Following God’s Plan to Crush Your Goals

09 Aug Following God’s Plan to Crush Your Goals

Leverage God’s Purpose in Your Life

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When I wrote “The 6 Keys to Nurture, Grow, and Empower Your Life” I did it with God in mind. I wrote based on the premise that we are birthed into this world with a blueprint. It’s what I call spiritual DNA—divinely nurture anointing. That DNA is packed with the spiritual coding of unique gifts, talents, abilities that are meant to be discovered as we learn, grow, and develop as human beings. And human development includes the pursuit of dreams and goals.

Having said that, I also recognize that many people believe that pursuing our goals goes against certain Christian beliefs and counteracts whatever plan God has in store for us. On the contrary—there are Scriptures which encourage us to pursue our goals and achieve success. Of course, this is with the caveat that our goals are aligned with God’s will and vision for us as individuals and as well as humanity. The key is to see your life in partnership with God in the creative process to nurture and flourish the world; that is to be fruitful and multiply.

Consider these passages from the Bible

Jeremiah 29:11 
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

1 Chronicles 4:10 
“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.”

Proverbs 16:3  
“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”

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Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

In Jeremiah, God tells you there is a plan for you: a wonderful and amazing plan. It’s a plan for success and joy. Where did God plant that plan? In your heart, of course! God has given you the desire to succeed and manifest His work in this world.

How do you discover that plan? Since God planted the plan in your heart, look in your heart. Look prayerfully, intentionally, and with great expectation.

Try these strategies to discover this plan.

• What is your passion? Your passion holds the dreams which God planted in your heart. Follow your passion.
• Are you pushing it away? Is there something niggling in the back of your mind you’re trying to avoid?
• Bring it to the forefront. This may contain God’s plan for you that your ego wants to avoid. Your ego wants your will, not God’s.
• The “What then?” trick. Ask yourself, “Once I achieve that goal, what then would I want?” 
• Keep asking “what then” until you have this deep ah-ha experience that says, “That’s it. That’s the ultimate plan for my life.”

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Trust in God’s Promise.

God’s not going to give you the entire plan at once. Remember, a major difference between God and human beings is the concept of time. God lives in eternity with the ability to see the past, present, and future as one.  Our lives are bound by time, and we can remember the past, experience the present, and hope for the future. So, God’s plan (and our own for that matter) unfolds over the course of time as we pass through various seasons of living. We learn as we go in preparation for each new season.0

After all, you might get scared if you discovered God wanted you to begin a world-wide coaching business that would require writing three books a year for the next 10 years, managing a staff of 100 people, and othersbeing jealous of you or speaking untruths about you. You gradually grow and develop into all that.

God doesn’t seem to write with straight lines. The plan unfolds along a meandering path, making allowances for storms and disruptions, especially when you interject your own will, or when unexpected circumstance arise. God then re-writes the path and you’re set again. This happens throughout the course of your life.

The key is trusting that God has everything in hand, even when you can’t see more than 10 feet in front of you! 

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Photo by Elisabeth Wales on Unsplash

Consider these ideas found in the story of Jabez.

Once you know the direction you’re going, even if you only know the first step or two, let God know you’re ready.

Jabez asked God to “bless me and enlarge my territory.”  
You can ask God to:

Bless you with the wisdom, knowledge, and resources needed to accomplish His plan for you. Bless your business, so it expands in every way according to God’s will for you.

Then Jabez requested, “Let your hand be with me…” 

Ask God to guide and direct you, to inspire you, and let you know each succeeding step. Tell God that you’ll listen to His messages to you. Stay in communication with God through prayer.

Lastly, Jabez asked, “… keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.”

Ask for God’s protection in every area of your life – for you, your family, and your business. Implied in your request is that your actions will be according to God’s word.

Then, you’re told that God answered his prayer.

God promised through Jeremiah that He has plans for you, “… plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

When you’re living God’s plan for you and asking for assistance, the goals you set will be according to that plan. Your goals are God’s goals for you. You can crush your goals now and all your future ones as well.

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Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash.com

Commitment to God and His ways.

I hope you caught the dual meaning to Provers 16:3 when combined with the other two passages. There is a commitment to what you do (whatever you do) along with a commitment to give everything to God and do things His way. God’s plan according to His will has been placed in your heart. And when your will aligns with the will of God therein lies your success. Sometimes it means developing new a new habit or two, a new perspective, or acknowledging that your will is different from the will of God. And in that case you have a choice to make.

The ultimate question to ask yourself is this: “Am I committed to making the choice to bend my will towards the will of God in whatever I do, to fulfill His plan for my life?“

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