#God's Plan for Your Life

[igate777]

(via RECASTING THE VISIONARY SPIRIT AND MANDATE OF OUR PRESENCE ON EARTH. LOOKING AHEAD OF 2024.)

[walkswithmyfather]

“Each one, as a good manager of God’s different gifts, must use for the good of others the special gift he has received from God.” —1 Peter 4:10 (GNT)

“To Know Your Destiny, First Recognize Your Gifts” By Rick Warren:

“Do you know what God created you for? Do you know what your destiny is? There are several things you need to do in order to fulfill your destiny that we’ll go through over the next few days using illustrations from the book of Esther.

The first thing you must do is recognize the gifts God has given you to use. These include the things you can’t control—your parents, nationality, race, language. They also include your SHAPE—your spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences. These are the things that make you uniquely you.

Now, you are not responsible for the gifts God didn’t give you. In other words, if you are not artistically gifted, you are not expected to paint pictures like Rembrandt. But you are responsible for the ones he did give you.

When you get to heaven, God isn’t going to compare you with anyone else, but he will compare you with yourself. What did you do with what you were given? What could you have done if you had trusted God a little bit more? Romans 14:12 says, “Each of us will give an account of ourselves to God” (NIV).

God gave Esther a SHAPE uniquely designed to help her fulfill her destiny. As a result, “Esther won the favor of everyone who saw her . . . she won [the king’s] favor and approval more than any of the other virgins. So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen” (Esther 2:15, 17 NIV).

God gave Esther gifts for a purpose. He has also given you gifts for a purpose. And just like Esther, you have a responsibility to be a good steward of those gifts. They are not just for your benefit. God gave them to you for the benefit of others.

When you discover your gifts and determine to use them for good, God can use you, just like he used Esther, for his purposes on Earth.

Talk It Over:

Make a list of the gifts God has given you—don’t forget to include your SHAPE and the things you can’t control. Ask yourself, “What has God given me to use for good?”

What is one way you can use your gifts for good this week?

Why is there freedom in doing what God created you to uniquely do?”

[pastor-matt]

A Word From the Coach

[1-1-s1ay-2-2]

Note to self:

Changing your life includes detaching toxic people and relationships from it.

[carmendmiller]

God's Plan For Your Life: Part Two

We’re already two weeks into the new year, and today I will continue with the second and final part of the theme: God’s plans for your life. If you need to catch up you can read part one here.

The passage is based off of Jeremiah 29:11-14.

3. God’s plans are better than mine. Isaiah 55:8-9 says: “My thoughts are not your thoughts,and my ways are not your ways,” declares the Lord. “Just as the heavens are higher than the earth,so my ways are higher than your ways,and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. ” God is omnipresent, so he is already in the future and because of that he knows what’s best for me. God knows everything. I do not. I can pray for a particular situation, and I can be completely honest and tell the Lord what is my desire and dare to think that my understanding seems to be better. But I’m not omniscient, so I have to trust that the result is better in God’s hands than mine .

God’s thoughts are above mine. My way of thinking is clouded by sin, by my limitations, and defects of a fallen world. But not God! All of His thoughts are perfect, and pure. Therefore, any plan I make, I have to submit to God, my schedule has to be written in pencil, not in ink, so that God can erase and change at His will.

The apostle James speaks very clear: “Pay attention to this! You’re saying, “Today or tomorrow we will go into some city, stay there a year, conduct business,and make money.” You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. What is life? You are a mist that is seen for a moment and then disappears. Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and carry out our plans.” However, you brag because you’re arrogant. All such bragging is evil. Whoever knows what is right but doesn’t do it is sinning.”(James 4:13-17). Does this mean I should not make plans? Of course not! What it’s trying to tell me is that I have to submit my plans to God, depend on Him and know that he can change and even cancel them. And I have to remain content in that, because His plans are better.

4. God’s plans require faith and perseverance. (V. 12-14). The million dollar question is: Will I know God’s plan for my life? The answer is yes, and no. These verses reveal God’s heart. He tells us that when we pray, and when we seek Him, we will find Him.

In Jeremiah 33:3, we have a promise that we may know, but have not studied in depth: “Call to me, and I will answer you. I will tell you great and mighty things that you do not know.” The original word toknow in this verse implies [to discern, distinguish, learn from experience]. If we ask, God can reveal many things. But these things are not always what we want to know. Sometimes those great and mighty things (mysteries, things inaccessible) are the spiritual realm: peace that surpasses all understanding, joy, strength.

Many times we feel, as I said last Monday, we are going through a dark tunnel, and we see no light at the end. But look at what God says through the prophet Isaiah: ” Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? Let those who walk in darkness and have no light trust the name of the Lord and depend upon their God” (Isaiah 50:10). The reality is that God’s plans require faith. While you walk through the tunnel, in the dark, without a ray of light, you have to trust in God’s plans which He will reveal in His own time.

