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Sometimes making major plans can seem overwhelming and even feel paralyzing, but God gives us ways in which we can navigate through them the right way and be successful in our endeavors. Goal setting doesn’t have to be a fearful process when we have taken the time to prayerfully consider our plans and receive Godly counsel to accomplish the goal.
Plans are established by counsel; By wise counsel wage war. Proverbs 20:18
Generally, if people are intent on going in a certain direction, they shy away from getting counsel because they don’t want anyone to slow them down or say “no” to them. I would rather have someone share a nugget of truth to cause me to slow down than move fast with my half-baked idea in a problematic direction!
Sometimes, pride gets in the way of asking for counsel. Some people think asking for counsel is for the weak or the immature believers. The truth is none of us have experienced everything in life, and it would be better to glean from someone else’s insight or experience than to reinvent the wheel. The beauty of receiving counsel is that we are not obligated to follow it. However, we now have a responsibility to weigh all the information gathered and prayerfully make a decision that is based on wisdom rather than ignorance.
Getting Godly counsel gives us a greater confidence about being on the right path. When difficulties come, we are less likely to back down or quit because we are not wishy washy about the decision. The above scripture tells us that we will wage war with wise counsel, which implies there will be resistance on our path. Wise counsel will allow us to fight the self-defeating thoughts, the enemy’s accusations, and the nay sayers’ voice because we have done our due diligence to be sure we are moving in the right direction.
On the other hand, if we move hastily into a certain direction, in the back of our mind, we are wondering, “Was this me or was this God? Is God trying to speak to me or is this the devil trying to derail me?”. The greater resolve we have at the beginning, the clearer our path is going to be in the middle of the battle.
How do we wage war while making plans? This is the subject of the next devotional.
How do we, as believers, set goals in a Godly way?
I am naturally a goal setter. When I have goals in life, I am much more motivated. However, there was a season in my life when I felt that I had to surrender all my goals and dreams to the Lord and wait for Him to move in my life. I thought not having goals was more spiritual. This ended up being a frustrating experience, which led me to feeling stuck for a long time.
A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9
After years of waiting, I finally sought counsel from mature believers who told me making plans is not necessarily a bad thing. They told me that if my plan is not against the principles of God, it is not a problem because He gives us the ability to reason and choose. It took me a while to get used to the idea of making plans because I was fearful for being out of the will of God. I had to let go of the idea that making plans was a carnal activity.
When God called Noah to build the Ark, it must have taken great planning to accomplish such an enormous task (See Genesis 6). God gave him the specifics but Noah would have still needed to do the planning for such an extensive project. It is estimated that it could have taken Noah up to 65 years to complete the Ark. He couldn’t have just woken up every morning and decided to go with the flow. It would have required planning and scheduling for months and years in order to complete this project. God had given Noah an assignment, and he was diligent to do His work, stay on task, and do it in a timely manner.
My husband and I did an extensive remodel in our house years ago. We picked a construction manager and gave him our specification for the size and the placement of rooms. He along with an architect drew a blueprint to our specifications. After our agreement on the blueprint, we were not involved in the day to day construction. If he didn’t hear from us, it meant he was doing fine, and he should continue doing what we asked him to do. If the construction manager needed some direction, he came to us and asked a clarifying question, but we didn’t micro manage the project.
God’s assignment and our plans have similar partnership. We know what God has spoken, so we move forward with what we know. Sometimes He speaks specifically and sometimes generally, so we go to work planning our lives and activities based on what we know is true and right in His sight and according to the word of God. In situations or places where we are not sure, we ask the Lord clarifying questions to make sure we remain on the right path.
As a believer, our goals are not to be set in stone. We remain open to God’s leading and changing our direction if/when He chooses to do so. However, in the absence of hearing his voice, we move forward with the plans we have made staying flexible and attentive to His voice for any change of direction.
Do you have goals for your life? If so, do you remain flexible and persevering in the process of achieving them? If you don’t set goals, is fear holding you back?
Our culture deems goal setting crucial to one’s success! Goals are a highly valued commodity; books, commercials, and highly admired people encourage the masses to set some goals in order to achieve success. People believe that if you want to make progress and reach your desired destination, you must have goals. The voice of our culture implies that people who don’t set goals never reach anything, which leads one to be a loser in life!
Conversely, in some Christian circles, goal setting is synonymous to carnality and man striving to be in control. Some Christians believe that it is up to God to do all the work, and they are just supposed to go along for the ride! The individuals feel that as long as they pray, God will move and direct their path. They are not in charge of their lives because they have surrendered it all to God.
There is truth to both sides of the argument, but finding true balance between the two extreme views is the wisdom provided by God through His word.
