All Your Need

Phil 4:19 “… my God shall supply all your need”

There is a common element that unites all peoples of the world. There is one thing that every person listening has in common: we all have needs! There will be times in every one of our lives when we will experience a need of some kind. Perhaps that need will be material in nature, that seems to be where we focus much of our attention in this life. There will certainly be times when there will be emotional needs, and, at other times, needs of a physical nature will surely present themselves. At other times, we will face days when the greatest need in our lives will be spiritual in nature. What are we to do when needs arise?

The natural reaction is for us to worry, but we know from the

Bible that this is not God’s will for our lives.

Phil. 4:6; & Matt. 6:25-33.

Should we try to meet our own needs? The simple answer is “Yes!” When we have it within our power to help ourselves, then we do not really have a need, do we? What I am referring to are those times when we have reached the end of the line. We have done everything we know to do, to meet our own need. We have exhausted every resource and we are left with the reality of our own inability staring us in the face. What do we do then?

The answer is at once simple, yet deeply profound. It is an answer given by the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

His answer to getting the needs of life met was this,

“And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.”,

Mark 11:22.

All I am saying, and what I intend to show you today from this passage, in 1 Kings 17, is that we have a God in Heaven who can be trusted to take care of His children!

When our needs arise, so do our doubts! The devil and the flesh whisper to our hearts, “Can God really meet your needs?” If we aren’t careful, we might find ourselves wondering the same thing! This then is the question which faces us today, …

Can God Really Meet Your Need?

I’d like to begin by saying, “God Can!” Let me show you from

1st Kings 17; why I say that God really can meet your need.

Let us consider in the First Place

THE MANY SIDES OF OUR NEEDS

(Often our needs arise from strange and various sources. Three

are mentioned in this passage.)

verses 1-7 Show us that Elijah’s need stemmed from

An Uncommon Service – Elijah’s need arose from His obedience to the will of God. He was just doing what he was told and then his need came.

There are times when you seem to be doing everything just like you are supposed to be doing it. You are paying your tithes, you are going to church, you are living right and still there are troubles and problems that plague your life. Why does that take you by surprise? Jesus said it would be this way, listen to what he says “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer;

I have overcome the world”. (John 16:33)

Whoever got people to believing that once we came to Jesus for salvation that all our troubles were behind us, pulled off the greatest lie of the ages. In truth, instead of being a hedge against trouble, your salvation often opens the door for problems in your life. The truth of the matter is that we can expect life to be filled with trouble. – Job 14:1. says we are “born to it!” Instead of standing around with our mouths

hanging open when trouble comes, we are supposed to rejoice, or at the very least, we shouldn’t be surprised!

Verses 9-12 show need in An Uncontrollable Situation – These verses reveal a widow woman who was suffering need because of the wrongdoing of others. Because of the sin of Ahab, Jezebel and the nation of Israel, God had sent a drought that affected the whole area where this widow lived.

She was just caught up in an unfortunate situation.

There are times like that for you and me. Through no fault of our own, we find ourselves caught up in unpleasant situations that bring trouble into our lives. Sometimes we make our own trouble, other times it seems to be able to find us on its own. This shouldn’t take us by surprise either!

Jesus said things would be this way, Matt. 5:45. If we expect to receive good in this life, why shouldn’t we expect our fair share of evil also? Often, pain, sorrow and trouble are just part and parcel of the human experience.

Verses 17-18 show the need in An Untimely Sorrow – In these verses, we find a woman who had given much to the Lord and she had received much from the Lord, yet she is thrown into a time of grief over the untimely death of her only son. Her world, which seemed to be on track,

derailed and filled her with sorrow and pain.

Have you ever been there? It seems like things couldn’t get any better. The Lord has been blessing and you have been enjoying the best that God has to give and then suddenly the bottom falls out of your world and all of your hopes and dreams come crashing down around you. It hurts! But, we shouldn’t be surprised when things take a turn in this direction. After all, if it could happen to a faithful, and a Holy man like Job, then it could happen to any of us.

Job 1&2.

Let’s face it, our troubles have a way of overtaking us when we aren’t expecting them. They sneak up on us and they crush us and leave us dazed, hurting and confused. I just praise the Lord today that our troubles do not have the last word in this matter!

