Father Knows Best
Dearest Father, Thank You that You, my Father, know everything that concerns me and You know best. As written in the Gospel today.
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Today's Readings
First Reading: Isaiah 55: 10-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 34: 4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19
Verse Before the Gospel: Matthew 4: 4b
Gospel: Matthew 6: 7-15
Reading 1, Isaiah 55:10-11
Isaiah 55:10-11 GNBDK
[10] “My word is like the snow and the rain that come down from the sky to water the earth. They make the crops grow and provide seed for sowing and food to eat.
[11] So also will be the word that I speak — it will not fail to do what I plan for it; it will do everything I send it to do.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19
R. (18b) From all their distress God rescues the just.
Glorify the LORD with me, let us together extol his name. I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
R. From all their distress God rescues the just.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame. When the poor one called out, the LORD heard, and from all his distress he saved him.
R. From all their distress God rescues the just.
The LORD has eyes for the just, and ears for their cry. The LORD confronts the evildoers, to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
R. From all their distress God rescues the just.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them, and from all their distress he rescues them. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
R. From all their distress God rescues the just.
Gospel, Matthew 6:7-15
Matthew 6:7-15 GNBDK
[7] “When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods will hear them because their prayers are long.
[8] Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him. [9] This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honoured;
[10] may your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[11] Give us today the food we need.
[12] Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.
[13] Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One.’
[14] “If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you.
[15] But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.
Dearest Father,
Thank You that You, my Father, know everything that concerns me and You know best. As written in the Gospel today.
Matthew 6:7-8 GNBDK
[7] “When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods will hear them because their prayers are long. [8] Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him.
My Father already knows what I need before I ask Him.
This has always been my guiding thought whenever I come before the Lord in prayer. And why I come before the Lord in prayer, in the first place.
I want to be with my Father.
I want to know His will, what He wants done in my life.
This world, this life surely brings me many kinds of troubles. I'm just so happy I have Someone I can trust Who knows everything about me, Who knows what's going on in and around me, and Who has the power to do something about it.
When I learned that my Father already knows what I need before I ask Him, I stopped focusing on my needs and even wants whenever I come before Him in prayer.
I just share my concerns to Him to get them off my chest and then I listen to what He has to say about them.
In the very beginning of my Christian life, when reading those Christian magazines that I would buy and read, I would be amazed how the word of God is always referenced to in every practical life advice they give out.
When I read something that really makes sense to me, I would say to myself, wow, you can find this advice, this wisdom, in the bible?
That's when I knew I can turn to the Bible if I want to know what God thinks and wants of me.
When talking to Him about issues that concern my life, I would tell Him to tell me exactly what He thinks in words I would know clearly that it's from Him so that I won't be confused.
The first time I sought the Lord in earnest seeking His word clearly about my problem was when, in my first job as a hospital nurse, I began to have troubles, experiencing 2 medical errors in just one rotation.
You see, I was a new nursing staff then but because we were many we had to go on rotation. One rotation is 15 days of duty. Then we would rest for 15 days and then would be called again for another assignment.
That one rotation, I made one medication error at the beginning. So I was on high alert. But sadly, I made another one on the last day of the rotation!
I couldn't understand why I'm making these errors! I was so down, with my confidence at its lowest.
I went into this job so confident and full of myself and full of great plans and ideas. I would learn all I can in this job, stay here for 2 years, then apply for nursing jobs abroad so I could live there.
That rotation, making those 2 errors broke me. Before I left, I was called to the Nursing Director’s office and was warned that if I make a last 3rd medication error, they would have to let me go.
So I went on my rotation break, seeking God. Why is this happening? What's going on? Lord, You know this job is my ticket to going abroad.
In my Bible reading, this verse jumped at me:
Hosea 2:15 GNBDK
[15] I will give back to her the vineyards she had and make Trouble Valley a door of hope. She will respond to me there as she did when she was young, when she came from Egypt.
Wow. You will make Trouble Valley a door of hope for me. What an assurance when I'm having so much trouble at work.
This word from God gave me so much confidence in going back to work, my trouble valley, which the Lord promised to make a door of hope.
In a test of faith, sadly, I made a final error at the end of that new rotation which, then, resulted in me being forced to resign instead of being terminated so I won't have a record.
That broke me. But praise God that didn't deter me from believing God's promise that this Trouble Valley will become a door of hope.
I figured that because this trouble valley has not yet become a door of hope as God said it would, meaning His promise hasn't been fulfilled yet, then this is not the end of my story. Or I hoped so.
Long story short, after a season of prayer and introspection and seeking God's will for my life, God led me to apply to one of the top 3 hospitals in our city, and through miraculous ways, I got in without an interview so I didn't have to recount why I left my previous job which normally comes up in every interview and which I was worried about. I stayed working with that hospital for 20-plus years.
