The Blank Cheque

UV 769/10,000 The Blank Cheque But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus Philippians 4 v 19 God’s riches or resources are unlimited. We share the inheritance of Jesus and that inheritance is accessed through faith in His Name. St Paul was confident that even as the early believers supported his ministry, God would meet with all their need-spiritual, physical, financial, emotional and psychological. The Lord deals with us holistically- He does not meet only one need and leave needs in other areas unattended or unsatisfied. The word “ all “ means all of our need in all areas of our lives. This uni-verse is like a blank cheque or carte blanche that is pre-signed by Christ drawn on the unfailing bank of Heaven. We need to enter what we need into this cheque and deposit it in our account. Every time we encash it, we have a new blank cheque in our hand. When the Lord is our shepherd or Jehovah Rohi, He will lead us daily to still waters to refresh us. The still waters are a metaphor for the Word that refreshes us and prepares us to face the day. These are the deeper and eternal needs of the spiritual part of our being. He will also lead us to green pastures- a metaphor for all that is needed by us to satisfy our physical, financial and social need. These are the mundane and temporal needs of our existence. Our need will be met according to His riches in glory or in accordance with the rich treasury of His promises. It is important for us to know the promises of God and to claim specific promises in different situations of need. When a need is met, it should be accompanied or preceded or followed by thanksgiving, praise and giving glory to God. We should not take it casually or for granted. We should also show our faithfulness by giving to the needy out of what the Lord gives us. We should be like Joseph a “ fruitful bough” whose branches extend beyond our walls so that the hungry and needy passing by can also pluck and eat. St Paul uses the possessive “ my God” to indicate that we need to be intimate with the Lord as a child is with his or her parents and depend on the latter for every need. We should never outgrow this dependency. We need to trust the Lord and His promises. We need to persistently pray and ask the Lord specifically that which we need. The word “ supply” implies that the Lord will meet our need not in dribs and drabs but with a generous flow. There is a sense of continuity even as the oil in the story of Elijah’s widow never ceased to fill the vessels and to flow. An element of the awesome and miraculous always accompanies God’s provision in our lives. Prateep V Philip