"And my God WILL meet all your needs according to His glorious riches..." is a stunning promise to Christ followers that is found in Philippians chapter four. When you really look at the breadth of that promise it really becomes quite empowering. All the needs that I have God PROMISES to meet. And yet so few Christians seem to "venture out" into life with a conviction of that assurance and many never seem to experience the joy of God's need meeting provision. Why?

I was stunned as I prepared my message for this last Sunday, Casting Shadows IV: Heaven in the Desert, to discover how the need meeting provision of God is so closely tied to us demonstrating our faith in Him. The message examined the promise keeping nature of God in light of His covenant with Abraham as illustrated in the story of Jacob's vision of a heavenly ladder. We saw how God reached down to Jacob, motivated by His great promise to prosper the descendants of Abraham, and met his need. It revealed the covenant keeping nature of God and how we can count on His promises. And it wasn't just in Philippians that this promise of provision is given. In Luke 12 Christ says if we seek His Kingdom first then He will meet our needs and 2 Corinthians 9 states: 

8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. We can see repeatedly that He intends to meet our needs but as I stated it is stunning how each of those promises are tied to us demonstrating our faith by giving. The Philippians 4 passage is a statement Paul makes to the church AFTER they gave sacrificially to the work of the church, in Luke 12 verse is followed by 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 

And the verse in 2 Corinthians 9 is proceed by 6 Remember this:

Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 

I believe that it is these truths that the promise of God gets lost for the followers of Christ. We do not live lives that reflect our faith in God by our giving to Him and those in need and because of that we do not "activate" the promise of God in our lives. Now remember, His promise is to meet our NEEDS, not our wants, not our abundance but our NEEDS. But that is a promise that should release us to go forward confident in HIs provision to us.