God’s Promise to Provide All of Our Needs – Part 5

What determines whether we are advancing in God's plan? What determines whether we are growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior or renovating our thinking? Our volition. Needs are volition dependent. What we need depends a lot on where we are in the progression of the spiritual life. The needs of baby believers are vastly different from those of mature believers. The needs of believers who are advancing through the stages of spiritual growth are different from those who are not growing at all or who totally reject God’s plan.

Since needs are volition dependent, needs are conditional. Needs vary greatly depending on where we are in the plan of God.

For the believer who is living outside God's plan, God will not provide anything that enables the believer to remain outside His plan. However, He will provide discipline designed to redirect that believer back to His plan. Hebrews 12:6. “For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.”

When God says to each one of us, “I will supply all your needs,” He is telling us that for the plan that He designed for us in eternity past, for that plan, He will provide everything we need to accomplish it.

BUT THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE. God is telling us that He has a perfect plan for each one of us, and He wants us to move forward in that plan. He has the supplies all laid out. The supplies are pre-positioned. He is waiting for us to grow spiritually so He can give us all that He has prepared for us.

Let’s now look at the last phrase in Philippians 4:19 again, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

His riches refer to the magnificent and unlimited resources of God. They never run out. Not only are God’s riches unlimited, but the ways that God can supply for our needs are innumerable. There is no limit to the ways in which God can provide for our logistical support.

“For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10).

This is a beautiful metaphor for God's unlimited resources. He's got it all. There's nothing God doesn't have. God has all the resources at His disposal to supply all believers. He's never going to run out. No exceptions. He has the cattle on a thousand hills.

Among the greatest riches in Christ Jesus is the mind of Christ and the ability to think with His mind. Philippians 2:5. That is what we need to continue to advance.

REFER TO DIAGRAM

As we advance spiritually, God's plan expands for us, and so does His provision for everything we need to continue advancing in that plan. God gives us new directions to follow. He opens new doors for us to walk through and increases our opportunities for service. And God supplies ALL our needs every step of that plan.

Once we reach maturity, the plan of God is in full operation. ALL our needs are being met. It is the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus that made it all possible.

Everything God supplies to the advancing believer is for His glory. He provides all that we need to continue growing spiritually and fulfilling His plan. As we use what He supplies to advance in the spiritual life, we bring glory to Him because everything we accomplish is made possible by His grace.

IMPORTANT: We glorify God by using the resources He provides that fulfill our needs. We do NOT glorify ourselves by taking credit for our accomplishments.

Everything we accomplish in the spiritual life and spiritual advance is to the glory of God, never to the glory of ourselves. Too many believers think they are accomplishing great things for God and give themselves the credit. There is no glory to God in that.

Matthew 6:1 says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”

Why does God supply our needs? So, we can “grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18), so that we can live the spiritual life, so we can fulfill His plan and come to reflect His glory in us.

NEVER FORGET Philippians 4:19. It is a great verse of God’s love, His care, and His grace that He has for each one of us as His children.