The milk of righteousness is what gives us strong, healthy teeth and bones. So we can eat the meat of the Word, and so that we can stand firm in who we are and what we have. That's why the milk is for babes: It gives us our foundation. Because you HAVE to start with your identity. "I am the righteousness of God in Christ." Everything else flows from that truth. We aren't sinners trying not to sin. Those who are born of God CANNOT sin. The battle is not supposed to be, "to sin or not to sin." The good fight of faith is laying hold of eternal life. Believing that what GOD says about us is true. And what God says about us is, "You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." What God says--with every beat of His heart in our chests--is, "I love you, I love you, I love you and I can't stop loving you." Stumbling doesn't disqualify you from being loved. Nothing--NOTHING--can separate us from the love of God. If love has conditions, it isn't love. But when we see ourselves as anything less than (one more time) the righteousness of God in Christ, that's when we start to disqualify OURSELVES. We start to listen to the world. And the world screams at us at the top of its lungs saying the opposite of what God says. "You're not good enough. Never have been." But then the world SEEMS to offer us a way out. Like that serpent hissing in Eve's ear. "If you eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil... you'll be like God." That's the lie that the world offers: You're not good enough, but if you do this, that, and the other... eventually you ca make yourself good enough. But, again, that's a LIE. God made you in His image. He lovingly created you just the way He wanted you to be. That old religious saying, "God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way," to me, is false. God DOES love you just the way you are. But what He wants is for you to KNOW the way you REALLY are. He wants to reveal your true self to you by revealing Jesus to you. By revealing LOVE to you. And in you. And through you. And as you. Which is why I mentioned the other day that milk goes great with cookies. Because no matter how seasoned we are... no matter how long we've been walking this Way... sometimes we need a nice cold glass of righteousness. NOT self-righteousness, which Isaiah likens to filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), but TRUE righteousness. Holiness. And just as I've been saying the most righteous thing (perhaps the ONLY righteous thing) you can do is love somebody... the most holy thing (perhaps the only holy thing) you can do... is love somebody. Its all about love. Forgiveness is love. Mercy is love. Grace is love. It's all love. So when we love one another, that's when we let what's (really) inside come out. And I say "really" because what you BELIEVE is inside WILL come out. Even though it may or may not really be in there. You're not a sinner trying not to sin. You WERE a sinner and then, on the cross, you got saved by grace. Which made you something different. A saint. That's who you are. You are--for the last time today--the righteousness of God in Christ. And if you ever start to forget that, get you a glass of milk. Drink it in, man. Its refreshing. It'll strengthen that foundation, and keep what is built on that foundation strong. That's what milk does--it strengthens us. So when you start to lose sight of who you are, get yourself back to basics. Let God define YOU, instead of you trying to define HIM. Let the love that's really inside come out!

Drinking milk helps your bones grow, so you can stand tall. This is important in light of Ephesians 4:14, "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive." And notice that we've been talking about how milk is good for you... when you're a child. Its what you need to start out with. The revelation of righteousness should be what we feed new believers a steady diet of. That's the foundation. That's where it starts. We need to know who we are, so we can stop trying to be someone we're not. Let me say it this way: when you know the truth, you can ignore the lie. When you're standing on the Rock you will not be shaken. But in order to stand tall... you have to stand FOR something. Because if you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. And I emphasize "for" because I see folks, especially religious folk, who are against everything and anything. "What do you believe in?" "Well, we don't believe in this, that, and the other." Ok. But what DO you believe in? Those things that we talked about yesterday, the things that are true, and pure, and good. Those are the things to believe in. Righteousness, peace, joy, grace, forgiveness... love. Those are the things to stand for. To stand on. To believe in. To fill yourself with... and overflow with. Because those are the things we've already been filled with. That's what righteousness is. I think I said this before, but I'll keep saying it: There is nothing more righteous than loving someone. Letting God love you and loving the people you come into contact with. Receiving and releasing God's love. Receiving it by releasing it. Releasing it by receiving it. And watch this, because I never really hear this verse preached, but I love it: "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 1:24). We think the whole journey is getting ourselves up from where we've fallen. But its not. The truth is, we don't have to stumble. We don't have to fall. We can let God--let LOVE--hold us up. And when God--LOVE--is holding you up, nothing can drag you down. When your bones are strong, from all the milk you've drank, you can stand tall. Stand firm. You won't be carried about with every wind of doctrine. You won't let the things going on around you get into you. You'll be able to ignore what people say, if they're saying anything other than the truth. And, as we just saw, God is able to present you faultless. Remember now, we are complete in Him. We don't need to pull ourselves up by our boot straps and improve ourselves until God can finally love us. God always has and always will love us. And when we didn't know it, He showed us. He gave us His only begotten Son. He gave us His life. His Spirit. His love. He gave us Himself. And it all starts with that milk of righteousness. Drinking until you're full of it. Because righteousness isn't just something you have. The righteousness of God in Christ is who you are! That's where--and how--you can make a stand. Standing FOR things. Standing for love. Standing IN love. Knowing who you are, and being who you are. No matter what anybody else says!

