Strategic Plan of Life

You’d think that just because I have used such a catchy phrase for a topic that I would have answers to the strategic plan of life – I don’t, but I needed to catch your attention. Ever thought about what the ideal life would look like? Your born, go to primary school, high school, college, university, get your dream job, start dating, get married, have kids, they grow up and the cycle continues? If only life was this perfect, then we would all be happy. Life was supposed to be perfect when God created everything in the beginning, what then changed? Sin entered the world and because of sin, bad things keep happening, many people die and many more don’t have the necessities, like food, water and shelter. The consequences of sin made life as we know it hard. 

John the Baptist was the Prophet to whom Isaiah prophesied about him making a way for the Messiah. However, after John baptized Jesus Christ, he somehow lost sight of his purpose when he was sent to jail and he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “are you the Messiah we’ve been expecting, or should we keep looking for someone else,” Matthew 11:3. I think that John like many of us thought that once the Messiah came, He would establish an earthly kingdom and the Jews wouldn’t be under the Roman Empire anymore. For most of us, when we get saved, we assume that nothing bad will happen to us moving forward and so when life knocks us out, we often lose focus and begin to think that God has abandoned us, just like John doubted.

Jesus gave the disciples of John an answer that we too can use, He says, “go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen – the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” You see, when we lose sight of what God has been doing and only focus on the trial, pain, and current situation, we lose focus of who God is. Reflections make us realize how grateful we need to be to God for the opportunity that He’s given us and for His mercy and kindness, which when we begin to think about, we are left in awe. 

We can make our own plans, but the Lord determines our steps, Proverbs 16:9. We’ve all made plans and sometimes we have even done things that were not right before God. Teenagers, youth, men and women, there are years we have been reckless having the notion you only live once (YOLO), it may have seemed okay, but it brought down its own share of consequences. If there is one thing that the enemy has thrived in these times, is to make sin look cool and we on the other side have become comfortable in our sin. I have heard people say, ‘your overthinking, am sure God doesn’t mind that,’ or ‘what’s the big deal, everyone is doing it.’ Our reckless actions have brought about premature death on the youth who have used and abused drugs, committed suicide, early pregnancies and some have even gotten sick and have had to live with the consequences of their choices. 

God on the other hand is gracious, kind and has compassion on us and that is why even when the first man sinned, He made a way for His own Son to come to earth and die for the sins of the world and restore man back to God. We also need to be grateful that our God isn’t like man, when He forgives, He doesn’t keep reminding us of our past mistakes, He takes us just the way that we are. Therefore, as we continue embarking on the journey of knowing God more, let us not forget to always align ourselves to His plans and His purpose for our lives. In this way, we won’t have to go on one direction only to find out that God wasn’t there in the first place. God’s plans for us are good, and we need to trust Him at His Word, however trusting God means that when situations are not going how you want them to, doesn’t mean that God is not in the details. Jeremiah 10:23 reminds us, “I know, LORD, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course,”- we need God all the way, every single day! Isaiah 55:8-9 also reminds us, “for my thoughts are not your thoughts,neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. ⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Yes, the choices we make here on earth will have consequences. Moses threw down the stone tablets that God had made, because of the anger he had towards the Israelites for making an idol image which they were worshipping, but in Exodus 34:1 The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.” Here we see God telling Moses to chisel out (2) other stone tablets because he broke the previous ones. This goes to show us one thing, even if God forgives us for the things that we did wrong, there will still be consequences for our actions. 

Life will not always give you the sweet part, lemons will come, make a sweet lemonade out of it. We don’t get to choose family and where we are born, but what comes out of our life will be entirely on us. We need to learn to appreciate all that we have and put our plans into the hands of God for He is the only one who knows our future and we need to have faith in Him. 

The best strategy you can give yourself is surrendering your life to Christ and accepting Him to be your Lord and Savior – this strategy will not only take you to Heaven but will allow you to see the King of Heaven face to face. Not only that, but this strategy will also allow you to have a sitting at the great feast with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Apostles, the great kings like David, the great evangelists who came before us and our loved ones who we lost along the way. Heaven will be the greatest re-union there ever will be. 

Blessings!!