God's Supply for Today--Devotional and Prayer for Wives Moms
Thursday, April 13, 2017
God Desires to Supply the Needs of My Family
Scripture:
Philippians 4:11-13;19
11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state
I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased,
and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to
be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I
can do all things through Christ[b] who strengthens me.
19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory
by Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our God and Father be glory
forever and ever. Amen.
Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What
shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the
Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you
need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all
these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own
trouble.
Now there is great gain in godliness with
contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take
anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we
will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation,
into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into
ruin and destruction.
And God is able to make all grace abound to
you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound
in every good work.
The blessing of the Lord makes
rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.
fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed,
for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you
with my righteous right hand.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient
for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all
the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content
with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I
am weak, then I am strong.
Devotional:
Hunger.
Need.
Want.
Lack.
As a child, and for most of my adult life, I
was very intimately acquainted with these feelings. I grew up in poverty,
though our basic needs were supplied most of the time. I don’t say all of the
time, because there was a very dark time in my family’s life when our hard-working
father just couldn’t make ends meet. I remember clearly when he sat on the
couch in the living room of our tiny duplex, my strong father crying as he begged
our landlord not to kick his family of seven out. The landlord was a kind man
of God but had no choice. We were not paying our rent. There was little work
that winter, as in 1982 floods slowed construction to almost a halt where we
lived in Santa Cruz County.
I remember the mildewed smell of the tent as
we moved into a campground in the mountains outside Morgan Hill. I remember
almost thinking we were on vacation—except that I knew that we were not. We
lived there for a short time until my parents were able to find something within
our means.
I was eight years old, and I had just
experienced homelessness.
Within our means…this meant a migrant worker’s
shack, torn up by angry tenants who had stolen all but the front door knob (the
knobs were antique crystal) and slashed all the acoustic tile in the ceilings.
It took my parents about a week to clean out the tiny two bedroom house well
enough to bring us in. I remember thinking, “It doesn’t look like you cleaned…”.
That year, we were the family who needed the
boxes from the church at Christmas. My mother, not for the first time, found
herself driving to the backs of grocery stores to “dumpster dive” for food for
our family. My father was given buckets of raw oats and walnuts and pinto
beans. Our small grocery budget allowed for some raisins, so my parents learned
how to make granola; however, it burned. Today, I would have thrown out that
food. Not then. For several weeks we ate burned granola for breakfast…until someone
left the lid on the 5 gallon bucket open, and the ants found it.
Still….we could not afford to throw it away.
You guessed it.
Ants taste like bug spray.
I have learned to be abased.
Over the course of my adult life, I worked
hard. When I was living a life apart from God, I made very selfish financial
choices; however, once I returned to the Lord, I was instructed well in
tithing, and gave faithfully. Also, I was able to put myself through college at
age 30, an accomplishment that I felt very grateful to achieve. However, it was
2008, the year the market crashed, and I was met with an economy ill prepared
to receive a new college graduate. The jobs being offered were not even in my
degree let alone high enough to warrant changing from a waitressing job where
my experience and skill caused me to do quite well. Unfortunately, I was still quite
foolish in my financial decisions. I had racked up debt for school, and
unfortunately also allowed myself to indulge in two credit cards to bail myself
out of tough financial situations and chose to buy a car above my means. My credit
card debt totaled about $5,000, but there was no wiggle room at all in my
budget to pay it. I had to make the choice to pay rent and keep my car loan so
that I could work. My student loans went into forbearance, my credit cards to
collections, and I felt total shame.
I was so grateful when a friend introduced me
to Dave Ramsey and the Total Money Makeover. Another friend was so kind to hire
me for some odd jobs so that I could pay settlements on my credit cards (I do
endorse Dave Ramsey, though this is not meant to be an advertisement for him).
After getting my financial life on track, God
overwhelmed me by connecting me to my husband. He was gracious to look at my
financial past and have no judgment. He is a financially stable, wise man, and
he is an incredible provider. We joined arms, him with his lifelong financial
savvy and me with my newfound commitment to debt freedom, and God has allowed
us to find a place of freedom financially. For the first time in my life my
needs are met, and I can be grateful that my children at this time do not need
to know what it means to eat ants for breakfast.
I know what it is to abound.
God allows us to go through both
circumstances. I can’t say I always know why that is, but in truth, on both ends
of the spectrum He is the One Who causes my needs to be met. He is the One Who
makes it now possible for us to be able to be givers, and support ministries in
need. I am so grateful for that.
No matter where you are today, God has a
desire to take care of you. Maybe you will never know the taste of an ant, but
every penny is accounted for. Maybe, like me, you have a history of struggling
to make ends meet and perhaps unwise financial choices. Perhaps you have always
known what it means to have all your needs met—and maybe it is time to consider
being a blessing to others in need. God sees you, he knows where you are, and
he wants the best for you and your family.
Prayer:
Father, I thank You that You are my provider.
You care for me, you know where I am. You know the needs that I have and that
my family has. Lord, today I ask that You would make a way in areas of
financial lack. For areas lacking wisdom, I thank You that You are the One who
causes wisdom to be ours. I pray You would lead and guide. I submit my finances
to You and ask for Your wisdom to carry out a plan for financial freedom. I
thank You that You provide for our family, and I ask that You would supply
above and beyond so that we would be well, whole and healthy and beyond that to
be able to bless others.
I lift up my husband and I ask that You would
cause his ability to provide to be protected. Guide him. Show him where he can
grow. Strengthen his arms for the work of his hands. Insert him into EXACTLY
the job that You see he will thrive in! Put our family exactly where You want
us. Increase my husband’s salary, Lord. Cause him to overflow with abundance! I
am so grateful You have provided me with a man who can provide well. What a
gift! I bless you, Lord, and I bless him. Cause my heart to be totally for him
to be a blessing to him.
I lift up my child(ren) today. I ask that they
would have good financial stability. I pray that they would not be
materialistic, but would honor You in their finances. I pray that they would
not live in dire lack, but would have every need supplied. I ask that my
child(ren) would not beg for bread.
I also lift up (areas of particular
need/concern). I thank You that You know exactly the remedy for this situation.
You are not absent, You care deeply, and You can cause the way out.
I bless You today, Lord, and ask for Your
mercy and grace to rain down on our home in abundance. In Jesus’ Name I pray,
amen.
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