There is a great struggle in my life as I look to the\nfuture. It confronts me from many directions. Am I financially prepared, do I\nknow my true passion, am I gifted to follow that passion, is there an\nopportunity that I am both qualified for and that wants me? I have people in my\nlife, good and close friends, that perplex me. They are dealing with the same\nproblems but in different ways. Are any of these ways, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Proverbs 16:9<\/strong> says \u201cThe heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.\u201d It comes down to knowing God\u2019s will for my future. This is the crux of the problem. I have a very sketchy records for understanding God\u2019s will in my life. I am going to use the word \u201cfailure\u201d here as the antithesis of my perception of success. My vision for the future is clouded by a lack of knowledge. So, my view of success and failure share this same shortsightedness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1 Corinthians 2:14<\/strong> the bible says \u201cThe natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.\u201d It also says in Acts \u201cAnd he said, \u2018The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth\u201d The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit, but God appoints us to know his will, to hear His voice. The challenge seems to be moving from the natural world we are used to, into the Spiritual world in which God speaks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I could point out many instances where I worked diligently\nthrough prayer and council to understand and follow God\u2019s will only to face\nfailure (see above). Now I could assume that because of my attempted\nfaithfulness they were not a failure, I just didn\u2019t see the win. I am afraid\nthat that is a massive assumption that may only serve the purpose of making me\nfeel better concerning my \u201cfailure\u201d. \nThey could, in truth, be a failure. Or\u2026 it could have been the will of\nGod that these opportunities were to plant a seed for future success in someone\nelse\u2019s life. I would guess this was communicated to me in Proverbs when the\nLord said \u201cMany are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of\nthe Lord that will stand\u201d Not my purpose but his. I am not forwarding my plans\non earth, but His plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, my quandary, my consternation, my confusion, lies in understanding the unknown. I fall back on Jeremiah 29:11<\/strong> \u201cFor 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.\u201d That future may be eternity with Him, not necessarily to prosper here on earth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I have to avoid falling back on my understanding of success and rely on God\u2019s even when I don\u2019t know what His is. John 6:63<\/strong> tells me \u201cIt is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n I struggle with this a great deal. In the shadows of my mind\nI know that God will not allow me to fail if I am faithful. That I do not have\nto know implicitly what he wants me to do. I just need to be obedient to the\ntask before me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That will have to be enough for now\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proverbs 16:3 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be\nestablished<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is a great struggle in my life as I look to the future. It confronts me from many directions. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,6],"tags":[12,13,9],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motivation","category-purpose","tag-christian","tag-motivational","tag-purpose"],"yoast_head":"\n