11-Why God has a plan for you
"No plan of yours can be thwarted." - Job 42;2
“Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.” Luke 1:30-31
The elderly native woman’s eyes brightened in pleasant surprise as Donald Johnson entered the living room of her small home. She is like Donald’s grandmother, and at 99 years of age, her eyes are remarkably clear and her memory as sharp as ever!
During most of those years, she had been a faithful Christian, who had prayed for her community on a regular basis.
With a twinkle in her eye, she said to me, “Owiktos, I pray that God will take me home soon.” “But,” she said with a chuckle, “I guess He must have a deaf ear.
At the time Donald smiled at her sense of humor, while marveling at the grace with which she handled increasing age. She was hard of hearing, had recently broken her hip, and her feeble hands could no longer make the cedar baskets for which she was so well known. Yet, she accepted all of these things as part of God’s plan.
This past summer at the age of 101, God called her home. She had finished her work.
Her life of faithful resignation is a reminder to me of the faith of Mary, who, once the initial shock of Gabriel’s amazing announcement wore off, accepted God’s assignment. “I am the Lord’s servant. May it happen to me as you have said.”
It tales faith to trust God when the circumstances of life take a surprising turn. But every time God asks something important of us, He not only provides us grace to carry out the task, He also enlarges our witness and determines the length of our sojourn on earth.
Dear Heavenly Father, by your grace we offer ourselves to you as willing servants. Help us to be faithful to you in every circumstance that we might be witnesses of your power, grace and goodness.
They tell us that the Bible is the Word of God - a lamp to our feet, and a light to our path.  They tell us that we shall find in it the knowledge of God, and of his will for our lives.  We believe them rightly, for what they say is true.  So we take our Bibles and start to read them.  We are in earnest; we really do want to know God.  But as we read, we get more and more puzzled.  Our reading is not helping us; it leaves us confused and, depressed.  We find our selves wondering whether Bible-reading is worth going on with.
We work at being a Christian; we really do want to know God.  But as we work, we get more and more frustrated.  Our Bible reading is not feeding and helping us; it leaves us bewildered and depressed.
What is the trouble.  Our Bible reading takes us into a new world - the eastern world as it was two thousand years ago.  I all belongs to that world not to  this world.
The link is God Himself, the same God who provided the word.  God does not change.
He blesses those on whom He sets His love in a way that humbles them, so that all the glory may be His alone.  He uses all kinds of inward and outward pains  and grief to wean their hearts from compromise and disobedience.  Still He seeks the fellowship of His children, and sends them both sorrows and joys in order to detach their love from other things and attach it to Himself.  Still He teaches the believer to value His promised gifts by making Him wait for them.
let us remember at this point that what we are talking about is fellowship, not the wiping out of our personality.  What dies is the god-right we have assumed.  What lives is the basic person God created, set marvelously free in fellowship with God.
How slow are we to believe in God as God sovereign, all-seeing and almighty!  How little we make of the majesty of our Lord.  The need for us is to wait upon the Lord and his control.
God has freely given us a number of tools or steps to use in our training.  These include the Bible, prayer, and his presence.  When these tools are used appropriately, they enable us to grow within the plan.
(Proverbs 12:15)
"The way of a fool is right in his own eyes but a wise man listens to advice."
Solomon gave instruction about life.  He contrasted good with evil, wisdom with foolishness, and labor with laziness.  Do right and you will succeed.  Wickedness leads to failure and death.  Foolishness and laziness lead to ruin.
You want success?  Here's your model.  You want achievement?  Here's your prototype.  You want bright lights, pageants and media attention?  Consider the frontpage, center article of the nation's largest daily newspaper.
It is a caricature of "Miss America."  The vital data of the fifty-one participants has been compiled to present the perfect woman.  She has brown hair.  She has brown eyes.  She knows how to sing and has a perfect figure: 35-24-35.  She is Miss America.
The message trumpets off the page: "This is the standaard for American woman."  The implication is clear: Do what it takes to be like her.  Firm your thighs.  Deepen your cleavage.  pamper your hair.  Improve your walk.
No reference is made to her convictions... to her honesty... to her... faith... or to her God.  But you are told her hip size.
In a small photo, four inches to the left is another woman.  Her face is thin.  Her skin is wrinkled, almost leathery.  No makeup... no blush... no lipstick.  There is a faint smile on her lips and a glint in her eyes.  She looks pale.  Perhaps it's my imagination or perhaps it's time.  The caption read, "Mother Teresa: In serious condition."
