“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jer. 29:11)
This is a verse of comfort for me, not so much the end, although it brings joy to my heart to know my Father in heaven has my end in His hands as well, but the beginning few words, “For I know the thoughts.”
I place it with Proverbs 3:6, “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
The Almighty has my life planned out, not to a degree that negates my free will, but in such a way that I do not have to plan on how I should serve Him, He will show me, and if you have been born-again it is not a matter of if you will be obedient to His will, it is really about how enthusiastic you are while serving.
“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” (Heb. 12:11)
The chastisement of the Lord upon you is part of the path, while we are in it, we question, we search within ourselves for those hidden sins, but we always remember that this also is part of His plan for us.
Because we have free will, life is what you make it my friends, the Lord will impose hardships, He may bring days of bliss.
“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matt. 5:45)
But everything that arrives in your life is part of His plan.
Now, it is not His desire that you run headfirst into that season of sin, but He will not stop you, you may fall into a temptation, but it is not His fault if you do not take the way out that was shown to you. When evil men block your path, when they hinder your progress, you must recall Genesis 50:20a, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good,”
The Lord’s plans for you cannot be thwarted, they cannot be hindered, stopped or modified.
But there is a question I have been pondering lately, one I do not believe anyone can honestly answer, and it has to do with the plans He has for all who have been crucified with Christ. It is this, there are many in heaven that I believe more than once have said, “I wish I would have,” and when I get there, I will join them in that chorus, but I wonder, will the Lord look at me and say, “I wish you would have.”
To put it bluntly my friends, am I screwing up His plans for me? Are my desires to serve Him in line with His plans for me, are these letters what I am supposed to be doing, are the videos a part of His will for me?
Here a man can fall quite easily into a pseudo-prosperity theology, would not just a few viewers of these letters to hundreds of thousands infer that I am following as I am being led, that these are part of His plans for me?
How long should a preacher stand before empty pews?
How are we to know that we are in His will?
If not by growth, then by chastisement?
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9)
We cannot trust our feelings here, there must be visible signs, many men have wasted their lives on what they thought they were supposed to be doing for His glory. The other side of the fence looked right and proper to Christian and his traveling companion, but it led to great despair.
I can offer you only this, since they are the Almighty’s plans for us, He is the one that must reveal them to us. We seek His face, and He reveals it to us, we pray for guidance and He leads us, but He must make His plans visible to us, there must be fruit.
I say this in all humility, and with great reverence, if the Lord is going to plan out my life, He is the one who is responsible to show me the way.
