What is God’s will toward you? Do you know how important that question is? Do you understand that what you believe the answer to that question is has everything to do with how you perceive God? Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…”
If you didn’t believe that He loved you with a greater love than anything you could possible conceive, then you have fallen short of knowing His love toward you. His word says He loved you while you were a sinner. Romans 5:8 says, “But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Personalize this! Put your name in there. He sent Jesus when you didn’t even know if you believed in Jesus or even cared about what He did. You don’t have that kind of love toward others — you can’t even fathom it. If you don’t believe that He wants great things for you, then you have fallen short of knowing His love toward you. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”
Satan is presently “the god of this world” because of what Adam did. That means he has the right to infect and inflict havoc upon this world we live. It’s all around you, but Jesus has given back life, love, help, and protection to those who have received Him. You still live in this defiled world but you are not of it. God will help you overcome it. John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who received Jesus, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.” And, 1 John 5:4 says, “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
What you know of God and His promises to you have everything to do with your faith and how you perceive His love to you and desire to help you. It affects your prayers and your faith behind those prayers. Remember: God is pleased by faith!
In the story of Jacob, he was far from a perfect individual. He was the grandson of Abraham and grew up in a fairly dysfunctional home, and yet it was a believing home; a home where they loved God. Jacob became a family man himself but lived in a pretty dysfunctional environment working for his crooked father-in-law who was always trying to steal from him. Even so, Jacob knew God, His promises, and had faith that God would bless him despite working for a crooked family member. God honored his faith and blessed him. After 20 years, it came to a boiling point and Jacob split. He was nervous and fearful of making the move, but he did so because of his faith in God. Even with faith we often move slowly, and then sometimes only because we get pushed to a point to where we can’t stand the way things are. While Jacob is making the change in his life, he is praying to God. In his prayer you hear his faith anchored in a promise that propelled him through his entire life. He prayed, “Lord, you promised to treat me kindly and to multiply my descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.” Genesis 32:12 Jacob believed this. It was a promise made to His grandfather reaching into His life. He believed it for himself. It was in his core being. He believed it all his heart. This is what allowed him to function in a dysfunctional environment. He believed that God would bless him despite his circumstances.
Do you believe that? It has everything to do with your sincere faith and how you pray and what you expect. God’s goodness, love, and promises are the anchor of your life and soul!
Genesis 32:12 “Lord, you promised to treat me kindly and to multiply my descendants until they become as numerous as the sands along the seashore—too many to count.”
