Provision part 5
God not only provides for us, He is our provision. He not only gives us what we need, but also the desires of our heart. Because, when we truly understand the heart, and that the heart is only ever concerned with love, we understand that He IS the desire of our heart. If there is a God-shaped, love-shaped void inside of you, only one thing can fill that void. God. Love. The God who IS love. So instead of looking for love in all the wrong places, we ought to go straight to the source. Come boldly to the throne of grace to find help in times of need. We all need help. We all need grace. We all need mercy and forgiveness. So instead of trying to earn something that can't be earned, doesn't it make more sense to receive the gift we've been given? To fight the good fight of faith by laying hold of the gift we've already been given? Not trying to get something, but using our faith to know and believe that we already have what we need! When Jesus went to the cross and defeated sin and death He won the war to end all wars. Which means there are no more wars that need to be fought. Which means we can rest. The battle is over, and the battle is won. We don't have to try to get anything. We don't have to try to earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. Jesus sweated great drops of blood in order to reedem us from that cursed dimension. To bring us out of labor and works (which don't work) and into the glorious Kingdom of His rest. That's why Hebrews 4:3 says, "For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world." Enter into rest. Which does NOT mean WORK yourself into rest. The word "enter" there literally means "come into." And how do we come into the rest of the finished work? Not by trying to finish the work. It is already finished. We enter into that rest by knowing and believing that it IS finished! We don't have to finish it. Jesus did that. He cried out on the cross, "It is finished!" Done deal. What needed to happen... happened. And now we can enjoy the fruit of HIS labor (the fruit of the Spirit, which is love) and we can rest in HIS loving arms! Jesus' arms were spread wide on the cross. He wrapped us up in His loving embrace. Gave us everything we could need. Fulfilled the desire of our hearts. For God so loved the world He GAVE His only begotten Son to us. Why? Because He loves us and wanted us to have Him. To be able to experience Jesus's abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love by letting Jesus live His own abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love in us, and through us, and as us. See, the best part about God's provision for us is that He didn't just give us His life and say, "There you go. Good luck." He gave us His life and He LIVES His life in us, and through us, and as us. So that we get the full experience. So that we can have everything our heavenly Father wants us to have. Everything He has given us. He did it all for us, and all for love. He provided for us. Provided HIMSELF for us. So that we would always have everything we need. And, when we start to figure it out, everything we could ever want. In fact, He gives us abundantly MORE than we could ever ask or even think. As good as we think God is... we're not even close. Not even scratching the surface of His love. It's better, and deeper, and more powerful than we could ever imagine. And, one more time, it's not something we need. It's something we have. He has already provided it to us and for us!