……And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil 4:19)
Introduction: Apostle Paul said to the Philippians after their sacrificial giving in Phil 4:19, ‘And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus’. This means that God does not supply our needs according to our salary or ability. It is according to his riches in glory and the needs are supplied by Christ Jesus. In other words, God has his own economy, different from what obtains in this world. You are a citizen of heaven and therefore belong to that heaven’s economy where there is abundance and all needs are met.
Live by heaven’s economy
In Col 1:13, the bible makes us understand that ‘God has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. You have been delivered from the kingdom of the devil and this world where there is scarcity, corruption, complains and meltdown. You are a citizen of the kingdom of heaven where there is righteousness, peace, joy, abundance and freedom. Just believe that you have been brought into that abundance now and you will begin to experience it.
Don’t consider your background or economic situation in your country, just believe what God has told you to do and do it well trusting him to supply your needs. Sometimes when you pray for a particular thing and it seems the answer is not forth coming; God may be positioning you for the real blessing behind it, so that you will get more than just that thing but a blessing that will breed the item continually. Don’t give up just because it is taking some time. Continue to expect God to perform his word in your life.
Think of continual increase and not lack
Many Christians grew up in an atmosphere of lack, unbelief and mentality of trusting God to meet basic needs all the time. You have to consciously orientate yourself that you don’t have to be in need of basic things all the time. God’s will for you is greater than that. The wilderness experience of trusting God for food and water every day is not meant to be a permanent experience. God’s plan is to get you develop past that level and bring you into your wealthy place. His plan is to increase you more and more.
God doesn’t delight in you finishing everything he has given you to the level that you don’t have food to eat and then you start exercising faith for food and water. He wants you to spend part of what you have, save some, give some and exercise faith for more, increase your savings and keep increasing more and more until you become very great. The idea of getting to rock bottom before getting more is not from God. That does not fit the picture of father Abraham, the father of faith. If you believe that, who are you copying?
Beyond financial miracles
It is a great thing to exercise faith to get out of debt and a miracle happens and you are delivered. It is also awesome to have no food at home and suddenly a brother comes along to give what is just enough to buy food for that day or week. However, a greater miracle is when you continuously live in heaven’s abundance to meet basic needs and when special needs arise; you exercise faith to receive the provision. It is not God’s plan for us to believe him every day for enough to get by. Food, shelter, clothing, education are basic needs and my prayer for you is that God will open your eyes to see his provision in your life to meet these needs all the time.
Prov. 21: 22 says ‘There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spends it up’ Don’t exhaust all you have before you exercise faith for more. There’s no spirituality in lack!!!!! God’s covenant with us is a covenant of supernatural increase. If you can believe God for a financial miracle when there is no food at all successfully, then you can believe him for continual increase. Just change your mentality.
The Psalmist said in Psalm 115:9-16: O Israel, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield. You, who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD; He is their help and their shield. The LORD has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the LORD, Both small and great. May the LORD give you increase more and more, You and your children. May you be blessed by the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S; But the earth He has given to the children of men.
This passage shows that we need to believe that God wants to bless and increase us. The focus of the charge there is to exercise faith in the ability of God to make us prosper indeed and not just to have enough to get by. PLEASE read the passage above again and replace the word ‘bless’ with empowered to prosper and you will understand the passage better. Moreover, another translation of the same passage makes us understand that ‘to increase you more and more’ means God’s plan is continual prosperity, not sporadic miracles to quickly fix your financial problems. Continual means that there will be no interruption in your prosperity.
Prov. 13:22 says ‘A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous. God wants you to have surplus to the extent that you can leave properties for your children’s children. Begin to expect that level of prosperity in your heart, then God will spring into actions to make it possible. This doesn’t mean you should set your heart on riches and be chasing it but to fix your gaze on the Almighty God the possessor of heaven and earth and expect him to increase you.
In Deut 8:6-9, God told his people through Moses ‘For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. If indeed you are born again, this charge is meant for you too. Believe that God has brought you into abundance.
Many religious people like to console themselves if they don’t walk in abundance, that they are suffering for Jesus sake but you should no longer be a part of them. Jesus did not suffer lack of basic needs. All his needs were met, he only suffered for the salvation of men. It’s better to make money first, meet basic needs and sow into the kingdom of God than to live a wretched life not able to influence anyone for Jesus because of lack and claim to suffer for Jesus. God is not glorified by lack; people rejoice and praise him when needs are met.
The needs of people including Christians differ based on their assignments. It is not everyone who needs to have a jet or even a car to be prosperous but you must live in abundance at your level; meeting all your basic needs and giving to God’s people and his kingdom.
Conclusion: The word of God tells us that He wants us to have abundance; let us believe this rather than believe what our background, environment or religion tell us. See you at the top.