“For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me (as a vital necessity) and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13, AMP
“For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me (as a vital necessity) and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13, AMP
There was a time when my husband and I were asking God to bless us with twins…okay…I know what some of you are thinking, but it was our hearts desire at that time. We diligently prayed for a double blessing, but our ultrasound made it clear that there was only one heartbeat within my womb. And although we were thankful for one healthy heartbeat, I will admit that for forty-eight hours, my husband and I moped around our home in disappointment due to what we considered “unanswered prayer.” Another time that comes to mind is with past boyfriends (a.k.a. “potential love interests”). I remember praying that a few of them would fall in love with me and choose me to be their wife – all the while – my prayers were lovingly answered with a “no” because God had good plans for my final outcome.
You see, my husband is the perfect one for me and the same is true concerning my daughter, although twins are a huge blessing, God knew what we could handle and once again we thank God for His way of answering our prayers. God knew the desire of our heart to marry and have a family and He answered us with His plans for welfare and peace, to give us hope in our final outcome.
The scripture above tells us that God always hears our prayers and heeds each one. With some of our prayers requests He answers us with a “yes” (and boy do we love it when this happens!!), there are also times as in my examples above when God lovingly answers us with a “no” in order that our future outcome will be good, and other times He answers us with “wait.” Just recently I thought God answered “no” to a request of mine, only to find out a few months later that I needed to “wait” so that He could make a good situation even better! Bottom, line, we can rest in that fact that God knows about our personal situation and He has good plans for our life.
How many times have we pouted and complained to God for not answering our prayers, when He was simply answering it His way out of His great love for us? God knows all things and He is the One who knows what we can handle. It comes down to knowing God’s will for our life and trusting that He has good plans for us. Our amazing God longs to bless us, heal us, restore us and prosper us. We are promised in Isaiah 5:11 that when we pray God’s Word it will never return back void.
Prayer:
“Lord, thank you for always hearing my prayers. I declare that You have good plans for me. Your plans are full of hope for my final outcome and I align myself up with Your Word today. I give you everything heavy on my heart and I ask that Your perfect will be done. As I seek and inquire of You this day, I will rest in that fact that You gave your life to heal, restore and bless me. I grab onto the Word of God and declare that it will not return back void, but will prosper in the thing for which You sent it (Isaiah 55:11). Amen.”
That is true. I have to admit, I to have pouted a bit when a prayer was not answered. However, God knows what is best for our lives. Now, I have learned to trust in HIM for everything even when HE says No. My pastor just finished a series called “When God Says No.” It was so good.
Stephanie,
I wish I understood this revelation years ago – it would have helped me embrace his “no” much better. Understanding God’s love for us when He says “No” out of His love for us is a powerful truth!! I am so thankful that we can trust God to work all things out for our good:) I love the title of your Pastor’s series, “When God Says No.” Sure miss you my friend!!!