Programs And Podcasts

When a team works as a team, they’re stronger and more effective than any of the individual players. Dr. Tony Evans explains why that’s even more true within the church and why God’s power shows up in unique ways when His people move as one.

Trusting God for our financial needs feels especially real when life gets tight. When savings shrink, markets fluctuate, or expenses rise faster than income, the pressure exposes what—or who—we truly rely on.

Long before budgets, retirement accounts, or emergency funds existed, one man stood on a mountain believing God could provide in the most impossible circumstances. His story in Genesis 22 gives us one of the most powerful names of God in all of Scripture: “The Lord Will Provide.” And it offers a blueprint for faithful stewardship today.

Trusting God’s provision rarely happens in comfort. It’s forged in seasons when resources feel thin, and the future looks uncertain.

Throughout Scripture, God’s people learn His faithfulness not at banquets, but in deserts. Not in surplus, but in scarcity. Whether wandering in the wilderness, facing famine, or standing before overwhelming odds, they discover that provision isn’t merely about resources—it’s about relationship.

God is not simply someone who provides. He is the Provider.

But biblical faith isn’t naïve optimism, nor is it passive resignation. Faith rests in God’s character, moves forward in obedience, and trusts Him with the outcome.

Genesis 22 is one of the clearest pictures of this kind of faith.

God asks Abraham to offer Isaac, his son of promise. It’s a shocking command, and we’re meant to feel its weight. Isaac is the one through whom God promised to build a nation “as numerous as the stars.” Without Isaac, the covenant appears to collapse. Yet Abraham obeys.

Before climbing the mountain, he tells his servants, “Stay here with the donkey; the boy and I will go over there and worship; then we will come back to you” (Genesis 22:5).

Notice what he says: we will come back. The author of Hebrews explains Abraham’s reasoning: “He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead” (Hebrews 11:19). Abraham trusted that God’s promise was more certain than the circumstances he could see.

And when Abraham raised the knife, God intervened—not before the climb, not halfway up the mountain, but at the exact moment when obedience and trust met. A ram was provided in Isaac’s place.

It’s there Abraham names the place: “The Lord will provide” (Genesis 22:14).

To say God provides isn’t to say He always provides in the way we expect.

It means His character is generous, attentive, and faithful. He knows our needs before we ask. He meets them according to His wisdom—not our timeline. That shifts how we think about financial provision.

Scripture commends diligence. “The hand of the diligent makes rich” (Proverbs 10:4). It warns against laziness. But diligence and provision are not the same thing. We work. God provides the harvest.

Modern financial fear often comes from trying to secure every possible outcome. We want guarantees. We want certainty. We want control. But the great enemy of faith isn’t need—it’s self-reliance.

When we believe we are our own providers, we shoulder a burden we were never designed to carry. The apostle Paul writes, “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

Notice the scale and the source: According to His riches, not ours.

When we truly believe God provides, three things begin to shift.

1. We Plan Without Panic

Wisdom plans for the future. Scripture affirms preparation and foresight. But planning becomes idolatry when it tries to eliminate dependence.

Trust allows us to budget, save, and invest without fear driving every decision. Our spreadsheets serve us—they don’t rule us.

2. We Give Witho

We’ve all seen things we’ll never forget. Maybe we saw Old Faithful in Yellowstone. Or we stood on the rim of the Grand Canyon. Or maybe it was watching our child take their first steps. But nothing on earth could have prepared these certain onlookers for the spectacle they were about to see. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, as Pastor Greg Laurie takes us to the Transfiguration of Jesus, we’ll see it left them speechless. Well, should have left them speechless – but one of them spoke anyway.

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Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years.

Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ.

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Josh and Heather Avis share the story of wanting to start a family, how they navigated infertility and discovered God’s heart for orphans. When they tentatively considered foster care and adoption, they had no idea how God would lead them to adopt 3 kids, two of whom have Down Syndrome.

Receive a copy of The Lucky Few and an audio download of "Joyfully Embracing God’s Children" for your donation of any amount!

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Fear. Worry. Pain: They can feel all-consuming. Author and speaker Amberley Neese believes that in the questions Jesus asks in the Gospels, there are answers big enough for all three--and a highway to stronger faith.

Show Notes and Resources

• Untangling Faith: Reclaiming Hope in the Questions Jesus Asked Participant Workbook
  by Amberly Neese.
• Begin the Easter story early with Resurrection Eggs. Start your family tradition now! 
• Learn more about Amberly Neese on her website amberlyneese.com

• Thanks to the Christian Standard Bible for sponsoring this episode. Learn more at CSBible.com.
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It’s safe to say we all want a great marriage. We all desire a relationship with a deep emotional, mental, and physical connection with our mate. But how do we experience that? Don’t miss the practical ways you can build a lasting relationship with your spouse.

