The Devotional - A Look at the Book #872

by Jesse Abel

Thoughts from Papa “J”

 

I don’t know how true it is and maybe it is because I am like the rest of us who use only seven percent of our brain power. Also I hear that smart people still have more than eighty percent of brain power sitting in reserve. No doubt we who have the Holy Spirit utilize His gifts in the same manner; we are not prudent, we are a wasteful generation. Proverbs 14:8-9

 

Good Morning

 

A friend and pastor used to say, “We are a needy people!” and it is true. It does not matter about your status in life: A butcher, a baker or a candle stick maker, we all have needs and when we think on the issues of needing we are prone to focus on the material items. We worry and fret and yet we read in the gospel of Matthew that God meets the needs of His Creation. Then the LORD speaks very plainly; if our Father meets the needs of creation, why do we expect that He would forget about our needs? But to seek first His Kingdom; Matthew 6:25-34

 

Our Father does not forget; if anything it is you and me who forget how direct God is when it comes to meeting the physical needs of all peoples, especially those of His household. Philippians 4:10-20. Now I have heard most of the arguments regarding the needs of the saints in that we are to focus on the spiritual needs rather than the physical needs of life in Christ, since the physical needs vary from person to person.

 

For me; I sort of look at this subject as the recipe for an “apple pie”. The recipe has a main ingredient “apples” now that is an eye-opener… who would have guessed? Although I have heard of a poor man’s apple pie made with saltine crackers instead of apples. Now if the recipe were only pie crust and apples, or pie crust and saltine crackers the pie would be sour or salty. Also needed is sugar, flour (not including the crust), lemon and maybe a raisin or two and sometimes white icing, all of which make for a good and tasty pie, even the one made with crackers.

 

Here is the point: The apostle begins in 2 Corinthians 1:8 with a familiar phrase of his; “for I do not want you to be ignorant brethren. His desire for us to know fully that life is full of trouble, trouble is a necessary part of the recipe and sometimes we seek to personally leave it out. Trouble is so demanding that it can demand of us, life itself. Being a part of the recipe makes us depend on (TRUST IN) God and not in our own ability or strength. Now I know you know that, but at a critical moment we tend to forget.

 

So there is the physical trouble that comes our way which is backed and funded by Satan’s fallen spiritual plan and he has complete understanding of his recipe to affect our physical existence. Then there is you and me who rely on our own ability to survive an evil attack. NO, NO, NO! The apostle Paul reminds us of a wonderful truth. Yes we may feel the sentenced death on us, but we are to stop trusting in our own efforts of survival and trust in God who raises the dead. Satan may have the funds to ruin your day, but Our God shall supply all our need according to His riches in glory. Philippians 4:19-20

 

You see; Satan has no glory in His recipe, he has no resource to obtain it! As we have been studying in Acts that when we are in trouble and when the church prays for us, even those who are thought to be doomed to die are released from the sentence of death by the power of supernatural deliverance, we only need to trust in the power of the resurrection. There is no greater power than the supernatural power that belongs to God; He shares it with us and this Glorifies God. Acts 12:5-20 God uses every resource available to personally meet our need.