We’ve all heard these quoted from the Bible.
- The Lord is my provider
- The lord is my healer
- The lord is my peace…and many more are revealed in the Old Testament and fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
But do we believe it?
Let’s take one. The Lord is my Provider (Jehovah Jireh –Hebrew)
You might say “the lord will provide!” But how confident are you that what you’re saying will come to pass (1 John 5:14-15)? Is there an expiration date on your faith?
How about until the rent comes due? Or an opportunity passes you up? What happens when it takes longer than you expected it to and you still haven’t seen it?
Does your confession change from hopeful expectation to “if it be thy will?” If there’s lack or you just can’t see a way through do you powerlessly settle for it, deciding that it might not have been God’s will?
This is where many believers live their lives. But the word of God says He will supply all your needs! He IS our provider!
"And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19
Since God is the same yesterday, today and forever, He has not changed. Jesus was the perfect representation of God and came to make Him known to the whole world; and still is, even 2000 years after His ministry on the earth.
If you believe even one thing out of the Bible, why NOT believe every word God has spoken by His son? Jesus said, “Your word is truth” John 17:17. I love what Jesus says here in the book of John:
(Jesus) “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him…He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”
"Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves." John 14:7, 9-11
One of Jesus’s purposes of His earthly ministry was to make God known.
We’re talking about believing God is who He says He is. We know what the Bible says about God. We’ve seen Jesus’ demonstration of the fullness of God’s nature and will for humanity. But many Christians don’t let the bible get in the way of what they believe. Then they ask God for something and when they don’t see it, they assume that He really isn’t who He says He is. They wouldn’t say it like that, but they doubt that they can read what the word of God says and believe it.
We like to reconcile our experiences that contradict the word of God by saying that if God wills it, it would automatically happen. We excuse our failure to receive by saying it’s in God’s hands. In essence, we make our own conditions for receiving and then attribute them to God. But it’s time we take God at His Word.
Consider this scripture.
Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think…” Praise God!
But the last part of that verse that says God is able to do exceedingly more than we could ask or think says, “according to the power that works in us”. Not in God, but in us.
Ephesians 3:20”…according to the power that works in us.”
God is who He says He is, but he won’t violate our will. Therefore, we have a part to play in receiving what He has already promised in His Word.
He is our provider. He is our healer, he is our peace. However, it is NOT up to God whether you receive His provision; spirit, soul or body. We have to ask ourselves. Do we doubt the validity of the Word of God? Are we judging Him who calls himself by the names of His nature, character and will to be faithful?
Romans 3:3-4 "For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar."
2 Timothy 2:13 "if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself."
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.“ Matthew 7:7-8
Our perception of God, our beliefs about Him, doesn’t change God, but it does affect our ability to receive from Him. If you haven’t received what you’ve prayed for, maybe there’s a better way to pray.
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." Mark 11:22-24
"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Hebrews 11:6
For more on the balance of grace and faith: