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Philippians Four Nineteen
by Onyekachukwu Ukeje "And my God shall meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19(NIV). Now note that the verse begins with 'and', implying that something(s) had taken place before it. It was the Philippian church's support for the ministry of Paul to the point that he was amply supplied. Only then could the God of the ministry of Paul the apostle be under obligation to reward them. This is how God planned for His children to prosper as they contribute to the purposes of God. Every system has a way rewarding those who contribute to the success of its working or operations. The stock or share investor gets dividend or bonus or capital gain, the worker gets a salary or wages and employment benefits, the sponsor of the talk show gets the opportunity to advertise his products or services. The same way God's kingdom has its own ways of rewarding those who contribute to its advancement. This is very reason some children of God seem blessed and others do not. God loves all His children yet it seems as though He doesn't care about some because their lives do not bear witness to that. The thing is if God treated everyone the same how then does He reward faith? How then does He reward obedience? Someone said when God wants to bless those he loves he sets them up so that no one can say He is partial. He gave an example of the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17) that if other widows of the town had come to God to protest His blessing her alone during that famine that God would ask them if they could give up their last meal. All we have are seeds. Our lives are seeds. We are seeds. A seed it that which has in it the instructions of what to produce when sown in the right environment. It is our expectation wrapped around the thing we are giving, be it time, skill, service, wisdom, advice, money, material things, prayer etc, that is the instruction of what to produce. And each seed has its maturity period. Whenever God brings you an opportunity to sow He has a harvest and a period for the harvest in mind. Now God provides us countless opportunities to contribute to the advancement of His kingdom purposes. There are different churches, ministries, groups, families, individuals, and societies etc which have been tasked with different aspects of the kingdom business. There are other aspects of the kingdom business like helping the poor and the needy, the widows, orphans etc which gets God indebted to you (Prov. 19:17, Ex. 22:22-24, Deut. 10:18). Also doing good generally. When you encourage the kingdom purposes that these churches, ministries, individuals and aspects etc represent then their God will be under obligation to meet all your needs. The God of that church, the God of that pastor, the God that ministry, the God of that man, woman or child of God will meet your need (Matt. 10:40-42). He is also your God but in this respect He is moving as their God in obligation to meet your needs. If you invest in yourself or your God given assignment according to His will He will move as your God in obligation to meet your needs. Remember the Bible says love your neighbor as yourself, meaning you are expected to love yourself as well (Matt. 22:37-39). And if others invest or contribute to our lives or our God given assignment in accordance with the will of God then our God will be brought under obligation to meet their needs. And when God is going to meet all your needs, your spiritual needs, your physical needs, your material needs, your transportation needs, your love needs, your emotional needs, your psychological needs, your work and career needs, your social needs, your educational needs, your pleasure needs, your entertainment needs, your rest and leisure needs, your marital needs, your health needs, your family needs, your financial needs, your success needs, your prosperity needs, your progress needs, your prestige needs, your nutritional needs, your security and safety needs, your deliverance and salvation needs, you name it, it will be not according to your pocket or bank account or the economy or your ability or knowledge or your family background or your connections or your job or your business or your degree or places you've been before or anything like those but according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Think about it. All that God's glorious riches both the ones you are aware off and the ones you are not are in Christ Jesus all that power, knowledge, wisdom, understanding and counsel to make anything happen, to make anything be are in Christ Jesus (Isa. 11:1-2). It's according to this His glorious riches that God will meet all your needs; according to His own ability and resources not according to yours. That makes a lot of sense to me. In order words I do not need to have it or be able to do it but God can make it happen. I do not need to know anyone who can do it or help me but God can make it happen for me. He provides for me according to His pocket (ability and resources) not according to mine. Think about when your five year old daughter asks you for some biscuits or some toys does she expect you to provide those for her according to her ability to pay for it. Would you not think it absurd? So as God keeps bringing the vast opportunities to sow make sure you always take advantage of them because you will be sowing into your future, you will be taking care of certain things in your future. Another angle of talking about this is raising altars that keep speaking for you in different aspects of your future even years after setting it up. Remember he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully (2 Cor. 9:6). Do not be weary in doing good for at the proper time you will reap a harvest (Gal. 6:9). This is God's plan for the continued experience of prosperity (all round goodness) for His children. ?Onyekachukwu Ukeje is an itinerant preacher based in Enugu, Nigeria and can be followed on www.facebook.com/onyekachukwukejep and on www.twitter.com/onyiukeje and his channel subscribed on www.youtube.com/onyekachukwuukeje Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |