Do you find yourself saying that sometimes you understand the circumstances of your life and at other times you’re mystified, wondering what God is doing and how His many blessings can be realized?

Divine providence is often the temporary psychological bandage that is applied to cover up the fact that most ministry leaders do not know how God expresses His will in the covenant He gave us through Jesus.

The fuzzy teaching about divine providence is designed to allow us to believe that God loves us, that He has a plan for us, that God is in control, that He’s looking out for us, and that His promises are all good, but we shouldn’t expect to fully realize any of these things until we get to heaven.

I have read this type of weak teaching about divine providence many times in the past so I want to take this opportunity to talk about this with you so you can discern this, as this is a practice God is addressing for believers in order to reset the expectation of faith that we have of Him in Jesus Christ. This change in perspective will bring understanding and liberty.

Why do people lay their faith at the feet of God’s providence? Because it’s one way of shirking our responsibility to Jesus’ covenant. It’s a way of saying that we are mystified about God’s new covenant and what it means to us. Believing in God’s will without knowing God’s will seems to be the right thing to hold on to, but it is actually a false sense of confidence and strength.

The Holy Spirit is making a connection between the expectation believers have of their faith and the education that they have received. We can see a deviation from what God has called believers to do, and following this deviation from truth the paradox that now exists as a result, which is mirrored in the many prayer requests to cover the circumstances of one’s life.

The prayers of believers in general manifest the needs and issues of everyday life. When the themes of everyday life dominate a believers’ prayer-life, it is an indication that faith is working with the wrong building material. This shows that the believer is resourcing things outside of God’s covenant to fill his prayers.

God’s challenge: Seek my will inside my covenant.

Seeking for God’s will outside of His covenant and the things He provided for us in Jesus, is a practice that believers learned in the false religious system. So, while they have been doing what they have been told, their focus is on the wrong thing and they are not seeing the spiritual benefit that God has provided in Jesus Christ, which is the engrafting of the fruit of Christ in our soul.

The purpose of our salvation is to bear forth the fruit of the Father and the Spirit makes this clear in John 15:8 when he says “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”

In Jesus’ words we see a clear distinction of the Father’s goal for us, which is to orient us to discipleship, patterned after Jesus Christ, to fill our soul with divine fruit that glorifies Him.

God’s plan for you to reach His goal is built into Jesus’ covenant. God is now re-educating believers to that fact, to reset their expectation to His divine provision through Jesus’ covenant, to make spiritual fruit bearing a living reality.

Let’s read another scripture passage to expound on this more in Matthew chapter 6, starting with verse 27 to verse 33, Jesus says:

Matthew 6:27-33
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

The Lord is neither ignorant of our daily needs, nor uncaring, but He says “seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness”, so what does that mean?

The natural response to this question is to think about what this means in the context of everyday life. A believer might think how he can prioritize his life to put God first and say that he trusts that God’s divine providence will follow. But this pattern of reflection and intention doesn’t bring the believer any closer to actually following God’s will and divine plan through Jesus’ covenant.

At face value we can see that Jesus is making a distinction here, it is God’s will for us to seek first His kingdom, His righteousness. But the application of choosing God’s will above our own (how to put this into practice) will remain hidden without the foundation of truth that God has supplied for our faith.

When what we know naturally comes first: Trying to understand God’s will and purpose by what we know naturally is what Apostle Peter describes as private interpretation of scripture in 2 Peter 1:20. Unfortunately, believers are taught to build a relationship with God based on their personal life, meaning their struggles and the needs of the body. Their question is simple, how can I make sense of this?

Instead, we are to understand God through His truth, being the true knowledge and blueprint that He has provided for our faith which the true government of God teaches. (1 Corinthians 2:13; Acts 2:42)

When Jesus’ covenant comes first: When we walk out our discipleship according to Jesus’ covenant, it means that God reorients us to what He values. He shifts and empowers our understanding to place the same value on His work in us (divine regeneration and fruit bearing) as He does. Our expectation is Christ.