The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty. Proverb 21:5
We all need to make some plans in life. When we are young, we need to plan to get an education and develop a career in life. As we get older and have a consistent job, we need to set goals for our finances by saving and putting money aside for our retirement. If we plan to purchase a house, we need to save some money for a down payment.
Lack of planning and goal setting can lead us into a big pitfall by making hasty decisions. For example, if we just hastily jump into the decision of purchasing a house that we really can’t afford, it can lead us into bondage or into an eventual foreclosure. This can unleash years of emotional, financial, and relational problems. There are a whole host of other situations that require a level of planning in order for us to be successful and avoid major problems in life.
Does our goal setting look different than the world? How does a believer set goals in a Godly way? This is the subject of the next devotional.
The Kingdom of God is so important that when Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, He chose to pray about it first in what is known as the Lord’s Prayer.
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Matthew 6:9-13
Jesus could have asked about many different things, but He chose to ask for the Kingdom of God first. Jesus began by honoring God’s name, and then he asked for the Kingdom of God to come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven (verse 10).
Jesus’ first request reveals His priority. He desired to see the Kingdom of God to be manifested on earth. When you think about your most frequent prayers, what do you pray about first? I find that my prayers can quickly turn into a request for myself, a loved one, or someone in need. However, Jesus’ prayer was about His kingdom coming to the earth.
In the above prayer, Jesus connected the will of God to the kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God will come to earth when the will of God is done. Jesus was the forerunner in bringing the Kingdom of God to earth and doing His will. He chose to live His life perfectly and become obedient to the cross. He set an example for all believers on how to pull heaven to earth and live a life that represents a different Kingdom. His resolve was never dependent on His popularity. He chose to stand on truth and die for for truth. He continued to love those who hated Him and forgave them on the cross. We are citizens of this awesome Kingdom that He established!
Isn’t it amazing that our obedience doesn’t just benefit us!? Just as Jesus’ obedience to God opened the door for us to become citizens of this Kingdom, our obedience does the same thing for others. When we walk in obedience to God, it reveals the Kingdom of God and makes it become visible to those who are hopeless and helpless in life! We are the conduits who stand between heaven and earth and allow the Kingdom of God and the desire of God to be manifested on the earth.
Are you ready for the challenge? You could be the answer to someone’s prayer! Are you willing to pray as Jesus prayed and be part of the answer to bring the Kingdom of God and the will of God on the earth? Can we be the ones who change the atmosphere because we are operating under a different Kingdom!?
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, Ephesians 2:19
When I was Growing up in Iran under a dictatorship, the government of U.S. looked very powerful, free, and out of reach to most of us. As a 15 year old, when I walked in the U.S Embassy in Switzerland to apply for a student visa, I was in awe. In the natural, the office didn’t look spectacular, but because it was representing the United States of America, it looked so majestic and powerful!
During that trip, I was granted a student visa to come to the U.S. I knew this was a great privilege because most Iranians would not have this kind of opportunity to come to such a great nation. I left everyone and everything I loved, in order to join this great kingdom. When I was finally granted U.S citizenship years later, it was even a greater privilege. I was no longer a stranger or a foreigner in this nation but a fellow citizen with millions of other Americans.
Becoming a citizen of the kingdom of God has even greater honor, and it has eternal privileges for those who are part of it. When we accept Jesus and His work on the cross, it gives us the opportunity to enter His Kingdom. The good news is that this citizenship is available to whosoever believes!
The amazing part of being granted U.S. citizenship was that I inherited every privilege that others had worked for, fought for, and died for! In the same way, Jesus did the all the work to buy us freedom and citizenship of the Kingdom of God. We get to inherit all these privileges without having to work for them. However, while these privileges are freely given to us, they came at a high cost to Him who fought for us.
The Kingdom of heaven gives us true freedom that no earthly government is designed to give us. Do you value being a citizen of the Kingdom of God? Do you know the privileges you are given as citizens of this free government?
I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.
When God created the heavens and the earth, the Kingdom of God was in ruling power until the Fall of Adam & Eve. When they sinned, they gave the legal permission for the devil to begin ruling on the earth and sin permeated every aspect of creation including humanity. The regime of bondage and darkness began to govern the earth. However, God had a plan through Jesus to take back His Kingdom!
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. Matthew 11:12
Fighting for freedom is a battle both at the natural level and at the spiritual level. Naturally, those who control people with rules and regulations don’t want to lose territory. Those who run a dictatorship expect no interference with their opinion from those who disagree with them.
Spiritually, the religious leaders of Jesus’ day didn’t want to lose control of people and their allegiance to the established rules and regulations. The kingdom of heaven came against direct opposition of the kingdom of darkness. There was great forcefulness from those who opposed the truth preached by Jesus. On the other hand, Jesus exerted his force and authority by remaining perfect and not backing down on his teachings and his principles.
