THE FEAR OF THE LORD 4 “JEHOVAH JIREH – THE LORD OUR PROVIDER” – JANUARY 30, 2022

BLESSINGS OF THE PROVISION OF ALL NEEDS

• Psalm 34:9 (TPT) –Worship in awe and wonder, all you who’ve been made holy! For all who fear him will feast with plenty.
• PSALM 34:9 (NLT) – Fear the Lord, you his godly people, for those who fear him will have all they need.
• PSALM 34::9 (NIV) – Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.
• PSALM 67:5-7 – May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you. ⁶ The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us. ⁷ May God bless us still, so that all the ends of the earth will fear him.
• PHILIPPIANS 4:19 – My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
• GENESIS 22:1-8
• (Jehovah- Jireh – God our provider). One of the redemptive names of God – He is our provider! He provided a ram just in time for Abraham, and He is able to provide for our needs as well, when we are steadfast in our faith and expectation.

GOD’S SUPPLY

• ELISHA AND THE WIDOW – “how can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”
  • (2 Kings 4:1-7) “What is in your house?”
• Expect God to take whatever is in your church, home and life and do much with it. We can expect much because we know a God who can do much with whatever we have in the house.
• PSALM 31:19 – How great is your goodness which you have stored up for those who FEAR YOU, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.
• PSALM 68:10 – There your people finally settled, and with a bountiful harvest, O God, YOU PROVIDED for your needy people.
• PSALM 132:15 – I will make Zion prosper and satisfy her poor with my provision.
• LUKE 6:38 – Give and it will be given to you… for with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
• Do not let the fact that you have needs kill your generosity. Instead continue to give as God directs, and believe in faith that He will hear and answer your pleas for help.
• PSALM 68:19 – Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits,…
• MATTHEW 7:7 – ask… seek.. knock..  how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him.
• JOHN 15:7  – If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

GOD IS ABLE TO PROVIDE FOR US!!!

• EPHESIANS 3:20 – Now to Him who able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us…
• Thoughts from Tommy Barnett:
  • Most people regard problems as hindrances to miracles happening in their lives. Actually, just the opposite is true. You cannot qualify for a miracle until you have a problem.
  • The Israelites had the Jordan River blocking them from going into the Promised Land. There’s always a problem out in front of us. There will always be a Jordan River. Before we can see a miracle, we must go a little further. They had to go into the midst of the water before the waters parted and the miracle was seen.
• Shadrach & friends/Furnace
• David/Goliath – Victory through God’s power
• Jericho – High walls – mighty victory!
• 12 spies – giants in the land – some had good reports / some bad reports (Deuteronomy 1:22-36)
• PSALM 78: 9-11 – The men of Ephraim… turned back in the day of battle – they forgot what God had done, the wonders he had shown them.
• We all want miracles. There is a great risk involved in miracles. You have to step out into your problem, face your difficulties and confront your enemies before you will see a miracle. Face the problem. This means we must humble ourselves, pray, repent, and seek God’s face (2 Chronicles 7:14)

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

• We need faith, and to speak words of faith based on God’s Word!
• MARK 11:22-24 –²² So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. ²³ For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. ²⁴ Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
• Walking by faith
  • 1) Knowing what God wants you to do2) Obeying whatever He shows you to do, then…
  • 3) Trusting Him to do what you cannot do, in His way and in His time.
• You can always trust God to meet and supply your needs when you cry out to Him in faith.
• I TIMOTHY 5:8 –But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
• PROVERBS 6:6-8 – Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, ⁷ Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, ⁸ Provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.
• DEUTERONOMY 30:9 –The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers,
• 2 CORINTHIANS 9:8 – And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
• STORY OF PROPHET ELIJAH
  • 1 KINGS 17:1-7 – Now Elijah, who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!” ² Then the Lord said to Elijah, ³ “Go to the east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River. ⁴ Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to bring you food.”
  • God can use even small animals, like ravens, to provide what we need – even before we consider it or ask.
• So who and what are you depending on these days?  Turn to the one who provides ALL and He will not let you down.  Just like Elijah turned to the Lord and obeyed His commands and God provided water with a brook and bread and meat through ravens.  Everything is under His command.
• As followers of Jesus, we know where our dependence and hope come from.  It’s from the Lord, our Jehovah Jireh, provider of all. 
• PSALM 84:11 – For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory;
  No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
• PSALM 37:3-5 – Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. ⁴ Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.
• PROVERBS 3:5-10 –Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. ⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
• PROVERBS 3:5-10 – ⁸ It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones. ⁹ Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; ¹⁰ So your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.
• PSALM 23:1,5 – The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want… You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
• MATTHEW 6:26-33 – ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? ²⁸ “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