God then commands each moment as He teaches us through the anointing and we reciprocate the same. We experience a shift in our relationship with God.

The Lord says, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?”

So right away we can see that Jesus addresses where our thoughts tend to go first – the cares of this world – and we see what those cares are associated with: the circumstances of everyday life, our ability to eat, drink and clothe ourselves, our hopes and dreams. This is about the issues and cares that surround our day-to-day living. However, the Lord is clearly directing believers away from this mindset.

To be clear, I am not saying that these everyday things should foolishly be cast aside, but rather that they should not take center stage of our faith or prayers. When believers typically hand off their faith to God’s divine providence, saying, you control my life, Lord, it’s usually about the provision that surrounds their day-to-day-living and this is the discrepancy that is revealing what their affections are set upon.

Prayer that is geared toward God’s covenant-purpose works with His truth to build the kingdom of God both in the heart and in heaven.

Seeking first God’s kingdom and His righteousness is about seeking God through covenant faith. You will find that when your faith is first aligned to Jesus’ covenant that your faith then is aligned to God’s will. You therefore won’t want to revert to saying that God’s will and purpose mystifies you.

God’s Challenge: Don’t make my kingdom about your life. I will change your life by teaching you how to live according to Christ.

It can be so difficult for believers to know how to stop making God’s kingdom about their life when the teaching they have been getting is all about finding God’s will in their life.

As God sheds light on the themes of the believer’s prayer-life, He is laying bare the disconnect between what believers expect from God and what God expects from the believer.

While unconverted (to His covenant) believers are focused on the issues of life and expecting God’s divine providence in that sense, God is focused on His provision of the divine things of Jesus’ covenant. It’s with these things that He is building a relationship with you.

Let’s look at what the Lord says in Matthew 6 verse 32: “(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:)”. This is the point of discernment that God is providing for believers here. The gentiles are those not educated in the things of God and His kingdom, so when a believer carries that same perspective into prayer (which thinking is according to the flesh), this means they have not been educated in the ways of the Lord. It’s as simple as that.

God is making a connection here between the expectation believers have of their faith and the education that they have received, that there’s a discrepancy. The web definition of discrepancy is “Divergence or disagreement, as between facts or claims; difference.”
In the context of faith, what we are talking about here is the difference in expectation as a result of the education that has been received. One is according to the needs of the flesh, and the other is according to Jesus’ covenant to bear the fruit of God.

So, we can see that this deviation took place as a result of the education that believers have received, which is not lining up with the purpose of God to bear forth His fruit. These discrepancies only exist when faith does not reflect Christ so these are distinctions God is making for believers to set their faith on the right track by coming into covenant with Him and being instructed by God’s restored spiritual government (we’ll circle back to this later).

It’s important and liberating to point out here that there should be NO discrepancies in a believer’s faith in God because God did not design salvation that way.

True faith follows the record of Christ which is a predictable pattern that doesn’t change, that is repeated over and over again for confidence building. This is why the Lord says He changes not. (Malachi 3:6).

Although a believer can say that prayer should not be about fulfilling one’s lust, the fact that prayer requests over issues and themes of life is so common in the false religious system, attests to the fact that believers cannot accurately discern when the flesh is ruling their perception.

These kinds of prayers seem harmless enough, but without an education to Christ, the flesh will always rule our perception, and that fleshly perception is sin because it follows the example of Satan to put our needs first before God’s covenant. Whatever circumstance comes up, the same question is asked over and over again, what does God say about this situation. We can see how the situation comes first.

Because believers have not received an education to the covenant of Jesus, they don’t ask the question that should be asked: what is God’s will for my faith to express Christ?

Despite believers professing that they engage God in prayer, their prayers are not according to God’s will in Jesus and actually become sin in the end (Psalm 109:7).

Apostle James addresses this in his epistle, so let’s read that now to make further connections.

James 4:1-3
1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

James 1:15
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

When Apostle James talks about “lust” he is not speaking of forbidden pleasures. Going back to what Jesus said about seeking God’s kingdom and righteousness first, lust is to place one’s own personal life and circumstances first to try to build a relationship with God with those issues to see God’s hand there.

