The Stress of Plans

2012 is swiftly approaching its end and boy what a year it has been!! I have experience God in such a profound way this year and although it is almost over, I am still pregnant with expectation of what more God has in store for his children. One of most valuable lessons that I have learned this year is that it is critically important for us to allow God’s desires to become our desires, to allow His will to become our will, and to allow His thoughts become our thoughts. Now, this is not new knowledge….I would venture to say that I have had this understanding (God’s plans are higher than my thoughts and His ways higher than our ways, etc.) BUT it wasn’t until this year that I got the divine revelation of that truth.

Often we go through life making plans for our future. We determine what we will accomplish, where we will work, the type of person we will marry, the amount of children we will have, where we will live, how much money we will make even down to the details like how we will celebrate our birthday and what we will eat for dinner tonight. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with planning, planning is actually a wonderful practice however, the danger in planning is doing so without the direction of God. You see, God is the author of our lives and we are merely vessels to carry out the purpose for which He created us. One thing is for sure, we can trust that God is crazy in love with us and He promised that when we submit our lives to Him, He would bring us to an expected end. One of my favorite verses in Psalms 139 gives us an explicit demonstration of the love, concern, and detailed thoughts that God has towards us.

¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!

Psalms 139:16-17

So here is where the confusion begins….We realize that we are NOT the authors of our lives, we do not know what God’s intent was when he placed us on this earth, yet opposed to seeking purpose and developing plans through Him, we decide to create our own path. In the laborious task of developing our life’s plan outside of God, we become weary and burdened. Things don’t seem to ever work out or perhaps they do but even in your plans working, you still don’t have peace or fulfillment. God is calling you to give up your plans and submit to His plans. His desire is to give you Complete Elevation and to teach you how to Live in His Abundance! There is a familiar passage of scripture in Matthew that offers believers a beautiful gift if only we will take hold.

²⁸ Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ^[o]ease and relieve and ^[p]refresh ^[q]your souls.]

²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (^[r]relief and ease and refreshment and ^[s]recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.

³⁰ For My yoke is wholesome (useful, ^[t]good—not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.

Matthew 11:28-30

God is SO interested in giving us the rest that we need. He is interested in being our helper, our peace, and truly being in control of our lives without our interference. In the arms of God we can be vulnerable; we can express our fears, hopes, aspirations, and be completely transparent.  It is in the arms of Christ that we are fulfilled and where the transformation occurs.  It is at this point that we have run, we are tired, we have planned, we have fail, we are unfulfilled, we are bruised and wounded that God is standing with arms of love waiting for us to wave the white flag and surrender to His plans and His will. After God has clarified our identify, transformed our hearts, breathed the word of life into bodies, molded our desires to His desires, at that point, we can plan with the understanding that our plans must be God’s plans and that they MUST yield honor God.

As you prepare for the holidays, as you continue to make plans for your life….remember the words from Psalms 139:16-17. God is more than capable of handling your life, I’m a living witness. This truth requires sacrifice and relinquishing control but God is saying, “My desire is for you to live in My abundance”. Answer His call today, stop running, stop planning, run into the arms of the Maker of the heavens and earth, the creator of our soul, the ONLY sovereign God. Again,  God’s desire is for you to live in His abundance. And that my friends, is 7 Degrees North, Complete Elevation.

Lord, thank you for your grace and love. Forgive us for the times that we have planned without you, the times that we have doubted your ability to bring us to an expected end, that we have gotten so caught up in life that we forgot that YOU are the only life that matters. Lord, mold our hearts to yours and give us the grace to submit our desires and plans to you. Let our lives be as sweet sounding music to your ears. Our desire is to serve you through obedience and live in your perfect will. Lead us down the path of righteousness for your name’s sake. Lord we love you because you first loved us on the cross of Calvary. Amen.

With Love,

Kristin Sarai