Good Plans

The prophet Isaiah speaks God's Word in Isaiah 54 and tells of a better future for Jerusalem, which also gives hope and promise of deliverance for us. The scripture: Isaiah 54: 2 “Enlarge your house; build an addition. Spread out your home, and spare no expense 3 For you will soon be bursting at the seams. Your descendants will occupy other nations and resettle the ruined cities. “Fear not; you will no longer live in shame. Don’t be afraid; there is no more disgrace for you. You will no longer remember the shame of your youth and the sorrows of widowhood. 5 For your Creator will be your husband; the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is his name! He is your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of all the earth. WOW! I can most certainly be encouraged by this promise of God to His children and the same God moves today. This is the Word of God and I believe it! The scripture continues on and crescendos in verse 17 where God says But in that coming day no weapon turned against you will succeed. You will silence every voice raised up to accuse you. These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord; their vindication will come from me. I, the Lord, have spoken!

So this morning I was driving to the office and asked God to encourage me and direct my thoughts and my path and He led me to these verses. I want to be very honest with you and say that my ministry has been one of continued attacks by the enemy and continued disappointments, but also great victories. I believe God created me to be a racehorse and not a plow horse so when things slow me down it gets me discouraged, but God's grace has always come through in the midst. I believe God has equipped me to do a specific work that is specific to me. When God challenges us to do something new and different it is not easy to identify what that work is and in the "middle" it can get a little sketchy, but God is leading and I trust Him. I believe He has Good plans and I want to be in the middle of those good plans and moving forward "for the kingdom."

So God is going before me to lead me to that work He has planned for me and I am going to trust Him it will be clear to me when it comes. Right now I will be faithful where I am and what I am doing, and at the same time trusting Him to move me into the work He wants to complete. In Jeremiah 29:11 God spoke through Jeremiah with these words . 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. God is faithful and God is moving and I want to be in the midst of where He is moving and if He lets me, be a part of that moving. God has Good Plans for you and me and you can trust His Word to complete those plans, so keep on keeping on and God will come through as only He can do.

The people of the day needed to trust the word the Lord was giving His prophets and they trusted God would come through and God did come through. We live in a very "suspicious" world that is suspicious of God not doing what His Word says He will do. What if we totally believed that Word and totally immersed our faith in that Word? We would truly see REVIVAL!! Suspicious (def) - having or showing a cautious distrust of someone or something. Time to throw "caution to the wind" and stand in the faith we say we believe in. God will come through. He has done it before and He will do it again. Proverbs 3:5-6 says it well, but we must believe it. Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

Keep in mind I don't believe when we get to heaven God will say "You believed too much in my Word." In fact, it will be the opposite. I believe God will say to many of us "You should have trusted my Word more!" I believe all of it. God will build His church on this faith and on His Word. Now is the time. Now He will move and Now His plans are good! Just trust God's Word and He will direct our path.

A television program preceding the 1988 Winter Olympics featured blind skiers being trained for slalom skiing, impossible as that sounds. Paired with sighted skiers, the blind skiers were taught on the flats how to make right and left turns. When that was mastered, they were taken to the slalom slope, where their sighted partners skied beside them shouting, "Left!" and "Right!" As they obeyed the commands, they were able to negotiate the course and cross the finish line, depending solely on the sighted skiers' word. It was either complete trust or catastrophe.

I am trusting God's Good Plans.

The Pilgrimage Continues

David Warren