Day 24…Philippians 4:19

"God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:19) 

Notes from the devotional:

• Paul is declaring here a promise to the Philippians regarding their own financial needs.
• The promise here is to supply all your need; but it is all your need. In this, the promise is both broad and restricted.
• The measure of God’s supply is staggering. It is according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Since there is no lack in God’s riches in glory, we should anticipate that there would be no lack in God’s supply.
• However, notice that this promise was made to the Philippians – those who had surrendered their finances and material possessions to God’s service, and who knew how to give with the right kind of heart.
• This promise simply expresses what Jesus said in Luke 6:38: Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.
• In other words, if you give poorly or begrudgingly or in small portion, you will be blessed in kind.

My notes:

• Look, I do not buy into the whole Gospel of Prosperity thing, and I do agree that God meets all our needs. But I have been struggling so mightily with God lately. I feel like Jacob in a wrestling match with him. We are working so hard and giving everything we have to the office because we felt God leading us here. But it seems the harder we have to work the less blessing we receive. That is my perception anyway. It is almost like the more we work out of seeking God’s will, the more difficult our life becomes.
• Again, I have to rethink what I see as “need” versus “want”. But we do not look for riches, and more and more stuff or exotic vacations, etc. We DO want more time to spend, however. Time seems to be stolen from me and Kelly, us with the boys, us with God in bible study and devotional time together. Kelly mainly has had time stolen from her and anything she had that fulfilled her – her sewing, her Christian fellowship with friends and family, cooking, and so on. Is that what God means? Does he mean we don’t need time for any of those things? That we are to spend all our time service the kids who come through our office to the exclusion of our children, our marriage, our time with him> Surely not.
• This is where my anger and resentment and “fist shaking” has been coming from lately. When you are working to the bone serving in the mission field you felt God had provided for you, but are struggling so much that you are having to seriously consider selling your home and renovating your office so you can squeeze your family in to live there, it is hard to feel the joy or blessing God promises us.
• I could really use some Godly wisdom from my friends on how to handle this, because frankly, I am not doing a very good job of it right now.

Personal challenge:

• Thank God for his provision in your life. If and when times come when you feel God’s provision is absent, ask for forgiveness.
• Do not be afraid to ask your Christian family for help. That is what the Body of Christ is for.

~~initial scriptural point of reference from Men of Integrity: A Daily Guide to the Bible and Prayer (1999)~~
~~devotional notes taken from David Guzik’s study noted on Philippians 4 at BlueLetterBible.org~~