Word for Today, Fri, 05 Feb 2004: Trust in God, no matter what the plan
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
Dear friends,
Today's message comes from Neil Anderson, and it deals with God's
plan for our lives.
I don't know about you, but I personally find it difficult to
look very far ahead - at least in this life. The one thing I do
look ahead for is the day when I can be with Christ. The hope of
that future, combined with the words of encouragement and daily
direction in scripture, provide me with direction - and they
begin with an implicit trust in God, even when - no, especially
when - I have no idea where things are heading.
In my humanness, I struggle with this. Each day is a willful
choice to give God first place in every area of my life.
Fortunately, both by faith and by experience, God has shown me
that His ways are both right and true - and forever faithful.
Yours in Christ,
Brian
____________________________
NEIL ANDERSON'S DAILY IN CHRIST
from Freedom in Christ Ministries
February 5
PLAN A VS. PLAN B
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your
own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will
make your paths straight (Proverbs 3:5, 6).
Untold numbers of Christians are spiritually unaware and defeated
in their daily lives. They don't realize that there is a battle
going on for their minds. When struggling believers perceive the
nature of the conflict and realize that they can be transformed
by the renewing of their minds, they will experience freedom.
Faith is God's way to live and reason is man's way, but faith and
man's ability to rationalize are often in conflict. It's not that
faith is unreasonable, nor am I suggesting that you ignore your
responsibility to think. On the contrary, we are required by God
to think and choose. God is a rational God and He does work
through our ability to reason. The problem is that our ability to
reason is limited. The Lord said: "As the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts
than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9). We are incapable of
determining God's thoughts through human reasoning, therefore we
are dependent on divine revelation.
So we can live God's way: operating by faith, which I like to
call Plan A. Or we can live our way: operating by our limited
ability to reason, which is Plan B. Plan B is based on our
tendency to rationalize, "I don't see it God's way" or "I don't
believe it," so we do it our way. Solomon urged us always to live
God's way when he wrote: "Do not lean on your own understanding"
(Plan B), but "in all your ways acknowledge Him" (Plan
A)(Proverbs 3:5, 6).
The strength of Plan A in your life is determined by your
personal conviction that God's way is always right and by how
committed you are to obey Him. The strength of Plan B is
determined by the amount of time and energy you invest in
entertaining thoughts which are contrary to God's Word. You may
really know God's way is best. But the moment you begin to
entertain thoughts or ideas which are contrary to God's Word, you
have established Plan B as an escape route in case Plan A should
fail. Is it rational to choose our way over God's way?
Lord, I want to be done with self-centered, mediocre planning. I
choose to submit my will to Your perfect way and trust You for
the outcome.
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--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/
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