Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
James 4:13-16
Plans are good, however, they are useless if they are not in God’s will and He has not been invited to take part in them. We are wasting our time if we are making plans without God. It is arrogant if we think we know best. God alone is the only one who knows the future. He alone knows what is best for us. Why would we not take the time to ask Him what we should do and when we should do it? Even Jesus, the perfect Son of God, was here on Earth He prayed and asked God for His will to trump His own. Matthew 26:39 shows this as Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, He said “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Jesus knew and showed us that we need to be making plans that line up with the Lord’s and doing the will of God alone. There is one sure way to do this; we need to be spending time in prayer. We need to be talking to God about our plans. Ask God if they are in His will and if not, be willing to lay them aside.
I can speak from experience that this truly is the best way to operate and live your life. Many times I have arrogantly made plans and thought I know how life would be. Prior to coming to Center Barnstead Christian Church, I was in a church that I loved. I loved the ministry that was going on, I loved the people in the church. I had made friends for the first time since I had been in school. I had made long term plans for being there. In my mind I would attend that church until I died. God, however, had different plans. As I prayed about my plans and life one day God told me I would be leaving the church. I was not happy about that and yet, I said I want your will and not my own.
God brought me here to CBCC and I am truly grateful that I did not stick to my plans but rather followed His. I wish I could say I did it with more joy, but I did not. I cried for two weeks straight and on and off for months I am ashamed to say. I learned so much from this. God alone knew what I needed. I have learned what true friendship really looks and feels like. I have met and have had the privilege to see people who are truly passionate about the kingdom of God and have a genuine love for others that is truly rare. I could go on for pages about why it was best for me to be here and how truly grateful I am to God. I am so glad I followed His plans rather than mine.
I also made plans for my career that I did not invite God into. This was not wise and I ultimately wasted so much time going to college and searching for jobs. When I finally figured it out and prayed and asked God where I should be working, it was a complete surprise. I never thought I would be doing or want to be doing the work I am now. Without God, I never would have picked this career. Again, I am grateful because truly God is all knowing. Never would I have guessed that this job would provide so much income and even more importantly so much opportunity to share about God and His kingdom. God has worked miracles and allowed me to pray with so many people and to share many times about Him. I have had the opportunity to disciple young believers and watch them grow in faith. I enjoy my job so much. More than any other job I could have had or wanted.
We are here for a very short time in comparison to eternity. We need to be using this time doing what God has planned rather than making our own plans. His plans are so much better than ours and lead us to places we could have never known would be so good. I pray that we would all allow God to lead us and guide us. I pray that we would follow the example of Christ in saying not our will but yours be done.
Written by Rebecca Murzin
