Week of March 25
Flight Plan
by Margaret D. Mitchell
“’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 a hope and a future.’”
-Jeremiah 29:11
Before every journey, pilots or flight operations staffers develop a flight plan. The flight plan contains basic flight information, such as the flight’s start and end points and all the stops in between for refueling, deplaning and boarding new passengers. The plan also contains fuel usage, weather conditions all along the route, weight and balance calculations and locations, communications frequency channels and checkpoints and the estimated amount of time for the entire journey.
In addition to the flight plan, other tools are used for safety and accuracy: Checklists, maps (or sectional charts) and weather reports that include the types of cloud cover, visibility, temperatures, wind speeds and direction for the entire route.
When we consider our pathway, baggage, communications, climate, speed, vision, direction and fuel required to get through life, one might ask, “Where does God’s hand begin and end?”
I have a friend who grew up in a Christian denomination that does not believe in pre-destination. But now that she has reached middle-aged, her views are shifting. As she reflects upon her life now she is able to see God’s hand upon her from the time she was seven-years-old, when she received Jesus as Lord and Savior.
She sees how she acquired resources at an early age that planted seeds of knowledge and understanding, sprouting up in her young life, producing growth that is just now coming into full bloom. She gets the revelation now that God’s design and hand of protection was upon her all along the way, that her life’s journey was no accident, that it was planned and influenced by God. She understands that she exercised her willingness and faith along her journey.
God desires for us to soar with Him. He desires to take us from glory to glory, from holiness to holiness, into more of His likeness from the inside out (2 Corinthians 3:18). Nothing is small if it influences us: No teaching, learning, good deed or sin. And none of it gets wasted when we invite God into our lives. He uses it all for His glory. He will even turn our tests into testimonies.
Along with her revelations, my friend has experienced greater intimacy with God. She is full of zeal, and most of what she shares these days is how God is moving in her life, how He’s using her, how He’s fitting all the pieces of her life’s circumstances together, how He has purposed it, how He is using her to influence and help others, how important she is to Him and how important her work is on earth as it is in heaven.
She is coming into a new level of awareness that she is the hands and feet of Jesus, as are you and I. And she is passionate about her calling and assignments.
I had a conversation with another friend recently in which the topic of television drama and horror movies came up. I shared my thoughts with her concerning the matter. My perspective is that when we live a surrendered Christian life, we will journey through multiple adventures that will take us to places that are unfamiliar to us, causing us to depart from our comfort zones and to receive a freshness in our lives, a renewed awareness of our humbling dependency upon God, which can quickly reset our priorities and focus (Deuteronomy 8:3).
When we truly walk out the Christian life, there will be little room for boredom or TV melodrama for the purpose of escapism. Horror is not entertaining when one truly connects with the awesome power of God. God is love, and nothing is more prolific. So why open a door for darkness to influence you and waste precious time with a counterfeit?
The point is that God does have a plan for our lives. And to surrender our hearts fully to Him and His ways causes us to sync up with His vision, timeline, communication, direction and purposes. There begins a love journey that involves great courage, careful obedience and sacrificial praise on a holy and intimate level that cannot compare to an ordinary life without God. God will take us higher and further than we can go on our own.
Are you willing to soar with Him? Is your heart fully surrendered? Do you desire greater intimacy with God, to know Him more? Have you ever felt the tangible presence of the Holy Spirit? Or experienced His perfect love? Once you do, nothing else and no one else compares. You will want more and more of Him. You will truly desire to live for Him.
Prayer: Father God, I choose to surrender my whole heart to You. Please enable me to receive and walk out Your plan for me on earth as it is in heaven. Show me more of You, more of Your love, more of Your presence in my life. Give me revelation understanding, based upon your scriptures, Your mind’s eye, Your spiritual discernment and Your wisdom. Help me to process through life’s circumstances Your way. Have your way in my life daily. I surrender my agenda to You. Please get me where You want me to be, and enable me to take hold of Your hand, take hold of great courage and trust You each step of the way Thank you for entrusting me with the great exploits that You have assigned to me. Help me step up to them Your way. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Margaret D. Mitchell is the Founder of God's Love at Work, a marketplace outreach purposed to share God's greatest power source - the love of Christ.
