Proverbs 19:21 Plans
Food for Thought
An all-creatures.org Guide to Kingdom Living. True Christian living requires us to live according to Kingdom standards which bring Heaven to earth

By Marni Montanez

Proverbs 19:21 New International Version

Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails

As free people in Christ, we have the privilege of expressing ourselves as we choose; we also have the freedom to decide our future.   We were created to dream and have desires and God wants us to ask Him for what we want. Throughout our lifetime, we have many ideas on  how to shape our little corner of the world and we choose strategies that help us toward our goals.

But sometimes our wants and hopes interfere with what is best for us.  We desperately pray for something to happen and when it doesn’t we are disappointed or angry, only to find out through time  that if that prayer was answered it would have caused harm.    

In our efforts to make our own plans we may find that our timing or maybe the plan itself will not work.

This is an opportunity to surrender to God and find His answer. God knows us better than we know ourselves and He certainly knows our future.  While we make guesses about what might work, God actually knows what will and He Has a specific plan to get us where we should be, not where we think we should be.

Many times the enemy will get in the way of the plans we make and this frustrates us.  We end up losing our focus, and as we struggle to make our plans work, we become sucked into the enemy’s web of confusion and disappointment.   To avoid this we must have the right focus and desire the right plans; which are the plans of the Lord.  In pursuing Him,  His plans become clear.   God must be our first and only desire and in Him,  what is truly good for us manifests into reality.  

Matthew 6:33 (NCV)

Seek first God’s kingdom and what God wants. Then all your other needs will be met as well.

The desires He has for us will bless us far more than we could bless ourselves.

Psalm 37:4 New King James Version

Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.

God gave us His best, which is Jesus and He wants to continue blessing us,  but the only way we can have that is by submitting ourselves to Him.  As we surrender to God’s will, we will dwell in a place of peace.  God will have His way even if it means He has to allow hard times to come upon us.  His priority is us and for us to live life well.

Challenge:  Ask God first and foremost.  Seek direction from Him and allow Him to move on your behalf.    Allow God’s plans and purposes to unfold and be grateful that He cares more about you than you could ever think.  

Prayer:  Father God thank you that you have a plan for us and you want to see us prosper and succeed.  Help us to let go of our agendas and our plans so that we can be led into yours.  

God bless,

Marni

Go on to: Proverbs 20:6
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The purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate, and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not Christian.