Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NIV) – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

God has plans for us…and they are good. And one of the ways that the Spirit impacts our lives is by guiding us and teaching us God’s will. And let’s face it, God’s will doesn’t always turn out the way we wanted it to be. In fact for all of us, what we plan or think is God’s will for our life now, probably won’t be exactly what we think it is going to be, and as counterintuitive as it may sound, that is probably a really good thing if your life is in Christ and you are seeking His will.

We were never promised a ten-year plan of action; instead, God promises over and over again in the Bible that he will never leave or forsake us. God also promises in Jeremiah 29 that as we seek Him, as we pray in this way for our lives, He will answer, He will invite us into all that He is doing. And this isn’t just an intellectual understanding or knowing, this is a Biblical ‘knowing,’ which means to be relationally known, to know through experience. This is God’s heart for us to know Him and His wonderful or wonder-filled plans and will for our lives each moment.

Frances Chan wrote, “God cares more about our response to His Spirit’s leading today, in this moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today’s decisions.” [Francis Chan, Forgotten God.] It’s our hope that instead of always searching for “God’s will for my life…future tense,” each of us will learn to seek passionately after “the Spirit’s leading in our life today.”

Let’s seek the Lord in prayer today asking for a renewed passion for seeking the Spirit’s leading in each moment and task in our days. Let’s ask for hearts that our open to letting go of our ‘will and agenda” and being resolved to embrace God’s purposes for our next five days. Ask for love and obedience in what God desires for our lives.

– TR