Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. ~Philippians 4:6 (NLT)
Have you ever thought God’s good plan for you had been thwarted? Have you ever wondered what great force is holding back the answers to the prayers you have prayed, the petitions you have brought to God time and time again? Doubts which lead to anxiety tend to play way too big of a role in our minds and more often than not doubt will cause us to lose focus on what we should be doing in the “meantime”. You know, that time between when we pray and when we get the answer. One definition of “meantime” is an interval between events. The Lord tells us to come to Him with our needs and then thank Him for all He has done. We need to be thanking God for all He has already done between the prayer and the answer, not looking at our circumstances, which opens the door for the enemy to bring doubt and anxiety into our hearts. Have you ever felt anxiety waiting on the Lord? When God tells us to be anxious for nothing it is because He knows anxiety causes sickness! When we are sick in spirit or when our heart is sick, it opens us up to the temptation to doubt in God’s goodness and promises. God wants us to have faith. He wants us to have confidence in Him and His promises. He tells us not to cast away our confidence which holds a great reward. Scripture teaches us in Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.” (NLT) But how do we get that confidence and assurance that our prayers are being heard and will be answered? We look at what the Lord has already done!
Many of us have been told to count our blessings since we could tie our shoes. We see it on plaques and banners and coffee cups and it’s a wonderful reminder but far too often the cares of this world get in the way of incorporating one of the most important instruments of our faith into our daily life: thanking God for all He has done! When was the last time you actually sat down and made a list of all the blessings in your life? Thanksgiving and praise are not silent exercises. Could you imagine if your spouse or parent or coach thought in their heart you deserved to be praised but never expressed it to you? How about if your boss had thought you were doing a wonderful job, but never told you? That would be terrible. Could you imagine spending your life never telling someone what a blessing they were to you? We should be thanking and praising God daily for all the blessings He has poured into our lives. If we would spend more of our time pressing in and looking for anything and everything we should be thankful for it would build more of the bold faith we need to overcome the doubts that the enemy is hurling our way every day! God’s awesome plan for our lives cannot be thwarted. We just need to trust in His timing and be thankful in the meantime. When doubts or anxieties arise in your mind today, just remind yourself that the Lord is watching over everything that concerns you and that He has heard your prayers!
Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is His ear too deaf to hear you call. ~Isaiah 59:1 (NLT)
What have you prayed for today? What have you set your heart to do in the meantime?
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