"The Greatest Promise" (Part 2)

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty. As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once. I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness. At the moment I have all I need—and more! I am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with Epaphroditus. They are a sweet-smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God. 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 4:13-19 NLT).

Today I want to emphasize the greatest promise is a personal promise. Other translations would take the highlighted phrase “and this same God” as “My God.” Either is accurate. The Apostle Paul does not say any god, or a god, or the god you happen to believe in at the moment. He says, “THIS SAME GOD.” Paul was not referring to the gods of the Greeks, Romans, Assyrians, Babylonians, or Egyptians. He was being very specific and personal. Paul’s God was Jehovah God, the same God who had revealed himself to men personally in Jesus Christ. This is the great God, gracious, loving, powerful, and effective in every way. This is the God who will supply all our needs!

This is the God who called Abraham out of Mesopotamia and sent him on his search for the Promised Land. He is the God who spoke to David the shepherd boy and made him David the king, sweet composer and singer of Israel, mighty warrior, conquering king, beloved of all the people. He was the God who called Jeremiah before he was born to be a a great prophet to the nation of Judah. He is the God who spoke to Isaiah of the coming of One who would be a mighty God, an everlasting Father, a wonderful Counselor. He is the One who spoke to Peter and John and made them fishers of men rather than fishermen. And, more than all of this, He is the great and mighty God who raised His only begotten Son out of death’s cold grip in resurrection power and glory!

Do you see it? The message of these examples and many more throughout history is that in each case it was God coming to man in a personal way. It was God coming to man in the person of Jesus Christ to be a personal Savior! What a difference that makes! Whatever your challenge or difficulty, God does not answer as someone who does not intimately know you. He answers as your Father. When we pray we don’t leave a message on a voice mail; we don’t talk to a virtual advisor; and, we don’t respond to prerecorded prompts. When we pray, we talk directly to our Father! This same God will supply all our needs! What do you need today? Go ahead, ask Him!