I love this passage from Hebrews 10, because many times when we can not see or understand what God is doing, we become discouraged. “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.” You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.” And, “But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.” (v. 35-39) God wants a people who persevere—who trust.

In Conclusion: We have started a new year that often we set goals, and resolutions for. Maybe you are “exiled in Babylon” and you can’t see an exit, or a solution, or a future. You feel as though you’re in that dark tunnel. Remember these truths and make them yours in 2013:

God knows the plans He has for you, and for me.

They are plans for good and they are good.

They are better than any plans you and I could ever make.

He asks us to seek Him, to believe and persevere. So that He can fulfill his purpose in us.

My post was also featured today on WHOLE Magazine & The Charlotte Moms.

[totes-hetero]

Page 4: Lesson 1 - God's Plan for Your Life

It may be the Sour Cream & Onion Pringles I just ate but my stomach is feeling a little queasy reading this again.  First, I just learned the official spelling for queasy.  Second, I don't know if I was missing it before but Lesson 1 has a lot of editing errors.  I know I don't have the best grammar/editing on these posts but that's because this isn't formal and I only go through my posts once looking for errors.  I made editing marks here and there.  Finally, there is a disconcertingly weird attempt to connect with the younger generation.  Think... your Grandmother Iris texting you.  Plus a lot of encouraging exclamation marks!

The most exciting truth about your life is that God has a(n) awesome plan for you!  He wants you to live a full-on complete life with His blessings--- not a curse.  But for many, same-sex attraction feels like a curse from God or others that can never be overcome.  It's as if you feel you are doomed to live a life with this constant burden and the guilt of ugly thoughts and actions.

Well, they don't go out and say that you are cursed by a Satanic-gay-gypsy curse but they might as well have.  Notice, they neglect to mention that you could live a perfectly nice life with another person of the same gender: they say that it is an option to not feel cursed by removing those feelings.  Sounds a little questionable to me.  Plus, the adjective 'ugly' is wonderfully used here to really knock home the sense that you are, currently, filthy and a terrible human being.  The use of tearing down the reader's self-esteem is very disheartening.  I used to think the same way, that I was completely dirty and that feeling what I felt was the worst thing a person could do.  Then I had some really awesome thoughts and actions that weren't anywhere near ugly.

We're all on a journey.  Should you walk through this journey toward the freedom were [we're] talking about, you must remember this: God wants to help you -- not harm you.  So let's begin this journey together.  First, connect to the following pages.  They're designed for you to journal in as you walk this journey.  So write stuff down K?  [seriously?  seriously.]  If you're like the rest of us, sometimes you'll write down encouraging thoughts and other times, total discouraging stuff.  Some victorious and some failures.  It's all good--- because it's all part of a normal journey.  Trust me though: keeping a record of this journey, the failures and the victories, will help bring the encouragement you will need in the future!

I have a feeling the failures and victories that I will be writing down are opposite of their failures and victories.  Whoops.  Also, their constant pandering to the youth demographic is sickening.

Oh and one other thing: You may at times feel as though some things in these lessons don't apply.  Keep going!  Even the things that seem boring or useless could become the very things that will bring some changes to your life!

I'll just let this speak for itself.

Briefly jot your thoughts down to the following questions Whether you know God or not or not sure, answer them as best as you can! :)  [Yes that is a smiley face in a workbook...]

Do you think God created you to have same-sex attractions? Explain why you feel this way.

I really can't say for certain.  How much can we know about the way God created us?  Our individual kinks and flaws?  Was I created to be with a man?  Who knows.  All I know is that I am able to be my full self with another man as a partner.  I believe that God uses that and uses us in mysteriously profound ways.

What does the Bible say about sexual activity between people of the same sex?

Oho here we go.  *cracks knuckles* Bring it on workbook!  I've read all of them and have researched my Bible so bring it on yo!

Put each of these into your own words.

Sounds like fun.

Leviticus 18:22; "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable."

"You can commit falsehood with a woman as much as you want since, at this time, women are viewed as lesser than men but if you lie to another man it is shameful since they are your peers."

But seriously, if you go on to Leviticus 20, it says to stone the gays so... I think cultures have changed since then.  The pre-Bible world was a lot... rougher... than it is today.  To say the least, sex with another was not a signifier of love but of power or ownership over another.  Not to mention that this verse is found amidst several other "sexual honor codes" that involves all sorts of incest.  This verse is more about honoring one another as peers than sexuality or lovers.  Also, there are a lot of 'detestable' things in the Bible, especially the Pentateuch, that we do not find to be detestable or sinning anymore.  I could list them but that would take a long time and could be better listed elsewhere.