The confrontation of power came down to Jesus dying on the cross and conquering the dictatorship of Satan. He was able to regain the territory lost to the devil due to the Fall. This was a spiritual transaction that took place in the heavenly realm.
When we accept Jesus and his work on the cross, it gives us the opportunity to enter His Kingdom and forsake the kingdom of darkness. Jesus came to set people free from oppression and bring liberty to the captives. We don’t need to live in fear nor are we indebted to the kingdom of the devil any longer. The battle is won, and we are citizens of the heavenly Kingdom. What an extraordinary privilege to become citizens of this new kingdom!
The principles of the kingdom of God are opposite of the natural world. Jesus didn’t fight His battles like an ordinary ruler does. Nations and religions are guilty of fighting others by brute force and bloodshed, but Jesus came to show us a different way to live and fight.
In the next devotional, I will share about significance of the Kingdom of God!
Our freedom was purchased through the love of Christ by giving up His life for our sake. It cost Him everything in order to set us free from the bondage and grip of sin and put us on the path of a loving relationship with God. He set us free for a great purpose!
What is the purpose of this freedom that Christ purchased for us?
In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16
Light of the world: Jesus called us to be the light of the world. In our past un-regenerated state, we walked in darkness. Now that Jesus has set us free, we are born into the Kingdom of light, and we get to be light! God can use us as a flicker of light for those who are looking for a ray of hope in their dark world. When people around us act foolishly or selfishly, we can be the one with a pure heart reaching out to others. We can participate in the work of Kingdom by brightening someone’s world. Praise God!
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, Matthew 5:44
Loving our enemies: Jesus set us free to love the unlovable. This is not something that our carnal nature is capable of doing. It only comes by the grace of God. Love is the greatest transformer!
If you have ever felt unloved or rejected, you know how lonely it feels. It’s a great blessing when God chooses to send someone along our side to love us in-spite of how we feel about ourselves! In turn, He chooses to use us to touch that one person in the same way that He chose to use others in our lives.
Who are you called to love? Who is waiting for your love to give them hope for change? We can intersect people’s lives and help them come out of the rejection cycle! This can motivate and inspire them to trust God and try again!
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, Isaiah 61:1
Setting captives free: Jesus set us free to set other captives free. Sometimes people who are in bondage are not even aware that they are imprisoned by their own passions, addictions, and opinions. Bondage seems familiar and normal to them. When we come alongside of these individuals, they can see us free in areas that they are held captive. This opens the opportunity for them to ask questions about how the issues of life don’t affect us as it impacts them.
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Ephesians 5:21
Developing Healthy relationships: We now can develop healthy relationships. The more secure we become in our relationship with the Lord, the less need to control or be controlled by others. We are able to accept others and their limitations and not allow them to become the focus of our happiness and peace.
While God uses people in our lives to bless us from time to time, people are not the answer to our happiness and success. When our desire is to honor and love others and not seek to be right, there will be less room for friction and strife. This impacts our marriages, raising our children, our friendships, and all our others relationships.
Is there anything/anyone hindering your freedom? Are you exercising the privilege of your freedom for God’s purposes?
Freedom must be coupled with moral responsibility in order to produce good fruit and maintain the liberty of the individual as well as the society. It is our moral obligation to paint a complete picture of freedom, so the next generation is not confused about the privilege of freedom.
In addition to our governmental freedoms, we need freedom for our souls in order to become all that God created for us to be. Jesus came to bring true freedom in our lives. He came with the dual assignment of setting us free from our past and at the same time setting us free to step into God’s purpose for our lives.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1
Jesus came to set us free from the following areas:
Sin: we are no longer slaves to sin as we were formerly. We have a new nature and a new ability to overcome sin that we didn’t have before. Due to the fall of Adam and Eve, we were born into sin, and we also sinned. We violated God’s laws as a form of lifestyle. We didn’t know we can be freed from the compulsion of our feelings and our will. We thought we are just born angry or fearful, and that is just part of our personality until we met Jesus.
Shame/guilt: Our lives were on the roller coaster of shame and guilt. When we were young, we thought adults get to do whatever they want and have all the fun! However, as adults we found out that when we gave in to our compulsions, we felt guilty and ashamed. We didn’t feel free as we had hoped. In addition, the fruit of our bad decisions brought about headache and heartache, which didn’t make us feel good. Jesus came to set us free from guilt and shame of the past in order to walk free from its shackles.
Freedom from self: We are free now from serving self. We used to be dominated by every whim of the flesh moving us in the direction of self gratification, self service, and our passions. Some of us may have tendencies towards addictions, others may just feel unmotivated or lazy. Whatever the case maybe, we don’t have to serve self any longer. Self is not our master anymore!
