We diligently make plans. God decides which ones work. And His work is actually us.

“The LORD will work out his plans for my life.” – Psalm 138:8, NLT

Have you ever been concerned that you might PLAN yourself right out of God’s will?  Or miss His will because you weren’t paying attention to some fuzzy clue?

Congratulations. Only someone who desires to glorify God would even have such a concern. 

Good news: 

“The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” – Psalm 32:8, NLT

We can TRUST God to come and find us if we get too far into an aim that is not His will, or He’ll lovingly correct us in the midst of it and teach us a lesson.

God is not an angry Father who is ready to punish us for getting a few things wrong about our planning.  Instead, He wants to use our planning to reinforce dependence on His wisdom and Spirit, as we execute good plans (which He often has a part in inspiring). 

When Peter was going the wrong direction after Jesus’ resurrection, the Lord Himself came and retrieved him (John 21:3-19), graciously restored him, and clarified and confirmed Peter’s true calling (Feed His lambs).

Think about it this way, the gracious Holy Spirit of Jesus within us is like a spiritual compass of sorts, and always points true north (God’s Will).   Because He is a Good Shepherd (John 10:11), we can trust that no matter how “OFF” we get, He can always be counted on to redirect/nudge us back into His will because He loves us.

But how do we get it right more of the time?

The shortcut is to pray more.  More prayer will equal more union with the Lord’s heart. 

Bring your plans before Him again and again. 

But while you’re at it, deliberately and patiently ask Him to search your heart. He may have more He wants to do IN you before He can do more THROUGH you.

Often we are worried about our PLANS being in sync with God’s plans when we SHOULD be more concerned about our HEARTS being in sync with His. 

God cares about who we are becoming.

I’ve found that the Lord is often much more concerned with who I am becoming on the inside than what I’m attempting to accomplish in His name.

So bring Him your plans in prayer again. Day and night.

Pray things like,

• “Lord, help me pray with the right motives, for the right things, in the right amounts.”
• “Slow things down if You need to  – or speed them up.” 
• “But whatever You do, conform my heart to Your image.”

We diligently make plans. God decides which ones work. And His work is actually us.