“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19) Have you ever given any real thought to this verse in the Word of God, have you thought on the difference between you continually trying to meet all of your needs, and the needs that He would supply to you if you would only trust in Him fully, and ask?
How many times do we worry about the most basic necessities of life, when our Lord is just waiting to supply them for us, how often do we get up in the morning concerning ourselves with the most mundane items, unaware that He has them in store for us if we will just ask. And not just the small things that consume us almost each and every day, but according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. The stockpile is unlimited my friends, we have but to ask, but we are human, and so we think that we either can do it ourselves, or we would be a bother to Him by asking.
The first item on our list when approaching this verse and the others like it is to determine what our needs are, and when doing so we must not stop with the material, although they must be included. Food and water are promised to all who will but seek the kingdom of God, and His righteousness first. (Matt. 6:33) Not promised to all, but to those who will seek continuously for the righteousness of our Lord to enfold their lives every single day. How do we do this task, how about Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Every time, everything, every instance, this is the verse to recall, but it is not something that can be repeated like some magic incantation, it must come from the heart and believed for what it is, a faithful promise from the Lord to all that will but trust Him.
What the believer needs in the material world our Father is well aware of, what we need though does not just reside in the physical, the flesh will fade away one day anyway, those things of the heart are also included in this verse, the needs of the soul, the desires that reside in the deepest part of who we are. First and foremost of these should be the ones that seek to give the glory and praise to our Lord that He rightly deserves, no servant should come to his master and request that which does not honor his Lord. We must always remember that our request are those that are meant to lift up His Name, for when they are given, the giver must be recognized. “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” (Phil. 4:6)
Until we determine to let the Lord know what our request are, He will remain silent, for He loves to answer our prayers, but He loves it just as much when we ask. It shows that we understand that all good things come down from the Father of lights, (James 1:17) and it enables us to do something that very few other people on this planet are allowed to do, approach the throne of God Himself. And how, when we are in the presence of Almighty God, are we to conduct ourselves, should we just burst right in with our needs, I do not think that would go over to well. We are to come boldly unto the throne of grace, (Heb. 4:16) but not in a way that would dishonor His Name, not without much humility and reverence.
“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise, be thankful unto him, and bless his name.” (Psalm 100:4) He is more than willing to hear us, in fact one of the things that our Lord loves to do is to answer our prayers and shower upon us His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, but there is always to be order in the court, if you will, we must remember our place. We are His children, but we are not to act as insolent children, demanding anything from a Father who loves us, we are, as it were, children who are not to act as children do. We are to honor our Lord by remembering our place, by being thankful, no matter the answer, by blessing His Name with great thanksgiving and praise, and then the loving child can ask of the Father what he will, and he will supply all of their needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus.
In other words my friends, don’t just burst into the throne room of Almighty God, tell Him what you desire, and then expect an answer, that is not the way to approach the creator of all reality. Remember, He already knows what we need, and He is more than ready to supply that need, but does the desire of your heart serve the Lord of Glory, or yourself, remember, we are speaking here of needs, not wants, and the needs of the heart far outweighs the need of the flesh. All of us are going to go through something at one time or another in our life where we feel as if we are trapped, that the Lord seems to be far from us, that for whatever reason, He has determined to allow us to go through something that we would rather not go through. Some of these of course involve the flesh, ask your brothers and sisters in Christ who are suffering at this very moment at the hands of those that hate the Name of our Lord. Others are experiencing the prison of a broken heart, and for these Psalm 51:17 is a verse of great consolation, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”
A broken spirit, a repentant, remorseful and contrite heart sacrificed before the Lord at the altar of His love is a great thing in the eyes of our Lord, it shows a faith that is willing to trust, it shows that we realize that our requests are only answerable by the Lord, and we have faith that He will answer in a way that is best for us. Our Lord is not so much concerned with our happiness as He is with our holiness, we will be happy for all of eternity. “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm 16:11) We honor the Lord by making our request known to Him, and acknowledging that He alone is able to fulfil those request.
Come into His courts with praise and great humility, come boldly knowing that your Father in heaven loves you so very much, come in reverence and awe, for you have been invited, and then let your request be made known unto Him. “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” (John 15:7) Not out of His riches my friends, but according to His riches, and those riches are unfathomable to us in their amount, both now and forevermore. Remember this, you can never make a mistake in coming to our heavenly Father when you come in love.
