What's your plan?

Do you have goals for your life? Do you have long range goals that you hope to achieve within say, ten years or so? Do you have short range goals that you hope to achieve within this next week, or maybe over the next month or two? So what are your plans? Do you have a plan? Do you have dreams that you'd like to see come about in the future? What are you doing to make those dreams a reality?

When you think about those questions, your answers may be like mine... You realize that some dreams have come true and others have not. Priorities have changed due to circumstances of life and now you have new hopes and dreams. Maybe you still have a deep yearning to achieve the dreams or dream you've had for years, but you are frustrated that it hasn't come to pass and you feel like giving up. God promises to help us. He will direct our steps as we seek to accomplish our goals. There's one very important thing we must do first however, and that is... "Make a plan and then act on it."

Proverbs 16:9 says this.. A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

Have you ever found yourself praying for God to help you achieve this goal or that goal only to sense that it's just not ever going to happen. You wonder why your prayers are failing. You never see any evidence that your making progress towards your dream. Sure, you believe that God can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, but there you sit, no dreams coming true. It's discouraging and at times can even test our faith. My question to you is this... "What are your plans to make it come true?" "What are you doing about it?"

In my line of work nothing ever just happens. If I want to achieve sales, I have to have a plan on what to do to achieve sales. If I want to have a wonderful relationship with my wife, I have to have a plan on what I'm going to do to ensure that I make progress on my relationship with my wife. If I want to be promoted within 5 years, then I have to have a plan that I'm working to make progress towards reaching my goal of getting promoted within 5 years. I've heard it said many times over the years... "If you aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time." What about your spiritual walk? What plans do you have there. If I want to have a better relationship with the Lord I must develop a plan that I can work to start making progress in improving my relationship with the Lord. I've actually said a prayer something like this (see if it sounds familiar)... "Dear Lord, help me to be a better Christian, a better witness, a better husband, a better"... you fill in the blank." "If the Lord would speak to me he'd probably say... sure, make a plan and start doing something and I'll direct you on what to do next."

Proverbs 16:9 gives us some insight to how this works. Make a plan and get to work on your plan, as you proceed with your plan, God will direct your steps. So often we want to reach a goal yet we sit and wait (while praying and believing) for God to drop it into our lap. It doesn't work that way. God expects for us to use the brain he's given us and make a plan to move towards our goals and dreams. If we want to see the supernatural "Big dreams that we just can't see happening" come true, then we need to plan and act upon that plan with our natural ability and then let God direct us and help us achieve our goals with His supernatural ability. That's why it's important to have long range goals. Goals that you can dream of achieving one day, but deep down you know it's going to take God's involvement for it to happen. As you plan and work your plan, you will make progress towards your goal. The goal you set is the end result. There are lots of little goals along the way that we can celebrate as we achieve them, but as we achieve each short range goal, we get closer and closer to our long range goal.

How do you eat an elephant? One piece at a time, that's how! Imagine how difficult of a task this would be. It would appear impossible, but with each bite we get closer and closer to our goal. Finally through a series of achieving smaller goals by being persistent we reach our ultimate goal of eating the whole elephant.
So... if you want to be successful at whatever it is that you feel God is leading you to do. Draw up a plan of how you think you can get there. Then step out in faith and work your plan. Remember, God can not direct your steps, if you haven't even moved. Step out and work your plan and see how God directs your steps. He may allow you to intersect with the right people that can help you in your career. He may open the door to a particular job or event that can help you accomplish your goals. One things for certain. A man's heart plans his way, then the Lord directs his steps. Let's get moving!