Steps to Fulfilling God’s Plan for Your Life

Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

Part 7: Steps to Fulfilling God’s Plan for Your Life

I’ve never known a great leader that hasn’t followed some kind of a plan. You may read your Old Testament and feel that men like Noah, and Abraham and Moses, and Joseph and David, were being randomly led step by step, and that all they had to do was obey the next thing God was telling them to do. That would be partially true. It was important for each of those men to follow the steps that God was giving to them. But they also all had a general idea of where they were headed. They weren’t wandering randomly.
God had shown each of them glimpses of the plan He was leading them in. The Lord knew the plan in advance and He’d share what was necessary and what their faith in Him could handle. Even then, the plans He showed them were larger than their imagination could comprehend.

God does want us to seek Him for the plan of what it is we feel that He has placed in our heart to do. Sometimes ideas we get initially seem very exciting, but the truth is, most lose their excitement glow within a very short time. As we’ve thought about them more and realized the amount of work they would take, or the resources or skill they would take, or if we’ve shared them with others and they’ve quickly shot holes in them, the excitement quickly wanes. Real plans from God last and won’t escape your heart. This is what helps you discern the difference between fun ideas and a God-given dream or idea.

Getting a plan is only the beginning. When you feel God has given you one, you have to then ask yourself how you are going to execute it.
One of the main reasons people fail in new eating and exercise plans is because they don’t have an execution plan. They dream but fail to strategize. They don’t think through the kind of meals they need. They don’t bring the right kind of food with them to work. They have no strategy for building an exercise plan into their busy schedule. They just think, “I’m going to start exercising,” but haven’t thought through how they are going to build that into their lifestyle. Having a strategy for your vision of getting in shape or for any plan is absolutely critical.

Then you have to believe that you can do it!
Belief is what powers you through the temptation of quitting. After you’ve seen yourself fail two dozen times before, it’s hard to believe that this time you are going to make it. This is where seeking God through prayer and having verses of God’s promise to help push you through the many temptations to give up and quit are so vitally necessary to your plan. You will never fulfill any vision from God as a quitter. You have to learn to walk in His strength.

Timing is also so important. It sometimes seems as though there is never a perfect time to start anything. Start impulsively and you’ve started without a plan. You will fail.
Have what you believe is a God given plan. Have a strategy laid out for it. Have faith that you can execute it. And then wait until you reach the point where you can’t stop thinking about it. If you’ve been praying all along, you will reach this point. Than as long as you have the resources to execute it, you probably have God’s timing.

Each of those parts are essential to the plans that God places in your heart. I personally don’t move forward in plans and ideas until all these components are in place. And when I do move forward, I continue to seek Him and the direction of the Holy Spirit in every step and have faith that He’ll continue to lead and help me. And I remember these promises!

God’s word is the lamp unto your feet and a light to your path (Ps 119:105).

Isaiah 30:21 ‘Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it.” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.”

Isaiah 30:21, ‘Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it.” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.”

John 10:27 ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me’.

Isaiah 65:24 “I will answer them before they cry out to me. While they are still talking about their needs, I will answer their prayers!”

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt