Do you have plans? Does God have plans for you?

Many of the questions I am asked are related to the idea of our future. What decisions should I make how do I know how to make them?

Two scripture come to mind immediately when people ask these questions.

Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Proverbs 16:9

“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”


First we need to understand that God is in control. He has created you to fulfill to a purpose. He has gifted you with everything you need to begin your journey to complete fulfillment in Him. Jesus tells us that the Father draws us to himself. As we come to the place of trusting in God all of the gifts we have find their place.

Let me stop here for a second. Following the Lord does not mean that you must be a Pastor, Evangelist or some sort of missionary over seas. Following the Lord means that all the gifts the Lord has invested in you are being used for His honor. If you have carpentry skills, as you build know that you are honoring God. If you have administrative skills, as you organize you are honoring God. People are to see our good works, both in ethics and quality and glorify our Father who is in heaven.

Because God has placed these gifts in you, you will naturally have a desire to use them. You will plan things to use your gifts, personality, and all of the blessing you have received from God without really planning necessarily to honor God. Why? That is the way God created you.

Can we mess up God’s great plan for us? I believe the answer is yes. Our rebellion, our rejection of Christ can defuse our fulfillment of what we were created to do. The great and amazing thing about the Lord is Hid grace toward us. I believe even if we do reject Him and go into rebellion, we can always repent and return to fulfill God’s plan for our lives.

I believe we have two responsibilities in fulfilling God’s plan.

First is to stay close to Him. Keep an active prayer life, stay active in a local Body of Believers, and study the Word. These are not to be things done out of ritual or a feeling of obligation instead they should be done out of love. Our relationship with the Lord should be one of love, not fear of repercussions. As we study, prayer, and stay in fellowship we learn that better.

Our second responsibility is to plan. Don’t sit by idly waiting for something to happen. Yes, we are commanded to wait on the Lord but that is part of what point number one is all about. Out of this relationship with Him we begin to plan what we should do to accomplish all the desires the Lord has placed in our hearts.

David wrote:

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Acknowledge Him in all of your ways and He will make your path straight.”
Psalm 37:4,5

God places those desires in our hearts. Our planning is not a threat to His plan it is His plan, which is why He orders our steps.

The answer to the question I started with, “Yes”. As we follow the Lord, he stirs the desires of our heart, so we plan to fulfill those desires, which he placed there in the first place and gifted us with all that we need to begin fulfilling His purpose. His purpose in turn fulfills our lives.