~By Jen Cook~
Are you task-oriented, goal-oriented or both? Are you beginning to follow New Year’s “resolutions” that you have promised to yourself, to begin on January the 1st? Just completed days ago, were the final touches on yearly Annual Plans for the 2019 year. And we are excited to see how God orchestrates the timing in all that will be accomplished as we daily look to Jesus, trust Him to lead us, guide us, give the strategy and strength as we walk in tandem with Him, watching His plans and purposes unfold for our lives.
If someone aims for nothing, they will surely hit it! Desiring to make personal changes for our lives is good and in some cases even necessary, however, writing promises in a journal or simply making more promises to self and relying on our own strength to consistently keep those is, for many of us, the beginning of soon-coming disappointment. I don’t know about you but I would much rather be set up for success from the very start by following the wisdom that is from the Word of God about plans and seeing them come to fruition. These verses have been at the fore-front of my planning for years. Matthew 6:33, Proverbs 16:3, Proverbs 16:9 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you….Commit your works to the LORD and your thoughts (plans) will be established….A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs (establishes) his steps.”
There is a difference between resolutions as we understand them to be for the New Year and the plans and purposes of God in the lives of Believers. When Believers seek God’s will for their lives and focus on Him for divine guidance to understand what that will is, we demonstrate a humble heart because we made Him a priority and the focus, we deferred to Him, we have set self aside. The Word says that we will have all that we need when we do this because Heaven will always honor our honoring of the Father. By both faith and also trust, as we ask and wait for answers, we can also watch God begin to bring to fruition what He wills in our lives, that will always be for our good and never for our destruction. And the hidden gem, so to speak in this, is that we get to do this in partnership with God, because as we seek Him and His will for our lives, these very downloads from above, become our very hearts’ desires for our lives.
His plans and goals will never be contrary to His Word. Rather, they will likely be bigger than ourselves and influential for both the “here and now” and eternity. Whether we are in ministry or we are not, this is the privilege of each Believer, to be close to, one with, flow as one with their Father God as Jesus the Son does. John 17:21-23 “That they all may be one, as You,
Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one….”
So be pro-active and goal-set. Be excited, dream new dreams, persevere in God, never give up. Start fresh, look to and rely on Him, not self, and let’s do this from the very first part of the new year, year after year! These “treasures” from Him…goals, heart’s desires, dreams, divine direction and more, they will replace well-meant but self-focused resolutions and give more credence for a longer-lasting satisfaction in our personal lives and then influence the world around us as we become salt and light.
My goals and your goals as down-loads from Heaven, that come from waiting in the Lord’s Presence, that are unique and special and tailored just for you, will also simultaneously make a lasting impact for eternity as they are walked out. One day soon, the world and flesh and everything in it will pass away but one thing remains for sure: “…He that does the will of God will abide (live) forever.” I John 2:17.
So let’s pray, wait on God, have goals, aim for them, but always remember to lay our plans before the Lord and write them down along with Heaven’s downloads of strategy that will align with His Word. These are the “how-tos” for seeing them accomplished. He has a call on your life and mine, and as we fellowship and walk closely with Him, it will not be hard to hear from Heaven and He will make a way where there seems to be no way for us to be victorious and satisfied ever so deeply in Him. “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.” ~Habakkuk 2:2
In our next blog, we will talk about how to walk in-step with Jesus, what that means, and how to deal with distractions along the way that would try to move us off-course as we labor toward achieving His goals and dreams for our lives.
We are believing with you for this to be the most blessed best New Year ever for your lives and also for ours’!
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