Strong healthy teeth and bones, right? Bones help you stand tall, and teeth help you eat. Let's look at eating today. Because once you get those strong teeth--that foundation of righteousness... that you ARE the righteousness of God in Christ--that's when you can move onto something more substantial. The verse we looked at yesterday, Hebrews 5:13, "For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe," almost seems like it has a negative slant. Look at it in the NLT, "For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn't know how to do what is right." But while some of the Bible seems to be written as letters scolding people, you know that's not my heart. I see this as a starting place. Of course you can't live on milk. "But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). You can't live on bread ALONE. Jesus is the bread and the wine, right? Communion? But the Bible speaks of living water. The Bible speaks of eating a lamb (Passover). You need a balanced diet, if I can say it that way, because you are what you eat. So its not a bad thing to use milk. Like I said, it goes great with cookies. Or cereal, for that matter. There's nutritional value there. But you can always go deeper. I've found that the deeper you go, the deeper you can go. Because when you start with that strong foundation, you can build something magnificent. Jesus was a carpenter, right? A builder? So don't despise small beginnings, I guess I'm trying to say. Don't feel bad if you're at the point in your life where you're focusing on the basics. Probably more often than I'd like I need to recalibrate things in my own life and "get back to basics." Because its easy to get off track. To get caught up in things. Like Jesus asked Peter when Peter was walking on the water, and started to drown because he shifted his attention to the things going on around him, "...“Faint-heart, what got into you?”" (Matthew 14:31 MSG). We let stuff get into us, instead of letting what's inside us come out. We are so concerned with what's going on around us, or what we think we need (but think we haven't got) that we lose sight of what's really important. We lose sight of what's good for us. Look at Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things." What you magnify is what manifests in your life. What you feed is what will grow. Again, you are what you eat. So if you want to be able to mature in the things of God--and I say "things" but really its just the one thing: LOVE--you need to start somewhere. You need to start with the milk that is the righteousness of God. Because there's nothing more righteous than loving people. That's the whole point of the whole thing: Loving others with the love that God loves us with. Receiving and releasing His love. So drink it in, man. Let what's inside come out by knowing and believing its in there. By filling yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with!

