Let us ask the Lord for the grace not to speak badly of others, not to criticize, not to gossip, but rather to love everyone.- Pope francis 17.10.2014
Some people have been taught that suffering and being needy are virtues in the Christian life. Being able to maintain a good attitude during times of suffering is a virtue and it is very important, but continual suffering is not God’s will for anybody. The apostle Paul stated that he had times of being abased and times of abounding. We will go through difficulties in this life but we can and should expect God’s deliverance and a return to an abundant life.
We must never see God as a stingy god who would withhold anything we need. Certainly, there are times when we don’t get what we want when we want it, but if that happens, God has a good reason.
Perhaps the timing isn’t right, or we are not mature enough to handle it yet or He has something better in mind, something we don’t know how to ask for, but it is never because He doesn’t want us to be blessed.
That thought simply isn’t consistent with who He is.
If you have any doubts or questions about the fact that God wants to bless you, I want to help you because I want you to agree with Him in this area of your life. The best way to do that is to show you what God Himself says. His words are anointed to bring transformation to your thinking and change to your life, so take a look at them and ask Him to use them to shift you into a place of complete confidence in His desire to provide for you and to bless you abundantly.
• “This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success.” (Joshua 1:8)
• “Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly… but his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His law (the precepts, the instructions, the teachings of God) he habitually meditates… everything he does shall prosper [and come to maturity].” (Psalm 1:1–3)
• “The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack.” (Psalm 23:1)
• “The young lions lack food and suffer hunger, but they who seek (inquire of and require) the Lord [by right of their need and on the authority of His Word], none of them shall lack any beneficial thing.” (Psalm 34:10)
• “Let the Lord be magnified, Who takes pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” (Psalm 35:27)
• “He will bless those who reverently and worshipfully fear the Lord, both small and great.” (Psalm 115:13)
• “And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field… they neither toil nor spin…. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith?” (Matthew 6:28–30)
• “The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” (John 10:10)
Think about It
Which of the Scriptures in this section speaks most to your heart or seems most appropriate for you right now? I encourage you to memorize and meditate on it.