Next up, sigh, we go through all the other sexual verses of the Bible and I get to tell you all about my thoughts on them.  Gotta put my few years of research and constant pondering on the question.

Hope this finds you well :)

[pastor-matt]

The Playbook

[pastor-matt]

The Fundamentals of the Game

[igate777]

THE AGE OF KINGDOMS AND THE APPEARING KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. PART ONE, INTRO...

[carmendmiller]

God's Plan For Your Life: Part One

Plans. We all have them. Some more detailed than others. Some rushed through, and others organized and long. Sometimes done consciously while others, we can make without thinking. But we always have plans. What happens is that many times our plans don’t come out as, well, planned. Sometimes we find we made the wrong plans. In other cases, we can say that simply they were bad plans. The new year has begun, and I would like to talk about plans, but not my kind of plans or yours—I want to talk about God's plans. Yes, God has plans. Plans for your life and mine... which, honestly, I find amazing. And in God’s Word He reveals something extraordinary about those plans. Read these words with me, that you may already know, but between now and Friday, you tend to forget.

I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans for peace and not disaster. Plans to give you a future filled with hope. 12 Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 When you look for me, you will find me. When you wholeheartedly seek me, 14 I will let you find me, declares the Lord. I will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I’ve scattered you, declares the Lord. I will bring you back from the place where you are being held captive. —Jer. 29:11-14

The context of the story: A prophecy from God to the exiles of Israel in Babylon. When one is banished that means you are without a country, without roots, without the known, without the familiar, and no future. Have you ever felt this way? Are you entering the new year like that? As if you were in your own Babylon: like you're walking through a tunnel with no light to see at the end? Even so, God has plans for your life. And I want you to focus on what this word is going to teach you about that. 1. God knows the plans He has for your you. (V. 11a) I know the plans. Many times the world around us makes us wonder if God really knows what he's doing, or at least, if He is doing something in our lives because everything seems to be stagnant, and we will not ever leave Babylon. Yet look at what it says in Psalm 139:16: "Your eyes saw me when I was only a fetus. Every day of my life was recorded in your book before one of them had taken place." God knows the plans from the beginning . No war, financial crisis, global famine, pandemic or epidemic that comes our way can change God's plan for our lives. He is God! His capacity is unlimited. God is not like people. He tells no lies. He is not like humans. He doesn’t change his mind. When he says something, he does it. When he makes a promise, he keeps it. (Num. 23:19) King David understood that God had great plans for his life and in one of his psalms he wrote: "The Lord will do everything for me. O Lord, your mercy endures forever. Do not let go of what your hands have made" (Psalm 138 : 8). He lived with that certainty and so must we. God knows the plans He has for your life and for my life, he does not walk improvising. 2. God's plans are for the better. (V. 11b) For some reason we sometimes think that God is some kind of cosmic killjoy whose plans for us consist of suffering, calamity, etc.. But God does not lie, and His word says the plans he has for us are for good. Keep in mind, it doesn’t say that His plans for us are easy, or that we will have no problems, sorrows, diseases. The verse speaks of the goal of these plans: plans that are for the better... to give us a future filled with hope. When we begin to feel that we can not fully rely on God, because if we surrender to Him without reserve we’re going to "embitter existence," I can assure you two things: either you do not really know the God you believe in, or you are believing the enemy. Jesus said that the thief (referring to the devil) comes to steal, kill and destroy, but he came to give us a full and abundant life (John 10:10). We have to trust that God’s plans for us have that goal. Romans 8:28 is a passage that all Christians know: "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God—those whom he has called according to his plan." Perhaps you can’t understand your present situation—you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. You have to trust that God's plans are for the better. He has a goal, and something you should want to accomplish in your life is to meet its purpose. Good plans have steps. And if we want God's purpose to be fulfilled, we have to adjust to His plan and let Him lead, while we follow his steps. I recently read this quote that read "a goal without a plan is just a wish" (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry). What God has for us is a goal, a purpose, but only "until we become mature, until we measure up to Christ, who is the standard” (Eph. 4:13). And that’s what God had for us—a goal and a purpose that will produce the good in all of us, but that is different for each of us . If you try to compare God’s plan for your life with God's plan for another person, you will just become frustrated. Each person is unique, and God's plan is unique to each person. The only thing that is common in that respect, is that all of God's plans are for the good of those who love Him and who are called according to his purpose. You have to say to God: "I accept your plan, whatever it is, because you love me and I know your plan for my life is for my good." These are the first two parts of what God is trying to display in that verse. I invite you to take a pen and paper and write down appointments. Read and process them calmly, alone with God. Ask Him to help you understand and trust these truths. Join me next Monday for the second and final part of this post. I wish you many blessings, while living a full and abundant life that God designed, and planned for you.

Today's blog was also featured at WHOLE Magazine and The Charlotte Moms.