We can see that Apostle James is resetting the expectations of believers who have come to him about their petitions and prayers that they have made and how it seems that they go unanswered. Apostle James does not advise them to believe in God’s divine providence, or to trust, or to wait, but returns them to the covenant of Jesus they had wandered away from.

God’s Challenge: Are your prayers out of step with me?

Their prayers went unanswered because God’s will is being placed in circumstances instead of His covenant contact through Jesus. When a believer turns to the Bible to see what the Bible has to say about his circumstances, he’s putting his situation before Jesus’ covenant, trying to find God’s will in the situation rather than finding God’s will in Jesus. So, Apostle James points out that these are the prayers that are “amiss”, or out of step with God.

God gives hope: So, this is another point of discernment and distinction that God is making for believers. Apostle James is not discouraging prayer, but realigning expectations.

There’s a second reason why the apostle addresses prayer like this. Just like today, there were many believers who took their answers to prayer as a sign that they had a healthy relationship with God and they went around from church-to-church teaching believers how to repeat their prayer steps to get the same results.

If you caught on that this is also amiss, you would be right. This is also teaching that is out of step with God’s covenant and this is why Apostle James focused on correcting that mindset to remove the cloak of deception.

Apostle James brings out the word lust 4 times to show the power and kingdom of darkness which is behind the motivation of these prayers that are amiss, or missing the mark.

Wars and the fighting happen when God’s covenant through Jesus is not put first to fix our focus and faith’s labor on Him. This is another discrepancy and deviation from the truth which naturally causes confusion, but it’s not God that is perpetuating this but rather pointing this out to manifest a deviation from the truth.

This is what we see in the false religious system. The many different sects (independent ministries) show the war and fighting and the confusion and sadness that rules in the hearts of the believers as a result of not putting Jesus and His covenant first.

God gives hope: It’s easy for believers to get lost in the struggles that they face. However, the remedy to set faith on the right track to receive the tokens of God for fruit bearing and grow in His grace is a reality for those who are willing to be taught by God’s restored government.

I want to end my teaching with a few quotes from Teacher Maria vonAnderseck’s blog post, The Jesus Revolution, as she also touches on a believer’s expectation when it is not framed to Christ and the remedy and education God is providing through His restored government. We see how a shift in focus, results in a shift in expectation.

In her blog post she says:

Know this: When grace becomes self-referencing, a person has entered into a one-sided relationship with God; he just doesn’t know it.

When I say, self-referencing I mean that the only questions that are asked are those that have to do with day-to-day struggles and the issues and politics of life. Think about the emptiness you often feel after experiences with grace for salvation dissipates, and think about the questions your mind goes back to.

One of the most pressing questions is about that spark of grace from God. How can it become the hearth of your home? How can that powerful spark be kept alive? How can the power you felt under that influence be carried into your day-to-day living? That’s God’s covenant plan; to have His grace freely available to you every day to be a present living force, an effectual working power of the Holy Spirit that is central to your life in Christ and changes who you are on the inside. That’s God’s covenant promise when a two-way relationship with God is entered into.

It’s the daily, tangible supply of living grace from God stemming from all of Jesus’ covenant tools being present and accounted for that creates a two-way relationship with Him. In order to get you supplied with God’s living fountain of grace to heal your soul and create in you the fruit of the Spirit, a different form of instruction needs to take place and this is why God called apostles into the church again today…

Further down in the article Teacher Maria continues and says:

Know this: Once the promise of life in Jesus has become a one-sided message, it is stripped of all the things we need to live the life of Jesus’ covenant and is no longer the gospel of Jesus Christ. It becomes a sales pitch, something you would expect from the proverbial car salesman who is determined to hook everyone who comes through the showroom doors.

Ministry leaders make sure that they’re saying all the right things to try to establish the authenticity of their message, that it is truly only about Jesus Christ; that God speaks to the hopeless to give them hope; that God speaks to those who feel alone to let them know that they are not alone, He is with them; that God is a God of love; the yearning you feel inside is the same yearning God has for you; that God doesn’t want life’s disappointments and challenges to stand in your way; you can come to the cross as you are and find forgiveness and love.

