Provider

By Benjamin Kroeske

Provider: A Journey into Faith, Abundance, and Unwavering Trust in God's Endless Provision

From the Author of 'The Glorious Church'

Many people know God as their Savior and others know Him as their Healer, but how often do we truly experience Him as our Provider? Benjamin Kroeske invites you to discover a magnificent truth hidden within the pages of God's Word. Throughout the Bible, God unveils Himself as the Provider, and His longing is to manifest this truth in your life.

For the past decade, Benjamin Kroeske has journeyed through the provident heart of God. Amidst diverse circumstances, he has borne witness to the unwavering faithfulness of a God who cares for His children with boundless love and pleasure, not only meeting their needs but also fulfilling the deepest desires of their hearts.

Drawing from the wellspring of God's Word, Kroeske uncovers profound insights into God's heart regarding provision. Time and again, he has experienced the Father's loving hand, providing abundantly for his family. Now, he's excited to share these invaluable insights and experiences with you.

Whether you're a single mother striving to provide for your family or a businessman seeking God's provision in your endeavors, "Provider" promises to deepen your understanding of the boundless love residing in God's heart for His children. This book isn't just an encouragement; it's a challenge, an igniting force for your faith, and an empowering guide to trust God for remarkable provisions.

Unlock the profound mysteries of God's provision and discover the boundless love and generosity He has reserved for you. Enter into a world of faith, abundance, and unwavering trust in God's endless provision.

About The Author
Shortly after Ben gave his life to Jesus in 2006, he moved to Tampa, Florida, to attend the Bible school connected with the ministry of Drs. Rodney and Adonica Howard-Browne. There he met his wife Jacky, and they married in 2010. After serving faithfully for six years in different facets of the ministry, Ben and Jacky felt God's call to start a church in the Netherlands: The River Amsterdam. With their daughter of almost a year, they moved to the Netherlands with a burning passion to see people have an encounter with Jesus and flourish in their God-given potential.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rise UP Publications
• Release date: Mar 5, 2024
• ISBN: 9781644577172

Benjamin Kroeske

Shortly after Ben gave his life to Jesus in 2006, he moved to Tampa, Florida, to attend the Bible school connected with the ministry of Drs. Rodney and Adonica Howard-Browne. There he met his wife Jacky, and they married in 2010. After serving faithfully for six years in different facets of the ministry, Ben and Jacky felt God's call to start a church in the Netherlands: The River Amsterdam. With their daughter of almost a year, they moved to the Netherlands with a burning passion to see people have an encounter with Jesus and flourish in their God-given potential.

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Millions of people around the world know God as their Savior, and a growing number also know Him as their Healer. How many, however, know Him from personal experience as their Provider? I believe more and more people are beginning to discover this wonderful truth from God’s Word. After all, throughout the Bible, God makes Himself known as Provider, and He wants to do the same in your own life.

Over the last ten years, I have been on a journey into God’s providing heart. In all kinds of circumstances, He has shown me that He is a faithful God who loves and cares for His children and wants to provide for everything: not only the needs of His children but also the desires of their hearts.

In recent years, I have discovered so much in God’s Word about His heart regarding provision. So many times, I have also been able to experience that, as a loving Father, He provided everything I or my family needed. All these insights and experiences have enriched my life tremendously and are so precious that I would like to share them with you.

Whether you are a single mother trying to provide for her family, a businessman who wants to see God’s provision within his business, or anything in between, this book will give you a deeper understanding of the love in God’s heart for His children and how that love expresses itself in abundant provision for all your needs. It will encourage you, make you think, and build your faith to trust God for great things.

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ON THE PLANE TO AMERICA

̈Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase..."

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

The First Step

It was July 2006, and I was enjoying my summer holiday. I was raised as a believer, but my life was a sharp contrast to what my parents had in mind for their children. Meanwhile, being twenty years old, I was the last of their sons who hadn’t made a choice for Jesus yet. Moreover, this eventual choice seemed further than ever. During my college years, I was living in a residence hall on campus. But my parents were on holiday, so I enjoyed the space of their house, including a full refrigerator and freezer, while I was working a summer job to earn some extra money to pay for my college life.