Mother Teresa.  You know her story.  When she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985, she gave the two hundred thousand dollars to the poor of Calcutta.  When a business man bought her a new car, she sold it and gave the money to the underprivileged.  She owns nothing.  She owes nothing.
Two women: Miss America and Mother Teresa.  One walks the boardwalk; the other walks the alley.  Two voices.  One promises crowns, flowers, and crowds.  The other promises service, surrender, and joy.
Now I have nothing against beauty pageants (although I have my reservations about them).  But I do have something against the lying voices that noise our world.
You've heard them.  They tell you to swap your integrity for a new sale.  To barter your convictions for an easy deal.  To exchange your devotion for a quick thrill.
They whisper.  They woo.  They taunt.  They tantalize.  They flirt.  They flatter.  "Go ahead, its O.K."  "Just wait until tomorrow."  "Don't worry, no one will know."  "How could anything that feels so right be so wrong?"...
For amidst the fleeting promises of pleasure is the timeless promise of (God's) presence.
"Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you'"
There is no chorus so loud that  the voice of God cannot be heard... if we will but listen.
(From In the Eye of the Storm by max Lucado)
What matters to you: looks or love, your job or service to God, wealth or sacrifice?  Pattern your life after wise, spiritual, and devoted workers.
In this plan-program; we will explore how to use these tools effectively and appropriately.  We will gain a new and deeper understanding of our membership in "God's family."
Faith is a degree, the most advanced of degrees, that one earns after unlocking the secrets of the universe.
Can you recall experiences in which you "planted and watered" and God gave the growth?  How did you plant and water?

(Proverbs 2:9-12)
"If you listen to me, you will know what is right, just, and fair.  You will know what you should do.  You will become wise, and your knowledge will give you pleasure.  Your insight and understanding will protect you and prevent you from doing the wrong things."
Solomon warned his readers to heed God's word.  He exhorted them to learn about God, who would help them to choose the right path.  Rebelling against God's wisdom leads to immorality and spiritual death.  God's wisdom keeps us from living an immoral and defeated life.
The secret is making the right choices.  Here's what I mean.  In the light of truth, youu and I are able to see both truth and lie, both light and darkness - that which is simple, pure, and clear and that which is deceptive.  But enslaved to darkness and plunged into the pit of the lie, we no longer see the truth.  We have no other option but to believe the lie.  We become victimized in our addiction - in "sin's foul bondage."
The secret, of course, is making the right choices every day.  So?  Watch those choices!  Watch your decisions!...
We need to keep asking ourselves, Does this honor the Savior?  Does this exalt my Lord?  Does this bring glory to His name?  Does this lift Him up?  How powerful is our focus!...
Once you decide to trust God in simple faith and allow Him complete freedom to carry out His plan and purpose in you as well as through you, you need only relax and count on Him to take care of things you once tried to keep under control.
(From Simple Faith by Charles Swindoll)
As you read the Bible this week, select a Proverb each day that will help you make wise decisions.  Make a list of these Proverbs.  Carry the list with you so you can remind yourself to use this wisdom.
How's your search for wisdom coming along?  What is the source and benefits?
Human existence is oriented to the Glory of God. (Romans 8:19-23)
"Even someone who does not think that God exists could at least agree with the hypothesis that if God existed, a fundamental solution to the problem of human existence would be provided.  God would be seen as the ultimate reason for all that is, as reality's ultimate support, ultimate goal, and ultimate core.  Threats of death, meaninglessness, rejection and nothingness would be overcome.
"Even when all the goods of health, education,  security, and weather in our possession, we still hunger to know who we are.  And we infer from this hunger... (In discovering one's own identity, one discovers God" Catholicism- Richard P. McBrien).
Belief in God answers more questions about life and it's meanings and purpose than does unbelief.  Are you wise in your own eyes - arrogant in your own knowledge or do you seek the truth in childlike faith - humbly open to receive the truth of God's Word; realizing  that only God holds all the answers?
(Matthew 11: 25-26)
At that time Jesus said, "Father, Lord of heaven and earth!  I thank you because you have shown to the unlearned what you have hidden from the wise and learned.  Yes, father, this was how you were pleased to have it happen."
How are you like the "wise and learned"?  Like the "little children?"
It is important to have an open mind, to god's guidance.  We win through a true knowledge of God when we recognize that the training program he has prepared for us is one of his own making.  We as his children find peace of mind and spirit in a humble acceptance of our proper place in the scheme of things; as a child being trained for his family in heaven.  Like a loving parent, God teaches and directs us.  We should listen to him because peace and righteousness come to us as we obey his Word.
