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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Day 143: Philippians 4:19

"And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus." ~Philippians 4:19, NLT


When we're afraid, we often forget a simple, fundamental fact - God is our provider, and that means He takes care of us. He took care of Paul, as Paul himself testifies in this verse and in fact, throughout his letters of the New Testament. And here, he explains that God will supply all our needs.

See, God gave us "glorious riches" through Christ Jesus that we sometimes forget about. You may recall some of those riches that we talked about in 2 Timothy, the spirits or states of being. Quite simply, you don't need to be afraid because, as I'm reminding you, God's going to take care of you!

Be it supplying you mentally, physically or emotionally, Jesus has all you need and more, and He wants to give it to you. He will give it to you, if you let Him. Now I understand that I say that a lot "if you let Him," and today I'd like to elaborate a little bit.

When God made us, He gave us this trait that we call "free will." That means that in everything, we have a choice, and it's OUR choice. God doesn't make that choice for you, your mom doesn't make that choice for you, only YOU can make that choice! And there's one basic choice that every human being will make at one point or another, and that is the decision to either follow God, or not. Nobody can make that decision for someone else, and there's no other options - you're either following God, or you're not. If you are, congratulations, you have access to choose God's good and glorious gifts! If not, you can still choose to change that decision! Now with that choice out of the way, we suddenly have a zillion new choices that we have to make with God's will in mind. We choose words, attitude, we choose fear, courage, we get to choose everything about us! And we have to make sure that our choices line up with God's will, which He tells us through the Bible, through His other children (like your pastor, or youth group) and sometimes He will just TELL you. Most of the time, though, you've got to make your decisions based on the Bible.

Likewise, you have to make the decision to trust God no matter what happens. And this is what I mean when I say "if you let Him." Ask for good gifts, but trust that everything that happens is happening so that God can make you into the person He wants you to be - and that is one awesome person! Because God isn't going to give you everything you ask for, which is why you have to trust Him! Believe that He really wants what's best for you - it's just another choice to make. And it's one that will spare you a lot of worrying.

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