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“In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps” (Prov. 16:9).

A newfound friend on the Internet in 1996 sent me a magnet which was on my filing cabinet in the office for many years. On it was the phrase which is the subject of this post. I really liked the phrase and have often used it as a catchphrase at the bottom of email signature blocks but I never really knew if it were Scriptural. It just sounded good.

Today I received the daily devotional from Os Hillman and in it was the verse from Proverbs listed above. It immediately made me think of my favourite phrase and I knew instantly where it had come from. Os was talking about how man plans a lot of things which sound really good but often the plans are not handed over to God for confirmation or approval. How often do we do that? Make plans but forget to include God in them?

For several years now I have prepared my goals for the year in full colour using Powerpoint and then print them out, laminate them and stick them on the wall just above and behind my monitor so that whenever I’m looking at my monitor, the goals are also in view. It’s important to have our plans and goals constantly in our vision - if they’re out of sight, they are often out of mind, and the end of the year can come and we wonder what happened to our plans? It’s been important to me that I adopt a bible verse as well for my goals and I include that. The goals usually include business goals and personal goals with something that also relates to my ministry and/or my connection with my Christian faith.

Late in December 2006 the pastor from my church told us about the message he received from God for our church and the Year of the Green Lights. I added this information and the verse he quoted, plus pictures of green traffic lights for emphasis and the word ‘Go’ in a big green circle.

It’s not a co-incidence, but a God-incidence that at the very time I was putting all this together (I had taken a day off for my planning day, prayer, reading, thinking, writing, etc) a Google Alert arrived with my name in it, promoting a speaking event in the US. There is a speaker there with the same name as me and she will be sharing the stage with Lisa Bevere. That email so excited me and I copied and pasted it into the PPT presentation before I printed it off. You see, one of my goals for this year is to increase how much writing I do, publish a book and do more speaking engagements. This email which could have come anytime, arrived during the time of my planning session and prayer and I believe it to be a confirmation from God that he is directing my path. And already I’ve had several articles published, am writing a book based on one of my most successful blogs and have already had several speaking engagements.

I have chosen my direction but sought God in my planning and He is directing my paths. How can I not get excited about something like that?

The sermon at church tonight was exceptional. Actually all the sermons are very good but tonight a young man who is training as a Pastor took over the senior pastor’s role and gave the sermon. The topic of late has been ‘The Will of God’ and in particular ‘What is God’s Will for my life?’ which is one of the most asked questions by Christians.

Ps Luke was nearing the end of the sermon and talking about Col 1:11 …being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully. This part of the sermon was titled ‘Just hang in there’ and he spoke about how at times it seems the easiest thing to just go back to old habits or to give up, because it all seems so hard. We often find we just cannot achieve what we’ve set out to do in our own strength and ability. Amongst other things he spoke about people in business and how often we struggle to achieve what we’ve set out to do. ‘Financial challenges are often a major part of that struggle‘ I thought, ‘as I hear so many people talking about it.’

Luke mentioned how some accuse Christians of being weak and that our faith is just a crutch but he turned that around and said if we had access to a power that was so much more than we could ever be alone, then why wouldn’t we tap into it? And then he quoted Jeremiah 17:5

This is what the LORD says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD.

Why would we hang onto our own strength, or the strength of man when we have a Lord, who by His very Word, created this awesome world we live in? Who wouldn’t want to tap into a strength like that? He also quoted Ephesians 1:19-20

¹⁹and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, ²⁰which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.

What an incredible power we have access to! And yet, so many of us really don’t get it and rely on our own measly strength, or that of people around us. We look in every direction but up for help. We seek ways to change our situation, sort out our challenges, get help from others when in reality sometimes we really do need to just stop what we’re doing - and that includes panicking and worrying - and do as we’re told in Psalm 46:10a - Be still and know that I am God. We’re so afraid that if we stop we’re going to fall and yet if we do stop we could be falling right into the arms of our Father.

I heard the following on the radio the other day and wrote it down - seems quite apt here, doesn’t it?

Sorrow looks back… Worry looks around… But, faith looks up. God’s Little Instruction Book