As true as this is, the promise is not the reality. God’s plan is to have people progress from grace for salvation to grace for growth and that’s why He installed Jesus’ new covenant. Jesus’ covenant is the gospel of salvation because it brings a believer into contact with everything God placed in Jesus for us to live our lives fully in Him.

In Hebrews chapter 10, the Apostle Paul instructs the church on the importance of Jesus’ covenant gospel. When we agree to the terms of God’s new covenant, He not only forgives our sins, but remission of sins begins as we are brought into that fruit bearing process where He creates in us His nature.

There is the connection to the will and plan of God here for us again to bear His fruit.

Hebrews 10:16-20
16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.

19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

20 By a new and living way [covenant], which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

We underlined the word “remission” of sins and “no more offering for sin” in verse 18. God establishes that grace for salvation is His invitation to enter into the new covenant He made with us through Jesus’ blood (vs. 19). This new covenant contains the new spiritual tools and new spiritual priesthood and new holy knowledge and new stewardship (vs. 16 and 20) that changes and shifts our focus from the issues of life and our present daily routine.

Praise God.

God changes our routine: God reintroduced the apostolic stewardship to bring the church through a transition, whereas believers would progress from building a routine with sin, to building a routine with righteousness. Where remission of sins is (where we enter into a new routine with the Holy Spirit in our priesthood, using the tools that God sprinkled with Jesus’ blood) our prayers are no longer being offered for sin. We are not praying the “sinners’ prayer” over and over again, stuck in grace for salvation mode…

Further down she continues and says:

The instruction in righteousness is necessary to nurture the heart in faith, but the instruction in righteousness (covenant lifestyle) never happens. The instruction about sin continues to be preached so that the sinners’ prayer can be prayed again in a heartfelt way.

The importance of the church recognizing the headship of Jesus in the apostolic instruction is what comes next. This is symbolized by the woman who broke the alabaster box and poured out upon Jesus’ head the expensive oil the vessel contained.

Mark 14:3
And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.

The woman in this verse represents the restored church and this act that she performed (to pour oil over Jesus’ head), symbolizes the challenge God sets before the church today. A relationship with Jesus is not possible unless believers recognize that He is head of the body of Christ and they accept what that headship looks like to Him.

To many standing by, observing what this woman did, they saw only a senseless waste of precious oil that could have been utilized in a better way to have brought relief to the poor. Their eyes were only adjusted to the world in need and they wanted to seize every opportunity to make the need of the people the conversation.

We see that same mindset present today in the church system that grew out of the roots of the Jesus Revolution. As ministry leaders falter at the door of Jesus’ covenant, they wonder how the acknowledgment of Jesus’ headship through the apostolic stewardship has anything to do with the needs of the people.

The habit of man is to take the precious oil (the anointing) and pour it out upon the pressing issues of life to relieve the suffering of sin. But God reserved the oil (anointing) for apostolic stewardship to give the life of Jesus in His covenant knowledge. To deny believers apostolic teaching is to deny them access to Jesus. The very thing that is promised (you get Jesus) is being denied.

Down the road preachers are going to point out in scripture God’s call to live after the Spirit and not after the flesh and how that comes at a cost. Yet, to deny believers the teaching of the covenant is to keep them imprisoned to the flesh. Victory over the flesh is promised, but never becomes a reality because the covenant (two-way relationship with God) is never established when believers are denied apostolic stewardship.

Romans 1:5
By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:

We see what happened next after Jesus rose from the dead, after He ascended to heaven, the church was born on the day of Pentecost and God established the apostolic stewardship (Acts 2:42). Believers understood the significance of the act of the woman pouring oil upon His head.

Jesus said that “this gospel” that established His headship over the church would stand apart as the true gospel. He said, “Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.” (Mark 14:9).

[To read Teacher Maria’s blog in full: s8w.org/blog-post/the-jesus-revolution/]