Physical needs planning
Suppose you get the idea that you wanted to build a house, sit down and make a list of all the materials you think you need, then ask to be delivered to the ground where you’re going to build, everything is stacked in the middle of the field and the next day, the shovel comes to dig the foundations and everything is on its way. Everything’s fine where you’re supposed to dig.
Because?
Without rudimentary planning, you probably won’t have anything to eat when you get up in the morning, and without detailed planning, no one can build a house, let alone a skyscraper, mall or city. , clothing and transportation are valuable, so planning is valuable. But the simplest impulses do nothing without a certain prediction, which we call a plan.
We all know and practice this in relation to the basic physical needs of life. We take steps to make sure we have enough to eat and clothes to keep us warm. But do we take our spiritual needs so seriously?
What I would like to do here is try to persuade you to set aside time each week for the coming year to specifically plan and plan your life of prayer, devotion, and ministry. The digger of the Spirit of God often enters the scene of our hearts ready to begin a great construction work, and discovers that due to poor planning, there are many messy things in his way. We’re not ready for that.
The way I hope to motivate you to do this is to give them four examples of planning in the Bible. First, some illustrations of the Proverbs; second, the planning of the Apostle Paul; third, God’s planning; fourth, the planning of Jesus.
Proverbs 6: 6-8:? Go see the ant, lazy, think about its ways and be wise. Without a leader, without an officer or commander, in the summer he prepares his bread;
The ant is an example not only because it works hard, but also because it plans to think about the future, thinks about summer what it will need in winter and this forecast meets your needs in winter.
Proverbs 14:15: “The simple gives credit to every word, but the wise one is attentive to his steps.
The difference between planning and not planning is this: do you look where you’re headed in the future or focus all your attention on what’s immediately in front of you?If you’re not a planner, you’ll be at the mercy of others. who will try to give you advice on how to act now, to be happy in the future.
Thus, “the simple honors every word, but the careful attentive to its steps”. The prudent considers the days ahead and what they bring, and thinks about how best to prepare for them and use them to achieve their goals.
Proverbs 15:22 😕 Where there are no advice, projects fail, but with many advisors, there is success.
Here, the wisdom of planning is assumed, and the author simply advises us on how to make successful plans. He said: Don’t be independent enough to be superior to the adviser. Read the wisdom of others who have preceded you. . Talk to experienced and wise people. Pay attention to how others do things and learn from their mistakes and successes.
Proverbs 16: 3 😕 Entrust your works to the Lord, and your designs will be established.
Once again, planning is take for granted and the question is: How can you plan so that what you do has a permanent value and not just disappears at night?Answer: Give this to Señor. De otherwise always seek the lord’s direction and strength in your life. Planning Trust your wisdom, not yours. Then your projects will bear permanent fruit.
Proverbs 24:27: “Take care of your business outside, prepare your crops in the field, and then build your house. “
This probably means that it is important to be able to support yourself through the productivity of the land before moving out. Maybe we’d tell a young man today: find a job before you get married, or at least plan how you’re going to live. will support the new house he’s building.
Proverbs 31: 15-16 😕 It is still dark, and he already gets up, and takes care of his house and the task of his servants. Browse and acquire a property; plant a vineyard with the income of your work. ?
Here, the model housewife is a model planner in two ways: she gets up early and assigns tasks to her servants. You can’t assign tasks to your servants if you don’t have a plan for what you’d like to accomplish that day. examines a property and acquires it, what do you take into consideration?She considers how this will fit into the house plan.
Conclusion of proverbs: Careful planning is part of what makes a person wise and productive. Not planning is considered foolish and dangerous. This is true even when the Proverbs teach that we do not know what the future holds. “A man’s heart traces his way, but does the Lord direct his steps?(Proverbs 16:9). Just because the Lord finally has control over the future doesn’t mean we don’t have to plan. This means that we must abandon and trust our work to the Lord so that he can draw up our plans according to his loving purposes.
Let us give him an example of Paul’s planning among the many we could draw from Acts and his letters. Romans 15: 20-28:
“To strive (i. e. , to plan), in this way, to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been proclaimed, not to build upon the foundations of others?But now, not having a field of activity in these regions and wanting to visit you for a long time, I plan to do so traveling in Spain, because I hope that by the way, I will be with you and that I will be sent there, having enjoyed your company a little. Am I going to Jerusalem, in the service of the saints? So, having concluded this and entrusted this fruit, I will go to Spain.
