Often people use Jeremiah 29:11 to prove the fact that God has a good plan for your life.

“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. “

But this text was ment for the Jews who were in excile in Babylon. The prophet Jeremiah is telling them specifically that God has a plan for them.

But like He had a specific plan for them He also has a specific plan for you. I didn’t find a specific verse for it, but all over the bible you see God wants to work through ordinary people. People who haven’t got everything in order. Or who have “issues”.

But also Jesus, when before He leaves to go to the Father, gives His disciples a commandment that shows He has a plan for them. Are you a disciple of Jesus? Do you want to follow after Him? He asks all of His followers to take up their cross daily and to follow after Him.

I sometimes meet people who tell me that they think their lives have no purpose or that they have no dreams. They go through life barely surviving, feeling depressed or discouraged. But whoever you are. You have a purpose and so do your life experiences, talents, gifts and your role.

1. God created you. You are no accident.
2. God has a plan for you. You have a purpose in life.

Ephesians 2:1
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

You are created for God’s glory

You are created to know God and to have a relationship with Him

You are created to praise God

You are created to bear fruits of the Spirit

You are created so the Holy Spirit can live in you.

You are created to love. (Love God, and Love others like how you love yourself and how God loves you .)

You are created to develop and use your talents and gifts God gave you.

You are created to follow after Jesus and to do what He asks you to do.

But for everything we do, we work or dream for…
We need Him…. we are just little people but when He tells us something to do, to say or to go… Wow!

By the way…without Him, without Love …it’s worth nothing.

Consult Him in prayer, seek His Face, be intimate with God, seek wisdom in His Word and in others who follow after Jesus. God will guide you. He loves to be with you and to help you.

Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your law.

Psalm 17:15 Because I have done what is right, I will see you. When I awake, I will be fully satisfied, for I will see you face-to-face.

Matthew 5:8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.

First of all, Jesus should ALWAYS be your focus. You are loved, you are here for a reason. God has made you, chosen you, has anointed you and has put dreams in you. But when you don’t put Jesus first… always… they mean nothing and will not come to the purpose for which God has intended them.

So…, you may have great plans. To lift up God and to honour Him…. That’s great! Hallelujah,praise God!

The big test will come if you can let go of them for the sake of Jesus. If you can give them back to God. If you can give them to another humanbeing? If you can share or leave the credit to others, but still take responsibility for the critics.

I believe that when we first learn to do His will.

(1.Love God with all your heart and soul and with all your strenght, 2. love the people in the world like how He loves me and 3. love my brothers and sisters)

Then He will surely reveal His plan for us personally. Btw the plans and visions God gives us are always to be seen in His eternal perspective. That sometimes makes it hard for us, who are on earth only temporal.

Also, don’t ask God to bless your plans. Better ask Him to show His blessed plans for you.

Do you really want to know what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God? Then present your bodies to God as a living sacrifice. And be not conformed according to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind! (Daily)

There are several ways to find God’s vision for your life:

through His Word, through te counsel of other godly people, through prayer, through His Holy Spirit and with help of your mind and conscience that He has built into you.

I think there are several important things in this message that we should take in consideration if we want to follow Gods plan for our live.

But it all starts with a desire to follow after Jesus and to do His will. That means a lot but it comes down to this. We should want our lives to be like a seed which must fall to the ground and die to produce His life, which is in us.

It’s not about us, but about Jesus. The scripture also says He who loses his life will receive life.

But now let’s read what I took from a message from Joyce.

Quote”
In John 17:4, Jesus says, “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” This is saying that following God means finishing what He’s called us to do.

There are a lot of people who step out and begin a journey with God, but I don’t think there are nearly as many who finish it.

The apostle Paul said, ‘…If only I may finish my course with joy…’

Enjoy every single day of your life and finish what God’s called you to do.

But most of this is up to us. It’s not all up to God. He has done His part and given us everything we need in Christ. It’s up to us to keep learning, growing, and letting the Spirit of God work in us. Take time to consider the things that God has called you to do and ask yourself, “What am I doing today to finish strong what God has set before me?”

God has great plans for you. Receive them by faith and go after them with all your heart.

Today, I want you to make a commitment to finish strong. It’s a commitment I know God will honor.

Prayer Starter: God, like Jesus, I want to be able to say that I have completed the work You have for me. Thank You for working in me to give me the power and the desire to live for Your pleasure and finish my course with joy!
” Unquote

Psalm 103: 8 -13

“Church is not a museum for the good people, but a hospital for the broken. That means I don’t have to hide my failure I don’t have to hide my sin, because it doesn’t depend on me it depends on Him”

I think we should not start to pick on church systems or fellow christians after seeing this video.

But we should be honest and dare to look at ourself.

Will you check to see how much of religion you have got yourself?

When we, “the Church” learn to depend more on His love and His grace and His strength He will be able to do more through us, “His Church”.

His Kingdom is opposite to the world’s kingdoms.

His Kingdom consists not of big buildings or big ministries. But of hearts that love God and love people and act upon this.

Image copyright © 1996, Paul Lee.

This morning I read the following. Which I found very helpful and practical. It’s from Joyce Meyer.

Especially the part where it says where you choose to do Gods will. Here you can test yourself how you are doing and ask God to help and change you where He needs to be bigger in you.

Only He can change us, don’t worry if you can’t do it. We all need Him and the best part is that the more time we spent with Him and choose to do as He says, the more He will be able to change us. Remember God doesn’t condemn us.(There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1-2)

Quote from Joyce Meyer:” We need to be careful to remain in the presence of God. When we do, we make God feel at home in our hearts.

This simply starts with being obedient to His Word. A commitment to turn from behavior that offends God is the number one sign of spiritual maturity. It shows you care about what He thinks.

