No Sugar Daddy in Heaven

Our church-wide twenty-one-day fast ended on Monday, January 31st. Wes and I were praying about several things and saw encouraging results. As the requests for prayers came in, we added them to our list. Three people we were praying for who were hospitalized improved greatly. Something we have prayed about for months and has been a huge challenge was for someone to make repairs to the house. On Sunday, the last day of the fast, God blessed us and brought him to us, AND he came out the next day to take a look! We are blessed.

We had an extensive list we were praying over. Some we have seen answered, some we have not . . .yet. We know Father God is always working, as it is written in John 5:17 NLT “But Jesus replied, ‘My Father is always working, and so am I.’” I can only imagine what Father God will do with our other requests!

Early in my journey with Jesus, a friend told me that God is not our sugar daddy in the sky, and that has stuck with me. She may have said it differently, but the words sugar daddy were definitely used. He is not, and for that I am truly thankful. If He gave me everything I have asked for over the years just because I asked for them, what a mess I would be in. There were things and people that were not good for me. Places and situations I did not need to be in but wanted to be in. What did I know back then? Not enough to keep me out of trouble, that is for sure. 

Although through the years I have grown in my faith and relationship with Father God, there are still times I do not know if some things are truly good for me, but He does. Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT tells us, “God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” See, He knows what He has planned for me. He knows the path that is best for me. I trust Him when I do not get what I want when I want it because He knows if I need it then or if at all. 

When we surrender our will to Him and trust Him, we give Him permission to lead us in the way of His will. Then, as we get to know Him better, we begin to pray according to His will. Then He is able to answer prayers and shower us with favor because our will lines up with His. James 1:17a NLT tells us, “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.” 

Because I trust my Heavenly Father, I have the assurance of prayers being answered. Try as I might to see things more in the spiritual, I do not always succeed. So if my answered prayers look different, I know that He knows the beginning to the end, and I do not. I walk in the promise of Psalm 5:12 NET, “Certainly You reward the Godly, Lord. Like a shield You protect them in Your good favor.”