Good afternoon and Good Friday! As we look forward to winding down our work week, our thoughts may reflect on the events of each day. Today we also have the opportunity to reflect on the Word that God has given us this week, which has the power to make a huge difference in our plans. Whether the events of the week were good or bad, we can't change them even if we wanted to but we have the promises of God to rely on and yesterday is gone. He has the power to change any situation from bad to good and we have direct access to God through our faith in Jesus Christ, today and forever.
Our relationship with Christ continues to grow each day that we seek Him first, heed His Word and apply each one in obedience to Him. We've learned so much as we've grown in God's grace and wisdom and have a better understanding of Him and how we are to follow Christ's example. So as we make plans for our weekend, we can apply what we've learned about careful planning which includes trusting in God's guidance. Keeping in mind that the future is in His hands. Plan ahead, but hold those plans loosely and put God's desires at the center of your planning; he will never disappoint us.
"Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city. spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a midst that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. James 4:13-17
The plans we make consist of a series of choices that will produce results that correspond with those choices. We have a goal in mind, a destination that requires specific directions. There may be several routes to that destination or only one way but one thing is for sure, it's our choice. We can do it the hard way and take the long route but obviously, that's illogical, an unwise plan of direction. A lesson we've learned from the Old Testament account of Moses and the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness with the goal of reaching the land God promised them.
Disobedience caused this journey to much longer than it should have been. God heard the cries of his people in suffering and gave them a plan of escape from slavery. Countless events of Israel's deliverance are recorded in Exodus, relating more miracles than any other Old Testament book as well as the Ten Commandments. From Moses to Joshua, we can't help but understand the value and benefits of obedience to following God's plan and the tragic consequences of disobedience.
Our goal is to reach that destination as quickly and worry free as possible; a wise choice. The enemy will try to sell us a map with directions of deception; a short cut to our destination. The map of the enemy will lead us down detours that cause worry, poor health, delaying us from our destination and will ultimately lead its followers to road blocks of fear; dead end.
Fearful thoughts of what will happen next, flood our minds, freezing our ability to react and move forward. We feel lost as reality sets in; we've followed the wrong map. It led us directly to the destiny it was created for, away from God, and we know who created it. Against our better judgment, we chose to ignore the logical reasoning presented in our original plans, under the direction of God, thought he Holy Spirit.
But then we remember that we still have God's map hidden away in a compartment of our hearts; thanks to God's grace and mercy of allowing the Holy Spirit to defrost our frozen state of fear with warming thoughts of wisdom. We can still make it there, we still have hope. It may take a little longer but we can trust God's plan, a map of truth, His directions.
The directions are clear, they warn us not to take the detours that may tempt us to take, but assure us that this simple straight road will lead us directly to our destination. We are told that the road in narrow and most likely, there won't be a lot of traffic; for most have not chosen this route.
We've lost some time on those detours to worry but next time we'll know. Our plans for tomorrow will not include fear of what it holds because our plan is not ours, but God's. His map is free of cost and free of worry.
May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed. Psalm 20:4
This wilderness journey to the promised land began with Moses leading God's plan for them to reach destination Promised Land. Did you know that there were only two men that were there when the journey began and when it ended at the Promised Land? Moses didn't make it. It was Josuah and Caleb.
Disobedience and lack of faith, made this a long hard journey. Knowing how that disobedience affected the length of the journey, should help us make the wise choice of obeying God's plan that he has for us. Josuah followed God's plans, completely obeying God and they finally made it. Many died on that journey too, as a result of disobedience.
Many people think that prosperity and success come from having power, influential personal contacts, and a relentless desire to get ahead. But the strategy for gaining prosperity that God taught Joshua goes against such criteria.
He said that to succeed Joshua must :
1. Be strong and courageous because the task ahead would not be easy.
2.Obey God's law
3.Constantly read and study the Book of the Law-God's Word.
To be successful, follow God's words to Joshua. You may not succeed by the world's standards, but you will be a success in God's eyes-and his opinion lasts forever.
Always allowing God to lead the plans we make will help us reach our destination safe and sound. Whether it's a family outing, an event, a goal; include God in the plans, follow His lead. In life, follow the examples that we've been given in Christ and other successful leaders just as Joshua.
Plan carefully with God and plan for success. We have so many opportunities to claim Victory in Jesus!
Claim them All in Jesus Name,
Prayer:
Holy Father, our Friend and Guide, thank you for teaching us the right way and the wrong way as we make plans.so there are no excuses for the choices we make. We choose to serve you and we ask you to forgive us for choosing the wrong way when we knew where it would lead us. Help us to remember what we've learned to be true from you and even from the mistakes we make and utilize this wisdom to make choices based on your truth in all of our plans, whether as a parent, a worker, a student, a leader or a friend. We lift our praises to you with love and adoration. Our goal is to glorify your name in everything that we do here on earth and on into our final goal of making heaven our home, our eternal destination is you. We worship you Lord. Amen.
