Learning to be Content

God wants us to learn how to face life with joy and confidence. To do this we must learn to be content in all the circumstances of our life. In this lesson we are going to learn a great truth that can change our life.
What is this truth? It is this:
God and what God provides for us is all that we need.
1)God the Provider

The Bible teaches that the sovereign God of the universe loves us and has promised to provide all the things that we really need. He has not promised to give us all our "wants," but He has promised to meet our needs. The Apostle Paul said,
Philippians 4: 19. "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

God is able to provide for us because He is infinitely rich and powerful. He owns everything in the universe, and He is able to use His resources to meet our needs. But God is not only able to provide for us; He is also willing to provide for us. He loves us deeply, and He wants to give us the best that life has to offer.
God is a loving and generous Father who wants to provide for all of our needs. If we will trust Him and obey Him, He will take care of us.
2)God supplies our material needs.
In Matthew chapter six, the Lord Jesus tells us not to be anxious about our material needs, such as food, clothing, and other necessities of life. Jesus said,
Matthew 6: 25. "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?"
Matthew 6: 32. "(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
These are just a few examples of the many verses in the Bible that promise that God will provide for our needs. He knows what we need, and he loves us and wants to take care of us.
Of course, this does not mean that we will never experience financial hardship or other material difficulties. But it does mean that we can trust God to provide for us, even in the midst of difficult times. He may provide for our needs in ways that we do not expect, but he is faithful to his promises.
If you are struggling with your material needs, I encourage you to turn to God in prayer. Ask him for his provision and his help. Trust that he loves you and cares for you, and that he will provide for you according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
3)God supplies our deepest inner needs.
God supplies our need for significance and security. He has made us members of Christ's body, and every member of the body of Christ is important. He has "accepted us in the Beloved." He loves us unconditionally. God says to us,
Jeremiah 31: 3. "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee."

God loves us unconditionally. He loves us perfectly and completely, even when we make mistakes or fall short of his expectations. The Bible says
John 3: 16. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
God accepts us just as we are weather your fat or thin, tall or short, matangos o pango. He doesn't need us to change our outward appearance or perform good deeds in order to earn his love. The Bible says,
Romans 5: 1-5
"1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4. And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Romans 5: 5. And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."
God has a purpose for each of our lives. He created us uniquely and in his image, and he has a plan for how we can use our gifts and talents to make a difference in the community. The Bible says,
Ephesians 2: 10. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

God gives our lives meaning. When we know and love God, and when we are living in accordance with his purpose for our lives, we can experience true meaning and fulfillment. The Bible says,
John 10: 10. "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
God is the only one who can truly satisfy your need for love, acceptance, purpose, and meaning. Ask him to fill you with his love and to show you his purpose for your life. Trust that he is faithful to his promises and that he will meet your deepest inner needs.
4) God supplies our spiritual needs.

In Christ, God has given us everything we need for our spiritual life. The Bible says,
Ephesians 1: 3. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:"
God supplies our spiritual needs. He is the source of all life and goodness, and he has created us with a spiritual need that only he can satisfy.
God forgives our sins when we repent and turn to him. He cleanses us from all unrighteousness and makes us new creatures in Christ Jesus. The Bible says,
1 John 1: 9. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
God gives us peace in the midst of trials and tribulations. His peace is not like the world's peace, which is fleeting and temporary. God's peace is deep and abiding, and it transcends all understanding. The Bible says,
Philippians 4: 6. "Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
God gives us joy that is not dependent on our circumstances. His joy is a deep and abiding joy that comes from knowing and loving him. The Bible says,
Nehemiah 8: 10. "Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

God gives us hope for the future. He promises us that he will one day make all things new, others say there is no forever but in Christ we will live with Him forever
Romans 8: 38. "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
5)God freely gives us all things.
In giving us His Son, God has given us the greatest gift of all. Since He has given us the greatest gift, His Son, we can be sure that He will give us whatever else we may need. The Bible says,
Romans 8: 32. "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"
It is wonderful to know that we have a heavenly Father who has taken upon Himself the responsibility of meeting all our needs. A.W. Tozer said,
"With the goodness of God to desire our highest welfare, the wisdom of God to plan it, and the power of God to achieve it, what do we lack? Surely we are the most favored of all creatures."
(A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy)
Satan the Tempter
Although God has provided for all our needs, we must not forget that we have an enemy who hates us and wants to destroy us. The Bible says,
1 Peter 5: 8. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"