So that’s what I call …

The Many Sides Of Our Needs. Now let us consider

THE MANIFEST SUPPLY OF OUR GOD

Your need may have caught you off guard and left you standing there with your chin on your chest wondering what happened, but your troubles and trials did not catch God by surprise. He was not caught off guard by what came about in your life. In fact, He knew it was going to happen before the foundation of the world. I’ll go a step further and say that He even orchestrated this event in your life to help you and mould you to become more like Him. Remember “All things are working together for our good” Rom. 8:28. Since God knew about, and since He even had a hand in it,

I have discovered that He has also made some preparations for it. You see, your need is merely the evidence of God’s supply for you in waiting.

Look again at our Scripture in 1 Kings 17.

Verses 3-4 enable us to consider God’s Past Preparations – Thousands of years before Elijah needed a drink of cool, clear water, the finger of God traced out the path of this little brook. God knew that His servant would one day need this provision and God made a way for Elijah long before the need ever arose. The name of the brook was “Cherith”. This is a word which means “cutting.” Isn’t it good to know that God made a way to “cut” Elijah’s thirst before Elijah ever got thirsty?

Let’s run with this thought and bring it up to date. If God knows all about my troubles before they come, and if God has a hand in my troubles, and He does, Isaiah 45:verse 7, says:

“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and

create (or select) evil: I the LORD do all these things.”, and if all things really work together for my good, Rom. 8:28, and they do; then it stands to reason that God has already taken all the steps necessary to meet your need before it ever arises. It may seem that the Lord isn’t moving and that He is just going to leave you to be battered in the storm, but the truth is, God has already met our need, before the need ever arose!

He will manifest or show that supply in His own way and in His own time. Your duty is to be patient and faithful to the Lord and to His will for your life. He will take care of you! Ps 84:11, says “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

No where is God’s past provision more clearly seen that in the area of our salvation. Before there was ever a sinner to save, God had already given up His Son Jesus to be the means of salvation for all who would place their faith in Him. God met your salvation needs before you ever had any! If God

can meet this greatest need of all needs, and He did, …

then He will have no problem taking care of you!

Then verse 6 enables us to focus on God’s Present Supply – In this verse, we see Elijah being fed by the ravens. God knew that His man needed to eat and God supplied the necessities of life for him. Notice that God’s methods were

at the same time miraculous and ordinary. They were miraculous in that God used ravens to bring food to the prophet and ordinary in that He used a common fowl of the air to get His will done. I want you to understand that the Lord has promised to meet your needs.

Philippians. 4:19 says “My God shall supply all your Need” However, I want you to know also that this promise is conditional! The Philippian believers had sacrificed to give to missionaries and to Paul, and God tells them that He will take care of their needs. This is not a blanket promise that Christians can lift out of context and apply across the board! You may disagree, but I believe that God will let us experience need to get us in line with His plans for our lives. Will He take care of you? Yes! Does He love you? Yes!

But Just don’t expect God to bless your mess!

My dear friends, if you are tithing and making sacrifices for the sake of others and you are being faithful to the Lord,

I believe with all my heart that He will meet all the needs which arise in your life and mine. He tells us in no uncertain terms what He expects and what He will do,

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you“. Matt. 6:33.

In verse 14 we see God’s Promise For Tomorrow

Elijah’s demand and the widow’s response. Elijah tells her not to worry, because the Lord will give her what she needs out into the future!

The future is always uncertain and we never know what kinds of needs may arise as soon as tomorrow, but we have the precious promise of the Lord that He is with us, that He knows the way we take, and that He will look out for us all the way home to glory! I may not know what will come in the morning, but I do know One who has already been in tomorrow. He knows what will happen and He has already made preparations for my arrival. No matter where the road of life leads, no matter what problems arise, God is always

ready with the necessary means to meet the needs of His children.

