We Are the Plan and There is No Plan "B" - Part 1

This week, Michael writes: If you want to make God laugh, tell Him what your plans are. We do not know the destinations in this life, but He does. He did not call us to reveal His plan. Rather He called us to “be” His plan. Our challenge allows God to "come help Himself to our lives."  He will continue to write each new chapter in the book of our lives. We are His epistles, written not with ink or in tables of stone, but written in our hearts. Whatever the "problem du jour" God says, "I've got this." Our challenge is to trust God for wisdom to walk according to His holy Word, Will and Way for our lives.  As men and women of God, our freedom is to choose to walk one step at a time in fellowship with Him.  Our goal is to "choke in the dust of those in hot pursuit of our Lord Jesus Christ."

2 Corinthians chapter 5 is about vision. We see thousands of men and women not as they are, but as they will be … making Jesus Christ Lord of their lives. Men and women, who make decisions in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ in full view. Men and women secure in their identities in Jesus Christ. Men and women who are free in Christ committed to free others in Christ. Men and women who are alert, focused, and prepared, standing firm in the faith. Men and women dedicated to influence their world for Jesus Christ, becoming just like Him. Men and women standing together with their band of brothers and sisters in Christ, faithful to the end to hear their Master say, "Well done my good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

We need men and women with ministries within the body of Christ.  Men and women in whom the spirit of the Lord resides for He has called apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:14-21 “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

These verses summarize vision: We see thousands of men and women, not as they are but as they will be in Christ. Men and women, who are seeking after righteousness. Men and women hungry to grow in Christ. Men and women, who have been set free in Christ and who are dedicated to set others free. We are new creatures in Christ according to verse 17.  New Creatures are those whom God the creator has created with the newness of the spirit of life in Christ. Our calling is to be men and women, who want to become just like Jesus. This starts with the love of Christ which compels and motivates us to action to follow Him after Him. 

Let's continue Michael's message on God's plan in the next post.

In Christ, Brian