Progressing in PRAYER!

(3)

PLAN 

 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, 

"plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NIV)

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

GOD has only a good plan for you. He has given sufficient thought to plan out your life even before you were born -  even a day to day plan! Therefore, while praying for ourselves or others, it is important to desire and ask that GOD would fit us into His good plan. It would be foolish to stubbornly insist in prayer that our plans or the plans of others be fulfilled.

 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. 

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; 

When I awake, I am still with You.

Psalm 139:16-18

The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; 

He makes the plans of the peoples of no effect. 

The counsel of the LORD stands forever, The plans of His heart to all generations.  Psalm 33:10-11 NKJV

Do not put your trust in princes, Nor in a son of man, in whom there is no help. 

His spirit departs, he returns to his earth; In that very day his plans perish.  Psalm 146:3-4 NKJV

A man's heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9 NKJV

 There are many plans in a man's heart, Nevertheless the Lord's counsel--that will stand.

Proverbs 19:21

PURPOSE 

having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure 

which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times 

He might gather together in one all things in Christ, 

both which are in heaven and which are on earth--in Him.

Ephesians 1:9-10

"Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'? 

But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." 

Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again."

John 12:27-28

Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, 

and from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, 

desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.

1 Timothy 1:5-7

 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:10

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, 

to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28

 The Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, "Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, 

And as I have purposed, so it shall stand: That I will break the Assyrian in My land, 

And on My mountains tread him underfoot. 

Then his yoke shall be removed from them, And his burden removed from their shoulders. 

This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth, 

And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations. 

For the Lord of hosts has purposed, And who will annul it? 

His hand is stretched out, And who will turn it back?"

Isaiah 14:24-27

The Lord of hosts has purposed it, To bring to dishonor the pride of all glory, 

To bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.

Isaiah 23:9

Then Job answered the Lord and said: 

"I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. 

You asked, 'Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?' 

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, 

which I did not know. 

Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, 'I will question you, and you shall answer Me.' 

"I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. 

Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes."

Job 42:1-6

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself 

with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; 

therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs 

that he might not defile himself. Daniel 1:8

Although man has not walked according to GOD’s plan,

He has purposed to work through every situation to bring together all things in CHRIST. 

Towards this, He will break the oppression of the devil to set people free.

He will intervene in every prideful purpose in man, like He did with the tower of Babel,

whether it is the medical system, financial system or anything else.

GOD’s purpose for His people is strong faith in Him and love from a pure heart,

which He fulfils through every situation they go through.

We may not know GOD’s purpose for the difficult situations we go through,

but we must trust Him and prayerfully yield to Him. Like Daniel,

we must also purpose in our hearts to consecrate ourselves to the LORD.