So then we have seen

The Many Sides Of Our Needs

and The Manifest Supply Of Our God

now let us consider

THE MARVELOUS SECRET OF OUR SUPPLY

If the secret can be summed up in one word, I would have to say that the word would be “faith”! This faith must manifest itself

in four areas of life and they are illustrated here for you and me.

v3 shows us that There Must Be Faith In The Will Of God – Elijah had just confronted the King of Israel and now God is sending him into the wilderness. It must have been a little confusing, but God’s people must learn to place their faith in the will of God. Often, God’s will and our will are two entirely different things. But, the secret of getting your need met by God is trusting that God knows what is best for your life; and by being willing to submit to His will even when you don’t understand it. God can bless and use a surrendered life.

v9 shows us that There Must Be Faith In The Ways Of God – Imagine how Elijah felt when his brook dried up and the ravens stop bringing food and God comes along and sends him to a widow so that she can sustain and keep him. Widows were poor, they weren’t known for opulence? But, Elijah knew that God knew more about taking care of His servants … and he just went.

If you try to sit around and worry about what’s happening in your life and if you spend your time trying to figure out what God is doing, you may go crazy.

You can’t understand God and you can’t figure Him out!

If you could, He would cease to be God and you would become God. If You were God, then you could fix your own mess and you wouldn’t need Him anyway! We must have faith in the great truth that God knows what He is doing

and we must learn to trust God’s ways. He says: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55: 8 & 9

Verses 13-16 show us that There Must Be Faith In The Work Of God – Put yourself in this widow’s place. She is at the point of starvation, she and her son have enough food left for one final meal and they plan to lie down and starve to death. Then, here comes the preacher! He tells her to feed him first. It must have been a real trial of faith for this woman to make that great a sacrifice, but she placed her faith in the Work of God. Notice, verse 13, she is told to “go and do…“, & verse 15 tells us that “she went and did…” This is the key, but it is often missed by people when they face the trials of life. If you have submitted your life to the Lord and are faithfully engaged in carrying out His will in the world, you are on the Lord’s pay roll and you are His responsibility. Too often we forget to Whom we belong!

Then verse 14 shows There Must Be Faith In The Word Of God. This widow woman entered this valley of testing with the greatest promise ever to be given to anyone. Did you see it? Don’t miss this! Verse 14, the prophet gives her the promise in the form of a seven word statement, …

“thus saith the Lord God of Israel…”

When you have God’s word on an issue, that issue is settled forever! This woman had the promise of God to back up her faith. Now, we all know that “faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Therefore, when we read the statement of David in Psalm 37:25, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread”, – then we can place our faith in that!

Dear Friends, the devil will lie to you, the world will lie to you, your family and friends may lie to you, but you can rest assured that while this universe stands and there is a great God in Heaven … He will never lie to you! And if God said that He would look after your need, then you can take that

to the bank of eternity and know that it will draw interest forever. You can place your faith in the Word of God.

Finally, verses 17-24 shows us that There Must Be Faith In The Wonder Of God. This faithful widow’s son died suddenly, and she went to the man of God for help. Now,

as far as I can determine, this is the first account of a resurrection in the Bible? Elijah had never seen one, nor had he heard of one, but he believed that God could produce one by His power. Here is one of the great keys to getting your needs met by God. It is simply coming to the place where you just believe God is big enough to handle your problem. It is reaching the place Paul came to, when he made that doxological declaration found in Ephesians 3:20,

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power

that worketh within us…”

When we get beyond “God could and God might”, and we come to the place where we become confident that

“God can and God will“,

then we will see business pick up in that area of seeing our needs met. Those who see God consistently come through for them in strange and miraculous ways, are people who know God can and God will.

Does the word “faith” sum up your life? It should! We are to be a people of faith. Faith looks beyond the present pain and sees a God who can and will; Are you there yet?

I know this message hasn’t been earth shaking and deeply profound, but I hope it has opened eyes to the truth that if God can do anything, then God can meet your need! Since we know from the Bible that God can, why not bring your needs, your burdens and your worries and fears to Him today.

Maybe your need is that of salvation, you can come and have that need met today. Maybe yours is a material or a physical need. You can come and find the assurance that God will take care of that too. Maybe your need is emotional in nature, God can handle that! Whatever the need bring it to God!

Satan and the flesh ask, “Can God?”

But those who walk in faith rest their head on the precious promises of the Word of God and in blessed assurance reply back,

“God can, God can!”

for “God shall supply all your Need” in fact you don’t even have to ask, for He’s got your needs covered!

Amen