How do you develop spiritual intimacy?

I. Spiritual intimacy with Christ is cultivated by actively believing two things:

1. Whose you are: Chosen -Colossians 1:13-22
2. Who you’ve become: Holy and loved -Colossians 2:9-15

II. Spiritual intimacy with your mate is cultivated by recognizing the supremacy Christ’s role and relationship in your marriage. -Colossians 1:15-18

III. The benefits of spiritual intimacy*

• Allows you to CONNECT at the deepest level.
• Links you with God’s PURPOSES and PLANS for you.
• Allows you to BLESS each other with God’s love.
• Brings your deepest values and desires into agreement.
• Opens the door to the deepest levels of COMMUNICATION.
• Empowers your marriage to SURVIVE.
• Connects you to a SUPPORTIVE body of fellow believers.

*Divorce Proof Your Marriage by Gary and Barbara Rosberg, pgs. 254-256.

IV. How to develop your personal spiritual intimacy**

• ASK God for it. -Col. 1:1-9
• BEWARE of counterfeits. -Col. 2:8-10
• GUARD your thought life. -Col. 3:1-4
• KILL spiritual competitors. -Col. 3:5-7
• SATURATE your life in God’s Word. -Col. 3:16

**Marriage that Works by Chip Ingram, specific help and practical steps for men and women; chapter 9 for men and chapter 11 for women.

V. Removing barriers and building bridges for spiritual intimacy

• There is no one right way to develop spiritual intimacy
• Pray together
• Worship together
• Share what you’re learning

Broadcast Resource

• Download MP3
• Message Notes

Additional Resource Mentions

• I Choose Love Book
• "Divorce Proof Your Marriage" Book by Gary and Barbara Rosberg

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I don't know if you're like me, but have you ever wondered where children learn all the psychology they seem to know? They use it pretty effectively to get their way. Oh, we adults have to take courses in child psychology. They don't take courses in adult psychology, but they do pretty well. Kids learn very early how to maneuver, and motivate, and manipulate to get what they want. They use division. You know, like divide and conquer. Kind of get Mom and Dad played against each other. They use guilt sometimes to do it; sometimes, they even use, yeah, deception.

Now, I've traveled a lot in my lifetime, and my wife had to be especially alert for one particular tactic as the kids were growing up. They'd say, "Oh, we're going to do such and such." And she'd say, "Well, who said you could?" "Daddy." Of course I wasn't there, no verification possible. So maybe Mom might be fooled if you said it just right, unless I called, until I got home. Then kids learn an important life lesson, "Don't put your Father's name on something he does not approve of."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Father Never Said You Could."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Samuel 15. I'm going to begin reading at verse 10. Understand that King Saul has been asked to lead the Jews in the eradication of a cancer called the Amalekites, and to destroy not only their armies and their leadership, but also all of the loot that might be taken so there would be no trace left of the poison that they had become.

Well, the Bible says, "Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, 'I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he's turned away from Me and has not carried out my instructions.' Samuel was troubled and he cried out to the Lord all night." Well, then we read in verse 13, "When Samuel reached him, Saul said, 'The Lord bless you. I have carried out the Lord's instruction.'"

He had not. "But Samuel said, 'What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of the cattle that I hear?' 'Oh, but I did obey the Lord' Saul said. 'I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder. The best was devoted to God in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God.'"

Well, that just doesn't work. God isn't fooled! You notice here, though, that he tries to make something rebellious into something religious. He's talking about the Lord all the time, but he's disobeying Him. Saul is trying a child's trick to justify something wrong: putting your Father's name on what you're doing. That happens a lot. You can justify almost anything by saying, "The Lord led me."

I talked to a man who divorced his wife not too long ago to marry a relative of his, of hers really. And he said, "Well, Ron, the Bible says love is of God, and I love this woman. So it must be right." Come on, it's bad enough to break God's law. Don't put God's name on it. Don't try to put a spiritual makeup job on leaving your husband or wife when God says, "I hate divorce." Don't rationalize materialism by saying, "Well, I want to make more so I can give more to the Lord's work." Don't make a decision to do what you want to do, and then dignify it by calling it "the Lord's will." Don't try to dress up undisciplined living by calling it, "following the Spirit's moving." That's taking God's name in vain.

We Bible folks have this way of dressing up sin rather than dealing with it. Saul learned that it doesn't work to put spiritual names on sin and religious words on rebellion. Oh, my kids learned not to put their Father's name on something that their Father didn't approve of. God's kids need to learn that about their Father.

Don't dress up a sinful choice in God-words. Your Father never said you could do what you're doing.