God, What are your plans for me?

God’s mercies are new every morning; fresh starts are a daily opportunity. The God of Hope wants us embrace each new day with inspired hope.  Daring to dream and setting goals honors our divine design.  Goals and dreams seldom just materialize; they require diligent effort.  New habits take 21 days to implement and demand consistent discipline to maintain.  The key, though, is checking in with the One who has perfect plans before we fill in the blank pages of that new calendar!

Checkpoint:  How do I know what your desires are, God?

The Word says God has plans to prosper me (Jeremiah 29:11) and good works for me to do (Ephesians 2:10), but how do I know what they are?

It is not a mystery!  Look at the pressure points in your life today. 

Tomorrow does not arrive independent of today; what is points to what can be. 

Where there are dark spots on our lives, pressure points of distress, we have a post-it note from God, saying:  “Talk to me.”  Physical realities offer windows to spiritual counterparts.  Unfilled desires that nag at you from year-to-year may be dreams He has given that He wants you to pursue:  a new job, a move, weight loss, education or launching a business. Any place in your life that fails to gleam with the glory of Gods needs to be surrendered to Him.

Checkpoint:  What do I need to receive from you, Father?

The next step is to determine what is blocking His reign in those areas.  Salvation launches eternal life–with all its possibilities. Believers already have every spiritual blessing needed for a victorious life (Ephesians 1:3).  Anything not of faith is sin; all sin is simply outward revelation of inward sickness that must be healed by the Holy Spirit.  It is a broken human spirit and soul (Psalm 51) that opens the way for healing to begin.  Identifying the places in our lives that fail to resonate with the glory of God prepares us for surgery by the Spirit and the Word.

Checkpoint:  What can I do to work into my days all that You have given me?

After humbly presenting the dark spots to God, ask yourself what faith would look like or sound like in those areas. Then, set goals to help you receive the gift of faith for them!  Determine to gather verses that speak to the issue or plan for ways to counter your natural responses (Romans 13:14).  We must work out what God puts into us (Philippians 2:12), but we cannot do it on our own.  Discipline itself must be disciplined.  A rigid schedule of ‘to do’ can deafen our ears, blind our eyes and harden our hearts to the primary call of God:  Friendship with Him.

Checkpoint:  Do my plans allow time to be your friend, Jesus?

Relationships take both a quality and quantity of time.  Our hopes, dreams and plans for every new day must flow from the heart of God or they will just create new pressure points.  God created time in the very beginning—and He said it is good.  We have all the time we need to do the good works He plans for us to do.  His plans are for healing and wholeness—and they find fulfillment in friendship with Him.