Dear Friends,
At the first of the year, I told you that I heard the Holy Spirit say, The year 2023 will be filled with divine surprises, divine provision, and divine revelation for those who will receive it.
Because the Holy Spirit spoke that word to my heart, I felt impressed to write to you in January about how to receive divine revelation. Then last month, I continued to write to you about how to prepare your heart to receive whatever kind of divine surprises God wants to surprise you with in 2023. Today, I am writing to you about divine provision and what role you play in receiving it. I believe you will be so encouraged by what you read!
But before I move to the subject of divine provision, I first want to thank you for how God has used YOU to provide for this ministry. I often say that a car with no fuel can’t go anywhere — and, similarly, a ministry can be a good ministry, but if there is no “financial fuel” in the tank, it can’t get the ministry to the people who need it. But you are among our God-called partners who put fuel into this ministry’s tank so we can get the life-changing teaching of God’s Word to people who need it. And for this, Denise and I, our family, and our team want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
At this moment, we are stretching our faith to do all that Jesus has asked us to do. This is His ministry, and we are obeying His orders, so we trust Him to give us all the resources we need to do what He has given us to do. But because you are part of His divine supply to fulfill this vision, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to you!
But today I want to talk to you about how God wishes to surprise YOU with divine provision. Let’s begin with an amazing and miraculous account of divine provision to demonstrate that God knows how to get provision to His children right on time!
The Magi Show Up Exactly on Time!
The Bible tells us that God spoke to Joseph in a dream and told him to take Mary and Jesus and to flee to Egypt to escape Herod’s murderous plot of the Christ child. Egypt was one of the most luxurious nations on the earth at that time, and as a foreigner, Joseph would have had no legal right to work there. And because the holy family would be in “flight” the whole time they were there in order to avoid Herod’s spies, Joseph wouldn’t have had the opportunity to work. Living in Egypt would have been so expensive, requiring a massive amount of money to live there, especially for a foreigner and his family. And because the family wouldn’t be able to live in a single place for very long during that period, but would rather be on the move, they would need a lot of money for travel, food, housing, and protection along the way.
But God knew all this in advance, and He supernaturally orchestrated the arrival of the Magi just in time to deliver the financial resources needed to meet His own Son’s needs while the holy family was in flight in Egypt. God arranged for the Magi to show up to provide the surprising resources the holy family would need for their time in that country.
Matthew 2:11 says, “And when they [the Magi] were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”
How wonderful is the timing of God, who supernaturally orchestrated events so the resources that would be needed would show up at the very moment He was going to instruct Joseph to take his family and flee into the expensive land of Egypt.
This makes me think of God’s promise in Philippians 4:19, in which the apostle Paul wrote, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Before we go further, we must first consider what this famous verse really means.
In Greek, the word “supply” means to make full, to fill completely, or to be filled to the point of satisfaction and overflowing. It is the very word used to describe any kind of container filled and packed to the point of overflowing. The use of this word emphatically means God wants to meet our needs so fully that they will be satisfied to the point of overflowing.
This brings us to the next word in this verse. How many needs does God want to meet? In Philippians 4:19, Paul wrote that He will meet “all” of them. In the original language, this is an all-encompassing word that leaves nothing out and means whatever the need is, God intends to meet it.
But what kind of “need” was Paul referring to in this verse? The answer is found in the Greek text. The word translated “need,” or “needs,” depicts any deficit or any need that must be met. Thus, whatever deficit we may be experiencing, God wants to meet it — in fact, He sees it as a need that must be met!
The word “riches” pictures a wealth so great that it cannot be tabulated. The word “riches” in this verse pictures abundant, extreme, vast riches, opulence, and wealth. The use of this word tells us that God wants to extravagantly meet the needs of His people.
The following is my interpretation of this amazing verse.
Renner Interpretive Version (RIV) of Philippians 4:19
But my God will supply your needs so completely that He will eliminate all your deficiencies. He will meet all your physical and tangible needs until you are so full that you have no more capacity to hold anything else. He will supply all your needs until you are totally filled, packed full, and overflowing to the point of bursting at the seams and spilling over.
The truth is that God’s people need to upgrade what they think about God meeting their needs. He does not want to give enough for you only to skimp along in life, but He wants to surprise you by lavishly meeting all your needs until they are totally filled, packed full, and overflowing to the point of bursting at the seams and spilling over.
This kind of need-meeting is demonstrated in the way God extravagantly met the needs of Jesus and His parents for their long trip into Egypt. The holy family experienced the reality of Philippians 4:19. And God will do this for anyone who is willing to obey what He tells him to do — and that includes you.
A Coin in a Fish’s Mouth!
But here’s another astonishing and surprising way that God manifested supernatural provision in the Bible. I’m thinking of one occasion in which Jesus and one of His disciples needed money to pay taxes, and God provided their need in an amazing way. In Matthew 17:24-27, we read:
And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers?
Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee.
God supernaturally provided a need in this moment with a coin in the mouth of a fish! In verse 27, Jesus told Peter that if he would go retrieve a fish from the water and open its mouth, he would find “a piece of money” in it for him to use to pay taxes.
In Greek, the words “a piece of money” is the word a four-drachma coin, which was equal to approximately four days of wages at that time. That was the equivalent of nearly a week’s worth of salary in the mouth of a fish!
Peter could have said, “Lord, You must be kidding. No one finds money in the mouth of a fish!” But if Peter would do what Jesus told him to do, the Lord had a surprising provision waiting for him on the other side of his obedience. But again, it required Peter’s willingness to do as Jesus instructed him.
Over the years, Denise and I have learned that if we will listen to the Lord and follow His instructions carefully, He can — and He will — provide for us in ways that our minds cannot fathom. In fact, when He speaks and tells us what to do, our minds may be tempted to argue with Him at times — but if we’ll just obey Him, He has provision waiting for us in places we would have never expected. The same is true for you too. In fact, I am sure that much of what you need right now will be discovered when you obey the Lord’s explicit directions to you!
I told you that today I wanted to talk to you about how God wishes to surprise YOU with divine provision. And I also want to tell you that God is absolutely faithful. He has no shortage of whatever is needed to meet your needs. Just as He provided for the holy family with a surprising provision, and just as He supplied a coin in the mouth of a fish, God has exactly what you need, and He is waiting to lavishly meet your needs right now.
If you need someone to pray with you about a need you are facing, please reach out to us! We will pray and release our faith together with you for God to miraculously move and surprise you with divine provision to meet every need in your life, whatever that need may be. Just give us a call or send us an email or a letter, and I promise that we will genuinely release our faith for God to move mightily in your life! And please…remember to pray for us too!
We love you and truly thank God for you!
Rick and Denise Renner
Along with Paul, Philip, and Joel Renner and our ministry team
Testimony From RENNER MINISTRIES!
From time to time, we share testimonies we receive at the ministry in Moscow to inspire your faith and to encourage you that your support is touching and changing lives. Whether it’s the multitudes via television and the Internet or the few on the streets or even at a church altar, God is enabling us to “make disciples and teach all nations” in every region of the world!
Thank you for your prayerful support and your kind words! Today I can hardly imagine my deep state of depression. But there was a time I felt dejected, sad, grieved, hurt, and crying endless tears for years. At times, I felt like closing my eyes and never opening them again. But I thank God for you — now I have a great desire to live and to never go back to living in that terrible state. I have already begun working on my mental health, and I believe that with God, everything is possible and that He can turn what was a very bad state of mind into good! THANK YOU for praying for me! May God bless you all!
Oksana