Knowing God’s Plan

For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, Plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.’ Jeremiah 29:11-13

Do you know why you were born?

That’s kind of a big question, isn’t it? Yet it is a question that all of us must answer if we want to hear, Well done, good and faithful servant, when we get to Heaven.

I think it is more than that, too. We know that our lives will be the happiest, most fulfilling, most joy-filled that they can be when we are doing what we were made to do. God put a purpose inside of us and nothing else will satisfy us the same as doing what we were created to do in a loving relationship with our Creator.

Two things stand in our way. First, doubt stands in our way. We have to doubt our doubts and believe our beliefs. Don’t let anything convince you against the Word of God. Second, ignorance stands in our way. If we do not know God’s plan for our lives, then we cannot walk in it.

How do you overcome these obstacles? The obvious solution for the first one is spending time in the Word of God, searching out God’s promises. The answer to the second problem, however, is slightly different.

We have to seek God. And not just some half-hearted, when-you-feel-like-it, when-it’sconvenient, when-it-doesn’t-cost-you-anything-to-do-it kind of seeking Him. No. You have to seek Him with your whole heart!

Note that God says we are to do this kind of seeking through prayer. Have you prayed like this? Or are all your prayers no more than food-blessing, bedtime-type prayers? Look at God’s promise when we seek Him this way: We will find Him! Have you ever prayed until you found God?

This all means that God has to come first. What He thinks about your life has to be more important to you than anything else. You must have the mindset that says you will live, not by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Then you will discover His wonderful plans for your life; you will begin to live out the reason you were born.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for Your wonderful plans for me. I choose to seek You with all my heart! Help me to find You, and to find the reason You created me.

Amen

Avoiding the Toll Road of Divorce

For the LORD God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence,’ says the LORD of hosts. Malachi 2:16

Do you realize how seriously the Lord takes marriage and divorce?

People come into my office all the time with the most creative excuses you can imagine. It’s as though they think they get to be the exception to the rule. Let me be clear-

there are no exceptions. God makes His opinion of divorce very clear in His Word. He hates it. Hates! How is that for strong language?

God is so serious about marriage and divorce that He will not even listen to us while we go through the motions of godliness if we do not keep faith with our spouse (see Malachi 2:13-14). Why? Because He was a witness to our vows. He was there when we stood at the altar together, or the courtroom, and pledged, Till death do us part. He has seen whether or not we have been faithful.

He says to us, You made a covenant, and that covenant still stands. You cannot violate it and expect that I will be okay with that.

God is so serious about this because He desires godly offspring (Malachi 2:15). Divorce cuts off godly offspring because it creates orphans.

I still hang out with my kids, Bob; they aren’t orphans, you tell me. Yeah, you still hang out with them, at least when it’s your turn to have custody of them. But what your kids really need is two fulltime parents, not two part-time parents who divide their children between them like spoils of war.

We have a higher calling, saints. We need to take our marriages seriously, no exceptions.

Prayer Lord God, I repent for how I have let excuses creep into my heart. I choose now to take my marriage seriously. Please heal our hearts from all the hurts we’ve given each other and help me to make my marriage into everything you want it to be.

Amen