Experiencing the Good hand of God

Jabez prayed, "That thine hand might be with me... and God granted him that which he requested" (1 Chron. 4:10).

Ezra, who served as a trusted scribe for King Artaxerxes, experienced many blessings because "the hand of the Lord was upon him" (Ezra 7:6, 9). He asked Iddo, the chief at Casiphia, to provide ministers for the house of God. He says, "And by the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of understanding…" (Ezra 8:17–18).

Did you get that? Ezra got what he needed because "the good hand of God was upon him." Do you pray for "the good hand of God upon you"?

By the grace of God, I pray for that EVERY day. And guess what? God sent me Steve, our webmaster. He also sent me Tom, who is a wizard with computers, and I am now on DSL after trying for two years to get this service.

Oh, dear people, what you and I need, what every pastor and church needs, is to see "the good hand of God upon us"!

The most important verses in the Bible on prayer are James 4:2–3: "Ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts."

Read Ezra 6–8 and see what all God did because "the hand of God was upon them." And ask for God's hand to be upon you daily. I love you and long to see the good hand of God working in your life. Ask for it. Doesn't that make sense?

Prayer: Father, we don't need what man can do, but we desperately need to see Your hand in whatever we do. Grant that we may see Your good hand upon us every day. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Quotes for the Day: "One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been." —Sophocles
"If you don't learn to laugh at trouble, you won't have anything to laugh at when you're old." —Edgar Watson Howe