Bible Study
This is Part 5 of the study series; The Road to Financial Sufficiency In Christ. Here we answer the question; ‘Did Jesus Really Have Any Needs? If yes, how did He meet Them?
How Jesus Met Needs (A)
The road to financial sufficiency in Christ begins with the realization that we have been delivered from poverty. We are delivered from poverty and we have the Blessing. The blessing of Abraham became ours as we joined the family of God by making Jesus Lord and Master of our lives. We are heirs of the Father, joint heirs with Jesus Christ, and so all that the Father has belongs to us. The Name of Jesus unlocks every inheritance we have in the Father to us (Galatians 3:13-14, Romans 8:17, Psalm 24:1-2, John 16:23).
Question: Did Jesus have any needs? That’s an interesting question wouldn’t you say? Jesus was God’s Son, the firstborn among us all, so did He have needs?
Below I share 4 ways we see Jesus meet needs from the gospels. These may not be the only approaches Jesus adopted to meeting needs however 3 of these 4 ways came readily to my mind, the 4th was an addition…
I think that as joint heirs with Jesus (our perfect example), we can learn something from how Jesus met needs during his life and ministry.
1. He Called forth His Need (Matthew 21:1-17)
Jesus needed a donkey for His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, He knew exactly where to find it and He called for the donkey…
“saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.” Matthew 21:2-3,6-7 NIV
Have you heard about calling forth your needs? This is the teaching that we can call forth whatever we need. It is premised on the believe that God, the creator and owner of all things, delegated authority and dominion to man at the beginning. Man however lost control of all God handed over to him when he ceded authority to the devil. However, Jesus retrieved authority from the devil and handed it over to His followers. So now, Christians can call forth whatever they need by receiving that need in their spirit in faith, and sending out ministering angels to go fetch their needs.
I have read testimonies of believers consistently meeting their needs this way.
In Matthew 21, we see that Jesus knew exactly where the donkey He needed was LOCATED . He DEMANDED for the donkey. And then, Jesus SENT His disciples to go fetch the donkey.
God knows the exact location of the answer to your needs and when you make a demand by calling forth what you need, ministering angels will not miss their way either to fetch your needs or to deliver it to you through men. Amen!!!
2. He Sent Peter Back to His Trade/Profession (Matthew 17: 22-27)
Tax collectors came to Jesus and His disciples in Capernaum. They wanted to bother Jesus about paying or not paying tax. Jesus avoided any form of dispute or confrontation, instead He instructed Peter as to how to go about paying tax for both of them….
“But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”’ Matthew 17:27
Sorry if this is not your preferred use of this portion of scripture, still we see Jesus instructing a professional fisherman Peter, to go meet a need using his fishing skills. Notice again that Jesus knew exactly where Peter would find the coin they needed to settle their tax…
One of the ways we activate and engage the blessing is through the WORKS of our hands. We discussed this at length when we considered how God progressively increased, expanded and enlarged Abraham’s territory and possession by the BLESSING working through the works of his hands.
Apostle Paul was not averse to receiving donations from those he ministered to (Philippians 4:8). However in 2 Thessalonians 3, we see Paul making a strong case for Christians avoiding being a burden to others by WORKING to meet their needs.
“Brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ we tell you to stay away from any believer who refuses to work. People who refuse to work are not following the teaching that we gave them. You yourselves know that you should live like we do. We were not lazy when we were with you. We never accepted food from anyone without paying for it. We WORKED and WORKED so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We WORKED night and day. We had the right to ask you to help us. But we WORKED to take care of ourselves so that we would be an example for you to follow. When we were with you, we gave you this rule: “Whoever will not work should not be allowed to eat.” 2 Thessalonians 3:6-10 ERV
Again we see Paul stating clearly in Acts 20, that he refused to be a burden to anyone by choosing to work.
“When I was with you, I never wanted anyone’s money or fine clothes. You know that I always WORKED to take care of my own needs and the needs of the people who were with me. I always showed you that you should WORK just as I did and help people who are weak. I taught you to remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘You will have a greater blessing when you give than when you receive.” Acts 20:33-35 ERV.
I recognize that these sayings of Paul may arouse some questions for people in ministry whether they should work or not work. Well, that is not the focus here and so I’ll pass that one…..?. Suffice to say however that ministry is work! Point here is that the great Apostle Paul WORKED and WORKED to meet not just His needs but also the needs of those who supported his ministry.
Child of God, whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it well, the blessing acts on your works to increase you.
Now, I want to point out Jesus’s words that Paul quoted in Acts 20:35…
“I always showed you that you should work just as I did and help people who are weak. I taught you to remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘You Will Have a Greater BLESSING When you GIVE than when you receive.”
Acts 20:35 ERV
Where in the scriptures did Jesus make this statement? … I didn’t find these exact words spoken by Jesus in any of the 4 gospels. I do believe though that Apostle Paul wouldn’t quote it verbatim if Jesus didn’t say it. So this probably falls under John 21:25. But let’s see what Jesus said in Luke 6:38…
“give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.“
Luke 6:38 KJV
Please join me next time as we answer one of the questions that informed this study in my 3rd point;….. ‘Is giving the way to financial sufficiency for a Christian?’
Remember you can access previous parts of this study as follows;
I covered 9 key subtopics on biblical financial management in this series. You can start with the part that interests you most,
Part 1: The Road To Financial Sufficiency In Christ: Introduction
Part 2:The Purpose of Money from The Bible
Part 3 : We Have Been Delivered from Poverty.
Part 4: Benefits of Being An Heir of the Father.
Blessings & Love Always…
