Advice From Others

I can plan events pretty fast
But I need others to execute my plan
So, what looks like will work perfectly for me
May not work at all for those whose help I need

In the days when I lacked maturity
I would ignore advice from others
As I’d think I had all bases covered
Only to find out later that my plan was full of blunders

Sometimes God doesn’t talk to us directly
Sometimes for guidance, there is no specific scripture to read
He gives us protection through the advice from others
It’s up to us to take and digest their advice
And not to think we are always right.

 

Insight
Proverbs 19:20 says Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. When planning events or making decisions that will impact others, it’s good to run the plans by someone(s). Perhaps you left out an important detail, or perhaps what you are planning may not be the best thing to do at this time. In any event, God puts people in our lives for guidance and instruction. Even if you are a smart person or good at what you do, don’t ignore the counsel of others.

 

Feeling So Blessed Today

Feeling so blessed today
Got what I need
Most of what I want
Not enough thanks I can say
Not enough praise I can give
To thank the Lord for all His goodness

I just be in awe and wonder
Of how generous and merciful God is
He is great and compassionate
And he’s blessed me beyond what I could have imagined
I think back over situations I’ve been in
How my life was full of sin
But Jesus forgave again and again ( Psalm 103)

About many things I still have to pray
And life can bring new challenges any day
But today I’m experiencing peace and quietness
As today I’m feeling so blessed.

 

Insight
Psalm 103 gives us a wealth of information about how God forgives sins and has mercy and compassion on His children. There is no way I can pay God back for all His generosity and compassion for me. I just write about His goodness in effort to praise Him and to help others.

Reflecting On “Unanswered” Prayers

I was reflecting on how hard I prayed for my spouse to get a job
Household expenses were increasing year after year
It would be great to have financial help
But a job never came despite of how hard I prayed
I got tired of praying about it
It’s not that I gave up on God
It’s that I was just worn out

As I started to accept the circumstances
The Lord allowed my income to increase
Such that my spouse’s job wasn’t even needed
It reminded me of the scripture
I’ve never seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread (Psalm 37:25)
The Lord had already provided the income for which I prayed

You may pray long and hard
And don’t think that God will answer
And sometimes He doesn’t answer directly
Or the way we expect
But take a moment to reflect
If He has already answered your prayers and you don’t realize it yet?

 

Insight

This weeks praise expression focuses on unanswered prayers. After all, if God is so compassionate, why doesn’t He answer every prayer. There are several answers. It could be that what we are praying for is not in our best interest; as God can see into the future and we can’t. He doesn’t give it to us because what we are praying for can cause harm later on.

Or it could be that he has something better for us. The Bible states that God gives us good gifts (Matthew 7:11 )and all good and perfect comes from Him (James 1:17). He might deny us one thing to only bless us with something bigger and better later on.

And still yet, they are prayers that God never answers or does He? If we take time to reflect and what we’ve asked Him for we may discover that He has already answered our prayer but not the way we wanted Him to.