The father continues to have specific purposes for each of our lives that He wants to accomplish as part of His eternal purposes for all of creation. There are many scriptures that highlight this truth for us. Jeremiah 29:11 says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” These thoughts God has for us represents His agenda for us, His plans and His purposes on our behalf, and we need to understand that all these are for our good. We can know that no matter what we ask in prayer, God’s perfect love will not and cannot give us second best. He will not give us anything contrary to His determined will, even though He is sovereign and able to grant anything, He is committed to His loving plans and purposes for us.
Our discovery of these plans and purposes is inseparably linked to intimate prayer to God, just like this passage in Jeremiah points out: “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord.”
We get a glimpse of the vastness of these thoughts God has toward us by reading David’s words is Psalm 139:17-18 “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand.” Many times, when we pray, our focus is not on understanding the Father’s purposes and activities and heart. Instead we pray for our needs to be met without considering His eternal plans, or we let God know how we want Him to make us successful.
When you pray, are you on your own agenda, or are you listening to His? When was the last time you came to God in prayer, and even before you opened your mouth there was already an absolute, unconditional submission? Let this be your heart’s desire: “Lord, whatever You say, my answer is yes, because that is the only worthy response to You.”