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. Colossians 2:16
Free from others’ expectations: This is a big one and some of us are still working on this issue. We are free from the expectations of family, culture, and religion. The people around us knowingly and unknowingly pressured us to conform to their expectations. Some families have a great deal of pressure on education or schooling. Others want to dictate the kind of person one should marry. Others expect a certain lifestyle from their adult children. Whether we follow the expectation of others or rebel against it, we can still be bound by it. When we become a Christian, Jesus sets us free to follow Him and please Him alone!
The above scripture tells us that now we have a responsibility to not allow ourselves to fall back into the bondage of the past. We have to fight for our freedom in order not to get entangled by it again!
Are you free in all these areas? Praise God if you are. If you are not completely free, ask the Lord to show you what is stopping your progress.
Christ set us free in order to launch us into purpose. In the next devotional I’ll share about the purpose of freedom.
What is true freedom? Why is having freedom so significant?
Freedom (according to webster’s dictionary): the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action; liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another
Freedom (according to Strong’s Concordance -G1657): Liberty to do or to omit things having no relation to Salvation -free from Mosaic Law
Having a choice in matters of life is an important factor, and it is one that we should not take for granted. We have fought many battles in this nation and across the world to ensure that the freedom of all people are preserved. Today we are remembering the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his passion for civil liberties of all people regardless of the color of their skin or their place in life. Our nation has been a beacon of freedom for many who have fled their nations because of political or religious persecution.
Having a choice in life coupled with strong moral convictions is a powerful force that cannot be reckoned with. However, if we have choices without foundational truths, it can trap us into great bondage and lead us into destruction!
True freedom is not about living life with no restraint. Freedom has a God given purpose! The 1960’s-1970’s were the era of free love. People became counter-culture and sought free sexuality without consequence. Women demanded their rights along with their birth control pills. The nation legalized abortion in the name of choice because we claimed that without choice there is no freedom! As a matter of fact, January 22nd marks the 53rd anniversary of legalization of abortion. Did we set people free by legalizing abortion? Do our choices always equate with having freedom?
For example, let’s take a look at choices we give our children. If you give your teen-ager the freedom to drive your car whenever they wish, you are giving them a great choice and opportunity. If they understand the magnitude of the privilege, they will utilize the car well and use it when they need to get to school, work, or some other function. However, if they choose to be foolish with their choice, they can drive the car carelessly, load up the car with a few friends and act crazy trying to show off to their friends that they get to drive your car. When a policeman stops them and gives them a ticket for speeding or reckless driving, they are not free anymore!
Just because we are free to choose, it doesn’t mean that our choices continue to bear freedom in our lives. We will do our countrymen a dis-service if we don’t tell them the truth that every choice they make, is a moral decision, which will either lead them into greater freedom or will trap them into bondage.
The scripture tells us:
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36
What did Jesus set us free from? This is the subject of the next devotional.
I shared about self-confidence in the last devotional. The focus of today’s devotional is Godly confidence.
Godly confidence is sacrificial and has humility associated with it. David and Paul are two examples of individuals with Godly confidence.
But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”
Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.” 1Samuel 17:34-37
David approached the king with humility to ask him for the permission to fight Goliath. He wasn’t there trying to take anyone’s position. He wasn’t looking to bring attention to Himself. He didn’t criticize the armies of God for being too weak to fight Goliath. He was just passionate to defend God’s work, and He was confident that this giant wasn’t going to defeat the armies of God. David knew His God would not put up with being defeated with an uncircumcised philistine. He was confident in His God, and His focus was on the Lord not on himself.
But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. Jeremiah 17:7
The Lord is the main focus of a Godly confident person. We don’t assume just because we care about something, it should be important to God. When we have Godly confidence, we care about the Father’s business just as Jesus was.
Godly confidence stems from knowing God’s character well. We have deep trust and confidence that God is with us, and He will give us what we need for the challenge or the assignment.
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— Philippians 3:3
Paul was a man who used to be self-confident, and he saw the bitter fruit of it. Prior to meeting Jesus, he was a capable and zealous person, but his zeal was misdirected. When finally Paul came to his senses by meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus, he realized how wrong he was and how deeply he had hurt the people of God!
Paul’s conversion became a demarcation point in his life. He no longer was confident in the flesh. His natural confidence crumbled under the truth of the gospel and God’s unconditional love. Paul became a different man and was transformed into a humble, gentle, and sacrificial man. Instead of trying to take the lives of others, he was willing to give it all up in order to see people saved.
Do you have Godly confidence? Are you about the Father’s business? Ask the Lord to show you where your confidence stems from.
