"The Greatest Promise" (Part 3)

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 second characteristic of this greatest promise: it is a positive promise. I love the word translated “supply.” The English simply doesn’t do it justice. It literally means to “fill up to the full.” This is God’s divine affirmative; His everlasting yes! Whatever you need He will supply. We are promised God’s providential love and care. All of our needs will be provided for us.

One of the things I have learned through the years is in the area of understanding “needs.” I have come to a deep conviction that determining my “needs” are best left in God’s hands. I am not avoiding the question of God’s “no” in our prayers, however I do want to caution against believing god has said “no” when actually we have asked for that which goes beyond our need. Paul Rees said it best: “No generation of Christians since Saint Paul’s day finds it so easy to erect their wants into needs and their desires into necessities as the Christians of this century.”

It has been said that at the beginning of the Twentieth Century the average American wanted seventy-two things and considered eighteen of them to be necessities. Fifty years later they had four hundred and ninety-six wants and ninety of them were considered necessary for happiness! None of us are immune from the subtle, social psychology by which we have developed soft notions of what is required in this great business we call life! The Lord delights in supplying our needs. We do have a need for fellowship with Him; freedom from fear; power to overcome temptation; victory through our trials; and, life in His presence. All of these, and much more, He supplies from “His glorious riches”! Here’s how Annie Johnson Flint sees it in her poem titled “He Giveth More”:

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction He addeth mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

Now, that’s a positive promise! Claim it today for your own!