A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day (August 11, 2016)
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)
We have been walking with the Lord for some 34 years and we have by no means arrived. We learn new things every day and see where we missed it and/or misunderstood. We have however learned a few things along the way and we hope that one of those, which we will cover today in this devotional, will help you in your personal walk with the Lord.
Over the years I have heard people say that they have prayed for certain things very specifically and God would answer them in that way. For example, a single person would pray for a mate and list all the physical characteristics of that dream mate and God would provide such a person. Our experience however has never been that way. In fact, it has been just the opposite.
One of the key scriptures that has helped us identify God’s will for our life over the years has been the following:
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)
This was an “after the fact” learning scripture for us. What I mean by that is we only learned this truth after some real life experiences we had with God. What we learned is that God does not look at things the way we look at things. We look at things mainly in the flesh, but God looks at the heart. But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because the Lord looketh on the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
God does not think the way we think. My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, says the Lord. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9, NLT)
If we think we have it all figured out in our mind exactly how God’s will should work in our life, then we may miss what God has planned. Let’s take for example that single looking for a mate. Our physical senses are very strong and we can, if not careful, be led strictly by those visual and sensual desires. God has a plan, and it is a good plan that is exceedingly abundantly more that you can ask or think. There’s that thinking thing again! But what if His plan is to provide someone that does not meet the perfect picture you have in your head. Will you recognize it, or will you discount it because of what you think?
Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, (Ephesians 3:20)
As I look back on our walk I see time after time where God led us into things that I would never have even imagined. In fact, in my own mind, I had excluded some of those things due to my own thinking or my own fears. One quick lesson, don’t ever tell God what you will never do. If you did, you probably just bought it.
Remember this! The very thing that you have not asked for, thought about, or imagined, could be a sign that this may be God’s perfect plan for your life.