It was on that evening that I met my brother in the backyard to talk about his coming to Christ. A year before, we had been party buddies. Now, he was all about God and the Church; I didn’t understand much. In this conversation, however, one thing became tremendously clear to me: he had something I did not have. I had the things of the world and my student life; he only had Jesus. In my eyes, it looked like his life was boring. But there was something in his eyes, something on his face that I could not place. Frankly, it irritated me. Until three o’clock that night, we were talking about the things of God. Each time I fought the discussion, he only seemed to get calmer and more peaceful. I was exasperated by his calm demeanor, the smile on his face, and the sparkle in his eyes. Can’t you see that your life is boring? coursed through my mind. He seemed completely unaware of how terrible his life was. On the contrary, he had a strange compassion for my condition.

At three o’clock that morning, it was fine. We went to sleep, me to my room, he to his. As I laid my head on my pillow, still somewhat irritated, these words came out of my mouth: Lord, if you really exist, make me as happy as my brother is. As to why I prayed that, I didn’t understand at that time, but my heart cried out to God because of what I had seen in my brother’s eyes. It was not a rational, reasoned prayer; it was deep crying out to deep. As soon as those words left my mouth, the presence of God entered my room like waves of the sea. It started at the door and flooded my heart. It was wave after wave after wave of pure love—a love so undeserved, so strong, and so piercing that I could not hold back my tears. I buried my head in my pillow and began to cry out, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Again, these words came directly from my heart and not from my mind. I realized for the first time, deep inside, how loving and gracious God is, that He touched me right there in my bedroom in my parents’ house at three in the morning when I really didn’t deserve it. The only way I can describe that experience is as if God put a high-pressure hose on my heart and washed my entire insides clean.

From that night on, everything changed. I distinctly remember that in the days and weeks that followed, I lived in a kind of haze as if, for the first time, I was really living. It was as if my whole life before that encounter with God had been black-and-white television, and I was now watching HD color television. The sky was bluer, the grass was greener, the birds sang more beautifully, and everything had become vibrant. I had been born again.

Provision in the Purest Form

The reason I share this story with you is because God has provided, first and foremost, the most important thing He could ever give to humankind, which is salvation and redemption. On the cross, reconciliation between God the Father and human beings was made possible, enabling us to experience peace with God.

When Abraham was tested by God with the command to sacrifice his son, he departed immediately the next morning.

So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.

But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, My father!

And he said, Here I am, my son.

Then he said, Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.

GENESIS 22:6-8

When Abraham put his son Isaac on the altar and stretched his hand toward the knife, his heart still screamed: God will provide! The writer of Hebrews said that Abraham deliberated with himself that God was able to raise Isaac up even from the dead (Hebrews 11:18). Abraham had a heart that was trained in trust since, time and time again, he had seen the provision of God in all kinds of areas. His heart was prepped to face the greatest test of his life. Of course, we know that God did not ask this of Abraham because He wanted Isaac to be sacrificed. Rather, God wanted to raise a corner of the veil to reveal what He Himself would do with His own Son Jesus. On that day, God provided a ram, and Abraham gave that place a special name: Jehovah Jireh, which means God will provide.

Jehovah Jireh is still one of the names of God. He wants to be known as our Provider.

He first provided salvation for us all by giving Jesus as an offering for humanity. In that offering, the generous heart of God is revealed in such a manner that we never have to doubt about provision in any other area of our life.

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

ROMANS 8:32

You have already received the most costly and precious gift, the moment you received Jesus as your Savior. Silver and gold couldn’t buy us freedom from the power of sin and death. Only the precious blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, was able to do that. When God gave Him on the cross of Golgotha and shed His blood for you and me, God provided for the greatest need a man could ever have: separation from God. If God was willing to give us this most precious gift when we were still His enemies, how much more will He not give us all other things now that we are His children?

On the Plane to America

Fast forward to one year later in my life. Meanwhile, I graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration at the University of Nijmegen. Since the day of my salvation, I had made quite some radical choices and was actively serving in a local church. I even participated in several evangelistic activities, but most of the time, this led to feelings of inferiority and failure because I was ill at ease. Between studying and working, I spent a lot of time in my room with my Bible and some worship music, for I deeply longed for more of God and wanted to spend time with Him. A desire came up in my heart to put aside one year for God, and I wanted to attend a Bible school. I wanted to leave the old behind to get to know Him better and also to be empowered, to give my faith more depth and shape. I read the stories in the book of Acts and longed to have my own adventures with God, but I had no clue how to begin. And so began the search for the right Bible school. One thing