Showing posts with label provision. Show all posts
Showing posts with label provision. Show all posts

Saturday, February 15, 2014

A Marriage Made in Heaven


When I married Danny I got a new name. I also got a bank account. I got a house, fully furnished. And I got a car. You could say I racked up!  But I didn’t marry him for the things I got, I married him because I loved him.

What if he had just given me two sets of keys, a checkbook and his name and then gone off to do his own thing? Would that have made me happy? Stuff? I remember us talking. Many conversations revolved around “When we get married…”  We looked forward to sweet and uninterrupted fellowship with one another. We became one person, no longer two.  I readily admit I became one who liked what he liked, did what he did and went where he went. I followed him and he led the way.

When we are born again, betrothed to the Lord, we too get a new name. All the old us is washed away as we become a new creation. We are very blessed as well to have all our needs met in Christ – better than a bank account because money can’t buy everything we really need, but Jesus purchased everything for us.  We also have a new home. The old digs don’t work for us anymore because we’re no longer single. We need space to fellowship with God, to entertain our faith in Him and to be furnished for everything God has planned for us.  God’s heart is our new home and our heart is in Him, so complete and lovely.  He leads us and we follow him.

God doesn’t just furnish what we need for everyday living. He furnishes the purpose for our lives. He who has called us is plenty able to get us where we need to go to fulfill that purpose.  He has furnished the Word of God to show us His ultimate plan for us – to become like Him.  He also gives us the unction of His Spirit – we sense His heart leading – to go where He leads us, whether it is pastoring, evangelism, teaching, missionary service, parenting, caregiving, befriending and more.

You could say that our relationship with Christ is a marriage made in heaven. And we are entirely blessed that the One who loves us is passionately involved with us. He’s not apathetic, distant or defiant. He’s not cold or insensitive. He loves us, He chooses us, He stays with us always and provides all our needs. Who wouldn’t love Someone like that?

Oh beloved, you may not be feeling the love your heart has wanted for so long. Maybe someone who vowed undying love has disappointed you. The one you thought would be yours forever is gone. It could be that friends walked away or office politics have grown harsh. You could be trying to find love and yet the illusions of love keep vaporizing and you have nothing left to hold onto. Don’t worry. Don’t weep. God Himself has built it within you to find nothing earthly to take the place of His great love. He says He’s a jealous God and that just means that He wants first place.  He doesn’t want you to have crutches or any other plan to fall back on but Him.  Rejoice in this wonderful love! Open up the Word of God and read about it. Ask God to let you experience it in reality.  And then, beloved, live in the light of His love. For it’s only there that you will truly live.

God loves you - really, truly deeply; and He’s for you – always, forever, into eternity. And that’s worth holding on to all the days of your life.

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. AMP

Psalm 107:8 Let them praise the Lord for His great love and for the wonderful things He has done for them.

Matthew 10:29-31 What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it.  And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.  So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.

Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.

Isaiah 54:5 For your Creator will be your husband; the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is His name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth.

Luke 12:27-28 Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet 
Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.  And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, He will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?


John 15:9 I have loved you even as the Father has loved Me. Remain in My love.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

If He Provides Salvation He Provides Everything Else

You can’t help but notice that not everyone is smiling this time of year. Of course those who have lost loved ones in 2013 are especially hard hit during the holidays. Broken families, broken dreams, broken hearts all walk around trying to find the spirit of Christmas and provide for the needs, hopes and desires of themselves or of someone they love. Often it is the loneliest time of year. Unmet ...expectations take a huge toll on people. It seems that as the lights are brighter and the decorations are huge it just makes the rejections, the heartaches, the tears and the fears bigger as well. If we’re not careful we will try to make Christmas be all we ever wanted and have the holiday itself meet our needs and it will come up lacking every time. Can you relate?

This is the season that promises the most blessings and holds the most profound encounters with God Himself. Yet if we make it about the gifts and the decorations, we’ll find our hands full of tarnished tinsel and discarded wrappings.

What is it that you need this season, beloved? What are you looking for to fulfill the longing of your heart? What are you looking for? What is your heart’s desire and your hopes and dreams? Where is your lack? What’s missing? What is threatening to steal your joy, your peace and your promises? What burden is covering the real meaning of this Holy time? How can you move past the messiness of everyday life to enjoy the extraordinary message of Christ?

God speaks to my heart: He is God. If He can provide a Savior then He can provide everything else.

Oh beloved, stop wrapping and wrangling and sorting and running. Before the day becomes a blur of busy-ness, rest for just a moment in the Father’s arms. Let Him be your Savior and Provider, your Jehovah-Jireh. He has not only provided the way to heaven and forgiveness of all your sins, in Him is provision for your entire life. Whatever you are in need of, whatever you are lacking, He has provided. Where you are empty, He wants to give you meaning and more. He can also save you from worry, fretting, depression, disappointment, discouragement, resentment and more. Whatever you take to Him and present before Him, He will provide the answer to that. Give Him all your hurts and wants and dreams for He will either fix them or replace them with something better for you. He hears your prayers and He answers each one with love and care.

Rejoice in the all that God is, in all that God has, in all that you are in Christ. It begins with an everlasting relationship that will be your mainstay for your entire life. Oh what a Savior and oh what a King! He loves you and He’s for you and that’s why all your needs are met, not just at Christmas but every day of the year.

II Peter 1:2 May grace (God’s favor) and peace (which is perfect well-being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in [the full, personal, precise, and correct] knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (Amplified)

Acts 17:25 and human hands can’t serve His needs—for He has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and He satisfies every need.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?

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. Amplified

Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.