Milk. Does a body good. Strong healthy teeth and bones. Helps you stand. Helps you eat. Goes great with cookies. But what are we talking about, in a Spiritual sense? Look at Hebrews 5:13, "For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe." There's a connection between milk and righteousness. Which, by the way, is what babies need. Natural babies need milk in the natural. Spiritual babies (and by this I mean people who are young in the faith, not big babies that throw temper tantrums at any and every opportunity) need the word of righteousness. In order to BE who we really are, we need to KNOW who we really are. Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God. So when we stop telling people what's wrong with them, and start telling people what's right with them... that's when they can stop trying to be someone they're not, and start being who they are! And who they (we) are, is the righteousness of God in Christ. That's the Word that young, inexperienced "Christians" need to hear. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). That's what the cross was--we were made in the image of God, but on the cross we were conformed to the image of His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Jesus became sin and died so that sin could die. So that you (and me) who were dead in your (and my) trespasses and sins could die. So that we could be born again as a new creature. So that we could be free from all of stuff that dragged us down and held us back. So that we could walk in newness of Christ. Let me say it another way: If you were a sinner... and then you were saved by grace... you're not a sinner anymore. You're a saint. You're the righteousness of God in Christ. You live in Him because He lives in you. But that's such a radical mind shift--from the carnal mind to the mind of Christ--taht we come into it like babies. Knowing nothing. Needing milk to sustain us. Taking baby steps in order to learn how to walk in that newness of life. And when you're learning how to walk... sometimes you stumble and fall. That's ok. I've found that in this life you almost always have to do it wrong before you can do it right. Again--that's called learning. Learning how to love by learning how God loves us. What I'm trying to say is... its ok to be unskilful in the word of righteousness, when you're a babe. Its ok to learn and grown in grace and maturity. Just don't disqualify yourself if you mess up. If you think about being "perfect" in the sense of never messing up... then nobody's perfect. But if you think of "perfect" in the sense of complete... well... "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power" (Colossians 2:10). We are who we need to be. Now we just need to UNDERSTAND who we are. Who we are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in us. And that revelation comes from drinking the milk. It comes from getting rid of preconceived notions of who we were, or who we're "supposed" to be. It comes from Jesus (God in the flesh, love in a body... God in YOUR flesh, love in YOUR body) revealing Himself to us, and in us, and through us, and as us!

Let me see if I can make this make sense. Genesis 1:26 says, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." I think that's important. Because this whole idea that we have of, "God loves you just the way you are... but He loves you too much to leave you that way," I think that idea messes people up big time. It makes it feel like we are less than. Leaves us in a position where we think we need to do something in order to be something. Like, "God would love me if I could just do this and stop doing this." The tree of knowledge of good and evil, right? If I get enough knowledge about what's "right" and "wrong" then I can do good, not do evil, and earn what I'm looking for. Earn that thing that I think I'm missing. And we spend (waste) our three T's (time, talent, treasure) trying to earn something that can't be earned. Trying to get something we've already got by being someone we're not. When, in truth, God made us in His image. He made us exactly who--and how--we needed to be. Like I said yesterday, we can live IN the Promised Land (the land that flows with milk and honey, righteousness and revelation) because we ARE the Promised Land. And the land that was promised (Spiritually), was delivered on the cross. Look at Romans 8:29, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." In the beginning we were made in God's image. But we didn't know what He looked like, so we didn't know what WE looked like. But then, on the cross, we were CONFORMED to the image of God's beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Jesus came to show us what God looks like. To show us what WE look like. What we REALLY look like. Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. That's who we really are. That's our true identity. And when we embrace who we really are--by knowing it and believing it--that's when what's inside can flow out. If you're seeking in order to try to find, or get, something that you think you haven't got... then you're robbing yourself of experiencing and enjoying what you have got. But if you know what you have... if you know who you are... that's when you can give what you've got. And, by the way, giving it away--sharing it--is how you experience and enjoy it! So this Promised Land that we're still waiting for (or worse yet, trying to earn) is not only something we already have... its who we already are. Who we've always been. We just didn't know it. Until Jesus revealed Himself to us, and in us, and through us, and as us. Until we were conformed to HIS image. Until we stopped trying to earn a gift that can't be earned, and simply began to receive it and release it. Receive it BY releasing it. Release it by receiving it. Filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. Living out of our abundance. Letting what's inside flow out of us. I'm IN the Promised Land because I AM the Promised Land. God lives in His people. We live in Him. Love lives in us, and we can live in love!