ENJOYING GOD’S ABUNDANT BLESSING

• Giving by faith is an exciting privilege! When you are a faithful and obedient steward, He showers you with blessing and turns your giving into a thrilling adventure in Christian living. The following steps can be taken to appropriate God’s abundant blessings through faithful stewardship.
• Recognize that everything you “own” actually belongs to God. (Psalm 24:1; Acts 17:28)
• Realize that it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35; Luke 6:38; 2 Corinthians 9:6-8.10,11) (Most Christians have not learned to give, either out of their abundance or poverty and therefore are not experiencing the reality of His promise of abundance. He blesses us to be a blessing – Psalm 67:1-2)
• You can never outgive God! It is an amazing law of god that His blessings back to you always exceed what you give to Him!
• Giving begins an endless circle of joy! God gives; you receive. You give; He receives. He then multiplies your gift back to you in the form of additional supply. This enables you to give more, completing the circle over and over again (2 Corinthians 9:10)
• PROVERBS 11:24-25 – There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. ²⁵ The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself.
• Don’t misunderstand the meaning of blessing. The various possibilities of God’s blessings are endless. It is not just financial blessing. God knows your true needs, and wants to do His very best work, and wants the best for you. It may be improved health and strength, a better job, wiser management of the funds you have, or contentment with what you do have so you can enjoy greater fulfillment in life, et… (Philippians 4:12,13)
• Give by faith. Take God at his Word and give generously in anticipation of His faithful provision (Philippians 4:19) Recognize that:
• God is the true source of supply. “God shall supply” (Philippians 4:19)
• Giving is based on His resources, not your own “according to His riches”.
• Christ is your link to God’s inexhaustible riches. “by Christ Jesus”.
• Realize that what you sow, you will reap. Seeds produce the kinds of plants and fruits they came from (Genesis 1:11). This is a spiritual principle, as well as a physical one. A man reaps what he sows (Galatians 6:7,8; 2 Corinthians 9)
  • This law is seen in the following basic principles:
  • To reap anything, you must first plant a seed. Whatever you give is a seed that you sow for an expected harvest.
  • To reap a bountiful harvest you must sow your best seed. God wants your best because He uses what you give as the basis of His supply. He gave His very best – His Son.. It grieves the Spirit of God when you do not give Him your best. This means that the best of your life – the best of your time, the best of your talents, should be on the altar of sacrifice to God.
  • You reap according to the amount you sow. This Biblical principle is basic to life – “if you give, you will get!…. (Luke 6:38)
• An abundant harvest springs from the most fertile soil. The choicest seed and best soil with the finest equipment and fertilizers and ground preparation and careful nurture affordable bring the best crops.  We need to seek the greatest possible return for the sake of God’s kingdom. We need to wisely invest our resources. Good stewardship of any gift is determined by how well it reflects the will of God.
• Give to glorify God! As a steward of God’s resources, you have but one purpose – to glorify Him. It is poor stewardship to invest resources that God has entrusted to you into anything that is not directly related to discipleship, evangelism, and the fulfillment of our Lord’s commands.
• Give from the heart! Good stewardship is not just knowledge or application of the principles and priorities of giving. Our motives are an essential part of it as well! Godly motives come from a cheerful, loving heart for God. We give to please God and express our love to Him. We give out of obedience to our Lord’s command to lay up treasures in heaven. We give to be a channel of God’s abundant resources to a desperately needy world. We give to help fulfill the Great Commission and help reach the world for Christ. Keeping the right motives is essential if we are to accomplish this for the glory of God.

Malachi 3:10 – Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

We serve a God who has a perfect plan and who is always faithful to those who trust in Him.

Another thing that has become very clear and real in our lives is God’s continued provision. As we follow Him, He continues to provide for us.

Our lives and our ministry are testimonies of His faithfulness and provision. 

TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!