by David Brenneman
"Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them." Psalms 139:16.
Before you were ever born, God already had a plan for your life. He saw you - the real you, fearfully and wonderfully made, with all the traits and imperfections that make you a unique creation. Of course, there may be things about how God created you that you wish were different. But you do not have to understand everything that the Lord has said; you must simply believe that when He says He has a plan for you, He does.
You may trust that fact in part, but you may also have doubts
because of what has occurred in your past - times when you messed up or when the Lord acted in a manner that you didn't expect. Remember, Jesus always brings redemption. Not only does He forgive you when you repent of your sins, but He also redeems the difficulties of your life and brings good from them.
Christ created you for a purpose - one that He brings about as you obey Him. Trust how He leads you. Let Him guide your life because He assuredly has the best plan.
Jesus, I do not understand all You're doing, but I will trust You. Thank You for Your awesome plan. Amen.
-Trusting God with Today
It's oh so easy to lose hope when we see something we've had or had been chasing disappear from our view. We sometimes wonder what we did or if it was something or someone else.
My Dear Reader all those thoughts are missing a vital point of view. We who are in Christ are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that we might walk in them. That's exactly what we read in Paul's letter to the Ephesians (2:10).
The direction of your life is part n parcel with your level of obedience and trust in God's plan for you.
We can easily go full throttle in our emotional reactions to sudden changes in our lives. To be sure, having never been fired before, such a reaction was mine. Fears threatened to overshadow the truth: God permitted this.
Now hindsight is pretty much always 20/20. We gain a lot of insight looking back over things because of the increasing amount of information and conversation that took place. This isn't to say we know everything so the spiritual reality is that it's still not 20/20.
I won't know the full details of all that's gone on in my life until my Savior explains it to me after I get to Heaven and am with Him. Until then it's speculation. Same goes with anyone's exclamation of "I knew it!" We don't know what God knows. We don't know what we were spared. We don't know what that particular season of life was meant to prepare us for. We don't know when we need to be made to lie down as King David wrote in Psalms 23.
We are to trust and obey. As 2 Corinthians 5:7 says "for we walk by faith, not by sight".
The plans that He has for each of us in Christ...have you ever stopped to consider that thought? Read it. It's right there in the Scriptures. It's about you. Life in Christ isn't about us getting everything we wanted because of our relationship with Jesus. It's about Him getting everything He wanted of us with all our heart, mind, soul and spirit through our love for Him.
"For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11.
Don't be surprised when you're presented with something you've thought you really wanted. For me, I think I have been learning to want what Jesus wants of me with regards to my next job. I may be choosing between one kind of job vs another. I may have only one choice. I know my prayer has been that I wouldn't be confused as to which to choose. But that's not to say that Satan's schemes won't include an offer that's everything I ever wanted in a job to throw myself into confusion.
As someone once said "God gives His best to those who leave the choice to Him".
My dreams and desires are what I think I would be the happiest in doing or living. The same is probably true of everyone on the planet.
"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us," Ephesians 3:20.
We don't know what it is with 100% clarity that which would make us the most happy.
We can't because the reality is this is a sin cursed world.
To take up our own cross and follow Jesus means to not take up our dreams and desires ahead of obedience to God's Word.
God has a plan for your life, just as He has for mine. When we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness THEN all these things will be added unto us.
My thoughts on what my plans are for me look wonderful. I would bet yours do too. The thing is...those might not achieve for the kingdom of God what He needs me to do. He will provide a sense of happiness from another way.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6.
Having spent much of 7 months in virtual silence in searching for a new job, this year is starting out differently. But I think I am learning that my happiness in a job might not look like what I think it should.
Your happiness, true happiness, might not come from a direction you ever envisioned. But you and I will only experience it by indeed trusting in the Lord with all our heart.
Jeremiah was referred to as the weeping prophet. Yet the Lord DID take care of him all his days. Countless people have benefited from his book in the Bible. The Lord directed King Nebuchadnezzar to specifically order that Jeremiah be treated well and for his people to listen to what he wanted done. This was before his conversion later read of in Daniel.
We will look back over our lives and will see the fingerprints of God over everything. As Paul wrote He is the Potter and we are the clay. He molds and shapes our lives for His honor and glory. We are yet still here after coming to Christ for only 2 reasons. To grow in Christ and for His plans for us to come to fruition.
"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:1-2.
All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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