Step One: Listen
Many times in the Gospels, we see Jesus giving His disciples instruction on where to find or receive God’s Provision:
Feeding the five thousand...Jesus gave instruction to have the people sit down. He took the bread and fish and fed the people. Then He gave instruction to collect the leftovers. (John 6)
Fishing...Jesus gave the weary disciples, who had fished all night and caught nothing, instruction on where to catch all the fish. He told them to throw the net over the right-hand side of the boat. (John 21)
Eating the Passover Meal...Jesus gave instruction on where to find the room that had everything they needed. (Luke 22)
Paying Taxes...Jesus gave Peter instruction to go fish and pull a coin out of the mouth of the first fish he caught. (Matthew 17)
Our Provision from God starts by listening - listening to what He has to say about our circumstances. We must consider that God actually has instructions to give us about the Provision He has for us. I think sometimes we can have a tendency to ask God to help us, but then we ‘leave the room’, so to speak, and not wait to hear what His ideas are to meet those needs. We pray and then walk away to go figure it out for ourselves. That’s like me going to the doctor and telling him I have a sick stomach, but then leaving his office before I hear what steps I can take that will help me.
God doesn’t just want us to pray and tell Him our needs. He wants us to linger awhile and listen to His thoughts on the matter. And honestly, it would greatly behoove us to do so. If God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55), we better stick around to listen to Him because there is literally no way we’re going to figure it out for ourselves!
Feeding the five thousand...Jesus gave instruction to have the people sit down. He took the bread and fish and fed the people. Then He gave instruction to collect the leftovers. (John 6)
Fishing...Jesus gave the weary disciples, who had fished all night and caught nothing, instruction on where to catch all the fish. He told them to throw the net over the right-hand side of the boat. (John 21)
Eating the Passover Meal...Jesus gave instruction on where to find the room that had everything they needed. (Luke 22)
Paying Taxes...Jesus gave Peter instruction to go fish and pull a coin out of the mouth of the first fish he caught. (Matthew 17)
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Our Provision from God starts by listening - listening to what He has to say about our circumstances. We must consider that God actually has instructions to give us about the Provision He has for us. I think sometimes we can have a tendency to ask God to help us, but then we ‘leave the room’, so to speak, and not wait to hear what His ideas are to meet those needs. We pray and then walk away to go figure it out for ourselves. That’s like me going to the doctor and telling him I have a sick stomach, but then leaving his office before I hear what steps I can take that will help me.
God doesn’t just want us to pray and tell Him our needs. He wants us to linger awhile and listen to His thoughts on the matter. And honestly, it would greatly behoove us to do so. If God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55), we better stick around to listen to Him because there is literally no way we’re going to figure it out for ourselves!
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