Whose Plans are Your Plans?

When we “fail to plan then we plan to fail” and “make a plan and then work the plan” are sayings I have heard and tried to live by from my youth. I like plans but sometimes plans are not to be set in concrete, they often are not made of steel and words written in rocks can be eroded by nature. Plans are best seen as guidelines or roadmaps that keep us going North when we want to go northish. There are times when the plan has to be altered or something happens that causes a detour but if the plan is a guideline then we understand the plan is more about the place we want to end than the roads we take to get there.

Proverbs 19:21 tells us that “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (NIV) This does not discourage us from planning but reminds us that our plans need to be bathed in prayer and direction from God’s Spirit needs to be sought. We may have the best plans we could possibly come up with and find that at some point in the venture the plan has to be changed because we are being carried off in the wrong direction. God’s plans or purpose as the Proverb says is going to win out in the long run. God will not let our human and earthly ambitions derail or even sidetrack His ultimate purpose.

Spend time in prayer and talk with God about what His plan is for you today, tomorrow, a week , month or year from now. Then you can start planning with the surety that God is in it with you…then how can you fail!