House of Hope Online

December 17,2023

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Planning is a necessary and important part of our lives.  When we are young, we make plans to either attend college or begin working.  As we get a little older, we decide on family plans, marriage, whether to have children and how many, where to live, etc.  In December each year, we make plans for how to celebrate Christmas.  Some will travel to visit family and friends; others will choose a spot for a special vacation.  When we get a lot older, like me, we begin thinking of retirement plans.

Planning can be exciting and fun, but in some cases, it can be stressful as we try to navigate the unknown.  Planning a family outing, for example, that keeps everyone happy, can present challenges.  Deciding when to retire can be worrisome as we seek to look beyond the present and deal with uncertainty in our next stage of life.

Fortunately for us as Christians, we have a True Light who, if consulted, will illuminate our way, reveal all things, and impart life to us as we plan.  We talked last week about Jesus as that True Light, and we reviewed scriptures from the Book of John that set our minds at ease:

John 1:

 9 There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.

 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.

 11 He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.

 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, [even] to those who believe in His name,

John 8:

 12 ¶ Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

We saw last time that the Greek word for “light” means a divine illumination to reveal and impart life, through Christ.  So, Father God has sent Jesus to reveal and impart life to us.  He reveals all that is revealed, and He imparts life, which means He gives life.  He said in John 8:12 that He is the Light of Life.  He is a divine illumination that reveals and imparts life.

There are many scriptures that support this spiritual truth that Jesus is the divine illuminator of our life.  The Word made flesh will take the stress out of our planning process if we allow Him in to minister to our spirits.  Let’s look at just a few of those verses today and try to answer some questions about our planning process.

Are You Worried or Fearful about Your Future?

When you plan your future, are you uplifted in spirit and encouraged, or are you filled with worry and anxiety?  Do you fear lack or darkness in the uncertainty?  I want to encourage you to allow the True Light of Life to illumine your way.  He, who is the Word of God, says: “I have a plan for your life, and it is a plan for good, and not for calamity…it is a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29:

 11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

 12 ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

 13 ‘And you will seek Me and find [Me,] when you search for Me with all your heart.

Receive that word into your spirit from Jesus, who promises that we will call upon Him and He will listen.  He says” Seek Me, and you will find me.

If you are not at peace when you think about your future, or if you feel hopeless, call upon Jesus and trust His word that He will listen.  Trust that you will find Him and learn His plan.  God’s plan for you does not cause anxiety, stress, and worry.  It is a plan for your welfare to give you a future and a hope.  That is how you can distinguish His plan from Satan’s plan that causes stress and fear.  That’s how you know you are not leaning on your own understanding.

Worry and fear are signs that you are not fully trusting the Lord, but instead are depending on yourself to plan and execute your future.  Proverbs 3 encourages us to lean not on our own understanding.

Proverbs 3:

 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding.

 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.

Isaiah 41:

 10 ¶ ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

Deuteronomy 31:

 6 “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”

Leaning on the Lord instead of our own understanding is key to eliminating any fear and anxiety associated with our future.  In Isaiah 41, the Lord Himself promises to be with us, to strengthen us, and to help us.  And Deuteronomy 31 promises the Lord will go with us into that future, and He will not fail or forsake us.

Leaning on the Lord and acknowledging Him in all our ways involves surrender of our desires to His plan.

Psalms 37:

 4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

 5 Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.

The Hebrew word for “Delight” in verse 4 is a reference to worship and it means to be soft and pliable before Him.  It means to be changeable, or in today’s vernacular, it means to be coachable.  If we worship Him and yield our will to Him, He will give us desires that are consistent with His perfect plan for our lives, and we should adopt only that plan as our own.

Do Not Be Arrogant and Plan Without God

Whether you are planning your long-term future, or whose house you will have Christmas in this year, make no plan without consulting the Lord’s perfect will for you.

James 4:

 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”

 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are [just] a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

 15 Instead, [you ought] to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that.”

 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

 17 Therefore, to one who knows [the] right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin.

James minces no words here.  He calls it arrogance if we plan without consulting the Lord.  We do not know what our life will be like tomorrow, only the Lord knows until He reveals it to us.

Seek His Plan in Worship

How do we discern the Lord’s plan?  Discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and the way we access that gift is through worship.  In worship, we do not go and say: “Ok, God, what is your plan for my life?”  Instead, we lay our desire for a plan at His feet, and we focus on Him, His mercy, His compassion.  We taste and see that He is good.

Here are a few verses to meditate upon as you worship Him.

Lamentations 3:

 22 The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.

 23 [They] are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness.

 24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.”

 25 The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.

Lamentations 3 teaches us to meditate on His unceasing love, His mercies which are new every morning, and the greatness of His faithfulness.  If we mess up and decide on a plan without Him, He forgives us and gives us new mercies every morning.  He is faithful to us.  Accept the Lord as your portion, have hope in Him.  Be content with His plan, whatever it is, and be willing to wait on His revelation of that plan.

Psalms 34:

 3 O magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.

 4 I sought the LORD, and He answered me, And delivered me from all my fears.

 5 They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces shall never be ashamed.

 6 This poor man cried and the LORD heard him, And saved him out of all his troubles.

 7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them.

 8 O taste and see that the LORD is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!

 9 O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him, there is no want.

 10 The young lions do lack and suffer hunger; But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.

Psalms 34 instructs us to magnify the Lord – to make Him a bigger part of our life.  David acknowledges that He sought the Lord and He answered and delivered him from fear.  Verse 5 promises if we look to Him, we will become radiant.  He will change our demeanor from worry and anxiety to radiance!  Trust that His angel encamps around you and will rescue you from any difficult circumstance.  Revere Him and know if you seek Him, you shall not want.

Speak these truths back to the Lord in worship and allow His peace to supplant your worry and concerns over your future.  Do not lose heart, but instead trust Him to provide what is yet unseen, as Paul encourages us in 2^nd Corinthians 4.

2^nd Corinthians 4:

 16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,

 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.  (NASB)

Worry and fear can cause decay in our bodies, but Paul encourages us that our inner man or woman is being renewed every day, and we will not lose heart.  Know that present afflictions are producing an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.  Look past the temporal circumstances which are seen, look instead for the eternal, that which is yet unseen.

And trust that what is unseen today will be divinely and miraculously illuminated by the True Light, Jesus, who is faithful to reveal and impart life to us.

Let us pray.

Father God, thank You for the True Light, Jesus, who reveals and imparts life to us.  Thank You for having a perfect plan for our lives, a plan for good and not calamity, to give us a future and a hope.  Help us to lay down our arrogant plan at your feet and to instead magnify You and delight ourselves in You.  Mold us and shape our future, give us the desires of our heart that please You.  Help us to commit our way to Jesus and to look past our present circumstances in hope of eternal things yet unseen.  In Jesus’ name, we pray.  Amen.