In the previous studies we looked at what is a lost sheep, and why it’s important to seek God for the exact plan He has for your life. Today, we’re going to study the importance of prayer for His Plan, how to pray, and start working on it today!
God’s Plan doesn’t automatically come to pass. Often times people shift responsibility off on God, “If it’s His Will it will happen,” but we can see from Jesus’ teaching that’s not so.
Matthew 6:9-10 NKJV
9 In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
“Your Will be done on Earth.” Why would we have to pray His Will be done on Earth if it’s automatic? People will insist that no one can stop God’s Will from coming to pass, but we don’t see that in the Bible. “God is in control,” is another unbiblical belief people like to say. What we see in the Bible that moves God is prayer, faith, and covenant promises; not floating down the lazy river of life. I’m not opposed to eating cheese doodles on the couch, but that’s not going to move us towards The Plan of God.
Matthew 9:37-38 NKJV
37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. 38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
We can see from what Jesus said, we’re supposed to pray for the laborers, or workers, to be sent. Good news for us! We’re the prayers and the workers, because we’re now all filled with the Holy Spirit.
We know from the Book of Ephesians (1:22), Christ is the Head of The Church, and from Corinthians we are the body (1 Corinthians 12:12-27). We have to realize the head can’t work without the body. Which means, Christ can’t get to the prison to share His love, unless the body takes Him there. Christ can’t preach in a remote place in the jungle, unless the body takes Him there. Likewise, Christ can’t give food, water, and blankets to the homeless unless the body go shopping and take the supplies. Your labor, to which you were called, is an expression of God’s love.
John 16:13 NKJV
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.
The Spirit of Truth has come! One of the things He will tell us to come is the Plan of God for our lives. It’s important that we have faith when ask for God’s Plan. Some people don’t think they have a plan, or they think their plan is to clean the church for 50 years. We all have an exciting plan to walk out and that we have been specifically created for and more than talented to complete. It’s important to have faith that the Holy Spirit will reveal The Plan to us. If you go to God saying, “Did You create little ole stupid me for something?” You’re probably not going to hear anything but correction for your attitude against God. Boldly ask, “Lord, please reveal Your Plan for my life.” You’re asking for a work order, your assignment, that lines you up for blessing. Don’t sheepishly ask, be bold!
I didn’t realize this until more recently, every church has a Plan of God for special assignments. Most of the churches I attended didn’t know and realize this. The pastor thought his call was to pastor a church, and just stopped right there. As I walked closer to the Lord, I realized that’s the start of the ministry of the church. A lot of local churches are struggling, because they never prayed out their plan. Some churches are called specifically to community outreach, prisons, soup kitchens, teaching to raise up ministers, abused women and children, pregnant teens, drug addictions, sex trafficked children, politics, and so on. If your pastor hasn’t shared the call of the church with you, ask him in love. He may not know, and that’s ok! Now you have a place to start in praying out the Plan of God for your church. But at the same time, that’s why it’s important to know which church you’re called to in The Plan of God, because your giftings and callings will line up with that particular church. The church I’m attending, I’m not always fed by the messages preached, but I am blessed. That’s ok, I feed on the Word outside of church. But my giftings and calling match up perfecting with the church. Our attitude should be, I’m there to serve not to take. The Lord can bless the church and bring it up to a higher place when the members walk in their call.
We’re going to look at a parable and then get started on our work order.
Luke 14:16-24 NKJV
16 Then He said to him, “A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, 17 and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, ‘Come, for all things are now ready.’ 18 But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused.’ 20 Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.’ 22 And the servant said, ‘Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room.’ 23 Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24 For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.’ ”
I like this parable because it shows us that people don’t change, 2,000 years later. The invited people are the Jews and for us it’s the Christians. They were invited/informed ahead of time. They knew it was approaching; this was no impromptu surprise event. The people made excuses why they couldn’t show up to what they were called:
– I have to see the land I bought. Who buys land without looking at it? It’s already yours, deal is done.
– I have to test the 5 oxen. Who doesn’t test farm equipment before they buy it? It’s already yours, deal is done.
– I have married a wife. What woman doesn’t want to get dressed up and party? Unless she’s ugly and he’s trying to hide her.
The point here is that these are stupid excuses as to why people can’t show up for their call. Instead of their wife, they now blame their kids. My son has football practice; he’s the star quarterback. My daughter has basketball practice; she’s going to get a scholarship. Instead of checking farm equipment, we work and have so many things that must get done each day which includes checking our social media or watching our shows. We don’t have land excuses, so today people have vacations, festivals, fishing, going to the lake, shopping, and wherever else that they need the summer off. When you think about it, people are still making excuses about family, work, and business as to why they can’t answer the call.
The Master says to bring in the maimed, lame, and blind, because they won’t refuse. I often hear this story interpreted to bring them in because they can’t pay you back. The Master was feeding those who answered the call, they weren’t required to bring in anything. No. these people aren’t too busy to turn down a call to God’s goodness. Most people that are disabled find joy in having a purpose. People that are well have to give up their time, luxuries, and pleasures to show up to their call. At the end of the story, the Master asks for anyone to come in to the feast to fill it up. That’s because so many called people refuse to respond, He’s just looking for anyone to respond so He can bless them. Often times when these people come in, such as an alcoholic gets saved and immediately turns into an evangelist, religious people get angry. But that’s the desperation The Father has to have His Will carried out on Earth. An important take away from this story is that The Father is angry at the people who refused the call, and they won’t be let in later when they realize they should have responded. We will see that taught in scripture in next week’s study.
