February 16 Thought for the day...God's got plans

Have you ever been in a situation where you knew the Lord was speaking with you, but for whatever reason, you didn't follow through? Have you ever known God's leading but didn't follow? We all have done it at one point or another. Paul challenges us with this thought

"Do not quench the Spirit." 1 Thessalonians 5:19

Paul is wrapping up his letter to the Thessalonians with a list of final encouragement, each one as important as the next. This one is a particular challenge. The word "quench" means to extinguish, smother, suppress, douse, put out, snuff out, or to quell. It most often means to extinguish a fire by dousing it with water. If we continue to pour water on a fire, it will eventually die. Paul is warning us not to allow the same thing to happen to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The reason we are challenged to not allow the quenching of the Spirit is, every time the Spirit speaks in our lives it is to impact the world around us and to bless us at the same time. God has a powerful and wonderful plan for each of us, but as we grow in Christ, we must learn to follow His lead. The Scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit is; our guide into all the things of truth, He is the one who quickly convicts us to not hurt ourselves or others, He releases power and anoints, He gives comfort, health, and strength, and He births fruit in our lives.

These are all part of God's plan to bless us and bless our world through us. If we quench the Holy Spirit over and over again, eventually, we will not be able to hear Him or feel His nudging in our spirits, and we will miss so much God has for us. Job 42:2 tells us God's purposes will not be stopped. This means God will fulfill His plan, but if we refuse, He will work through someone else.

If you are not sure if you are hearing,  your own wants and desires or the Holy Spirit's ask those who are more mature in the things of God, your Pastors, church leadership, and others you can trust. Don't miss the blessings God has for you!

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.