When God Is Blessing Abundantly

Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

Psalm 1:1-3

Three years ago, my family followed God’s leading and moved to San Diego, California after fasting and praying (and begging and pleading) that we didn’t have to leave the midwest. Shortly after we moved, I wrote a devotional called “Why Doesn’t God Answer Our Prayers”. You can read the full devotional here, but here is a short excerpt:  

“God answered our prayers, just not in the way that we want him to…I’m hoping that God’s answer to our prayers about being in Ohio is a “not yet” instead of a “no.” Time will tell, but in the meantime, we made the difficult decision to follow Jesus (Luke 9:23). In our case, following Jesus meant moving to San Diego. Tearfully, yes. But with a content heart, knowing that God’s plan for our lives and for our family is much, much better than we can imagine.”

As I type this devotional, three years later, I’m sitting in my new home in Ohio, with a napping 2-year-old upstairs, a preschooler having his “quiet time”, and negative temperatures nipping at the windows. Turns out, God’s answer was “not yet” and not “no.” In his perfect timing, he knew why, when, and where we needed to be. The details of our story are pretty incredible and God’s hand is so evident in orchestrating our family’s circumstances.  If you ever want to grab a cup of hot chocolate with me in Ohio, I’d love to tell you the riveting story up to the chapter we’re currently living out.

But here’s the thing. People move all the time. People go explore and try new things, venturing back home when they’re ready to settle. That’s not anything special or unique to my family. So how do I know that God is blessing us abundantly and answering our prayers? What if it’s all just part of life and to be expected for our global, mobile culture? There are several ways I know. And momma, you can be just as confident in the way God is working in your life too (1 John 5:14).

How To Know When God Is Blessing Abundantly

There are several ways that Bible tells us we can be confident in God. And not only can we have confidence in Him, we can practice discerning wisdom to understand when he is blessing us abundantly.

Here are three questions we can use as a guide to know when God is blessing abundantly:

1. Are you a child of God?

“Surely, Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.” Psalm 5:12

Psalm chapter 5 is a prayer penned by King David, specifically asking God for help in one of his many times of trouble. I encourage you to grab your Bible and read the whole chapter – there is much to learn from this chapter!

Psalm 5:12 makes it clear that God hears the righteous and shows favor to those who follow him. But who is the “righteous”?

The only way you can be found righteous in God’s eyes is by accepting Jesus as your Savior. That means you believe he is who he says he is (God’s Son; Matthew 3:17), that he died on the cross as a consequence of your sin (he had none; Romans 5:6, 2 Corinthians 5:21) and then was raised from the dead, conquering the death that should separate you from God forever (Romans 10:9-10). Through Jesus’s act of love, you can become children of God, and find his favor.

“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice;

   in the morning I lay my requests before you

   and wait expectantly.” Psalm 5:3

As a child of God, you can be confident that God will hear and answer your prayer. (Just remember it won’t always be the answer you want.)

2. What have you been praying for

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

1 John 5:13-14

While in California, a friend of mine recommended I read Praying For Your Elephants, a book that challenged me to write down and strategically pray for 100 things. It sounds crazy, I know. Who has 100 things they can pray for?

You do, momma. And I do too.

You see, God doesn’t want you to weed out the prayers you think aren’t good enough. Let God decide which prayers he can throw out because they are silly (spoiler alert – he won’t laugh or throw out any prayer from one of his children).

So pray. Pray that you don’t want to move across the country. Or that you do.

Pray that you’ll find your engagement ring that you lost.

Pray that your child will be healed.

Pray that your parents will come to visit.

Pray that the line at Chick-Fil-A won’t be crazy long.

Pray that your baby will sleep through the night.

Pray, pray, pray.

3. Are you paying attention to what’s happening around you?

“ Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4:2

We will never know how God is answering our prayers if we don’t pay attention to the circumstances we are praying for.

Pray, pray, pray. Write your prayers down. Then pay attention.

When I reread that devotional I wrote 3 years ago, I cry. Every time. It touches such a tender place in my heart. Because reading my prayers awakens the memory of how hard it was to think God was saying no. So many tear-soaked shoulders as I said goodbye. So many sleepless nights staring at the ceiling, asking God why he was moving us. I’m so thankful that I can look back and see what I specifically prayed for. And now, even though years have passed, I recognize exactly why he moved us but also how God has answered my prayer.

Don’t just talk to God and then close your eyes and ears to what he is speaking to you in return. Pay attention. Remind yourself to keep praying until you receive an answer. It may take days, weeks, years, even a lifetime. Be diligent in prayer and pay attention to how God is answering!

4. Are you listening to the Holy Spirit?

“1And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” Ephesians 6:18

For those who are God’s children, the Holy Spirit is lives inside us as our helper. Among many other things, he helps us pray and to discern what God is telling us. When you want to pray but don’t know how, the Spirit steps in and prays for us. (Read the full devotional on praying when you don’t know how.)

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27

When we pray in the Holy Spirit, we KNOW that our prayers are in accordance with the will of God. We can be confident that not only will he hear us (1 John 5:14), but that he will bless us by granting us what we pray for.

“And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” 1 John 5:15

The key is to be praying “in accordance with the will of God” (Romans 8:27; 1 John 5:14). But how do we know if we’re doing that? Just like it’s important that we exercise our bodies to stay healthy, it’s important that we exercise our spirit by working on our relationship with God: reading the Bible, praying throughout our day, learning more about God, spending time with others who follow God, etc. If we do these things, we’re pursuing God. But even then, the path will not be clear.  Sometimes all we can do is pray and see how God responds. It might not be what you want, but live your life with a content heart, knowing that God’s plan for your life and for your family is much, much better than you can imagine.