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Pine Baron
07-05-2022, 06:24 AM
Good morning all. I don't know about y'all, but my plans very rarely go the way i want. However, they always go the way He wants, and it's always the better way. Have a safe and blessed day.

Don’t Plan Without God
By Oswald Chambers

Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. —Psalm 37:5

Don’t plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him— that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning.

In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our “spiritual face” before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.

Don’t plan with a concern for evil in mind. Does God really mean for us to plan without taking the evil around us into account? “Love…thinks no evil” (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Love is not ignorant of the existence of evil, but it does not take it into account as a factor in planning. When we were apart from God, we did take evil into account, doing all of our planning with it in mind, and we tried to reason out all of our work from its standpoint.

Don’t plan with a rainy day in mind. You cannot hoard things for a rainy day if you are truly trusting Christ. Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled…” (John 14:1). God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command— “Let not….” To do it, continually pick yourself up, even if you fall a hundred and one times a day, until you get into the habit of putting God first and planning with Him in mind.

USMC87
07-05-2022, 09:44 AM
Amen, God first before anything else is planned!

dverna
07-05-2022, 09:45 AM
"Don’t plan with a concern for evil in mind."

I will never have that much faith.

I carry a gun because I do not trust God to protect me from evil, and I have loaded guns in the house for the same reason.
I have a lifetime supply of components because I worry about what may happen.
I have over 6 months of food because I do not trust God to provide.
I have saved for "rainy days" because I do not trust God to provide.

It may look as though I live in fear, but I look at it as living prepared. I may be wrong but so be it.

The message today illustrates why I do not accept every teaching in the Bible as being "perfect" for this sinner. It may be a "perfect" message for true Christians, but I am not at that stage in my faith journey, and I am 95% sure I will never get there. I suspect God will forgive me for not trusting Him completely because I am weak.

But it does raise the question..."Why do Christians who do not plan for evil carry guns?"

BTW, at my church (Evangelical), there is a "Security Detail" at every service. Is that due to a lack of faith or recognizing reality? If the pastor and elders are planning for evil, maybe I should as well? Another question..."Do other denominations trust God to protect their churches and do not plan for evil?"

Ickisrulz
07-05-2022, 09:59 AM
If a Christian does not plan for times of trouble, he will soon find that God does not step into every adverse event he finds himself in.

Using you brain and learning from experiences is not a lack of faith. It is the way God made us.