Can you think of at least one situation when you expected one thing and ended up with another? Like expecting to get X as your first salary but got a lower K? Or expecting to marry your 1st boyfriend/girlfriend but got your heart broken and now you’re back to square one? I can think of a lot of my plans that didn’t turn out to be the one I wrote on paper so many years ago. But even though we’re not certain of what lies ahead, we still make goals and 5, 10-year plans so we can work towards something, not aimlessly wandering through life. So, what’s the first step in goal-setting? Thinking of what you want to achieve in life from big picture to the specific. You then write it down using the smart method (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely). Right?
I would like to recommend a new first step, before the thinking of your plan: Pray to God that your plans may be in line with His. Ask Him to lead your heart to where He wants you to go, to what He wants you to be. You see, we might not know where we are going, but He knows. In fact, He knows everything, He’s never surprised. So let’s save ourselves the headache of the consequences to our self-appointed plans and entrust our goals and plans to Him.
So we’ve prayed to Him to lead us, but how will we know if our plans are in line with His? Here are some guidelines I use:
- Read the Bible: the more you read His word, the more you’ll know His heart. His messages to you through the bible will serve as guiding principles as you make your plans or reassess them.
- Be consistent with your quiet time: God is everywhere, and you can also find His messages everywhere. But I get more secure that it’s His message I’m receiving when I get it during quiet time/ bible study time. And the more I’m consistent and serious about my quiet time, the more clearly and consistent His messages are.
- Don’t forget to write down His messages in your journal: Sometimes a verse strikes me but I can’t relate it to my now. But fast forward a few days or weeks, when I reread my journal, His message becomes clearer. I may have been too focused on what I wanted or distracted that I missed it before. There are also times when I get confused and worried if my plans are really in line with His, or maybe I’m making this up all by myself? My journal reminds me of His messages and these messages assure me of God’s promises.
- Pray, pray, pray: Always pray, be honest with Him, talk about what you’re thinking, what you’re confused about, what’s burdening you right now. And listen. Eventually, we’ll realize that our prayers are changing, either from problem-focused to thanksgiving, or from insisting on our personal wants to lifting everything to Him and asking the Holy Spirit to guide us and be the one to work in us because we can’t do anything good, or everything we do will be worthless, without Him.
- Make sure that the Great Commission is a part of your plans: Let us also take note of Christ’s great commission, the one Christ instructed the apostles before He went to heaven. This should always be a part of our plans: Matthew 28:19-20 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jeremiah 29:11 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.
Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NASB) 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
Deuteronomy 7:9 (NASB) Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments
Psalm 48:14 (NASB) For such is God, Our God forever and ever; He will guide us until death.
coffee talks with Him 