Faithful to Supply
by Wayne Dailey
Senior Pastor, Bethel Revival Center
43 Norwood St.
Everett, MA 02149
There are a lot of things in God's Word that help us recognize when He wants
to bless us. It's by earnestly yielding our heart and life to Him that lets
Him bring those blessings into our life.
Psalm 23:5
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou
anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
We need God to fill our cup, giving us what we need in our heart and soul
that He might add His blessings to our life.
Troubles Come to All
There are many things in the Scriptures which show us just how hard and troublesome
things can be — but they also show us how God reaches out His hand
during such difficult times.
Psalm 34:6
This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all
his troubles.
I don't know what to do, Lord! Do you ever speak that way?
Do you ever face things in this life where you just don't know what to do?
Where you find yourself in trouble, and there is no way out?
You're going to have troubles in this life. I don't care who you are; you
will have trials and tests.
I remember back during the time of the Great Depression: I was just a child
but I can remember how hard things were back then.
There are going to be hard times — and there are going to be good times
. . . and, then, there will also be great times.
God, Our Help in Trouble
And in hard times God is a God who can be a great refuge to us, a great help.
The hand of the Lord can reach out to the uttermost to take care of those
who trust in Him.
Psalm 9:9
The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times
of trouble.
Psalm 62:8
Trust in Him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before Him:
God is a refuge for us.
Our God can do anything — and one thing that we should do is to appreciate
that fact.
Psalm 59:16
But I will sing of Thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of Thy mercy in
the morning: for Thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of
my trouble.
You need to get closer to God if you want Him to be a help to you. Talk to
Him. Pray. Get down on your knees right where you are and call upon Him.
When there are troubles you want to address them. Who can you tell them to?
Who really cares like Jesus does? Who is able to help in times of trouble
like He can? Pour out your heart to Him. Lord, I'm in need. Lord, I don't
even have a decent pair of shoes for my feet.
God, Our Supplier
Can He supply all your needs? Yes, you can find what you need when you look
to the Lord in prayer and supplication.
Philippians 4:19
But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory
by Christ Jesus.
That's a powerful Scripture verse. It's a verse that's born up out of sufferings.
But my God — you have to put it in that context — MY
God, because God is a personal God.
God will supply all your needs — how? According to His riches in glory.
Over a long period of time you can't help but see and find out just how faithful
the Lord is to help you, as He brings you through the trials and tests that
come along in this life.
And there certainly are many trials and tests in this life, many hardships.
We're living in a time right now when many people are facing severe hardships.
People who normally have been able to work for a living — for years
they faithfully worked to provide for their family — suddenly have been
given that pink slip. You know that famous pink slip, don't you? — You
are laid off because they don't have any more work for you to do.
Right now, there are so many people in this society that we're living in
who have been laid off. They're wrestling and struggling, trying to somehow
find a way to make it.
There's good ways to try and make a go of it — and then there's other
ways. Some tried stealing and wound up in jail. That didn't work. They found
they were only worse off than they were before.
Be right in the place where you recognize you need help — and turn
your heart to the Lord, looking to Jesus to help you, trusting in Him to supply
your need. Find time to pray and seek after the Lord, giving Him your life
completely.
Give God Your Cares
I Peter 5:7
Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you.
Because what? Because He cares for you. He's talking here about you bringing
your cares and laying them on Him.
So if you have a real care in your life you want to come to Jesus in prayer,
come seeking after Him. Cast that burden on Him — and let Him help you
out.
Will He help you? How often? Once in awhile? Once in a lifetime? Or will
He help you each and every day you need help?
God Is Faithful
One great truth the Lord laid on my heart years ago was making me to know
that above all things He is faithful. You just need to prove Him out —
prove just how faithful He really is.
Lamentations 3:22-25
It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions
fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The
Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him. The
Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.
I have seen the Lord work over the years and I can truthfully say that it
is true what He told me: He is faithful. I have never seen one tinge of unfaithfulness
with God.
Give God Your All
If you want to see His faithfulness in your life, trust Him. Put your heart
into it and give yourself to Him. It's in the surrendering up of your heart
because you want to belong to Him. It's not just your wanting Him. It's wanting
to belong to Him, wanting to be a child of God.
