Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Planning”
Our Bible verse for today: “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “Seek the Lord’s will, not your own.”
The Proverbs of Solomon are intended by God to be general principles that apply to life in a broad sense. Proverbs 16:3 is a case in point. Here we are instructed to first commit to the Lord whatever it is we are thinking about doing and then, once we have turned to the Lord first to discover His will, we can count on our actions being successful.
The key is committing the situation to the Lord first. Desire only His will rather than your own, truly seek it, then once you understand what His will is, you obey it rather than proceeding with whatever it is you might prefer to do instead. If you seek His will and then obey it, He will guide you along the path of success as He has determined it to be.
That’s a general Biblical principle which applies to all of life and which is repeated numerous times throughout the Bible – Proverbs 3:5-6, Proverbs 16:9, Isaiah 30:21, just to name a few.
How do we go about seeking the Lord’s will and not our own when it comes to making plans and carrying them out? First of all, you will need lots of prayer. Second, search the Bible for verses and passages which speak to your situation. And third, ask for the counsel of other Christians. Review your situation with them and ask them to prayerfully think it through with you.
All of this takes time but it is well worth it. If you don’t invest the time to discover God’s will instead of your own, you could end up like the person in Jimmy Buffet’s song with “a permanent reminder of a temporary feeling.”
For instance, in a moment of anger you punched a guy in the nose and now you’re in jail for assault and battery and you’re going to have a criminal record? If you had checked with God first He would have told you count to ten and walk away.
You thought it was a good idea to get your girlfriends name tattooed in big block letters on your forearm for everyone to see but now she has left you for another guy and you’ve still got her name permanently on your arm? I’m thinking God would have helped you to make a better decision than that to begin with.
You’re already struggling to make ends meet but you just signed a six year loan contract with $600 a month payment on a really cool new truck? Did you pray about that? Seriously?
Someone once wrote, “A person should give a lot of thought to a sudden decision.” I would amend that to read “A person should go to God for guidance rather than making a sudden decision at all.”
I want to encourage you this morning to seek God’s will rather than your own.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 