Planning Love

Okay, so if you haven't figured it out by now, my recent posts have been about planning and goal setting for 2012, with God in mind.

Actually, what we need to do is plan with the mind of God.

What I mean by this is a radical type of planning. What if we took each of our goals for the areas of our lives, be they relational, professional, etc. and pushed them through the filter of love?

In Matthew 22:36-40, the Pharisees approached Jesus (planning to trick him), and asked him this question:

"Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?"
Jesus replied, '"You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments."

Planning and goal setting begins in the heart and mind. We desire to achieve something, change something or pursue a dream based on what's in our hearts and minds. What if before we began, we asked ourselves these two questions:

1.  Is this goal or thing I want to do an expression of love for God and others?
2.  What steps are needed to put my ALL (heart, mind and soul) into this?

I've never planned like this before, but one word's going through my head right now....sacrifice.

I'm going to sacrifice something (within myself) if my filter is based on loving God and others. Let me show you roughly, what it will look like in one specific area of my life. One of my goals for 2012 is to become a published writer.

I know this is what God's created me to do, and we've been working toward it together for a long time... but I've been procrastinating.

In order for me to achieve this goal, I'm going to have to sacrifice my: fear, feelings of incompetence, tendency toward laziness, and every other excuse popping into my mind right now. I'll also have to shift some priorities, change some relationships and restructure my schedule. My next step, which I'll do within the next 36 hours, is to create an action plan.

Whew, that's a lot of freaking work! No wonder I make excuses and say "I'll do it later." I'm not letting another year and all its troubles and distractions prevent me from God's calling.

What's He calling you to do? Got a plan? Afraid of where He might lead you?

Let's try it together anyway!

Experiencing God

I love the Lord because he hears my voice 

     and my prayer for mercy.

Because he bends down to listen,

     I will pray as long as I have breath!

       Psalm 116:1-2

Picture God bending down to listen to your prayers. How awesome is that?

Sometimes I get confused about following God's direction, but when I do, all I have to do is pray to Him, and then listen, and do what He says. Like just now. He reminded me of a book that'd been helpful to me, so I stopped typing and grabbed it for you.

Many years ago, my friends and I read a book together called, Experiencing God, by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King. It's about knowing and doing the will of God and it's life-changing. I can just hear the voice of my friend Emily, reminding me that when we don't know which direction to go, we just do the last thing He told us to do. That's a nugget she picked up from it and now, seven years later, it still helps me.

I was trying to find that chapter and instead, I found this great line on prayer and obedience:

"Becoming a person of prayer will require a major adjustment of your life to God. Prayer will always be a part of the obedience. It is in a prayer relationship that God gives further direction."

Before we get overly concerned about what to do, we must become obedient and we must, at all costs, be in a personal relationship with Him in order to hear his voice. Prayer is the foundation of that relationship.

I'm a big fan of highlighters and I mark up and write (in many different colors) all over my books. This page gave me a chuckle because I'd highlighted almost every sentence except one about the cost of prayer:

"You may need to let God wake you up in the middle of the night to pray. You may need to spend much time in prayer."

Apparently, my sleep seemed far more important at the time.

If you're looking for a great read for the New Year, I highly recommend this book!