The Plan!

"And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him." (Ephesians 1:10-14 NLT)

Everyone makes plans if they are going to succeed. Someone once said, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!" That makes sense to me. No one has really experienced success at doing anything without a plan.

Athletic coaches have a plan to win--sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but when it doesn't, they revise/modify the plans until they do work.

Inventors have a plan--a plan that sometimes has to be modified to be successful.

Good parents, sometimes, have plans for their children, but they don't always work because children grow up and exercise their ability to decide for themselves.

Without a plan, people have difficulty not running around in circles--constantly moving and getting nowhere or being stuck in a rut.

And this is what happens to us. God has a plan for our lives--plans for us to have abundant lives, joy, and happiness and to prosper as our souls prosper, but we think we know better than Him and make our own decisions without consulting Him and the Plan has to be modified until He can get us to see His plan is better. So, He waits for us and sometimes we see His plan coming together in our lives (when we obey) and sometimes we don't (when we refuse to accept His plan).

What is His plan? Salvation--atonement for all mankind for the sins we are capable of committing--Jesus made the sacrifice for all so we wouldn't have to do it. What a marvelous plan He has for our lives--Jews and Gentiles and anyone else who is willing to accept His plan through His Son.

I've lived enough of my life without His plan operating in my life to know that I prefer His Plan! His plan has been thoroughly detailed and He has forgotten absolutely nothing. The modification needed--is a change in my desire to see His plan work as He planned it, not me. Glory to God! Better seeing it late than not at all.

While I understand the tendency of people to blame God for all the bad stuff that happens in their lives, I always raise the question--what could I have done differently or how did I miss what You said? I'm not blaming Him for my missteps in life. Those were my decisions and I have to accept responsibility for them. Had I known earlier in my life that His plan was so much better; I would have listened--sooner.

For those who refuse to believe He is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do--for all who believe--I'm praying that you, too will learn to listen and accept what He has in store for you because His plan--is better than any plan you could ever have.