Philippians 4:19

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

According to this verse, you are rich. You are not trying to be rich. It does not matter how much you are earning or how much you have in your bank account. You are rich because as your need arises, God’s supply will be there for you.

In the Bible, there is an account of a couple who had a big need on their wedding day. They had run out of wine. Now, you would expect wedding couples to know how many guests to expect on their big day and to plan accordingly. But perhaps this couple did not have the money to buy enough wine. Whatever the reason was, Jesus saved them from embarrassment and shame. He saved the day when He supplied their need by miraculously turning six pots of water into top-quality wine. (John 2:1–10) Our Lord Jesus abundantly supplied the need of that couple.

Beloved, whatever needs you have, God wants you to know that His supply will be there for you. You have His Word for it. He promises that He will supply all your needs, not just some. And He will supply all your needs according to and not out of His riches. This means that He lines up from A to Z all His riches for your supply! All His riches are yours!

My friend, rejoice that you are rich “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus”. This is far greater and more dependable than the temporal riches that you might have from any earthly source! Copyright Joseph Prince Ministries

Today, during our study and prayer time, as we read this Daily Devotional offering from Joseph Prince I was thunderstruck with the realization that I’ve been looking at our financial status the WRONG WAY for years!

I started to write…”I’ll spare you the details.  They cover close to thirty years!!!”

But then I remembered – my blog is not being written to please anyone else. A while back when I dumped all my social networking programs I promised myself to quit allowing the visitor stats on my blog to influence my writing. This blog is about recording those special insights the Holy Spirit sends my way; backing up the files and allowing the archives to accumulate in electronic form. Never mind who is or is not reading what’s posted!

So…about looking at our riches the wrong way for years – Hindsight is 20/20.

The only house we have owned in our thirty plus years of marriage was purchased a few months after our wedding. We sold it after a couple of years, when we decided God was calling us to ‘take a step in faith’ and move to California.

Because I was raised to believe that renting a house was equal to ‘flushing money down the drain month after month’ I have never been fully satisfied with our living circumstances.  Every month when the rent came due, I grumbled and complained because we did not own a home.  My confession has been ‘we are poor because we don’t own our own home and need to figure out a way to buy a house so we can begin to prosper.’  Come on, that’s the American dream. Is it not?

My whining has increased two-fold over the years we have lived here in the ‘cottage’.  It hasn’t helped to hear the negative comments from family and friends who look at our tiny home, compare it unfavorably with their ‘mini-mansions’ and don’t hesitate to say so. It has become a habit of mine to grumble and complain loudly to anyone who would listen about our present living circumstances.

This morning I saw the ‘whole scenario’ in living color!  Every house we have lived in since moving to California has been perfect for our need in that season.  When we needed multiple bedrooms to house our oldest son, my mom, and an adopted daughter-in-the-Lord, God placed us in a huge five BR, three bath house.  When we needed a house with a separate suite for our middle son and his new bride to begin their life together, God placed us in the perfect house.  When we moved on and our needs grew to  a house large enough for an extended Christian family of three and occasionally five other couples, God placed us in the perfect house with a lovely yard, a pool, a formal dining room and adequate space for everyone on every occasion.

God’s Word says, “The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. When you have eaten your fill in this land, be careful not to forget the Lord, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.” Deut. 6:10-12

It occurs to me here that in ancient times six or seven families actually constituted a village or ayar [Hebrew for town or encampment]. So…even though we have always lived in encampments we did not build…there has never been a time when our houses were not richly stocked with everything we needed at the moment.

Granted, we managed to get ourselves into a financial crisis at one point, but it was because of our wants, not our needs.  Today we are, hopefully, mature enough to recognize the difference between wants and needs.  It is fairly simple to see that our current living arrangements are perfect for our current needs. And there’s no doubt whatsoever God placed us here purposely, just for this season, and probably for this very reason!

The point is…we ARE rich.  We are NOT poor!  We have never BEEN poor.  Our Heavenly Father has graciously given us more than enough to cover our needs in every season. And at times we have been given amazingly, abundantly, above all that we could ask or even think.

Forgive me Father, for being an ungrateful brat. Forgive me for taking your bounty for granted and complaining that it was not enough. Forgive me for my unkind words and divisive attitude that has given others the idea we have not been abundantly blessed by you.  Thank you Father for your abundant blessings.

Oh yes…thank you Father that we are rich.  We are blessed according to your riches in glory by your son Christ Jesus.