Monthly Archives: March 2023

March 3, 2023 · 5:31 AM

God Our Provider

One of the names of God that I rely on and call out to often is Jehovah Jireh. It comes from Abraham when he was on the mountain about to sacrifice his only son. Just as he raised the knife, God provided a ram for the sacrifice. He gave God the name Jehovah Jireh because he provides. What He did for Abraham, He still does for us today. He provides for our needs, our salvation, our spiritual armor, our healing and so much more. We must not forget that He is our provider and call out to Him for what we need. Just like a parent provides for their kid, so does God supply us with all our needs. Take time today to seek Him for your needs.

Here are some Bible verses on things God provides.

1. Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things.

Matthew 6:33 GNT

2. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV

3. For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you.

2 Corinthians 9:10 NLT

4. You did not have bread to eat or wine or beer to drink, but the Lord provided for your needs in order to teach you that he is your God.

Deuteronomy 29:6 GNT

5. Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad; you restored your inheritance as it languished; your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

Psalm 68:9-10 ESV

Photo by Jasmin Ne on Unsplash

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March 2, 2023 · 5:30 AM

Putting Out Fires

When I was a young boy, I learned how to build a fire. I was so excited that I wanted to show my friend. We went into the woods behind his house, gathered wood up and then I built a magnificent fire. What I didn’t know yet was how to put a fire out. We decided to smother it…with hay. That worked great…for a few seconds. Before too long, the fire was getting out of hand. We ran back into his house, past his mom, to get his brother who was two years older than us. We tried again to put it out, but couldn’t. A neighbor saw the smoke and called the fire department. They showed up and got it under control, but not before about an acre was burned.

I tell you that story because so many times we’ve set fire to things in our lives and things are being consumed by it. Every time we try to put it out, it only makes things worse. From the time we are little, we are taught to be independent, to suck it up and to handle our own business. What we forget is that we have a helper who can put out the fires in our lives, but we’re too busy trying to put them out ourselves. Like scared children, we don’t go to the One who can truly help. We go to others to help us, but they can’t resolve the problems we’re facing. All the while, God is there waiting on us to cry out to Him for help.

Psalm 50:15 says, “Honor me by trusting in me in your day of trouble. Cry aloud to me, and I will be there to rescue you” (TPT). God should not be our last resort when things aren’t going right. He deserves and wants to be our first call. He’s more than able to resolve whatever you’re going through, but you must call out to Him and trust Him. If you’re so caught up in what’s going wrong and you don’t have the strength to pray yourself, call on a friend to pray for you. You don’t have to fight the fires in your life by yourself. You have a Heavenly Father who loves you and wants to rescue you.

Photo by Joanne Francis on Unsplash

Throwback Thursday is a feature I’m using to help build some margin into my schedule to pursue other ventures. Each Thursday I’ll be bringing you a previously written devotional that still speaks encouragement to us from God’s Word.

Receiving Nutrients

When my son was little, he did what most kids do. He would see flowers in the yard and pick them for his mom. Then he would come to me to get a cup of water to put them in. He would say, “I want them to live forever and be beautiful.” I would always reply, “if you wanted them to live you should have left them in the ground. The moment you took them out, they began to die.” He would want to know why. After explaining it, he would insist that they would keep living because we had them in water. Plants and flowers need more than water though. They need the nutrients that come from the soil in order to continue to bloom and grow. It was a hard concept for him. It’s also a biblical concept that we must remember as well.

In the book of Judges 13, we read the story of Samson. Before he was born, the Lord told his parents that he should be raised as a Nazarite. He could never drink alcohol, eat unclean food or cut his hair. God also said that he would begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines. His parents obeyed and so did he for a while. He was given super strength as a result. However, instead of delivering the Israelites from the Philistines, he decided to make one of their women his wife. He separated himself from God’s plan for him. Being away from where he was supposed to be, he succumbed to her constant questioning and told her the source of his strength. He did kill many Philistines in his final act, but how much more could he have done if he had followed God’s plan for his life?

In John 15.5, Jesus said, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for [otherwise] apart from Me [that is, cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing” (AMP). We must choose to remain in Christ if we want to fulfill our purpose. The moment we quit living the way He called us to, we begin to lose our vital nutrients for life. We remain in Him through prayer and reading the Bible as well. The Bible is often referred to as water. There was also a time when the disciples offered Jesus food and He told them that He had food they didn’t know about. That food was found in prayer and doing the will of the Father. We will find spiritual nutrients for our soul by doing the same thing. The good news is that if you haven’t remained in Him, you can be grafted back in to receive all He has for you.

Photo by Juraj Filipeje on Unsplash

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