It's great to have plans. It's great to think about the future. However it is even greater to allow the Lord to direct our future!
We need to make our plans but it is important that as we do we follow after the Spirit. The Holy Spirit wants to guide us in our everyday life but can't do that if we are too stuck in our own plans.
What plans are you following?
Have you sought God about those plans?
Are you open to the Holy Spirit directing you differently?
For a couple of examples of the Holy Spirit's direction in our day to day lives you can visit my post God is Speaking Are You Listening. However I believe that this verse is referring to our life plans. It's so easy to get stuck on a certain path or plan and then get discouraged when things don't work out the way that you thought they would.
So what do we do when things don't work out the way that you expect them to? First thing should always be to seek God. There are basically three reasons that things don't work out like they are supposed to:
1) God is leading us on different path.
2) We sabotaged our own plans.
3) The enemy is coming against us.
We can't just assume it is any one of these things because we will miss out on so much that God wants to give us. This is why our first response always needs to be to seek God. We need to ask Him three questions;
1) Is this really your will?
If He directs you that it is not then you need to let go of it and continuing seeking Him for the alternate path. However if He confirms to you that it is His will, then you should go on to the second question:
2) Am I doing something to sabotage this plan?
Again this may or may not be the case. If it is then He will point out what needs to change in your life and then our next step is obvious: change what He points out. However, He may not point anything out. In that case we need to move on to the third question:
3) How do I need to stand against the enemy in this battle?
The first step in standing against the enemy is obvious from a quick study of the Word. We need to stand in faith and confess the truth of God's Word over our lives.
Speak to your mountain and tell it to get out of the way. Then search to Word for promises regarding your situation. If you have a Word spoken to you directly from God then speak that out to yourself and to the enemy. If God spoke it then it is true, you just need to access it with your faith.
Secondly, you should seek God if there is any practical step that He wants you to take. Some times God is calling us to be stubborn with our goal and our vision but flexible with our methods. This again goes along with the original proverb. Sometimes we make our own plans of how we are going to get to the ultimate goal that God has placed before us, but even though the ultimate goal is from God He may direct us on a different path to that goal.
What plans are you following?
Have you sought God about those plans?
Are you open to the Holy Spirit directing you differently?
For a couple of examples of the Holy Spirit's direction in our day to day lives you can visit my post God is Speaking Are You Listening. However I believe that this verse is referring to our life plans. It's so easy to get stuck on a certain path or plan and then get discouraged when things don't work out the way that you thought they would.
So what do we do when things don't work out the way that you expect them to? First thing should always be to seek God. There are basically three reasons that things don't work out like they are supposed to:
1) God is leading us on different path.
2) We sabotaged our own plans.
3) The enemy is coming against us.
We can't just assume it is any one of these things because we will miss out on so much that God wants to give us. This is why our first response always needs to be to seek God. We need to ask Him three questions;
1) Is this really your will?
If He directs you that it is not then you need to let go of it and continuing seeking Him for the alternate path. However if He confirms to you that it is His will, then you should go on to the second question:
2) Am I doing something to sabotage this plan?
Again this may or may not be the case. If it is then He will point out what needs to change in your life and then our next step is obvious: change what He points out. However, He may not point anything out. In that case we need to move on to the third question:
3) How do I need to stand against the enemy in this battle?
The first step in standing against the enemy is obvious from a quick study of the Word. We need to stand in faith and confess the truth of God's Word over our lives.
Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.
Mark 11:23
Speak to your mountain and tell it to get out of the way. Then search to Word for promises regarding your situation. If you have a Word spoken to you directly from God then speak that out to yourself and to the enemy. If God spoke it then it is true, you just need to access it with your faith.
Secondly, you should seek God if there is any practical step that He wants you to take. Some times God is calling us to be stubborn with our goal and our vision but flexible with our methods. This again goes along with the original proverb. Sometimes we make our own plans of how we are going to get to the ultimate goal that God has placed before us, but even though the ultimate goal is from God He may direct us on a different path to that goal.
Ultimately we need to learn to be led by the Spirit in our day to day lives!
Good post. I want to tag onto reason #2 just a little if you don't mind. :) In my life and experience it seems one of the biggest saboteurs of God's plan is our focus. Sometimes God puts a vision in our heads and we get so focused on the vision that we forget who we are supposed to be doing it for. We lose focus on God and then the plan that originally came from God becomes sin in our life. In talking of this subject I am reminded of Loren Cunningham's (founder of YWam) story in his book, "Is That Really You God?" regarding the beginnings of the Mercy Ship ministry. In his story he speaks of how God gave him the vision for a ship that could travel from place to place offering help to victims of natural disasters. In the process of making the plans he became so focused on the ship that he forgot God and ended up losing the first ship. Point being, as we make plans we must make sure God is at the center of them.
ReplyDeletethanks for your comment. That is a great point Terence. That is a part of what I meant in #2 but it is good to mention it because often we think of only wrong actions rather than wrong focus. God's always looking for the heart attitude over the outward actions.
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