Here is a typical example of how the Apostle Paul accomplished his mission and I think we should learn from him that planning is essential for a productive ministry and I am referring to both his personal ministry and the church’s most complex body of ministries. Paul was the greatest church implanter ever. He has achieved more in his life than anyone else for the expansion of the kingdom of Christ. So I think we’d do well to take his method seriously. Part of his method was to plan.
He had a general pattern: he wanted to preach where no one had preached before, so he drew up a specific plan based on this pattern: he would bring help to Jerusalem and then go to Rome to establish a Western base, from where he then sees Spain.
What makes this particularly important is that as far as we know, the plan has failed. He was arrested in Jerusalem, went to Rome as a prisoner and probably never went to Spain. It is exactly as we saw in the Proverbs, God is the one who, after all, makes the future. But we’re planning, despite that. God uses our planning even if He abandons it.
For example, if Paul had not planned to use Rome as a base of operations to travel to Spain, he would probably never have written the greatest letter the world has ever known: the epistle to the Romans. Planning is fundamental to Christian life and ministry. , even when God triumphs over our planning.
The fundamental reason for planning is that God is a God who plans, and we were created in His image to exercise dominion over the earth under His lordship.
I do not think it is possible to conceive of a god who does not act according to his own eternal planning, that is, a god who automatically responds to stimuli, rather than performing deliberate actions that correspond to a wise purpose.
Isaiah 46: 9-10 😕 I am God and there is no other, I am God and there is no other like me; that from the beginning I have announced what will happen and since ancient times, things that have not yet happened; I say: my advice will stand, I will do all my will.
Ephesians 1: 9-10 😕 Unravel the mystery of his will, according to his goodwill that had been proposed in Christ, to become him, the dispensation of the fulfillment of the times, all things, those of heaven and those of the earth.
Acts 2:23 😕 This [Jesus] is being delivered by God’s determined design and prescience.
Because God is a God who does all things according to a plan, it is beneficial for us to approach the most important things in life with prudence and planning, and not by accident.
Jesus had a mission to fulfill and fulfilled it with prudence and planning.
When his mother encouraged him to perform a miracle at the wedding feast in Cana, he said, “Isn’t it my time yet? (John 2: 4). There was a scheduled and assigned time for the revelation of his power. Luke 9:51 He said, “When the days passed when he was to be a subject in heaven, he showed in his face the fearless resolution to go to Jerusalem. ” He knew that the plan meant death in Jerusalem, and he did not back down from the plan.
But he was not captured against his will. My father’s plan was his plan, he said in John 10:18, “No one takes away [my life], on the contrary, I give it spontaneously, I have the power to give it over and also to get it back. Did I get from my father. ?
Specifically, my call for this new year is to take the time to plan the most important things in your life.
Plan how you will spend time with your spouse to deepen and strengthen the Plan how you will spend time playing and teaching children Plan how you will do the amount of exercise you need to stay healthy Plan how you will get enough sleep. Plan how much you should eat and how you’ll set limits. Plan your vacation to really give you rest and spiritual renewal.
The most important thing is to plan how prayer and meditation on the Word will be an important part of your life. Without a plan, these most important things are always set aside by urgent pressure.
But it won’t just work to plan something tonight or tomorrow. Planning must be part of your life. I hope that the pastoral team in Bethlehem will spend a full day each month outside the church office just to pray and plan their ministry, in addition to the time I hope we all have each week to plan our weekly work.
So I ask you to set aside time each week to plan, especially to plan your life of prayer and Bible study. For example, since Sunday is the first day of the week (not the last day of the weekend!) And belong to the Lord, take ten or fifteen minutes every Sunday and think about when you will pray and what you will do. Study. . during the week. Think about how God might want to use it this week in a special way. Plan the letters you need to write, the Bible verses you want to teach your children, the visit you want to make, the book you want to read, the neighbor you want to talk to, and so on.
Proverbs teach us how to plan. The greatest missionary I have ever lived was a planner; God is a God who does all things according to a plan; and Jesus showed, on his face, the fearless determination to go to Jerusalem because of the greatest plan of love ever drawn up.
He planned our joy; we must plan for his glory.