TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 10th DECEMBER 2024)
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11. TLB
WELCOME TO THE 345TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF IMPACT.
Yesterday, the LORD spoke to us about having good relationships and discerning the duration a relationship was designed by Him to remain in our lives.
The highest point was knowing the relationships that should last a life time, and adjusting our behaviour to make it last. The LORD drew our attention to Ruth, who discovered that her relationship with Naomi should be a lifetime relationship and pressed into it.
It is important to understand that any relationship God sends our ways will not be sweet all the time due to our humanity and the dynamics of life.
There will be periods when it will be bitter. But that does not mean it is no longer the will of God.
When it becomes bitter, that is when we need to stand on its prophetic purpose and use the same to war against whatever is against it. That is when to stand in God’s plan for that relationship to neutralize the works of the evil one.
Today, we will be refreshing our minds with a few life-giving truths on following God’s plan in life. There are three basic plans that are influencing humanity on our planet Earth today; the plans of God, the plans of man, and the plans of the evil one (the devil).
The plans you have in life fall into either of them. Yes, they do! You are either living your life according to God’s plan, the devil’s plan, or your own plans. The Bible sometimes calls plans, “the counsel of the people,” if it is man’s plans, or “divine counsels,” if it is God’s plan, or “the counsel of the wicked,” if it is the plan of the evil one.
The word of the LORD says “the counsel of God shall stand.”
Meaning any other plan may manifest but will never stand the test of time. Only that of God will both manifest and stand the test of time.
That declaration is the reason the plans of the evil one do not work in the lives of the righteous. It is the reason we can stand in prayer to frustrate the plans of the evil one or the evil plans people cook against us. It is the reason why our ministry in Kenya has survived.
There have been very terrible church members who have been working with the Kingdom of darkness to execute a dark plan against us, but God’s firm declaration has been watching over the work and us the workers in the vineyard.
YES, THE PLAN OF THE LORD SHALL STAND. NOTHING SHALL BE ABLE TO BRING IT DOWN.
The declaration is the reason why our lives can only be sure when we find God’s plans for them and live our days within their boundaries. People who did exploits for God in Bible days lived their lives within God’s plans for them. That is why we are still talking about them today.
The life of Ruth, for example, took a fresh turn when she stuck to Naomi and stepped into God’s redemptive plan for mankind. Today, we still talk about her.
The plans of God are the only ideal plans for us. They are the only plans on planet Earth that have a glorious future for any man. Any other plan will sink you terribly.
Sadly, many are living according to the plans of men and the evil one for their lives. That is why they are in misery.
We were not originally designed to live our days in our own plans, no matter how successful we might become. That was what Nimrod did, and God came down to scatter everything.
He scattered it because the plan succeeded and became an order of Satan on earth.
His life tells us that it is possible to develop our plans and succeed in them. But when we do, we establish the order of Satan on earth. His life also teaches that the fact that a human plan succeeded does not mean it was originally God’s plan.
The success of your plans can never turn them into God’s plan. We could be successful in our plans, but God never designed our lives to be lived that way. Our lives were designed to succeed in God’s plans alone. If we succeed in our carnal plans, it will become an order of Satan on earth, and in most cases, resist God’s will.
That is why if you study the early church, you will realize that Christianity is not receiving power from God to succeed in your own plans. That will be Christianity controlled by the spirit of Babylon – the spirit of this world.
CHRISTIANITY IS SUBMITTING YOUR ENTIRE LIFE TO JESUS CHRIST AND HARMONIZING IT WITH HIS PLANS FOR IT.
It is a way of life that takes you to the cross, where you jettison your own way of life and plans, and embrace God’s way of life and plan. It is a pre-planned life of faith, that is why you do not come into it and remain the way you were in time past.
The rhythm your life will produce if you harmonize it with God’s plans will be supernaturally pleasant. Two words we can use to describe it are, “peace” and “Prosperity.” Yes, because we live in an imperfect world, there could be challenges, but the peace and the prosperity of God will always be available to deal with them.
Your security, prosperity, protection, significance, and bearing in life are buried in the plan of God for your life. Stepping into it is the only key to turning them on.
This Meaning, you can not become anything significant in this life as a child of God until you step into God’s plan for your life.
What God has designed to be turned on in your life by stepping into His plan can not be turned on by praying, fasting, or sowing seeds (as we call it today).
When the bad and ugly are always happening to you, it is a sign that you are either outside God’s plan for your life or you are not following them accurately.
Stepping into God’s plan for your life remains the only solution to your entire problems. Life outside God’s plans can be very horrible. You will lack divine interventions when you need them most.
Many do not know that God does not just intervene in things. He will first look into the situation to see if the people involved are in His plans for their lives. If they are not, it will be difficult to secure lasting interventions.
Hence, in His love and mercy, He will send a teacher of His word to them to bring them into His plans for their lives before intervening in their situations.
Divine manifestations are a constant blessing of people who are rooted in divine plans. You see that in the story of the redemption of Israel from Egypt.
The Bible says the Israelites were in Egypt for 400 years. They were in slavery. Many people were also in slavery like them under other kings. But God could not bring these other slaves out of their task masters except the Israelites.
He was able to bring Israel out because they were in His divine plan.
The easiest way to terminate the works of the devil in your life is to step into a divine plan of God for your life. Step into a church that is God’s plan for your life. Submit to a minister of the gospel that is God’s plan for your life.
GET INVOLVED IN ANY MINISTRY THAT IS GOD’S PLANS FOR YOUR LIFE.
Get married to a man or woman who is God’s plan for your life. Pursue a career that is God’s plan for your life. Buy a car or live in a house that is God’s plans for your life.
People who limit their lives just to things that are God’s plans for them will end up living the most peaceful lives on earth. When you step into God’s plan for your life, the enemy will step out of your life. God’s divine plans and demonic oppression can not co-exist!
Even in the school of receiving blessing from God, what will come to you by stepping into God’s plans for your life will never come to you through any other means! Our devotional text is a direct voice of God to us. It says;
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
God‘s plans are the only plans with a future – a glorious future. When you step into them , they could look bleak and unpromising – you have stepped into a glorious future in the making.
Let me conclude this by showing us how to step into God’s plans for your life. It begins with a word from the LORD – in the place of revelation. God will have to speak or reveal them to you. Anything about God is not discovered on the surface of life but revealed to the heart in the deeper places of the Spirit.
Begin a deeper walk with God today. You must go deep to discover God’s true plans for your life. When you walk with God and allow Him to take you to the deeper places of His Spirit, you will wake up one day to see yourself fulfilling His plans for your life.
God is sharing with us some wisdom to apply our hearts onto. It is part of divine wisdom to limit our lives to places, people, purposes, ministers of the gospel, and every other thing that is God’s plans for us. It is foolishness not to do so.
This is a call to walk out of any lifestyle that is not God’s plan for us; any life that is ungodly, sinful, dishonest, powered by pride, etc. We also need to walk away from people and places that do not fall into God’s plans for our lives. If we do not, we will have ourselves to blame. That is the message of today!
MAKE THIS SCRIPTURE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR THE DAY.
“The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nought; He makes the thoughts and plans of the peoples of no effect.”
“The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the thoughts of His heart through all generations.”
“Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He has chosen as His heritage.”
Psalms 33:10-11 AMP