“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11, ESV)

How did you get here? You had dreams and hopes when you were young. But now you find yourself in a place that you never expected to be. You are not sure how you ended up here. But it is not where you wanted to be.

Your past does not equal your future. You cannot change the past, but you have influence over the future. The decisions of the past determined your present. But the decisions that you are making today will determine your future. Tomorrow can be different from today. You don’t need to stay where you are. It’s time to make a new future.

Start by understanding what led to your current situation. What are the habits, the decisions, and the pitfalls that held you back? What can you change that will help you avoid repeating the same patterns and achieving the same results?

Next, seek the vision for your future. What I mean by this is know where you are going. Most people don’t have any plans for the future. They are simply drifting in life. We spend more time planning our vacations and our next meal than we spend planning our lives. Most people react to their circumstances rather than shaping their circumstances. Sometimes we have wind put into our sails. Other times the wind blows against us. If you leave yourself to the fate of the wind, you will never get anywhere.

Finally, realize that we do not have total control over everything. There are things that happen to us that have no explanation. But you are not a victim. You are more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ who loves us. Believe in his providence. The circumstances you are experiencing today may be shaping a future calling that you have not yet realized. God can use whatever circumstances you face for good.

We seek God’s will in all things. It begins and ends with him. He has the plan. He has the way. He has the power to change your circumstance. His invitation is for you to discover what he has made you to be. Learn from the past and seek his will moving forward.

Reflection

1. Are you content with your current pursuits?
2. How do you determine God’s plans for you?

Prayer

Lord, I know that you have plans for me. Those plans are to prosper me and not to harm me. Those plans are to give me a hope and a future. Help me to recognize those areas of my life where I have made poor decisions that have led me wayward. Give me your Holy Spirit to give me wisdom that I would not be a victim of my circumstance, but that I would live out my calling in a bold and courageous way. Amen.

“Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.” (Proverbs 16:3, ESV)

What gets the greater emphasis in life? Prayer or planning?

There are two extremes. On one extreme is to pray and leave all the results to God without doing anything. The other extreme is to plan without prayer. Both of these extremes are wrong.

Most of us lean towards one of the two extremes. Maybe you are more a prayer person, or maybe you are more a planning person. God does not call us to be one or the other. He calls us to be both – prayer people and planning people.

There is a balance. Pastor Mark Batterson says, “pray as if it depends upon God and work as if it depends on you.” This is the believer’s way of saying hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

God calls us to pray. God also calls us to plan. There is a balance. We start with prayer, but we don’t end with prayer. Sometimes there is a person who is going through a crisis. The advice that is given them is to just pray. But that advice may not seem all that helpful if they have been praying. God does not make us passive victims of fate in some cosmic battle that is waging. He has equipped us with the Holy Spirit. Yes, we are to pray, but then we are to take the courage and the faith that God gives to us in prayer and act upon it. Make plans and execute those plans. Yes, pray! But don’t stop with prayer.

But maybe you are not as much a prayer person as you are a planning person. You got a problem, so you make your plans. You seek your solution. And then you ask God to bless your plan. You ask God to provide your solution. It is good that you are planning, but the problem is that you are planning without prayer. Prayer is the afterthought.

An example where this plays out is when a person loses his job. He sets a plan to find a new job. And then he prays to God to help him get that new job. You see the starting point was finding the new job. The solution was automatically to become employed. That is our plan. That is our solution. And it might very well be God’s solution. But maybe the season of unemployment is to lead you in a different direction. Or maybe the time without a job is an opportunity to gain a new experience. But if we are so focused on our plans without prayer, we might miss the thing that God is doing.

Instead of first determining the solution, start by seeking God in prayer. See where he would lead and the solution he would determine. Our plans are not always God’s plan. And we will find it much easier to succeed when we go with God’s plan.

Pray first. Then plan. Pray again. Then execute the plan.

Reflection

1. Do you give greater emphasis to prayer or with planning?
2. Do you have something in your life where you have prayed, but failed to take action?
3. Do you have plans that you need to set aside so you can seek God’s will?

Prayer

Lord, sometimes I am paralyzed to inaction. I bring you my worries and concerns. You speak faith and courage into my life, and then I fail to take action. There are other times when I rush ahead of you with my plans and fail to seek your voice. Forgive me for failing to pray. Forgive me for failing to plan. Grant me your Holy Spirit that I would have the wisdom to pray and to plan so that your will would be accomplished in my life and that your kingdom would come through my words and actions. Amen.

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3, ESV)

God is holy. To be holy means to be set apart. It means to be different. It means to think, look, and act differently from everything around you.

God is holy because God is without sin. God is holy because he can do what no one else can do. God is holy because there is none like him. He stands over all.

He is complete in perfection, goodness, and power. When God’s complete perfection is revealed in its fullness, it is humbling and even terrifying to us who are weak, sinful, and unholy. Consider Isaiah when God’s holiness was revealed. Isaiah cries out:

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5, ESV)

As terrifying as it might be, God invites you into his holiness. He says to be holy because he is holy (see Leviticus 11:44-45). We are not holy and could never enter that holiness on our own. But through Jesus, we are made holy. God chooses to make holy what he will make holy. And he chose you to be holy through Jesus. He clothes you in his holiness when you receive the gift of salvation by faith.

Now God calls us to grow in this holiness. As we follow Jesus, we are being perfected in holiness each day (2 Corinthians 7:1). We are empowered and strengthened by the Holy Spirit for this growth. The theological word for this process is sanctification. It is to live more pure and blameless. It is to set aside more and more each day the thoughts, words, and actions in our lives that are not from God.

A Pastor friend of mine says, “come as you are, but don’t stay where you are at.” When you encounter God, you will be changed. If you know Jesus and the Holy Spirit resides in your heart, you cannot stay the same.

Reflection

1. Where do you recognize your growth in holiness?
2. Where do you need to grow in holiness?

Prayer

Lord, you are holy. We are a people of unclean lips. We are humbled by your majesty. We are to often filled with impure motives. Give us your Spirit. Clothe us with the holiness of Christ. May he be our righteousness. Help us grow each day in holiness to walk in purity and blamelessness until we are received into your kingdom. Amen.