumstances, or people in my life. I'm learning to live in a level of trust that was completely unknown to me all of those years ago. God has been and always will be so good.
Financial trust in God doesn't happen overnight. Trust must be learned. To quote an evangelist I once heard "You can't trust someone you don't know, and you can't get to know someone you don't spend time with." Yes, this applies to our relationship with God. Ouch! I know. The truth of how little time I actually spend with God each day is a great concern of mine. But what does trust have to do with getting by on next to nothing, nothing at all, or finding a new job? Everything! Let's visit a little longer, and I'll tell you more of my story. Then I think you will be able to see.
One of the first steps toward financial trust in God was learning who God is and that He is good---all the time. This isn't about adopting a religious cliche' thrown around among Christian circles several years ago. It's about really, truly knowing God as He is rather than as He has been portrayed. No, I'm not going off on some whacked out tangent. Don't worry. My story is biblically sound. However, it may stretch a bit, and I definitely pray it will attack any and every religious attitude, thought, and opinion that has implanted itself in any brother or sister in Christ. Not only do I pray that all religion is attacked, but I pray in the name of Jesus that all deception and false theology be broken off and removed. Christianity is NOT a religion it is a relationship, and relationships must be nurtured. They require the utmost care and attention, even devotion.
It is a sincere desire of my heart that somehow the depth of freedom our family experienced upon learning of God and the immensity of His love towards us be accurately expressed. The more we learned of God's grace, His love, His truth, the more scale after ugly scale of deception fell away from our ears and eyes. Step by glorious step of faith we were being set free from the bondages of religion! Our loving heavenly Father kept bringing articles, magazines, teachings, and meetings in our lives that taught us His Word in its entirety. We had both been raised in church. Both of us were saved, Spirit-filled believers, but never had we experienced the Love of God like this before. Like a hungry sponge I faithfully watched men and women of God on television every day. I took notes and shared the truth from the Word of God with my small children as I learned it myself. When My Beloved came home after work each day, he eagerly wanted to hear what had been learned that morning. Often we would watch even more teachers at night. We just couldn't get enough of Jesus. For you see...we were desperate. Church as usual just wasn't going to cut it for us. It simply wasn't enough. We needed more. God either had to be exactly who He said He was in His Word and do exactly what He promised to do for His children in our lives or we were sunk. We didn't have the luxury of following the Christian crowd. We needed a miracle, and we needed it right now.
The phrases and words I'm using to tell my story may sound a bit dramatic, but storms and trials tend to be dramatic seasons in our lives, both physically and spiritually. My Beloved and I were young, fiercely independent, and passionate. We weren't the kind of people to do things half-way; it was all or nothing. Learning about living by faith wasn't any different. Over fourteen years have passed since the first sack of magazines about faith were given to me. Fourteen years of trials, storms, and testings in the body, the soul, and the spirit. Fourteen years of supernatural provision, healing, leading, and loving. Fourteen years of blessing after glorious blessing. When I look back at those fourteen years I wouldn't believe so much living could be packed into that amount of time, if I hadn't lived it that is. God is SO good!!!
- Did God supply our needs every, single time? Yes He did---every, single time.
- Was it always in the way we expected? Rarely, if ever.
- Did the provisions arrive on time? Yes, according to God's time they did. Were they ever late? Not according to God's timing.
- Did you ever go without? We have NEVER had to go without ANYTHING that we needed. Learning the difference between want and true need is a lesson we have learned repeatedly in varying situations. Often we have been unexpectedly blessed with our hearts deepest desires. Even more often these blessings come from unexpected, almost ridiculous sources. For example, while living in another town, a mother of 15 children brought us groceries every Friday. 15 children! It simply does not make logical sense that a mother of 15 would be bringing a family of (then) 6 groceries, but that's another lesson we've learned: God rarely makes logical sense.
- Has learning to walk by faith been easy? Not easy, divinely blessed.
- Have all of the lessons learned been spiritual? No. Many practical, hands on tips and ways of living on less have been acquired as well.
