A New Day

By: Pastor Johnie Akers   

1 John 5:14, “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” During World War II, a farmer near London wrote to the Scripture Gift Mission enclosing a five-shilling offering. At that time, this would have equated to approximately $1 in U.S. currency. In his letter he requested prayer that no bombs would drop on his small farm. His harvest had not been good, and his farm was very dry, with no water, and he had to buy water. The secretary of the Mission wrote back and said he could not ask that, but instead would pray that God’s will might be done. Soon afterwards one of Hitler’s biggest bombs came down on this man’s farm. It broke all his windows, but no one was hurt. It was so big that it went down very deep and unearthed a spring. The spring not only watered his farm well, but it enabled him to let others have water too. The next year, he had the best harvest ever and he sent a fifty-pound check as a thanksgiving offering to the Mission. The Lord had done “exceeding abundantly above all” he asked or thought. How good and how wise is our heavenly Father in all His ways! Listen, friend, so often we think we know how our lives should be orchestrated. Like the farmer in our story, I find myself at times somewhat dictating to the Lord in my prayers of how I believe events should transpire to bring about ideal circumstances. But the true intent of prayer is not to dictate to God our will, but to align ourselves with His will. If prayer is anything, it is us acknowledging that God is sovereign and He knows better than we in running our affairs and thus, we submit to His direction and His orchestration in our lives. You see, God sees the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). We only focus on the present, He sees past, present and future. We see the brush strokes of our life up close, yet God sees the entire masterpiece from His heavenly perspective. It is our complete trust in Him that will enable us to see His plan for our lives unearth the hidden springs of blessings, for this and each new day.