What If We Already Have Enough? By R. Scott Rodin

Enough is Possible!

Have you caught yourself saying something like this when it comes to having enough?

• “When we finally get a bigger reserve fund… then we’ll be secure.”
• “If only we had more volunteers or better facilities… then we’d be successful.”
• “We just don’t have enough (fill in the blank) to do what God has called us to do.”

These sentences may sound familiar. They are often honest descriptions of real constraints we face in leadership. Yet underneath them lurks a deeper, more nefarious belief: God has not provided enough for us to be successful today.

That is a serious claim.

Exposing Our Assumptions

Let’s go deeper and ask three questions that test our assumptions.

• Do you believe God is the ultimate provider of all the needs of your ministry?
• Do you believe God is faithful and trustworthy?
• If so, how do you square these beliefs with those anxious statements about “not enough”?

If God is the giver of every good gift, if he knows what we need before we ask, and if he has placed us where we are for this season, then our starting point cannot be scarcity. Our starting point must be the full provision that an abundant God has given us. What does this look like?

Well, what if, instead of hoping for God’s provision somewhere out there in the future, we dared to believe that God has already supplied enough for what he is asking of us today—in every area of life and ministry? Right now.

• Such faith would focus us on what we have and not on what we believe we lack.
• Such faith would replace uncertainty with confidence, and anxiety with contentment.
• Such faith would set us free.

There are three ways this type of faith is worked out in our leadership.

Faith in Our Leadership

With such faith, we would steward what we had before asking for more.

Scripture consistently calls us to steward what he has placed in our hands with gratitude, before expecting him to multiply it.

In the story of the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew 14:18–19, Jesus stands before an overwhelming need with woefully insufficient resources to meet it. The disciples look at the meager provisions and lament, “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish.” Yet Jesus knew that whatever his Father had provided would be enough. So, he takes one of the five small loaves of bread, lifts it to heaven, looks out at the hungry masses, and does the unthinkable.

He gives thanks. Gratitude preceded abundance.

The disciples began with, “We only have…,” but Jesus began with thanksgiving. How many of us lead with the disciples’ voice?

• “We only have a small staff.”
• “We only have a rented space.”
• “We only have a handful of committed givers.”

What if God’s question back is, “Will you thank me for what I’ve already given and steward it with joy?” Faithful stewardship is not passive resignation. It is active creativity, prayerful planning, and Spirit-led work with what is actually present—not with what we wish we had.

Often, our cry for “more” masks our unwillingness to deploy what is already at hand fully. Look around you. List your assets that have been provided by the hand of an abundant and generous God. As you do, as you put the gifts God has given you into their highest use, he will delight in multiplying loaves that have first been offered back to him in gratitude.

With such faith, we would be leaders God can trust with more.

God is looking for leaders who find their complete contentment in Christ rather than in the counterfeit sources of security the world offers. Contentment is not complacency. It is settled trust in a faithful God.

Paul writes from prison—hardly a resourced ministry context—that he has “learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.” (Philippians 4:12-13) That secret culminates in the powerful claim: “I can do all things through Christ.” Paul’s confidence is not that he can do all things once he has enough money, staff, or space, but that, through Christ alone, he is strengthened. A leader whose heart is anchored in Christ can pursue a bold vision without being enslaved by a scarcity mindset and the anxiety it produces.

Discontented leaders, by contrast, often operate from fear: fear of loss, of comparison, of failure. That fear leaks into everything they do. Leading from scarcity leaves us grasping, defensive, or controlling. God may still use us, but our anxiety becomes a choke point, limiting the fullness of his plans for us.

From a heart of deep contentment, however, God can expand and grow a ministry in dynamic ways. Contentment frees us to take Spirit-led risks because we are no longer trying to prove ourselves. Instead, we are simply responding to a Lord who is already enough.

With such faith, we would be leaders set free.

A scarcity mindset puts us in bondage. We believe that freedom will come when we have more of what we lack. There is a sobering implication here: If we do not believe that what God has provided today is enough to do the work he has called us to do, then we never will.

Scarcity means there will always be something missing. As soon as one need is met, two more rush in to take its place. It is a treadmill of want and discontentment that the enemy uses against us to “kill, steal, and destroy” the abundant life Jesus promises us. (John 10:10)

If our contentment depends on ideal conditions, we will postpone it indefinitely. Scarcity thinking will become a spiritual cul-de-sac. We might dress it up as prudence,e but underneath lies unbelief: “What God has given is not enough; therefore, I cannot be content until we have more….”

The 23rd Psalm begins with a starkly different confession: “The Lord is my shepherd; I have everything I need.” David does not deny danger, enemies, or dark valleys. But he insists that with God as shepherd, he lacks nothing essential to follow and obey.

The same is true for us. In this season, with these people, in this place, God has not miscalculated. He has given exactly what is required for faithful, effective ministry today.

Is God enough?

In the end, the question is not primarily, “Has God supplied enough?” The deeper question is, “Is God enough?”

If Christ himself is our portion, our security, and our joy, then every resource becomes a sufficient gift from a loving God. We will still plan budgets, recruit leaders, and build structures—but as children of an abundant God, not as orphans scrambling for survival.

Paul’s secret of contentment leads us here: “I can do all things through Christ.” We only ever “have enough” if we have Christ and trust that he is enough. If he is with us, then whatever we have today is enough to take the next faithful step.

So perhaps we need to rewrite our earlier statements:

• “Because Christ is with us, we are already in a secure place—even as we keep working and growing.”
• “Because God is our provider, we will faithfully use the time, finances, volunteers, and facilities we have, trusting him to add what we truly need.”
• “We may plan for greater things for tomorrow, but in Christ we have everything necessary to do what God is actually calling us to do today.”

Imagine a leadership culture shaped by that conviction. Gratitude would replace grumbling. Creativity would replace complaint. Prayerful dependence would replace panic.

And in the midst of an anxious and fearful world, such contentment would be a powerful, quiet witness: a people who believe, in word and practice, that Christ really is enough.

Parts of this article include excerpts and adaptations from Dr. Rodin’s new book, “ENOUGH: Finding Deep Contentment in an Anxious and Fearful World,” available through Kingdom Life Publishing (www.kingdomlifepublishing.com) and all major bookstores.

---

R. Scott Rodin is the Senior Consultant/Chief Strategy Officer for The Focus Group. Over the past thirty-eight years, Scott Rodin has helped hundreds of organizations enhance their effectiveness in leadership, fundraising, strategic planning, and board development. His books and articles are available in over twenty languages, and he has taught and consulted with ministries across five continents. Scott also serves as a Senior Fellow of the Association of Biblical Higher Education and as board chair for ChinaSource.

---

R. Scott Rodin will be leading a session at the Outcome Conference 2026!

Set Free To Lead

Christian leaders face days and seasons of discouragement, anxiety, overwhelming stress, and even despair. It’s the enemy’s goal to keep us in this bondage and take us out of the game. Outcomes: 1) Discover how to identify the things that are keeping you in bondage accurately, 2) Recognize the transforming power of the steward approach to leadership, and 3) Apply disciplines you can take away that can help set you free to lead.

Registration rates increase on March 1, 2026.