- Does it ever get easier? Yes, it does. There are still times when discouragement attempts to sidetrack us and make us loose focus, but when it does, we are able to defeat it and send it packing much more easily and rapidly than before.
- Any regrets? Only that I didn't trust God more completely more quickly.
- Has it been worth it? Yes, every step, every prayer, and every tear.
- Did you ever dream you would say that it had been worth it? No, I never did.
- Is there ever an end to living the life of faith in God? No, there is no end. Only new beginnings, deeper revelations into who God is and the desires of His heart.
- How did your family break out of the box of self-help and begin living a life surrendered to Jesus Christ? By taking God at His Word. We devoured the Bible like never before, and we had both been faithful readers and memorizers of the Word of God. If God said it, we believed it. Sounds simple, but it's not easy.
- Don't you worry about being misled by "faith preachers or prosperity preachers"? No, not at all. Some ministers are easier for us to understand and are more pleasant to learn from. However, after listening to several ministers of the Gospel who have been labelled by many believers as "not OK", fourteen years later, we have yet to be taught anything that is any more out of context with the Bible than any other preacher. Every minister makes mistakes. Every minister incorrectly quotes the Word of God at some time or another while ministering. Every minister learns, matures, and grows. That's just something those who attend church are aware of. We are listening to the Holy Spirit and following His guidance. As long as the gospel isn't being compromised, we don't feel that merely human mistakes, such as any minister might make on any given Sunday, should be grounds for blackballing. We haven't quit attending church at our local house of worship because of misquotations. We know that the Holy Spirit is Faithful, and He will lead us safely. I shudder to think of where we would be if it weren't for those Faith preachers and their prosperity messages. If it weren't for the Love of God which they taught and their faithfulness to teach the Word of God in its entirety, even the hard stuff most ministers won't touch, I'm honestly not certain our family would still be in church today. The toughest, most challenging messages on selling out to Jesus, denying ourselves, and crucifying our flesh for the purpose of obeying the Word of God we've ever been taught have come from those "nasty, wicked, materialistic" prosperity and faith preachers. Thank God for prosperity preachers and men and women of Faith in God! God has used them to save our lives and our family over and over. Yes, I do feel this intensely. God is a God of prosperity. Knowing that the unity among the believers which pleases God so much isn't being fully realized simply because some of the body doesn't want to be associated with another part of the body of Christ saddens me. Together there would be so much healing, comfort, and blessing to extend to a lost and dying world in desperate need of a Savior. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Christians need freeing. United together with the heart of Christ, fellow brothers and sisters could be freed to serve Jesus fully in wholeness. Think of the miracles such unity would bring forth! MOST importantly, it would please our Heavenly Father. This isn't part of my story though, is it? Sorry for that sidetrip.
Here are the scriptures:
- The Lord knows the days of the upright and blameless, and their heritage will abide forever. They shall not be put to shame in the time of evil; and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. Psalm 37:18,19
- The steps of a [good] man are directed and established by the Lord when He delights in his way [and He busies Himself with his every step. Though he falls, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord grasps his hand in support and upholds him. I have been young and now am old, yet have I not seen the [uncompromisingly] righteous forsaken or their seed begging bread. All day long they are merciful and deal graciously; they lend, and their offspring are blessed. Depart from evil and do good; and you will dwell forever [securely]. Psalm 37:23-27
- pretty much all of Psalm 37:)
- Psalm 91 - read it out of the Amplified Bible. Check out verse 8--we're inaccessible! Hallelujah!
- To grant [consolation and joy] to those who mourn in Zion--to give them an ornament (a garland or diadem) of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment [expressive] of praise instead of a heavy, burdened, and failing spirit--that they may be called oaks of righteousness [lofty, strong, and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice, and right standing with God], the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. Isaiah 61:3
- Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Psalm 30:5
- So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void [without producing any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11
- Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 John 2
- Malachi 3:10-11
- Deuteronomy 28:2, 11-13
- He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully...And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
- Psalm 23:1
- Deuteronomy 8:7-10, 18
- Those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Psalm 34:10
- Luke 6:38
- For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness,...2 Peter 1:3