Word of the Week - Provider

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:19

This is a wonderful truth that is sometimes hard to fully grasp.  I will never forget how impacted I was when I actually received this truth about 18 years ago.  As a husband and father with a young family, I was very determined to do whatever I needed to do to be a good provider for my family.  As a business owner and entrepreneur earlier in my career, I had experienced a very painful business venture that took lots of energy and resources but did not provide the expected returns.  Even worse, it almost destroyed me, my marriage and family because I was so determined to “make it happen”.  This was a life lesson that helped me understand the principal of trusting God as my Provider.  In 2003 when I had the opportunity to start “Founders”, I was both excited and apprehensive based on my prior experience.  Through fervent prayer, godly counsel and discernment the Lord revealed to me the depth and truth of His role as my “Provider” and I “Got It”.  I understood the concept of stewardship and provision and embarked on my new venture with an entirely different perspective and posture.  This time around things were different, even though my name was on the Articles of Incorporation, I understood that God truly owned the business. It is really a pretty simple principal; since God is our Creator and Sustainer, He is the Provider of all things.  Why would we think it is different when it comes to our vocational pursuits to make income and Provide for our families?  Just like most biblical truth, it is really a wonderful and freeing to understand that we are not God and thus don’t have the power to control what happens in our day to day vocational endeavors.  Don’t get me wrong, this is not a free pass for flippant living or being irresponsible; we do play a major role in influencing what happens and must take responsibility for our work; we will be held accountable for how we use what God has given us (time, resources, talents etc), but at the end of the day, we are not God and thus we don’t control the outcome.  We are simply imperfect human vessels who are given the opportunity and privilege to steward our families, businesses, ministries, relationships, for a period of time while we here are on this earth.  Our role is simply to align ourselves with the Lord in an abiding relationship, Trust Him in all things and give our very best effort.  The outcome is not up to us but up to the Lord. “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6  But I truly believe that divine order brings blessing as noted a few verses later in Proverbs 3:9-10 “Honor the Lord with our wealth, with the firstfruits of your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine” Our work is to sow the seed and tend the garden but only God can make it grow and produce the harvest.  This is up to the Lord, which is why we are so dependent upon Him.  That is why I love the serenity prayer and have it hanging on the wall in our conference room at Founders, it reminds us that God really is our Provider and He is sovereign:  “Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”.Just over 40 days until Easter!!!!   Have a great week enjoying relationship with Jesus our Provider.-Duane