That means you choose to be generous toward others, you learn to forgive, let go of your offenses and live in peace. When we choose to be intentional with our words, giving thanks to God and lifting up others, we’ll feel connected to God all throughout the day.

Prayer: Father, thank You for making Your home in my heart. I need Your presence today, Lord. Help me to honor You with my thoughts and my words and to be a blessing to those around me.”

It’s my prayer that this will help you today in your walk with God.

Btw. The best way to not to give in to temptations and sin is to stay close to God!

Vision chooses to look at a certain direction

You might have some vison for this year, maybe you have no clue. Maybe you are just trying to survive.

But if you believe in what God says about you, then you know you are not here by accident and you are here for a reason.

God has a good plan for your life. You were made for a reason and a purpose that only you can fullfil. I believe it’s possible to miss that purpose.

God gives us always freedom of choice. It’s the character of true Love. One part of God’s identity is that He is Love Himself. It’s where love comes from. He is the measurement of love. Anything called love but which is not of Him or out of His heart is not love! It’s just a shadow of it, or worse a way of manupilation by men to get what they want for themselves.

If you would like to find out what your purpose in life is, that which God has intended you for. Then start that journey today.

In the coming days I would like to give you some practical tips that could help you stepping in the will of God for your life.

Btw it’s not that by following 5 or 7 steps that you will get there. It’s a journey, so it takes time. Maybe longer then you expected. Maybe shorter. But first of all it’s a matter of your heart and your willingness to find out about who God is, and staying close to God in this journey.

1. First of all take regular time in your relationship with God.

I like to start off every day with God. You can start by praying or by reading a psalm, a book or a letter in your Bible, or a daily word and ponder upon it. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what He thinks is important for you.

I like some listening time. Just being still and trying to listen to some worship or soaking music that will help me set my mind and spirit towards Him. Also I like to write some things down. Maybe a verse, a thought or a prayer. Something I am struggling with or something that He makes clear to me.

2. Start taking ownership over the time you have.

I hear you thinking but this morning stuff takes time! When I get up, I got other things to do!

I believe we all get 24 hours in a day. You are free to do what ever you want to do with these 24 hours. You are daily making choices and therefore setting yourself up for a life that you want. A part of the life that you are living is due to the “little” choices you make on a daily  base.

What do you want out of life? How do you spent the time that’s been given to you? Make a balance of a day, a week or a month. And see what you are spending your time on. Is your time spent on what you need to accomplish the life you want? Or even better the life He wants for you? Or is it taking you away from that life or even, from Him?

Hey, if you do take time in the morning you’ll have something in common with Jesus. He wanted to do only what He “saw”  the Father do.

John 5:19 says: “Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

The transliteration of  the word “see” here is blepo, which means to see, discern, of the bodily eye. To look at, to turn the eyes upon. But also to perceive by the senses, to feel, to discover by use. Another definition is metaph to see with the mind’s eye. To have the power of understanding. To turn the thoughts or direct the mind to a thing, to examine or to weigh carefully.

My take on it: “To be able to see what His Father does He needs to turn Himself towards God. So He took regular time with His Father. Anyone who takes regular time with someone get’s to know the other better.  Even the slightes sigh or wink of an eye can say something. People who are not so close can miss these signals but whoever that is close to another is able to discern this. Just like how you can discern by the sound of a loved one walking in your house who he or she is.

And in Mark 1:35 we read:  “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”

Maybe you can take some time to let the following psalm sink into your heart and mind. It’s psalm 139.

You can read it here or even listen to it here.

Enjoy your time today, to the full!

What a way to start a new year…

Yesterday night in the last hour of 2011 we spent praying, reading from the Bible and sharing our thoughts with eachother in a small family setting. Our daughter of five was taken out of bed so she would be able to watch the fireworks. She layed curled up, still half a sleep on her mothers lap.

In the house you could sense the peace and  serenity, outside the noise and flashes of firecrackers.

What stuck out for me was that we are so privileged to be relationally connected to a loving Father God. Who in all the madness, anger,uncertainties and fears that the world is in right now wants to be with us through it all, all the way.

We never have to be alone.

Because God Himself is with us. We can feel lonely at times ofcourse, but we are never alone. We have a Father Who is in control and Who loves to take care of us and Who wants to be  near to us. What a gift we got when we recieved Jesus. We are able to walk in His light while darkness is around. We are even able (actually we are called) to be light to others because His Light is in us.

I am almost certain that this coming year will bring more uncertainties, even more threaths and darkness.

But next to that I see Gods love and His Light shine in people and through people.
I see healing of hearts and hurts,sons and daugthers being restored. And I see a peace
that is not from this world between people who follow Jesus.

This morning

I found a postcard lay at my doorstep. It said : “Don’t worry .. (Matthew 6:25-30) It matched the bible text I received this morning by email. I even found it on the calender this morning. Actually,  a day before I was doing what it says in 1 Pter 5:7 (Cast all your “worries” on Him because He cares for you) Thank you God, that You are concerned about my thoughts.

What also came to my mind was that about 3 days ago someone gave us personally the text from Philipians 4:19. Where it says : But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

The reason I share all this?
Because I am sure that God, who began a good work in you will continue his good work untill it’s finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again.(Phil. 1:6)

Right now you can make a fresh start with Jesus. It’s no surprise to God where you are at! He will meet you half way. Running towards you with open arms. Because He will always pursue you out of His love for you.

Let the Holy Spirit of God renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature. (Eph. 4:23-24)

Take His hand while you start walking through 2012. He loves to walk  through 2012 together with you. He loves seeing you grow into His plan for you, which is good and just fits you. Enjoy this new year the company of a loving Father who you can trust and who truly cares for you.