Plan to Succeed - Martin Wiles

Do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house. Proverbs 24:27 NLT

My name was in the pot, and, with God’s help, I planned to succeed.

Type A’s are known for planning—sometimes to excess. I was cursed from birth. Both my parents were Type A’s, and I followed suit. Every church I had led I did so with a plan, and this time would be no different. When the board who would recommend me to the church asked me if I had a vision for their church, I removed a pad and read off my list. I didn’t know for sure I’d be their pastor, but just in case I had a plan. 

Solomon’s advice was pertinent. Building a house before preparing one’s fields was foolish. Suppose a dry spell hit or enemies swooped in and stole the crop. Saving from a bountiful harvest and then building the house made more sense than taking on debt with no assurance of how to pay it. 

When planning, I always make a point to include God. Since God says He wants to be involved in the details of my life, involving Him only makes sense. Although He won’t sit around a table and talk audibly to me, I can listen as He speaks to my spirit by His Spirit. Ideas will come I would have never thought of on my own. Insights will flow. And I’ll feel a sense of peace when I’ve received His directions.

I also include others in my planning. Although I had a list of plans before I began leading the church, I immediately began to include others. Amazingly, most of their suggestions were the same as mine, which assured me they too had included God in their planning. Two heads are better than one, and lone rangers often become just that—alone. 

My plans can be made with confidence when I include God and other spirit-led believers. Confidence can be coupled with optimism. If God is before the plans and in the middle of the plans, they won’t fail. In fact, God’s plans can’t fail—which means I won’t when He is the author of my plans. Good planning means having a backup plan. Many times I’ve appeared to mess up God’s plan for my life, but somehow He always brings the plan back around to His plan. 

Get your plans from God and move forward with confidence into your bright future.

Prayer: Father, we ask for Your guidance as we make our plans to accomplish Your will. 

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