When I got saved many years ago, I gave my life to the Lord — and now
I belong to Him. I am His — and He is mine. He's my Lord, and I'm His
child. What better relationship could one have? That's a relationship that
goes deeper than the relationship we have with our family.
Listen, here we are; we have needs. There are problems; there are difficulties.
I know some of you are facing great difficulties — but God is still
God. God is still able. God still knows what you need. And He's able, to the
uttermost, to meet those needs you are facing. Trust Him.
Hebrews 4:15,16
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling
of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
I'm thankful that we can know God and that we can know Him in His resurrection
power.
Philippians 3:10a
That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection
Look what that resurrection power did for Jesus! It took Him to the lowest
hell. You want to know someone who has seen what it's like down there in hell?
Jesus was down there — down in the lowest hell — and from there
He ascended to the very highest heaven, where He sits at Father's right hand.
Jesus feels what each one of us goes through in this life. He knows what
troubles and difficulties are like. My, He certainly had His share while He
was here upon this earth. Thus, He knows just what we need when we are facing
troubles and difficulties.
You want God's blessing to fall on you to where you can see He is helping
you. But there's something you have to do if you want more of that blessing
in your life.
I don't just want to know that God will help me. I don't just want to think
He might help me. I want to actually see Him helping me.
Malachi 3:10b
. . . prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not
open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there
shall not be room enough to receive it.
You want one of those kind of blessings? It could even be a truck load coming
your way. He says He is able to pour you out a blessing that you won't have
room enough to receive — more than you can handle.
We have seen God do that so many times. We've seen God provide food even
by the truckload. There was a man in our church who used to bring produce
by the truck for us — so much so that we were able to see many others
blessed, as well as being blessed ourselves.
Yes, God will pour out a blessing to meet your need. But your relationship
with God has a great bearing on how He works for you. It has a great bearing
on how He works to make His grace abound in your life.
I remember when we were running a Bible school in Boston. Over and over we
watched how God met our needs. When He told me to start a Bible school He
also told me that He would provide the needs for that school. I proceeded
to do my part in getting the buildings ready to have school — and then
began to watch how God would provide for the needs.
The school was a faith school: there was no charge for tuition or for meals.
And God blessed, pouring out His Spirit to supply our every need, just as
He said would do.
You've got to get in tune with God. You want God to help you — but
you don't want to give your all to Him. If you want God to continue to bless,
you've got to put your life into this. Some want the blessing — but
they don't want the responsibility that goes with it. Hey, there's got to
be some responsibility in obeying God to do what He wants us to do.
I remember when God provided potatoes for the Bible school. We went to New
York to pick them up and drove home with an open trailer behind the car filled
with potatoes. Every little while I would look in the rearview mirror and
see the smoke flying up off the wheels.
What caused the smoke fly? Because there were so many potatoes in that trailer
that the back of the car nearly sat on the road. We made it home with that
great blessing, and there was rejoicing at how God had provided our need.
I'm talking for God — what He can do.
I remember one day when the counter was filled with loaves of bread that
someone had brought by — a blessing that there wasn't room enough to
receive: 254 loaves of bread! Enough to provide our need and enough to share
with others.
Yes, God can pour out a blessing upon you that there won't be room enough
to receive. But you need to do something. You need to be in that place where
God is going to be everything to you, where you're going to be a true child
of God.
I'm saying this to you because I've seen it so many times. I've experienced
these things so many times. And to this day we are still seeing these blessings
of provision.
Can you understand what I'm saying? You've got to put yourself in the place
where God wants you to be.
I want to be His child, just to be His. Do you feel that way? Do you want
to love God and serve Him with all your heart? Maybe you do; I'm not the judge.
But if you're not getting blessed I would question why. Where is the failure
that God isn't supplying the need? After all, He's able.
Seek God Earnestly
and Surrender to Him
I'm encouraging you to surrender. Surrender what? Surrender yourself unto
the Lord. Yield yourself to Him — give your heart to Jesus. And take
time for some serious praying.
Sometimes there's another word that goes with prayer: prayer and fasting.
In your heart you want to be better prepared.
