Empty Pockets Meet an Infinite Provider
Tony Evans
4 min read ⭑
For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you (Luke 12:30-31).
God isn’t just a heavenly father. He’s a good heavenly Father, one who delights in providing everything his children need as they seek him first.
Not everyone has had a good experience with their earthly dads, so understanding this concept may be difficult. Jesus often spoke about God as a caring father, referring to positive and excellent paternal qualities. And while God is supremely God — omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent — he is also Daddy. He is a relational God who desires to be close to you and me. He has all the attributes of a good father: kindness, love, care, provision, empathy and more.
For example, a good father pursues the well-being and development of his children, providing all that is needed to launch them successfully into adulthood. A good father would never leave his children in a situation where they would be left to fend for themselves. He would not abandon his children in need. Good fathers will often do this even at great personal sacrifice. God, as our good Father, does this as well. And more.
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God loves to unleash his power through his presence and provision, but how we live plays a role in how he does this. This principle is so simple but often overlooked. Pursuing God as the priority in our lives should be the guiding tenet in all we do. Instead of making decisions that support our goals and agenda, we should make decisions that support God’s kingdom agenda. Once we learn to reorient ourselves to prioritizing God over self, culture and relationships, we will unleash his power in our lives.
If you choose to abandon God’s kingdom program to allow the culture, secular society, your friends or even your own thoughts and desires to become your priority, you cannot expect God’s favor, his power or his divine provision. Just like a good father would not enable his children to continue in drug abuse or supply their addictive habits either financially or with the substance itself, God will not enable you in your pursuit of anything other than him. Because he has given you free will, he will allow you to live a life marked by idolatry, but he will not supernaturally supply you with all you need if you continue down that path.
God desires to give you peace, calm, provision and all that you need. But he has made it clear what is required of you in order to access these things. He requires your obedience, your alignment and your seeking his kingdom above all.
I’ll never forget when I was in seminary and barely making enough money while working part-time to support my family. Things had gotten so tight financially that I talked with Lois about dropping out of seminary. We had three small kids at the time, and the money just wasn’t stretching far enough to cover our bills.
“Seeking God’s kingdom first is the key to unleashing God’s kingdom in your life.”
Lois and I decided to pray and ask God for his provision. We needed $500 to make it through the end of the month. If we didn’t get $500 in the next few days, I would need to drop out and get a job that would make an extra $500 quickly. In fact, I told Lois that if we didn’t get the $500 by the end of the day, I would drop out of seminary and get a full-time job until I was able to go back to seminary, possibly the next semester.
When I went to class that day, I stopped by the campus mailboxes to pick up my mail. When I opened the mailbox, I pulled out an envelope with five crisp $100 bills in it. There was no name or note. It wasn’t until years later that the person who had given me the money told me that God had put it on his heart to give me exactly $500 that day. That gift kept me in seminary. The Holy Spirit provided by inspiring someone to meet our family’s need at a critical time.
It’s God’s good pleasure to give us the kingdom when we pursue him first. Putting God first means living according to his values. As a father and a husband, I knew that God’s values were to care for the needs of my family first. If I could not do that and attend seminary at the same time, then I knew which one I had to relinquish. When God saw that I was willing to relinquish my pursuit of a degree so that I could take care of the needs of my family, he stepped in and supplied.
Seeking God’s kingdom first is the key to unleashing God’s kingdom in your life. And it is one of the most powerful ways we can experience him as our good Father.
Dr. Tony Evans is the founding pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative, former chaplain of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks & the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys, and author of over 125 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a Doctor of Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. His radio program, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, broadcasts to millions of active listeners on hundreds of radio stations and digital outlets nationwide and around the world.
Taken from “Unleashed: Releasing God’s Glorious Kingdom in and Through You” by Tony Evans. Copyright © 2025. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson.