Once you understand that the land that flows with milk and honey (righteousness and revelation) was promised to us... and we already have it, because the promise was fulfilled on the cross... you can stop seeking in order to find something that you haven't got, and you can start seeking to understand what you have got. You can stop trying to earn something that can't be earned, and you can start receiving and releasing. Receiving by releasing. Releasing by receiving. Because the land flows. And that's so important. Look at John 7:38, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." I like it even better in the Amplified Bible, "He who believes in Me [who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me] as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow [continuously] springs and rivers of living water." And, look, I'm not trying to mix my metaphors here. I'm just showing where things flow from. From the heart. Our innermost being. What's inside come out. Naturally. When you know and believe its in there. See, rest is not inactivity. Rest is Holy Spirit directed activity. And the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth that leads and guides us into all truth. The Holy Spirit only ever directs us to do one thing: Love each other. Because the Holy Spirit testifies of our true identity by testifying of Jesus. He tells us who we really are so that we can stop trying to be someone we're not. And when it comes to love I don't think you can really "fake it 'til you make it." You can't effort your way into loving someone (even though, like I always say, love is the maximum effort that you can give someone). True love doesn't come from a place of force. Either you forcing it to happen, or you trying to force someone to do something. That's not love. Love is effortless. Most of the time it happens without you even noticing that you're doing something special. Other people might notice it as special: "I can't believe you did that for them!" Well... I love them. So it was no big deal. Going the extra mile. Giving everything you have and everything you are. Laying your life down for your friends. That's not hard. It flows. Because it comes from a place of HAVING something, not NEEDING something. You aren't trying to GET something, you're simply GIVING what you've got. Sharing it. And in that way experiencing it. So stop trying to "get" to the Promised Land. Stop trying to "make" milk and honey manifest. Jesus set the table for us, and Jesus stands at the door (of our hearts) and knocks. All we have to do is answer the door. Let Him in--in the same sense that we let the mind of Christ that's already in us BE in us, because He already lives in us. We simply need to acknowledge this. Know it and believe it. Let Him live THROUGH us. As us. Let what's inside come out. The living water flows from our innermost being. We have everything we need. Its not about getting it in, its about letting it out. Its already in there. The promise has been fulfilled. The days of heaven on earth are availabe to us. Now. Here. On earth. We can live in the Kingdom because we ARE the Kingdom. We can live in the Promised Land (and I think this is where I'm going to finish this Rant series tomorrow) because we ARE the Promised Land!

God promised us (Spiritually speaking) a land flowing with milk and honey. Righteousness and revelation. The revelation that we are the righteousness of God in Christ. And we took that to mean, "I need to do this, this, and this in order to get what's coming to me." Which is so twisted. If someone promises to give you something... then its on THEM to give it to you. You don't have to make it happen (Captain). A gift can't be earned. And, yes, God did lead the people of Israel around in the desert (in part) to prepare them. To make sure they were ready to occupy the land. That's even why He cautioned them to take it a step at a time. A little at a time. Here a little, there a little. Because sometimes we're so gung-ho to go we get in over our heads. We take on too much. And then we end up spreading ourselves too thin and not really accomplishing much of anything. Slow and steady wins the race, right? But what I want to talk about today is the idea of seeking. But not seeking in the sense of trying to find something you don't have. We're not--or at least we shouldn't be--trying to fill a void. We should be seeking in the sense of exploring what we do have. Not filling a void, but seeking to understand what FILLED that void. Because the void we feel is God-shaped. Love-shaped. And the only thing that can fill a God-shaped void... is God. The only thing that can fill a love-shaped void... is love. So let's look at Matthew 6:33 with this understanding: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." See, we treat this as, "I gotta find the Kingdom. If I can just find what I'm looking for I'll be alright." But I think I said this yesterday: We are IN the Kingdom... and we ARE the Kingdom. Seek the Kingdom of God--the Kingdom of love--that's within you. Stop looking everywhere else and look within. Find that righteousness, not in works and labor to try to earn something, but in random (or not so random) acts of kindness that flow from the abundance of the heart. And then, once you understand who you are and what you've got--when you understand that God made good on His promise over 2,000 years ago--you will be able to let "all these things," the natural basics like somewhere to eat and somewhere to live, be added unto you. Because Jesus didn't say "add them unto yourself." He said, "shall be added unto you." Your heavenly Father is your provider, and your provision. He has everything we need because He IS everything we need. Have you ever heard of, like, old people who have been together for their whole lives... one will die and then the other will die shortly after? Because what we need more than anything else--more than food, or drink, or shelter, or what--is love. And when its gone... we're gone. So focus on what is the most important first. Get it settled in your mind (the mind of Christ) and your heart that the promise of a land where you can rest... has been fulfilled. You are who you need to be and you have what you need to have. Stop seeking as if to find... and start seeking to understand. You don't need to do anything. God did it all. So you could get it all. And now we have it all. So we can start giving away what we've got. The land FLOWS with milk and honey. We can let go and let God... and we can let what's inside flow out of us! We can give love away, but only when we know that we have it. We have it. So start giving it away!