My Trouble Valley did, indeed, become a door of hope.
And that was the beginning of my life adventure with the Lord, with me seeking God's will for my life every day and God leading and guiding me through His word.
With this experience, I learned two things that have guided the trajectory of my life:
God's words and promises always work as He said they would.
Just as it says in the First Reading today:
Isaiah 55:10-11 GNBDK
[10] “My word is like the snow and the rain that come down from the sky to water the earth. They make the crops grow and provide seed for sowing and food to eat.
[11] So also will be the word that I speak — it will not fail to do what I plan for it; it will do everything I send it to do.
Every word that I received from the Lord has been fulfilled in His time and in His way.
God's word changed my life from being trapped in a 9-5 job earning 15k a month to working on 2 online jobs with flexible hours and from home, or anywhere there’s internet, and earning 60-80k a month.
God's word helped me find my condo and years later, reclaim it from foreclosure.
God's word always does everything God sent it to do for me.
Prayer is more than babbling words. It's seeking God's wisdom in the affairs of my life.
Just as He says in the Gospel today:
Matthew 6:7-10 GNBDK
[7] “When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods will hear them because their prayers are long. [8] Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him. [9] This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honoured; [10] may your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
It's aligning my will, my desires, my hopes, and my dreams to His perfect will for my life, knowing that He knows best, so that I can allow what He wants done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Yes, oftentimes I received my heart's desires and dreams just by allowing it, not by chasing after it. Just by simply believing and claiming God's promises and word and allowing the circumstances to flow naturally and me flowing with them. My only job is to believe and obey His leading and inspirations.
I desired a change of career from a 9-5 nursing job to a flexible one so I could work from home whenever I wanted and hopefully earn much more than I was earning as a nurse.
God told me to move forward in Exodus.
Exodus 14:14-15 GNBDK
[14] The LORD will fight for you, and there is no need for you to do anything.” [15] The LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out for help? Tell the people to move forward.
A thought came to me to send out 10 resumes every night to the online job site I was led to. So I did. Usually, I’ve learned that these thoughts are His still small voice guiding me to the path He wants me to take.
God’s word was fulfilled and 2 months later, I found the perfect online job for me in addition to the online job God gave me a few months before that, a part-time job with full-time income, to replace my hospital job.
I've been with these 2 companies for 7 years now.
My condo was foreclosed and scheduled to be auctioned 4 days after we got the notice. Everybody was saying that's it, consider my condo gone.
I prayed to the Lord about it. He said no. In the book Job.
Job 22:28 AMP
[28] You will also decide and decree a thing, and it will be established for you; And the light [of God’s favor] will shine upon your ways.
So I decided that my condo is mine and claimed for an easy and quick resolution to my condo foreclosure problem, declaring God's favor to shine upon my ways.
God's word was fulfilled and I got my condo back just like that, 3 months later.
If you want to read my raw, unfiltered account of crying out to the Lord about this problem, you can read my Foreclosure Diaries which I give to my subscribers for free.
Prayer should be the lifestyle of every child and heir of God.
Jesus has taught us to call on God as Father, God of Heaven and Earth, not some far away deity who's unfamiliar with us.
He taught us not to babble in prayer but to simply align ourselves to God's will and words so that His perfect will is truly done here on earth as it is in Heaven.
And when God's perfect will is done in our lives, we reap the blessings of a rich and satisfying life.
So live the RichLife in Christ everyday. Live as God's child and heir (our Divine Identification), seek His will everyday (his GodX vision for our lives), claim in faith and confess His promises (our Rock foundation), and obey His inspirations everyday (24-hour activation).
That's our prayer life. A life so conformed to God's will that we become His sources and symbols of blessing everywhere we go, extremely blessed and blessing others.
This is my Tatatian RichLife Spirituality that I'm living and sharing extensively in our SpeakChrist RichLife Club.
If you want to know more how you can apply my Tatatian RichLife Spirituality to live a rich prayer life, join me in our SpeakChrist RichLife Club. We'll do it together. St. Katharine Drexel, pray for us.
Live the Rich Life in Christ today
Your Father knows what you need before You ask.
Prayer aligns yourself with God's best for you.
Pray everyday.
Your Father knows. Father knows best.
Matthew 6:7-8 GNBDK
[7] “When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods will hear them because their prayers are long. [8] Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him.
Now Your Turn
(Questions to ask yourself when scripture journaling)
What verses spoke to me strongly and powerfully from the scripture readings?
What is God saying to me in these verse or verses?
What does God want me to do today?
Journal prompts of the day
Am I seeking God's will in prayer or my own?
Am I seeking God at all everyday?
Do I trust that God, my Father, knows best?
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