We need to understand how Satan tempts us. Most, if not all, of Satan's temptations have to do with putting wrong thoughts into our mind. Satan puts thoughts like these into our mind: for example he will say"God has not provided all you need. You need something other than God and what He has provided for you." This was exactly the way Satan tempted the first man and woman.
Adam and Eve were created by God and placed in a beautiful garden which God Himself had planted for them. In the Garden of Eden was every tree that was pleasant to the sight and good for food. Adam and Eve had a work to do for God—they took care of the garden God had planted. They were loved and accepted by God. They had daily fellowship with Him. They had a perfect environment.
Picture a circle and let it represent the world God provided for Adam and Eve. In the world that was theirs, Adam and Eve had everything they needed. If they had needed anything else, God surely would have provided it. Adam and Eve could truly say, "God and what God has provided for us is all we need."
We might wonder how Satan could tempt someone who was living in a perfect environment, but Satan's temptation to Eve was very simple. He suggested to Eve that she and her husband needed something other than what God had provided for them. Satan wanted Eve to think, "God is holding back from us something that is good."
Eve accepted Satan's lie. It became a belief in her mind and she acted on it. She ate the forbidden fruit. She gave some to her husband and he also ate it. Their disobedience brought sin and death into the world, along with all the sorrow, misery, and heartache that results from sin.
How Satan Tempts Us
Again, let each of us picture a circle and let it represent the circumstances that God has arranged for us. Inside the circle that is ours, God has provided all that we really need.
Things are not perfect in our little "circle," nor will they ever be in this life. We live in a world that is under the curse of sin. Therefore we will face many trials and troubles. God has not promised us an easy time in this life, nor has He promised to give us everything we want. But He has promised to meet our needs and to be with us always. I can truly say, "God and what God provides for me is all I need."
Satan, our great enemy, will seek to deceive us as he deceived Adam and Eve. He will seek to put wrong thoughts into our minds.
Satan will point to something outside of our "circle," at ano ang sasabihin nya, "You need this. In fact, you cannot be happy unless you have it."
The Danger of Accepting Wrong Thoughts
We may not be able to keep Satan from suggesting a wrong thought to us, but we can refuse to accept it.
To see the danger of accepting wrong thoughts, we need to be reminded of this truth: We are controlled by the way we inwardly see and believe things to be. What we believe determines what we do and what we feel.
If we accept a wrong thought, it becomes a wrong belief, and wrong beliefs lead to wrong actions and wrong feelings. These wrong feelings usually lead to inner problems.
Handling our Inner Problems
Christians, as well as unsaved people, have inner problems such as resentment, fear, worry, guilt, and feelings of rejection. To overcome these problems, we must discover what causes them and how to deal with them.
At the root of most inner problems is the wrong belief that we need something other than God and what God has provided for us.
Let us consider some common problems and see the wrong thinking that is involved in each of them.