God came down to us so that He could bring us up to Himself. That's called reconciliation. Not demanding that someone, somehow, improve themselves enough to get up to where you're at, but rather bringing them to where you're at. Basically, I'm trying to say God promised us that land that flows with milk and honey (righteousness and revelation) and then He gave it to us. That's what the cross was: God, or Jesus (God in the flesh) doing all the heavy lifting in order to make sure we got what He had promised us. That's why, after laying His life down... Jesus took it back up. He gave it to us, but He is the One who lives it in us, and through us, and as us. Because nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. So in order for us to experience it, He gave it to us... and lives it in us. The promise wasn't, "I have a land for you... good luck finding it, and settling it, and living in it." The promise was, "I have a land for you. And I am giving it to you. Settling it for you. And living it in through you." Because, believe it or not, WE are the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is the realm where the King rules and reigns, right? Well... that's us. We live IN the Kingdom... and we ARE the Kingdom. We feast on the milk and honey... and we ARE the milk and honey. The revelation of Jesus is that we are the righteousness of God in Christ. That we are in Him because He is in us. That we live in Him because He lives in us. That we live in LOVE because LOVE lives in us. And love is unconditional. If its conditional, its not love. You can't earn love. Love is freely given. All of this nonsense where we put obligations on people, and try to manipulate and control them and call it "love"... no. Not even close. Not at all. Because, if you notice, this Promised Land FLOWS with milk and honey. Its not us making an effort (even though love IS maximum effort, giving everything you have and everything you are) to get anything from anybody. Its simply what we have been filled with overflowing out of us as we fill ourselves to overflowing with it. Learning how to love one another as we learn how our heavenly Father loves us. Learning who we are by learning who Jesus is--by letting Him reveal Himself to us, and in us, and through us. (Do you see a repetitive pattern here?) The promise is not out in our future. Its not about some glad morning when Jesus comes back to destroy the world and save a chosen few. The world is our inheritance. So... why would God destroy it? We are kings and priests equipped and empowered to rule and reign on this earth. Right now. By letting Jesus rule and reign (one more time) in us, and through us, and as us. The promise is not, "I'm going to give you something someday." The promise is, "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand" (John 3:35). HATH given. Past tense. We already have it. We already ARE it. So what we need to do, and I think this is going to be tomorrow's Rant, is seek the Kingdom. Not to get what we've already got, but to explore what we've already got. To understand what we've already got. To experience what we've already got. God did promise it. And then, on the cross, He made good on His promise. We don't have to wait for anything. We can receive and release what we've been given. We can share it, and in that way fully experience it. And its so good that you WANT to share it. You WANT to give it away. I promise!

