Prayers, Promises, And Provisions
Salmon Of Knowledge Reading Day 15
Philippians 1: 3 & 6 I thank my God every time I remember you… Being confident of their very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will carry it onto completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Promises
Prayers and promises – so much of parenthood consists of praying for your children, and holding on to promises from the Lord. I’ve written about how my mother prayed for us throughout our lives. She often claimed promises in the Bible for us in her prayers. I was thinking about both of these verses in the past week. I’ve been claiming the promise of verse six because it say God doesn’t give up on those He has begun to work on. I claim it for my children as they grow older. The seeds have been planted; the work has begun – now it’s time for the faith that God will take things from here and grow them.
Prayers
Then come the prayers that are not attached to promises – prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of hope, prayers born of sorrow or frustration. The promise I was trying to remember reminded me of Mom and the first verse I taught my children after her death. I had nothing to give them but my sorrow and my memories of her – so I taught them verse three. They sang and prayed their thankfulness for the memories they had of her. It was a beautiful testiment to what she had been doing by teaching them Bible verses as soon as they could talk.
Provisions
The reason we, as parents, rest on promises in our prayers is because we believe, with our whole hearts, that in those prayers are provisions. God will provide what He promised when we claim them in our prayers. We trust that God will honor His promises. How do we know? How can we be so sure? What if those promises were for other people and not for us?
I’ve had a lot of interesting conversations lately with my girls about the nature of God. It is true that the Bible does not address everything. There were no phones, not internet, no printing presses, no TVs, and there were very different ideas about the world. So of course Jesus didn’t say, don’t do meth. Meth wasn’t a thing. That does not mean that we don’t know that there’s a really good chance that God wouldn’t approve. How do we know? Well, all you have to do is look at the nature of Christ.
GOD Is Good… All The Time
We know God based on our understanding of who He is based on His actions. We can be confident that God maintains His nature. So much so that when we speak of our faith – it’s really a testament to Him – because we can be assured that, no matter our shortcomings, God is good. Our prayers work because He keeps His promises. His promises can be ounted upon because He is consistent. We can trust in His provisions not because of the power of our faith, but because He is who He is.
All The Time… God Is Good.
Be blessed & Keep thriving 🙂