God's Intention

Have you ever prayed for God’s provision? Has he answered? If so, he has declared his intention of being your Jehovah Jireh, your provider. He is the God who never changes, unlike mankind. As we move onto maturity in our prayers, we should do so in the confidence of his intentions.

Following Jesus’ rebuke in Matthew 16, the disciples remember at last. Among the chaos, the drama, and the ‘wow’ of the moment, they captured in their heart the ‘why’. We see no evidence that they ever asked about or worried about provision again.

So how does this view tally with the fact that Jesus instructs us to ask for our daily bread and commends the persistent widow for her repeated prayer? It is good to continually ask God for our provision, but there should be a development in how we ask, a greater understanding of the nature of the giver. Our conversations should progress from asking for physical provision with hints of ‘if it be your will’, to growing confidence and prayer in faith in the assurance of knowing God’s intentions. The effectiveness of a prayer girded by the understanding of past requests and answers is greatly increased over one full of doubt, tossed about by life’s latest storm. There are times on our journey where God calls us to persist in prayer to discover more, but if we do so on matters that are already established, where his intention is already declared, then we are stuck. We are called higher when we remember the ‘why’.

The lessons we learn from answered prayer should not only center us on God but also free us from earthly concerns in the knowledge that he has it in hand. We then have a choice. We can depend on heavenly bailouts and focusing our relationship with him around need. Or we can remember our answered prayer in detail, the facts, the context, and, critically, the spiritual meaning – take to heart the ‘why’ Jesus has intervened in our lives – and use that building block of faith and fly higher, confident in God’s provision. Each story we remember not only has within it a power to release us to great heights, but it also carries an eternal divine principle that acts as a catalyst for the miracle to happen again.

Ideas for Reflection 

1. Consider an issue that you seem to be repeatedly praying for. 

2. Is there a time where God has answered a prayer of this nature in the past?  If so, review it – what does this tell you about his intentions towards you? 

3. Search the Scriptures to see his will on the matter. 

4. Believing that God’s intentions to you do not change, bring this issue to him again, but this time thank him for what he has done for you personally, declare his intentions through his Scripture, and let faith and assurance of his purposes for you and others build.