For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)
“In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:6, NKJ)
Do you need direction in your life? Ask yourself, “Am I acknowledging God in all my ways?” In other words, is He first place in your life? All throughout the day, we should be acknowledging God, asking for His help, seeking His wisdom, obeying His commands and thanking Him for His goodness.
In the morning, we should wake up and say, “Father, thank You for another beautiful day. I commit this day, my plans and my future into Your hands.” When you start the day like this, you are acknowledging God. He promises to crown your day with success. When you are driving on the freeway say, “Father, thank You for keeping me safe.” At the office say, “Lord, help me to be focused and productive today.” At home, “Father, bless my children.” Before you go to bed, “Lord, thank You for a good night’s rest.” When you’re acknowledging Him in all your ways, He promises to direct your paths. He promises to lead and guide you into paths of peace, joy and everlasting life!
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Hebrews 11:6, NIV)
When God is first place in your life, and you make pleasing Him your highest priority, then you can fully expect to live a blessed, fulfilled life! In today’s verse, notice who God rewards. It’s not people who half-heartedly seek Him. It doesn’t say “people who only think about Him when they’re having a problem;” or “people who will only come to church when something special is going on.” No, God rewards people who earnestly seek after Him. That means we are determined. We get up every morning and thank Him for His goodness. We go through the day meditating on His promises. We give Him praise in the good times and the tough times. We are constantly stretching, growing, learning and striving to know Him better.
Today, remember, when you diligently seek God, He promises that a reward is coming. He promises He wil give you strength, wisdom, favor, good breaks, promotion, healing and restoration. When you seek Him with your whole heart, you will find Him, and you won’t be able to outrun His goodness and blessing!
You can trust the faithfulness of God. What He promised, He will bring to pass. God will not fail you or let you down; He’s in complete control. Just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean that it’s not going to happen. That means the promise is still in your future.
He has never failed you in the past, and let me assure you, He will not fail you in the future. If you will dare trust the faithfulness of God, in due season He promises He’s going to pour out His favor in new ways.
No matter what you may be facing, no matter what trial you may be going through, God has a plan to turn things around in your favor. He is working behind the scenes, and He is working for your good!
Are you a believer in Jesus? Do you love Him? Then you are called according to His purposes. Right now, He is orchestrating the right people to come across your path. Right now, He is orchestrating the right opportunities to open up to you. Right now, He is arranging things in your favor. You may not see it in the natural, but look with your eyes of faith today. Show your love for the Father by obeying His Word. Come before Him with an open and humble heart and trust that He is guiding you. Keep standing. Keep believing. Keep hoping. Keep declaring His Word and meditating on His goodness, knowing that He rewards the people who seek after Him!
10 Great Quotes from Francis Chan
We say things like, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” and “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” Then we live and plan like we don’t believe God even exists. We try to set our lives up so everything will be fine even if God doesn’t come through. But true faith means holding nothing back. It means putting every hope in God’s fidelity to His promises.
Our greatest fear as individuals and as a church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don’t really matter.
If life were stable, I’d never need God’s help. Since it’s not, I reach out for Him regularly. I am thankful for the unknowns and that I don’t have control, because it makes me run to God.
We are consumed by safety. Obsessed with it, actually. Now, I’m not saying it is wrong to pray for God’s protection, but I am questioning how we’ve made safety our highest priority. We’ve elevated safety to the neglect of whatever God’s best is, whatever would bring God the most glory, or whatever would accomplish His purposes in our lives and in the world.
Christians today like to play it safe. We want to put ourselves in situations where we are safe “even if there is no God.” But if we truly desire to please God, we cannot live that way. We have to do things that cost us during our life on earth but will be more than worth it in eternity.
To be brutally honest, it doesn’t really matter what place you find yourself in right now. Your part is to bring Him glory—whether eating a sandwich on a lunch break, drinking coffee at 12:04 a.m. so you can stay awake to study, or watching your four-month-old take a nap. The point of your life is to point to Him. Whatever you are doing, God wants to be glorified, because this whole thing is His. It is His movie, His world, His gift.
This is the God we serve, the God who knew us before He made us. The God who promises to remain with us and rescue us. The God who loves us and longs for us to love Him back.
God has allowed hard things in your life so you can show the world that your God is great and that knowing Him brings peace and joy, even when life is hard.
A friend of mine once said that Christians are like manure: spread them out and they help everything grow better, but keep them in one big pile and they stink horribly.
It is easy to become disillusioned with the circumstances of our lives compared to others’. But in the presence of God, He gives us a deeper peace and joy that transcends it all.