(Isaiah 48:17)
"I am the Lord your God, the one who wants to teach you for your own good and direct you in the way you should go."
Think of self-control as a wall for defense and protection.  An out-of-control life is open to all sorts of enemy attack.
When we are yielded to God and His will, we are filled with the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit controls and dominates us.  Now we are to act on that truth and walk or live with full assurance that God has already filled us, and we are under His control....
Personally, I find it helpful to begin each day silently committing that day into God's hands.  I thank Him that He knows what the day holds for me.  I ask Him to take my life that day and use it for His glory.  I ask him to cleanse me from anything which would hinder His work in my life.  And then I step out in faith, knowing that His Holy Spirit is filing me continually as I trust in Him and obey His Word.  Sometimes during the day I may not be aware of His presence; sometimes I am.  But at the end of the day, I can look back and thank Him, because I see His hand at work. He promised to be with me that day - and He has been!
(From The Holy Spirit by Billy Graham)
Does your family name give you confidence?  Can you rely on your upstanding church?  Does your house make you feel secure?  All securities in this life will fail.  Trust completely in God.  Let him be your unfailing security.
(Proverbs 25:28)
"A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls."
Learning to control the tongue is an important step in self-control.
The tongue - what a study in contrasts!  To the physician it's merely a two-ounce slab of mucous membrane enclosing a complex array of muscles and nerves that enable our bodies to chew, taste, and swallow.  How helpful!  Equally significant, it is the major organ of communication that enables us to articulate distinct sounds so we can understand each other.  How essential!
... But the tongue is as volatile as it is vital.  It was Washington Irving who first said, "A sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener with constant use."  It was James, the half brother of Jesus, who first warned:
The tongue is a fire... a restless evil and full of deadly poison (James 3:6, 8).
Verbal cyanide.  A lethal, relentless, flaming missile which assaults with hellish power, blistering and destroying at will.
And yet it doesn't look anything like the brutal beast it is.  Neatly hidden behind ivory palace gates, movements are an intriguing study of coordination.  It can curl itself either into a cheery whistle or manipulate a lazy, afternoon yawn.  With no difficulty it can flick a husk of popcorn from between two jaw teeth or hold a thermometer just so.  And it is tricky!  It can help you enjoy the flavor ofa stick of peppermint as it switches from side to side without once getting nipped.  Moments later it can follow the directions of a trumpeter, allowing him to play "Flight of the Bumble Bee" without a single miscue.
But watch out!  Let your thumb get smashed with a hammer or your toe get clobbered on a chair and that slippery creature in your mouth will suddenly play the flip side of its nature.
Not only is the tongue untamed, it's untamable!  Meaning what?  Meaning as long as you live it will never gain control of itself.  It defies being tamed.  Incredible!  We can tame Flipper and Trigger and Shamu and Lassie... but the tongue?  Impossible to train
...It takes... a tight conscious muzzle on the muscle in your mouth.  Harnessing such a wily creature requires a determined mindset.... It's a project you've put off long enough.
(From Growing Old in the Seasons of Life by Charles Swindoll)
Have words ever popped out of your mouth before you thought about them?  Think before you respond.  Never just blurt out an answer.  Don't insult someone or carelessly criticize.  Never be sarcastic, and be careful how you tease.
What will you do to regain self-control?
Each family on earth as well as each school has it own methods and rules.  Each religion and church has its own set of rules or methods.  These methods and rules provide guidance toward the ultimate goals of growth.
(Paul and Thecla 1:19-20)
"Blessed are they who pursue the wisdom (or doctrine) of Jesus Christ; for they shall be called the sons of the Most high.
"Blessed are they who observe the instructions of Jesus Christ; for they shall dwell in eternal light."
God gives us wisdom and victory but not for drifting through life or acting irresponsible with his gifts and resources.  If we keep our purpose in life clearly in mind, he will keep us from pride and greed.
(Proverbs 2:1-8)
"Son, learn what I teach you and never forget what I tell you to do.  Listen to what is wise and try to understand it.  Yes, beg for knowledge; as you would for silver or some hidden treasure.  If you do, you will know what it means to fear the Lord and you will succeed in learning about God.  It is the Lord who gives wisdom; from him come knowledge and understanding.  He provides help and protection for righteous, honest men.  He protects those who treat others fairly, and guards those who are devoted to him."
Is the path of your life taking you where you've always dreamed of going?
And in this world: "God shapes man like a potter" (Gen. 2:7).  he shapes man through his guidance and rules.  When we recognize who God is and who we are, we will fall at his feet in humble respect.  Only then will he show us how to choose his way.