In college, I learned the phrase…”Prior planning prevents poor performance”
Spontaneity can be fun, on occasion, for pleasure, vacations, quick trips however for business and much of life …
Most of us function better when we have a plan or know the plan we are to follow
Think about it…to win in any sport you must have plan, to succeed in business you must have a plan…everything is designed with a plan, our homes, vehicles, what about our lives?
Everything successful comes with a plan..
Did you ever ask yourself…”Why am I here?” It is important to answer that question because it does reveal a plan
Let me give you the answer to that question
- It is not an accident that you are here….
- No matter what anyone may have told you or taught you about how you were conceived no one is an accident
Psalm 139:15-17
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. 16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. 17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!
No matter what others may think of you or even what you may think of yourself…it is God that created you, he numbered every day that you would live and this scripture alludes to the idea that all of those days would be for the good, because every day is a gift from God….James tell us in chapter 1 that all good gifts come from God, everything coming from God is good…no mistakes
Would God always be loving, caring, and thinking about a mistake? No, His thoughts about you are precious, loving, caring, so many that no one can count them….who would care about a mistake like that?
I need to ask you though, what are your thoughts about you? God sees you as precious, priceless, loved, perfect, because of what Jesus did on the cross for you…the way you see yourself can cause you to feel as if you are a mistake or a gift!
….you are not an accident or a mistake…you have been chosen, designed, purposed, planned.
Even when we feel we have blown it and all hope is gone and we are sure we are the biggest mistake in the world God says no we aren’t
Psalm 138:8
The LORD will work out his plans for my life—for your faithful love, O LORD, endures forever.
Don’t abandon me, for you made me.
He won’t ever abandon you! Why? Because you may never have felt real love before but He really loves you because you are His…and from even before you were born, He was faithful to you and will lead you into His plan
- God has a plan
How do I know He has a plan? He said so…and everything has a plan from the sunrise, the bumblebee, the ant, the eagle, the lion, they are all created, designed to fulfill a plan and so are you!
Here is what God says about you and your future
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
God has plans for me? Yes he does….he told us already that he knew us while we were in our mothers womb (utter seclusion), he has our days numbered….that certainly sounds like a plan…He designed you…for His pleasure, yes but also for our pleasure as well…we will get that in a moment but notice His plans are for your good!
Is your life good? Do you feel fulfilled, at peace? Do you feel love and give love regularly?
Is your life a disaster…worried all of the time, miserable, feeling as if you are a constant failure? Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel only to find that it is a train coming from the opposite direction?
His plan is so that you would look forward to your future not dread it, both your immediate future and your eternity and that you would always have hope….
Hope doesn’t always come easily Paul tells us that sometimes, trials and tribulations birth in us a perseverance…as we persevere it builds our character and the building of our character cause hope to be built because we know how to always overcome…the trials of this world aren’t meant to break us only help us allow God to show us how to overcome so we can teach others to follow.
I mentioned earlier that God means for us to enjoy life to have pleasure…He designed you to win not to fail…Jesus said in John 15:11
“I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!”
- He wants your joy to overflow…is it? If it isn’t then let’s talk for just a couple minutes about the things that he told the people to make their joy full…Remember he designed and created us all to be fulfilled and have joy but here is what He said we need to do (Read John 15: 1-11 at a later time)
-Remain in Jesus…in other words get to know him, build a relationship with him and live like he is with you always (because he is) that requires us, like any relationship to get to know him…we do that by reading about him, talking to him, and spending time with others that are growing in their relationship with him
– Bear fruit…I’m not a tree what does that mean? Jesus talked about fruit as loving people, helping them to understand His love for them so they would stop being miserable and making others miserable…Paul talked about it being love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, meekness, kindness, Faithfulness, and self-control…all the things that make us feel free and good about ourselves and help us bring hope to others and ourselves.
– Obey his commandments – its shows we really do love him…his commandments can be summed up pretty easily…love God with heart, mind, soul, and strength and love people the way you want them to love you…and then tell others about the relationship you have and the love you have found so they too can have joy and hope
Do this and your joy is full…do this and you are fulfilling the plan…decide to do it every day and your life will be a success and you will have lived a purpose-filled life and changed the world
Do you feel you have that today? If so, great keep it up but if not in a moment I’m going to ask you to allow someone to pray for so you can start your journey going from miserable, unfulfilled to life and love filled and a relationship that will cause you to have a hope and a future…This is the real plan you were created for…let’s not waste another minute