WHAT DO YOU NEED?
When I tell you about experiences I have had with God, it is merely testifying as to how God deals with me. God is infinitely creative and deals with each one of us according to our personalities, habits, quirks, emotions, feelings, etc. So, how He deals with me is probably different than how He deals with you. It is up to you to look for God in the circumstances of your own life and see how He is dealing with you. One thing I can assure you of is that He loves you very much. More than anyone has ever loved you, ever. Whatever He does is done out of His love for you even though sometimes it doesn’t feel like love, believe me it is. And another thing I know for sure is that God is teaching you something about Himself in every instance. The thing is, if you don’t learn it the first time, the Holy Spirit is relentless and will continue to teach you the same lesson over and over and over again, until you get it! Ask Him and He will reveal to you the lesson He is trying to teach you. Sometimes when I finally get through one of God’s lessons, I say to Him, ‘please, God, give me wisdom to not do that anymore’. And He does. Then we move on to the next lesson. O, yes, there is ALWAYS a next lesson. We are never perfect in this life so we always have one more lesson to learn.
One lesson that I have to keep learning over and over and over is TRUST. Complete, absolute trust in His love for me and His ability to take care of me. A few weeks ago, God said to me ‘don’t borrow any more money.’ Whoops! That was a hard one. You see, I have bills to pay and so I know I can borrow money to pay them – my credit is excellent! However, that means that I do not trust that my loving, Heavenly Father is able to provide for me. I think of Martha running herself ragged trying to feed the guests in her house and complaining to Jesus that Mary won’t help her. Jesus, Who had just fed about 20,000 people with a few fish and five loaves. Martha thought He needed her help in feeding this crowd. God, Who created heaven and earth and all that is in them, Who says ‘the silver and gold are mine, the cattle on a 1,000 hills are mine” needs me to borrow money to pay my bills? I don’t think so. But bad habits become bad habits. So, even though I was tempted, I did not borrow any more money. It was hard because I knew that I could wipe away a lot of small debts with one larger one. Tempting.
Two days ago, I brought in my mail and there was a check for almost $900 in the mail! I almost fainted. Was completely in shock (you can ask the teller at Valley Bank, where I immediately went to deposit it) and she will tell you I was so flustered that I couldn’t even decide what to do with it – just deposit it. I spent the day praising the Lord, being overwhelmed with the generosity of God. Did God write the check? No! But God knew it was coming. He moved on people to do it. Did I thank the PEOPLE, YES!, definitely, but I knew it was from God. He was behind it. Just as He is behind every good and loving thing that ever happens to me. He loves me, just as He loves you. Not more, not less – all the same. The same Jesus died a cruel death to prove that love and He rose again to be with you always. Accept Him into your life. You won’t be sorry.
Philippians 4:19 “And God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Amplified Version.
God’s promise, and you can take that to the bank!
Rev. Joyce Kaplan, M.Div., Retired United Church of Christ pastor.
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