Resentment
Resentment comes when we believe that what God has provided for us is not best. We may resent something about ourselves. We may resent our parents for the way they they discipline you or some member of our family. We may resent our circumstances. We may even resent God.
The solution to this problem is believing that God and what He gives us is what we need. We may not understand our situation, but we must not be offended by what the Lord does or does not do. Jesus said,
Matthew 11: 6." And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me."
Fear
When I am fearful, it means that I am not trusting God to take care of me. God knows our hearts and He knows the tendency we have toward fear. Hundreds of times in the Bible, He says to us, "Fear not."
The reason we are not to fear is that God Himself is with us. God says,
Isaiah 41: 10. "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."
Worry
We worry or become anxious because we do not believe that God will take care of us or meet our needs.
Worry has a destructive effect on us. It is also a sin against God. Worry is sinful because it doubts God's love, it doubts God's wisdom, and it doubts God's power. David learned the cure for worry. He said,
Psalm 23: 1. "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want."
Guilt
Guilt is that feeling of condemnation that we have when we think about our sins. Constantly remembering our sins can cause us great distress.
At the root of this problem is our failure to realize and count on the fact that God has provided absolute forgiveness for us. He has provided a Savior—the perfect Savior, Jesus Christ.
The Bible says,
Acts 13: 38. "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39. And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."
God has told us that, in Christ we are forgiven of every sin past present and future. When we continue to condemn ourselves for our sins, we are not believing God. The Bible says,
Romans 8: 1. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Feelings of rejection
Sometimes our interest in a particular person grows until we feel that we must have that person's love in order to be happy. Yet the person does not seem to care for us. As a consequence, we feel rejected and hurt, and maybe even angry.
At the root of the problem is the belief that I must have that particular person's love to meet my need. This is a wrong belief. God has promised to meet all my needs. The fact that He has not provided me with that person's love means that I do not really need it. I may feel that I need that person's love, and I may be grieved and hurt because I do not have it. But I must come back to this great truth: God and what God provides for me is all I need.
It is not wrong to love someone and to be grieved when that person does not respond to your love. But you must never assume that you must have that person's love to meet your need.
Actually, Christ, and only Christ, can fully satisfy our heart. No human being can do this. If we seek from people what can be found only in Christ, we will be disappointed. The love of Christ alone can fully satisfy our heart.
While each of these inner problems is different, all have the same root. The root cause in each case is the wrong belief that we need some thing other than God and what God has provided for us. In each case, the remedy is to come back to this great truth: God and what God provides for me is all I need.
The Secret of Contentment
The Apostle Paul did not have an easy life. He suffered much persecution. He was poor and often in distress. He had physical problems from which he got no relief I believe that the apostle Paul’s thorn in the flesh is that he suffered from gout. He was in prison much of the time. Yet with all of this, Paul was a contented Christian. Paul said,
Philippians 4: 11. "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."
Whether he had much or little whether he was out of prison or in prison, whether he was abounding or in distress, Paul had learned to be content. He had learned that God and what God provided for him was all he needed. Paul said.
Philippians 4: 12. "I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need."
What is the secret of contentment? The secret of contentment is believing that God and what God has provided for me is all I need. It is learning to be content in whatever "circle" God has provided for me.
God says that we are to live without covetousness. To "covet" means to strongly desire something that belongs to someone else. We are commanded not to be covetous, but rather to be content with the things we have. The Bible says,
Hebrews 13: 5. "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
In this verse, God tells us why we are to be content. We are to be content because

(1) We have the Lord Himself living in us,
The Bible explicitly says that God lives in us.
For example, 1 Corinthians 3:16 says,  1 Corinthians 3: 16. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"
And 2 Corinthians 6:16 says,
2 Corinthians 6: 16. "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."
When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity, and He makes His home in our hearts. The apostle Paul says that the Holy Spirit is “the earnest of our inheritance meaning"the guarantee of our inheritance" (Ephesians 1:14).
And 1 John 4:13 says,
1 John 4: 13. "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit."
The presence of the Holy Spirit in us empowers us to live a holy life. He guides us, comforts us, and gives us strength to resist temptation. He also helps us to grow in our relationship with God.
So, what does it mean to have the Lord Himself living in us? It means that we are never alone. God is always with us, guiding us, loving us, and empowering us to live a holy life.
(2) We have the things that He has provided for us.
God has provided for us in many ways, both physical and spiritual. Here are some specific examples:
Physical needs: God provides us with food, clothing, shelter, and other essential necessities. He also gives us the ability to work and provide for ourselves and our families.
Spiritual needs: God provides us with His Word, the Bible, which is a source of wisdom, guidance, and comfort. He also gives us the Holy Spirit, who lives in us and empowers us to live a holy life.
Relationships: God has given us the gift of relationships with other people, including our family and friends. These relationships can provide us with love, support, and encouragement.
Opportunities: God gives us opportunities to use our gifts and talents to serve Him and others. He also gives us opportunities to learn and grow, both personally and spiritually.

Here are some specific examples of how you might be experiencing God's provision in your life today:

 * You have a job that provides for your financial needs.
* You have a home that provides you with shelter and security.
* You have a family and friends who love and support you.
* You are involved and a member of IBBC ministry.
* You are experiencing personal growth and spiritual development.
When we take the time to reflect on all the ways that God has provided for us, we can see that He is truly a loving and generous God. He wants to give us everything we need to live a happy and fulfilling life.
That is all you need
Written by one of our brother in Chrsit, 

Aldwin Pablo