Embracing God’s Plan – Part 1: Day 8

Embracing God’s Plan – Part 1:

In order for you to fulfill your dream, your vision, your word from the Lord, it is imperative that you understand how to embrace God’s plan for your life. Some of the hardest times to live by faith are when God places us on an unexpected path in life. It might be a life situation that is different than those experienced or it might be a set of troubles that we had not planned to face. Sometimes things don’t go according to plan. Also, it takes awhile for my motivation to rebound and to get back up to speed. But, life interferes with the best laid plans and the strongest of ambitions. There are days, weeks, months, and seasons in life when we feel like we can never do enough and we will never be enough. When we walk these unexpected paths, it is not unusual to experience difficulties beyond the situation itself. We might experience frightening feelings of spiritual dryness and isolation. We might even struggle with difficult (but important) questions about God and His work in our lives. We wonder if God really has a plan for our life and an agenda for each day. How do we accomplish his plan when all these problems keep slowing us down? Why doesn’t he help us out a little more? From the beginning of time God has always been sure of his plan for us. We have all heard it said that “God has a plan for you.” This is true. There are no coincidences. God is sovereign in everything. The bible tells us that he is omniscient. All-knowing! There is not a thing that happens on the earth or in heaven without his knowledge.“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NKJV).

God made a plan for our lives even before we were born. He continually works in our hearts and minds through the Holy Spirit to encourage our faith in his plan to grow. He leads us to try new things, puts teachers in our path, and instills confidence in our abilities. He nudges us to consider how the gifts he gave us might help others find faith and feel loved. The decisions we make and the paths we take do not surprise God. He is there for us always, through everything that comes our way. He does not promise a life free of suffering, but he fills his believers with hope, and ultimately he brings good from all their hardships. Of course, our free will allows us to embrace or resist God’s plans for us. But, he never stops pursuing and trying to reach us. His love for every one of his children is unconditional and unrelenting. Our humanity loves shortcuts, but there are no shortcuts to understanding God’s plan. Ultimately, understanding God’s plan requires understanding God. This means spending time studying the Bible, reading Biblical interpretations, learning from pastors, and discussing faith questions with others. The more we learn about God, the clearer our role in his story becomes. Embracing God’s plan means we commit to developing a relationship with him in our daily life. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV).

How we love the illusion of control. We get so caught up in busily achieving our goals that we can forget God may have an entirely different strategy in mind. He will not conform to our purposes; we need to strive to fit into his. Acting with faith in Jesus Christ brings direction in decisions and will help us to bless many others. Because of the greatness that is possible from following Heavenly Father’s plan, there will be opposition. Every wonderful opportunity in the Father’s plan comes to us in a crucible of choice. Every crucible contains two things: the opportunities created by Heavenly Father’s plan, and opposition. Throughout our lifetimes, we will cope with a myriad of difficulties perceived as obstacles in the way of achieving our dreams. Maybe these difficulties are not really problems, but possibilities As long as we are on this earth, it is never too late to invest time in getting to know God. Like any other relationship, we get to know God by spending time with him. God puts on the agenda to carry out an even bigger plan. Perhaps God allows difficulty to enter our lives to capture our attention, to encourage us to check our direction, and to build a relationship of trust with him. You must trust God to know what is best for you and accept what is unfolding before you. Once we realize we cannot control our life, we start to contemplate and even anticipate the opportunities God sends our way. Embracing God’s plan means we work on being flexible, good-natured, and inquisitive when unexpected events change our daily agendas. God promises to fulfill his plan. “Always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace” Philippians 1:4-7 (NKJV).