Problems Are Your Provision!

The Bigger Your Problem, The Bigger Your Opportunity.

Only do not rebel against the Lord,

neither fear the people (giants) of the land,

for they are bread for us.

Their defense and the shadow [of protection]

is removed from over them,

 but the Lord is with us.

Fear them not. (Num 14:9)

Problems are your food source.

The challenges and difficulties you face in life, are your food source. If you don’t eat food, you will get weak and die. If you eat food, it will sustain you. Same is true with problems, challenges and adversities. They are a means of supply for you and they serve to develop your strength. If you don’t face your problems and devour them, you will grow weak and die. If not naturally, then internally.

Victory is sweet, but impossible without a problem, challenge or adversity to overcome. When problems come, REJOICE! They ALWAYS contain the solution. They ALWAYS contain your provision. They ALWAYS lead to something equal to or better than the problem itself. If you want the problem to persist, just avoid it. Don’t face it or look at it. That way, you can guarantee it will hang around and even grow bigger.

Some problems are like milk. Others like bread. Some like meat. Every problem, every challenge, every adversity coming at you, is a bundle, a package of opportunity and provision. People complain about lack. Are you kidding me? They are waste deep in problems, which means they are waste deep in opportunity. The opportunities look like problems, BECAUSE THEY ARE, and it’s in the solving of the problem, they find their food.

Cracking the problem code, makes you strong and prosperous.

The problems, challenges and adversities are in fact, the way. Quit trying to avoid problems. Look for them. Solve them and grow rich in the process. More people become millionaires by solving problems than by any other means. Be a problem solver and the world will become your oyster. (Remember, it’s that problematic grain of sand inside the oyster that produces the pearl of great price!)

Joshua and Caleb came back from scouting out the Promised Land and concluded that the giants were actually the path to provision. The cities were built. The fields plowed. The land fertile. Incredible opportunity, but it was guarded by problems, as opportunities always are.

The people were too intimidated by the problem of the giants, so they slowly died out where they were. Close enough to see the promise but too afraid to claim it. Not true of Joshua and Caleb who 40 years later, when the naysayers had died out, entered the land and took a great possession.

When David centuries later looked upon Goliath (another giant), he realized he had come upon the opportunity of a lifetime. An opportunity that promised great riches (wealth), the kings daughter in marriage (position) and tax-free living (privilege). He was so excited and confident in his viewpoint that he literally ran towards the problem giant, killed him and claimed his reward.

Jesus faced the crucifixion head on

For the joy that was set before Him, Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame and in the end, sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Time does not here permit to tell about Noah, Abraham or the patriarchs.  Every great advancement in my life came by overcoming a problem. Some of them were existential threats to my business but I knew that those threats were only going to manifest if I let them. But if I faced the problem and attacked it, the provision came to me in heaps!

This happened too many times to recount here and now, but one time I recall was when we were publishing my first book, The Bible Incorporated – In Your Life, Job & Business. We were in our 2nd print run of 25,000 books. The only way we could pay for these books was to pre-sell thousands which we had done. However, on the day of the printing, our largest customer canceled their order of 5000 books, which meant we had no way of paying for the print run. I knew it was an existential threat to our business and I knew that it must contain an equal or greater opportunity.

I just needed to see it.

I asked God for His solution and within minutes the solution became apparent. Instead of publishing 25,000 leather bound books, we would do 5,000 leather bound and 20,000 paperback. That was a novel idea to us, but the paperback version went on to become our best seller and highly profitable! The problem ALWAYS has an abundance of provision!

How do you solve problems? The short answer is to face them. See them as opportunities. The bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity. It’s a spiritual law that is beyond contestation! Ask God for His wisdom and the best strategy or response to unlock the provision contained inside the problem. He will do that. For me, that sometimes comes in that still small voice, but it often comes out of me as I begin to discuss possible solutions

Where are the problems facing you now? Go looking for the problem you can solve, especially the problems other people are facing and don’t know how to solve. You look at the path in front of you and it is strewn with problems, challenges and adversity. Rejoice! They ALL contain provision!

Quit chasing riches! Proverbs 23:4-5 says: “Do not overwork to be rich; Because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.” Instead, chase down problems. Become great at solving them. They contain your provision. You never find money in a sack at the side of the road. If you do, it belongs to someone else. You find provision joined at the hip to the problem. Chase the problem down and take the reward attached to it.

It’s your inheritance. Do it now!