Your Plan Is Gods Plan

chapter 2

Take time to consider where your plans are taking you compared to what God desires for you.

“But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today” (Deuteronomy 8:18).

I do not believe the Israelites or people today intentionally want to forget the Lord. It is just that sin and selfish desires cloud our hearts and spiritual vision. Truth is, because of the Israelite’s choices and rebellion toward God, He allowed other nations to rise up and take the Israelites captive. The time of captivity and exile that the Israelites experienced was not to hurt or destroy the Israelites; but rather to place them in a position so they would lift their eyes to heaven and seek God once again.

Many people focus on verse 11: ‘“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”’ And they think God does not care about them when some trouble comes their way. When in fact it is quite the opposite. Many times we cannot understand what God is doing.

This verse is not intended to give you the idea that the Lord will keep you from ever being tested or from having a future without difficulty. It is not a verse that implies that you will not experience physical harm, sickness, relational troubles, employment layoffs or any number of circumstances that can come against you in this life. Rather, this is a word that is speaking of spiritual blessings and plans of God that are greater than any physical blessing and future here on earth. It is a word that speaks of a hope and a future that the people of God (the Christian) can have in Christ.

Don’t try to force your plans or shortcut God’s plan or timing. Throughout scripture God’s desire is the redemption of all mankind. It is for the people of God to have fellowship and eternal life with Him. God’s plan for you is the same; it is to prosper and grow spiritually in Christ. His plan to give you a hope and future has never changed. Your hope and future is in Jesus. All creation’s hope and future is in Jesus.

God has made the mystery of salvation known to you, that He purposed in Christ. You have a hope and future in Jesus. A hope and future of eternal life with Him in glory. A hope and future that is beyond anything you know or understand.

Do not put your hope in this life. Do not place your hope in what you can do with your hands. The situation you are in will not last forever. Look to the Lord where your hope and help comes from. Look to the Lord, your future is in Christ, not the doctors, the president, or the things of this world.

You have a hope and a future in Christ. But God doesn’t stop you from making a bad decision or doing the wrong thing; sometimes you go through suffering because someone else’s sin or a health problem or a natural disaster. But regardless of your mistakes or the difficulty that comes your way, God has a purpose for you.

No matter what happens, God is in control and He will continue to draw you back to the plan for your life

Wouldn’t it be perfect if God would send down a blueprint for each of our lives? What if, when we were born, we came with an instruction manual that he wrote out for us? A manual that would outline what we should do to follow His plan for our lives?

Sometimes, life can be so confusing and stressful that it can be difficult to understand what God wants for us over the noise of the world and the sounds of all the obligations pulling at us. And the truth is, God knows what He wants for us is in control of our plans. He has the blueprint for our lives drawn up. He is guiding us and putting seeds in our hearts and, like a gardener, He waters the seeds He plants within our hearts. God sees you, He hears you, and He answers your prayers.

This life can be hard, but through trials, the Lord makes us stronger. During times of tribulation, our faith is able to grow and multiply. Romans 5:3-5 shows us that suffering produces perseverance and character, which leads to hope that allows Gods to pour into our hearts through the Holy Spirt.

While there is pressure from society to succeed and meet a certain standard that the world holds us to, through God and the calling He places on our lives, we are able to achieve what He wants for our lives.

Following God’s Plan for Your Life:

1. Be in prayer

A way to know that you are following God’s plan for your life is by being in prayer. Take time each day to devote yourself to the Lord and the plans He has for your life. If you are giving each area of your life to God, then He will bless it and be able to work through it abundantly.

2. Be actively reading in the Word

It is one thing to go to church on Sunday and hear the pastor’s sermon and another when you take time each day to devote to being in God’s word. Taking just a few minutes each day to read what’s in the Word will give you a better understanding of the calling God has put on your life, and it will allow you to better live out the life He desires for you.

3. Follow the commands He puts on your heart

Allow God to guide your steps and trust the dreams He puts on your heart. Believe that He will qualify you and know that if there is a dream that He has placed upon you heart, He will help you achieve it, and He will be glorified in the process.

4. Seek a godly community

It’s a lot easier to follow God’s plans and act in ways that honor him when you have friends around you that encourage you in your walk with the Lord. Seek out a community at church that will hold you accountable and be able to give you godly council.

5. Obey the Truth

Know what is written in the Bible and follow the way He calls you to live. Live by the commandments and intentionally be an example of what a Christ follower should be.

Being an adult in today’s modern age comes with a set of challenges and pressure, but God qualifies us through our shortcomings just like He qualified Moses when He called upon him to lead the Israelites and stand up to the pharaoh. If God has placed the desire of going back to school on your heart, then He will qualify you to do so. He will be there to walk alongside you and aid you in the areas of your own shortcomings.

• As you live your life, are you the type that just lets life happen to you or are you the type who likes to plan out the day and life in general?

• If you are a planner do you just have a general plan for life or do you plan every detail to the nth degree?

• When you plan what goes into your plan? How do you go about putting together the plan? What are some things you consider as you prepare a plan?

• As we have been navigating through the sometimes rough waters in the book of James, we come to another often overlooked aspect of our walk with God.

• Last week we examined a way in which we can tell if we are working on letting Jesus have lordship in our life, this week we will examine a second litmus test as to where we are with the lordship of Jesus in our life.

• The issue at hand today is one in which we can gain insight as to where we see God in our life.

• When you put together a plan, is God in your plan? Is God at the center of your plan or do you formulate a plan and then tell/ask God to bless it?

• Let’s turn to James 4:13-17, we will start in verses 13-14.

• SLIDE #2

• James 4:13–14 (ESV) 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

Customize this sermon

Leaving God out of our plan is not wise because…

I. Life is too short to get it wrong all the time. (13-14)

• In verse 13, James uses the phrase “COME NOW”. This is a vigorous form of address that was used to make sure James had his readers’ attention.

• This as I said before is the second way in which we can measure the amount of Jesus Lordship we allow into our life.

• We start out with the calling, calling out to those who would make plans.

• There is nothing wrong with formulating plans and strategies.

• Some say James is speaking of someone of wealth or a business person. If so, to succeed in business you need to have a plan. That makes sense.

• Show me someone who fails to plan and I will show you someone who plans to fail.

• This issue is not planning but instead how we go about it.

• The way we go about making our plans reveals our attitude about Jesus and where He really fits into our life.

• James is speaking to those who were habitually planning for the future with no thought of Jesus or God’s will as they made the plans.

• We see a plan that was hatched. “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit

• The phrasing of the plan indicates that God had no place in the plan.

• There is a time set for the plan (today or tomorrow), there was a destination set, a time frame in which the plan would take place along with an objective (make a profit).

• Now is there anything wrong with picking a place to go, a time to go, and a time frame in which to operate along with an objective? NO!

• This plan was hatched without considering God’s will.

• In the illustration it is said WE WILL GO. What if that was not what God called them to do? What if the plan was the worst thing in the world for them to do?

• Outside of those possibilities, verse 14 reveals two big reasons as to why we should not leave God out of the plan.

• yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.

• SLIDE #4

• Proverbs 27:1 (ESV) Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

• We do not know what tomorrow will bring. If we do not know what tomorrow brings, what if we could include someone in our plans who does know?

• The implication is that there is one who DOES know what tomorrow brings so would it not be wise to consult the one who knows?

• The second reason we see that planning without God is not wise is found in verse 14 also.

• What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.