GOD'S PLAN FOR YOU

God has a plan for your life…but do you have a plan to accomplish God’s plan?

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us, “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.” God thinks about us and has prepared a future for us filled with goodness, peace and hope. 

Many people believe that if God has a good plan for them that He will cause it to happen. But that is not completely true. God cannot work against our own wills. When God created man, He created us with free wills. If we choose not to obey God or follow on His good path for us, He cannot go against what we choose and make the goodness happen. We must cooperate with God. We must work alongside God to have the kind of life He desires for us.

God has planned success for you, but you must plan to succeed. All your wishing will not make success find you. You may have big dreams, but if you only sit around dreaming they will never become reality. You will work towards goals, but you will only fantasize about wishes. And fantasy is not reality. 

Many people want to become millionaires. But what are you doing with the $10 you have now? Are you a tither? Do you use that money wisely? Do you have a plan of how you can earn more money? Do you have a plan of how you will spend, save and bless others with the money you will earn? A wise man once said, “If you aim at nothing you will hit it every time.” The way to become a millionaire is to walk in the steps God has laid out for you.

Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.” God has placed goals and dreams in your heart. Those goals and dreams will come to pass if you commit your way to the Lord. You must make sure that the goals and dreams in your heart are His goals and dreams. Are you only desiring to be rich so you can have nice things and so others will envy you? Or is your desire to help and
bless others? Selfish or selfless? The more time you spend with God and with His Word, the more your true desires will be clear to you. Your goals will be His goals. Success is guaranteed when you partner with God; when your goals are His goals.

Success begins with doing one thing. Every journey begins with a first step. For example, when I was a new Christian I wanted to take a vacation. I wanted to travel for two months. I had a minimum wage job at the time. It seemed impossible. I needed money to pay the rent for two months while I was away; money to buy food and a place to stay for two months while I traveled. I started planning months before I wanted to go. I got maps, planned the route, planned where I would stay and what I would do and I came up with the amount of money I thought I needed to save. Then I took the first step of my journey. I sold my car. That gave me a big chunk of money in the bank towards my trip. Then I planned out the bare minimum I could exist on out of each paycheck and put the rest in the bank every Friday. For the next several months I walked to work every day. It was three miles to work and three miles back home. And I walked it in the sun, in the rain and in the snow! And I was happy because I was getting closer to my goal. I didn’t go to a movie or buy anything at the mall. I didn’t go out to eat. I saved everything. I reached my goal and I took my trip. And I enjoyed myself!

God can uncover opportunities for you to reach your goals if you are committed to Him. God can give you creative ideas of how to reach your goals. What seems impossible will be within your grasp if you do it God’s way. What one thing can you do to reach your goal today? Start by identifying your goal. Make a plan of what you need to reach that goal. Make a timetable to accomplish the goal. Keep your goal in your vision.
Keep your dream alive. Keep checking to see how close you are to your goal.

Some people give up on their goals because they believe they do not have the time. I challenge you to do an assessment of your daily routine. Is there any wasted time? Can you rearrange your schedule to make it more efficient? Can you give up some time wasters? Can you do two things at once to maximize your time? You will find whole blocks of time you didn’t know you had. Now, make the best use of that time to help you reach your goal.

You can do many things in even short periods of time. If you spend 15 or 20 minutes a day working towards your goal you are still moving forward. You can progress towards your goal by educating yourself. I have found that iTunesU has many courses I can take – for free! I’ve learned everything from how to cook certain recipes to how to use Microsoft Word by watching YouTube videos. You could learn a foreign language even if you had only 20 minutes a day. Can’t find time to read your Bible? If you give up watching one television program you would have an hour. Wow, you could read a lot in one hour! No time to pray? What about while you are taking your shower or riding the bus to work. There really are no good excuses. When God places a desire, a dream, in your heart, He also provides a way to attain it.

Sometimes students say to me, “God sent me to this school!” I always agree. I know He did. There are some students who say this when they have failed a test. What they are saying is that God sent them to the school therefore they cannot fail. And it always comes with a little attitude as if the teacher is standing in their way and preventing them from graduating. Because God sent them to the school they should pass. You see, this is an attitude of entitlement. “I am entitled to pass this class because God sent me here. He is obligated to make me pass.” This is misguided. Yes, God sent you to school. But the burden is not on God. The burden is not on me. The burden is on you! God gave you the opportunity. God made a way. Now, you must study. Now, you must discipline yourself. Now, you must make the effort to pass!

John Osteen has a wonderful message called “How Big is Your Want-To?” How big is your want-to to pass the class? Is it big enough to spend time reading your textbook? Is it big enough to study and memorize scripture for the test? Is it big enough to come to school on Saturday to one of the Study Seminars we have? Or are your Excuses bigger than your Want-to? If you have a big enough Want-to you are going to get big
things from God. If you have a big enough Want-to you are going to achieve the dreams and goals God has placed in your heart.

Think about your life in five years. How old will you be? What will your life look like? How will you get from the life you have now to the life you want to have? You must do something now to achieve the life you want.. You must make a change. God will not make you change. You must change and He will help you. But your Want-to will have to lead the way. Remember, we said that success begins with one step. But one step leads to another step which leads to another step. And those little bits of change add up to a new life. If you will consistently make one step changes towards your goal, towards the life you want to have, you will see that future taking shape before your eyes. 

What one step will you take today to start your journey?
Can you read a chapter in your Bible?!
Can you listen to a faith-building message on the radio?!
Can you take a class?!
Can you teach yourself a skill?

God does indeed have big plans for your life. And you are planning to cooperate with God to make those plans become a reality. Your life will be blessed so that you can be a blessing to many others. You will read and think about God’s Word and you will be careful to do what He says. Your ways will be prosperous and you will have good success! (Joshua 1:8)

Some action steps you can take:

1. Read or listen to good books. Feeding yourself good ideas will raise your vision. Read the Bible! Borrow books from others. Borrow books from the library. The library also has books on tapes or CDs. Set a goal to read for 15 minutes a day. Soon you will be so interested you will want to read longer! (Make sure you are reading faith building books! Life Christian University has a library full of faith- building books.)

2. Find a workshop, conference or class. Many are free. Many churches offer free workshops. Life Christian University offers you one free course!

3. Podcasts are free. You can listen on your computer or phone. Look for good Christian speakers. Or topics that you are interested in learning about. Go to the website wofr.org and you can listen to round the clock Word of Faith music and messages. FREE!!

by Dr. Eve Gualtieri