I think I want to really slow down and look at this idea of the Promised Land. You know, the one described (first) in Exodus 3:8, "And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto a place of the Canaanites, and Hittites, and Amorites, and the Perizziets, and the Hivites, and Jebusites." The land of milk and honey. Milk being righteousness and honey being revelation. That's what God promised us: Righteousness and revelation. And, really, its the revelation that we ARE the righteousness of God in Christ. But, like I said, I want to really slow down and examine each other those in depth. So for this Rant series I want to focus on the "promised" part of the Promised Land. And in the next couple of Rant serieses (if that's a word), we'll look at what that land flows with. Good? Good. Ok. So, first things first I want to really hit home the truth that God came down to deliver us. And, of course, when I say "us" its with the understanding that this actually happened to the actual people that were slaves in Egypt, but also happened to us in a Spiritual sense as people who were slaves to sin and death. Romans 15:4, right? "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, and that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it, right? We can learn from what happened in the natural, and understand it in the Spiritual. And the point I really wanted to make today is about God coming down to bring us up. We seem to have this idea that God is waiting for us to clean up our acts so He can do something with us. Bless us, or use us, or something. When, really, I think God is just waiting for us to do what He has already equipped and empowered us to do. He came down to where the people of Israel were at. He didn't wait for them to get themselves out of slavery. He brought them UP out of slavery. "God helps those who help themselves." Hmm. I mean, He probably does. But I think I heard it best when a preacher said, "When you work God will rest. And when you rest God will work." I think its more accurate to say that God cares more about AVAILABILITY than ability. If you're willing, He's able. And He's not above getting down and dirty. Didn't Jesus get down on hands and knees and wash His disciples' feet? He meets us right were we're at and gives us exactly what we need. He comes down to us. And He brings us up. He elevates us. When we try to do it ourselves we end up worse off. But James 4:10 says, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." Matthew 23:12 says it like this, "And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." And, remember, being humble (or meek) doesn't mean thinking less of yourself. It simply means thinking of yourself less. When you understand that God came down to bring you up... that He promised to give you the land that flows with milk and honey and you didn't have to do anything (except receive it) to have it... that's when you can stop trying to be someone you're not in order to get something you think you haven't got. That's when you can be still and know that HE is God. You can have faith that if He promised to give it to you... He's as good as His word. He gave it. We have it!

I don't remember what we were going to eat, but someone asked Logan if he wanted some. And he said, "I don't like it. Learned that the hard way!" Which was his way of saying he'd tried it. Which is all I, as a parent, expect him to do. I'm not one of those "eat three bites or else" types of parents. And probably because, if you know me, I don't eat things I don't like. I don't like green stuff (except Mt. Dew) so when I get a burger, or whatever, I get it plain with ketchup. Maybe cheese and bacon if that's on the menu. But I digress. The point is, I "encourage" Logan to try it. And if he doesn't like it... right on. Like my mom always says, "If you don't like what I cooked, there's peanut butter and jelly!" (And Logan doesn't like peanut butter either, but that's not the point.) The point is, you don't know if you'll like it or not unless you try it. Unless you taste it and see. Give it a chance. What was that cereal commercial? "Hey, Mikey! He likes it!" Something like that. But, unfortunately, we are species of settlers. Its amazing to me what people will put up with. I'm here to tell you, having nothing IS better than having the wrong thing. But while we long for something better, we don't seem to believe we deserve anything but the worst. The grass seems greener, but its not available to us (we think). So we just keep chewing the cud. Staying right where we are. Doing things to numb the pain. Escapism. Killing ourselves to make a living (which is insane, in my opinion). Especially when there is so much more available to us. I threw this verse out on my FaceBook the other day I want to use it to close down this Rant series: "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). And I like it even better in the NLT, "And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus." A couple of things to notice. First of all, Paul wasn't even talking about HIS needs. He was encouraging others. He wasn't saying, "I'll be ok. God's got my back." Trying to pump himself up or anything like that. He was pumping others up. With that first hand knowlege that God HAD (and still did, or does, if you follow me) his back. He did it for me, He surely will do it for you. Paul had tasted it and seen it. And so Paul was ready, willing, and able to share it. He was a witness to what had already happened. What was available. And that's the other part. "Which HAVE BEEN given to us in Christ Jesus." Already given to us. Nothing we can earn, because it is what we already have. And, unfortuately, we seem to have to get to rock bottom before we're willing to give something radically new (and love IS radical, by the way) a try. But that's my heart. Give it a try. Taste it and see. If its not for you... ok. At least you tried it. Learned that the hard way! But learned it nevertheless. And, since we're talking about God's love... the desire of our hearts... the thing we all NEED in order to truly live... I don't think its going out on a limb to say, "Try it... you'll like it." Go ahead. Put it to the test. Its available to us. Jesus set the table. All we need to do is open the door (of our heart) and let Him in so we can sup together. Share a meal together. Share His LOVE together!