Ephesians 1:11 reads, “He makes everything work out according to his plan.”
The Bible says, “The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right” (Psalm 84:11). Sometimes we pray for a certain thing, believing it’s good for us. But God, who has a plan for your life, knows what would be “good” and what wouldn’t be. Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth, said if God had answered all her prayers when she was young, she’d have married the wrong man – several times.
Two teardrops were floating down the river of life. One asked the other, “Who are you?” The second replied, “I’m the teardrop from the girl who loved a man and lost him. Who are you?” The first teardrop replied, “I am the teardrop of the girl who got him.” That’s the way life goes, isn’t it? We cry over what we don’t have, not realizing we might have cried twice as hard if God had given it to us.
The expression “walking by faith” means trusting the plan God has already worked out, and will reveal to you on a need-to-know basis. Paul said, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content” (Philippians 4:11). Clearly his contentment didn’t come from his surroundings, since he spent all but seven years of his ministry in prison.
So where did it come from? The knowledge that God “makes everything work out according to his plan.” Does that mean Paul understood every detail of God’s plan? No, but when he didn’t understand the plan, he trusted the Planner! And that’s where Paul’s peace, joy, and contentment came from. The same goes for you.
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