There are those times when it would do good to fast and pray, seeking the
Lord for that which you want to see Him do — and for those things you
would want Him to teach you.
If you want God, you should want Him with all your heart. I say that out
of years of experience. This isn't something I learned yesterday. These are
things that came with time and experience — getting to really know the
Lord and to walk with Him day after day.
Take the time to earnestly seek Him that you might know Him. This is the
realm where you'll find His blessings will abound.
Know this: when you do your part, God will move for you in the things that
need to be done. Surrender your heart to Him. If you're not saved, get saved
— and watch what He'll do for you.
I know we're living in a troubled time. People all over America are experiencing
troubles: so many out of work, trying to make it. Some are making it, while
others are wrestling and struggling. Who do you think gets hurt the worse
in times like these, the rich or the poor?
The Bible speaks a lot about God's concern for the poor and the needy. God
sees and He wants to help. He wants us to embrace Him in our heart, believing
that He will be faithful.
Lord, I'm surrendering my heart to you. Lord, help me!
Philippians 4:19
But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory
by Christ Jesus.
Jesus is the answer. It's according to His riches in glory —
not your riches.
Now, you can surrender to Jesus right where you are. Just get down on your
knees and begin to talk with Him.
James 4:2b
. . . ye have not, because ye ask not.
Know that God isn't just going to do it. He wants you to ask Him. He wants
you to get down and pray. Pour your heart out to Him. Tell Him all about it.
He says to cry out to God. That doesn't mean you should cry, Gimme! Gimme!
Gimme! That won't help.
You want to live for Him. You want to walk with Him. You want His rich blessings
to be upon your life every day. But you've got to give yourself. You've got
to yield yourself. Take your burden to Him as one who is desiring a closer
relationship with Him.
Don't expect God to bring it to you if you don't even take time to get saved,
and to praise Him, to worship Him, to give your heart to Him.
Put your whole life into His hands. You want Him to bless — but there
is one thing He needs: He needs your co-operation. You need to get in
this place we've been talking about, where you're willing, where you give
your life to the Lord.
God knows if you're having troubles. He knows what you need. What is the
remedy?
Some might say to you, Just get up and get to work! But where are
you going to find a job? To many that is the problem. They had a job; but
one day they were told, like so many these days, that they were being let
go. Then what?
It's up to you. Get down to business in surrendering your life to Jesus.
Give Him your heart. Let Him have His way in your life.
Will it make a difference?
Who could you look to who is able help you more than Jesus Christ?
Can you say, Lord help me! Lord help me!
Jeremiah 33:2,3
Thus saith the Lord the maker thereof, the Lord that formed it, to establish
it; the Lord is His name; call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and
show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
He's there, and He is able to do exceeding and abundantly above all that
you could ask or think.
I like to take God's Word and find those things that can be meaningful and
helpful right where I'm at. When I find such things I grab on to them, hold
on to them, so I can have the blessing of what is being said.
Think of what God is saying here: just call on Me — just pray and call
on Me, and I will answer.
In the troubles of life we need to call on the Lord. In the difficult times
we need to call on Him — and He says He will answer us. I like to take
this as a promise of what God will do. Though it was given generations ago
it's still in the Word of God for us today.
Call on Me and I will answer thee. Here's a text that shows us God
wants to bless us. He wants to bring us up and out of our troubles and difficulties.
Call upon Me and I will answer thee. That's something you need to
know. Take that and build on it. God is saying, Do something — and
I will show you great and mighty things which you know not.
You don't know it all. You may be a know-it-all, but you don't
know it all.
My, how many lifetimes would it take to know everything?
Take these verses of Scripture and build something on them. There's a privilege
found in them that you can take to heart.
II Corinthians 1:3,4
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father
of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our
tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble,
by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
In these troubled times, God's people have needs too. But God's people also
have the opportunity to turn things around: because they can go to the Word
and take to heart what God has said, and they can go to prayer and call on
Him.
And when they have seen the hand of the Lord move to help and comfort, they,
in turn, can help others through their testimony of God's faithfulness.
I don't know how long it will take in fulfilling His promises. But I do know
God has promised, and He is faithful. And I do know that He told us to call
on Him and He would answer.
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