Dedication precedes provision

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ! I welcome you to our „Daily Word for Spiritual Edification”!

During some time we have been discussing the importance of dedicating your life to God and the work of His Kingdom. Today I would like to talk about the topic that is closely connected to the issue of dedication. I would entitle it as „Dedication precedes provision”.

God is always good, and He will never change in this sense. God is always powerful. God changes His strength for my weakness. God always has blessings for every one of us. The unchanging God can change you. You can always come to God – in any situation – and He will change you and your circumstances.

All of us need provision, because we all have needs in different areas of our life: finances, health, wisdom for making decisions etc.

One of the main responsibilities of every father is to provide for his family. God is our Father and as a Father He is our Provider. But contrary to humans, God is a very trustworthy Provider. God wants and is able to provide us with everything we need. Only good and virtuous gifts come from Him.

«The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. All Your works shall praise You, O LORD, and Your saints shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, and talk of Your power, to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations. The LORD upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing. The LORD is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works» (Psalm, 145:8-17).

This Psalm speaks to us about God Who is totally worthy of our dedication. David praises God for His goodness and provision; besides, David calls us to dedicate ourselves to the ways of the Lord.

When we are dedicated to God, we find out that He provides and gives us everything we need in order to reach the goals of our life. God connects us with the right people at the right moment, and we receive answers to the questions that concern us. God gives all the necessary resources at the very moment when we truly need them.

God is merciful, good and patient, and His goodness is for all people! God is not partial. He lifts up the ones that have fallen. He fills our lives with His goodness – not according to our works, but according to His own goodness.

But how can we come to the point where we can enjoy God’s full provision? It is connected to our full dedication to God.

«The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth. He will fulfil the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them. The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy» (Psalm, 145:18-20).

God becomes a partner with us. When we do our part, He promises to do His. His part is to be our reliable Provider, and our part is to be fully dedicated to Him. If we want to experience God’s provision on a continual basis in our lives, we need to do several things that would prove our dedication to Him.

According to the Scripture above, God requires of us at least these three things:

• call upon Him,
• walk in the fear of the Lord,
• love God.

I must call upon God in all truthfulness. God fulfils the desires of those who fear Him and He hears their cries. God desires to see our full dedication expressed in these three things. Then His provision surely comes to us.

Dedication is what I must strive for; it is what needs to move me in this life. Tomorrow we will talk about it in more detail.

God bless you abundantly this day!

Pastor Rufus Ajiboye