Chapter (5) Rest Your Way Into God's Provision

Rest Your Way Into God's Provision"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery ofsight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." —Luke 4:18-19Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that yourbody] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers. —3 John 1:2, AMPJesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. —Hebrews 13:8 

JESUS' HEART REVEALED

When Jesus was in a synagogue in Nazareth, He spoke of how God sent Elijah to the widow of Zarephath, and Elisha to Naaman the Syrian. If you read these two stories in the Old Testament, you will realize that one is a miracle of provision and abundance (the widow's last bit of oil was multiplied), while the other is a miracle of healing (Naaman was cleansed of leprosy).
                      So even in the Old Testament, we see that God's desire is to amply provide for and heal people. It's not His will for anyone to suffer lack, or to perish from disease. In the New Testament, when Jesus encountered lack, He gave huge catches of fish and multiplied loaves and fish. 
                    When the sick came to Him, He always healed them.Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.Settle it in your heart and mind that He wants you healthy and provided for. Take time to read all the miracles of provision and healing in the Gospels and see Jesus' heart for you today. 

                     In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness ofsins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Ephesians 1:7-8

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved),andraised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding 

in mercy. Psalm 103:8 

FIVE-MINUTE GRACE?

                      One reason many Christians fret and worry instead of turn toGod when they face challenges is that they see His grace as limited. Just as they see their time as limited, their savings as limited and the earth's natural resources as limited, so they rationalize that God's grace must also be limited. How unfortunate it is when modern-day believers understand the word "grace" in terms of car parking charges the five-minute "grace" period before the charges apply!Beloved, when it comes to the Lord's grace, you must know that it is UNLIMITED! 
                
                    It's INFINITE! Who can fathom the depths of His immeasurable grace?That's why God doesn't want you to take just a pinch of His grace once in a while and worry the rest of the time. No, He wants you to take an ABUNDANCE of it every single day for every single situation! Don't take just "five minutes" of grace. Take an abundance of it! That's how you live at rest and reign in life! For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. —John 1:16, NASB
The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.Great is his faithfulness... Lamentations 3:22-23, NLT
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! —Matthew 7:11

 HIS GRACE NEVER CEASE

Placing a handful of tokens onto the arcade game machine that my little Jessica was completely engrossed in, I said to her, "Jessica, once the game is ending, just put in another token, alright?" She was only three years old then, but she certainly understood well enough how to keep on inserting new tokens to keep the game going. It was fun watching her enjoy the game. 
                            Her eyes would light up and her dimples would show, especially when she was winning. As her father, seeing her happy always makes me happy,so I kept watch to ensure that she had sufficient tokens to keep the game going. Once they ran low, I would rush to the counter toget a new stack of tokens.                
                             So Jessica's daddy kept supplying more tokens while she simply kept enjoying the game.Beloved, if an earthly father can do this for his daughter for a simple arcade game, how much more will our heavenly Father, who loves us and delights in seeing us blessed, do to provide for us! 
But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Genesis 6:8
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and 
I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
So let us do our best to enter that rest... Hebrews 4:11, NLT