Study 30 – God Has Plans For Us

Not only does God want us to receive His grace, He wants it to direct the course of our lives as well. It is an ongoing process. Grace brings us safe thus far, and grace leads us home.

We have wills. Christians are not programmes people. The Good Shepherd does not point a remote control handset at one of His sheep and transmit His orders into its mind! His desire is for relationship, so He gives us the will to choose how close we live to Him.

God has a will. The world is not a programmed planet. God has not wound it up and abandoned it. He is active throughout history: planning, motivating and working out everything 'in conformity with the purpose of his will' (Eph. 1:1b).

What He says, He does. He is never taken off guard and nothing happens without His knowledge or consent. When we know that God is in control, we can trust Him in all sorts of puzzling circumstances.

God has a will for us. God's plan for you began before you were born. He decided that He wanted you on the earth, put you in a family and knew exactly what would happen to you.

He saved you and now He wants to continue the plans He has for you. You may be focusing on how unqualified you are.

God is looking at His Son's righteousness in you and is excited about what He is going to do with your life.

God wants us to know His will. Paul urges us, 'do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is' (Eph. 5:17). God does not expect us to wander around aimlessly, guessing what He has planned for us. But neither does He want us to seek His will in minute detail.

Jesus knew that the Spirit had anointed Him to preach and heal (Luke 4:18, 19), but He may not have been aware of His exact itinerary. God has appointed us to do a specific work and is keen for us to discover the general direction of that calling.

How do we know God's will? We offer our bodies to God and allow Him to transform us by renewing our minds.

The natural consequence of this is that we 'will be able to test and approve what God's will is' (Rom. 12:2). We give God our bodies and minds and He reveals to us His will.

To Meditate On

God has a plan for your life.

'"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"' (Jer. 29:11).

'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight' (Prov. 3:5, 6).

Food For Thought

God wants you to broaden your horizons.

LOOK UP the following Scriptures and catch a glimpse of God's glorious eternal purpose:
Gen. 17:3-8; Isa. 11:10; 56:4-8; matt. 12:18-21; 28:19; Eph. 1:9, 10; Rev. 7:9.

READ Daniel 2:31-45.

Be Inspired

Can you think of a father who has no will or plan for the life of his son?...Can you imagine a man who has no special desire or pattern in the one he chooses to be his wife? Can you conceive of a king…who has no will or desire or law to govern the conduct of his people? A captain who has no plan for his soldiery? An employer who has no plan or pattern to guide the labour of his workers? If so, then you may also think that God does not have a plan for your life, for every one of these symbols is used in the Bible to represent the relation the Christian bears to his Lord.
G. Christian Weiss

To Consider

READ Psalm 37:4.

HOW COULD YOU delight yourself in the Lord?

Continue in the grace of God (Acts 13:43).

All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be (Ps. 139:16).