His Ambassador Blog

                It is so easy for us to get carried away by planning our life out. I sure did. I thought I knew what was best for myself, who was best for myself, and where it was best for me to be. It is so easy to want to believe that God’s plan will simply align with mine, but really, it must be the other way around.

                Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “The heart wants what the heart wants.” Or you’ve heard, “Follow your heart.” As believers, we should remind ourselves that our heart is deceitful and can often lead us in the wrong direction when we are not directly aligned with God’s heart. Our hearts will tell us what we want. It will come up with a plan that feels comfortable or safe. The plan or desire might even make sense, but if none of these things are from God, we should take no part in them. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of trying to plan my way, simply because it’s hard to put all our trust and our future in one thing. But when that thing is Jesus, we can rest knowing that He knows what’s best for us.

                Isaiah 55:9 says, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” It’s important to remember that while you may think you have your life planned out, God can swiftly show you when that is not His will for you.  He will remove people and He will take away opportunities that are not positively affecting your relationship with Him. He does this because His plan and purpose for every single person are infinitely better than anything we could come up with on our own. God will wreck your plans before your plans wreck you. Hurt in the moment of God’s redirection is better than a lifetime of pain living a life that is not in His will for you. God heard conversations that you didn’t hear, He saw things that you didn’t see. His redirection is out of your protection and for your growth as a believer in Jesus Christ. If your life feels upside down because God just changed your plans, you are not alone. Not only are you not alone but you are about to receive so many blessings. The moment you genuinely let God move in your life you will feel so much joy and you will feel contentment.

                What comes with aligning our hearts with God’s heart is truly beautiful. In Proverbs 16:3 it is promised that if you, “Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.” Another promise from Psalm 37:4 says that you should, “Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Now if we truly believe what the bible says about this, we should be rejoicing! But we also cannot get this confused. The Bible guarantees that when we commit to the Lord and delight in Him, this is when we will receive the desires of our hearts. These desires will not be fleshly because when we are seeking after God’s heart, our desires will change and become more like what God desires for our lives. With that being said, we can’t use these promises to say that our plans will always work out because they will not. But we can trust that His plan will, and that plan is perfect. He desires good and holy things for your life, and He genuinely wants what is best for you. Too often we think that we know what is best for ourselves, but this can lead us to feel hurt, disappointed, and even discouraged from continuing.

                A good reminder during those discouraged times comes from Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To everything, there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.” Even that season you are going through where it seems like one battle after another, God has a purpose. The season when something unexpected happens and you must learn how to move past it, God has a purpose for that lesson. God can use everything that happens in our lives to teach us something valuable. If you’re struggling to understand how God is going to use your situation for good, meditate on Romans 8:18, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” You may not understand why you’re walking through this season right now. You may not understand why God took that person out of your life. You may not understand why you didn’t get the opportunity that you had hoped for. If you allow Him, God will use your pain to teach you something and to show you more of His character.

                If you’re struggling with accepting God’s plan, or a change in your plans, rest assured that you can trust Him. Don’t let what you are battling with pull you away from Him but allow it to draw you into His presence. Press into prayer. Stay in the word. He has a plan, and you have a purpose.