There is a similar wedding feast story in Matthew 22. At the end in verse 14 Jesus says, “For many are called, but few are chosen.” Because again, people aren’t interested in showing up to what they’re created, gifted, and blessed to accomplish.
Now that you’re interested in God’s Plan for your life, how do we start?
Get a notebook to write The Plan that God gives you and your instructions. When you get a notebook and prepare to hear, that’s the first step in showing God you’re taking His Plan seriously and you’re ready. You must write them down, because sometimes there’s great detail and you have to follow your exact instructions.
Example. I was told to clean the fabric covered church chairs with dish soap and water. What did I do a year and a half later? I bought Oxi-Clean for upholstery. I spot cleaned the coffee stains off the seats and was oh-so-proud. When I showed up for church two days later, there were huge cleaning marks all over the chairs. The thought of ruining the church chairs made me incredibly sick, because I felt like I had to purchase new ones which I didn’t have the money. After not being able to focus in church, not being able to eat, wanting to throw up, and then ran out to buy a small scrubber; I finally calmed down enough to listen while I prayed. The Holy Spirit told me there was a protective coating in the Oxi-Clean and the entire seat should have been cleaned. He reminded me that the instructions came to me to use dish soap. I had to buy 3 cans of the cleaner to fix my mess, and return the scrubber. Follow your instructions.
Now that you understand the importance of following your instructions, here’s where to get started…
First: Clean Up Your Life
– Make sure your spiritual life is clean. Are there people you forgot to forgive? Maybe there is a friend from school you were offended at when you were 8 years old and swore that you’d never forgive them. These types of things we need the Holy Spirit to shine light on to clean us out. Was there a movie you watched that you knew you shouldn’t have, but pretended like it was perfectly alright? Ask the Holy Spirit to shine His light and clean you up.
– Make sure your house and car are clean. How you treat your house and car is how you will treat the ministry work. Some people will junk it up right away, others will hold out 3 months, 6 months, or even a year before the junked-up lifestyle creeps into the ministry. God is into organization, not confusion and missing things. Let’s take a quick look at this in the Bible.
Genesis 1:2 NKJV
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
The Greek Text Analysis uses “formless,” for tohu. A modern translation of this word means chaos. It can be said, the Earth was chaotic and void. If you look up the definition of the word in Hebrew, תֹּהוּ, it defines it as confusion, chaos, wasteland, formless, confusion, and a place void of life. If any of those words describe your house, car, garage, basement, attic, or any area you own; time to clean it out. The next verse, God created the light and destroyed the chaos, like you can destroy the chaos in that junk room void of life because it’s so full. Please understand! God will not hold back His Plan for your life. As long as you’re working on making some type of effort to clean up the chaos.
There are instances where this disobedience will hinder you moving forward. I have a friend that the Lord told him to clean his house over 8 years ago. It’s gotten better and worse at the same time. He wants God’s Plan for his retirement, to move, and do other things. In the 8 years, he isn’t hearing anything. He gets frustrated and pretends like nothing is his fault, but he’s not fully following his instructions. When your 6 cans of bug spray have about 10 years of dust, it’s a problem! God will give you a space of grace, use it wisely!
Second: Purge Your House
The way I see it, you either live a purged life-style or you must purge your house. We all think, I don’t have anything, but when you ask the Holy Spirit, He may have something different to say. Let me give you some examples of what I had to purge out of my house.
Venus Gillette Razor – Venus, the Greek God of love, beauty, desire, sex, fertility, prosperity, and victory.
Disney – loaded with witchcraft, witches, and blatant spells
Nike – the Greek God of Victory
Star Bucks – an image of a real demon, depicted in Italy as a carving and also a mosaic
Dr. Bronners Soap – he wrote some religion that is very difficult to read all over the soap
Dirt Devil – vacuum
Recipe book pages – I had to tear our recipes that had words like voodoo, magic, devil, witch cookies, and other words that should never be associated with God.
Monster Drinks – the M is made of three Hebrew number 6s
This might be excessive to some people, but the question is how closely do you want to follow the Lord? When I was sick and in need of healing, life or death, I had to ask myself the question, “How important are your Nike shoes and Star Bucks pumpkin spice lattes?” When a huge unexpected expense came that I couldn’t afford, I had to ask myself the question, “How important was watching Two Broke Girls show to destress?”
Sometimes people must purge old pictures, old love letters, or anything else that has a bad emotion attached to it. No object should ever have the power to cut open an old wound. Some people save those pictures because they think, “What if he comes back?” What if he doesn’t? If you throw that picture out or other items and in the future the relationship changes, be of good cheer because that picture or item will be in Heaven. That’s the peace that we have here on Earth. We’re not leaving family, pets, or items here on Earth that we can’t have in Heaven. This Earth isn’t better!! God will fill our mansions with pictures, videos, and things that we love.
Third: Read the Word
If you want to be assigned something great, you cannot go very far not knowing the Word. Start with 10 minutes a day in the New Testament.
Now that you’re ready, put on some praise and worship music. Sing a couple songs and start talking to the Lord about His Plan that He placed on your life. You don’t have to fully complete cleaning up or the purge before you start asking. God will give you grace for moving in the right direction!!
Thank you for going through this study with me. Next week I will be sharing some big revelations on two parables that I received. They’re about what happens to those that refuse to walk out their plan or start and then stop. You won’t want to miss this one, especially if you’re in ministry!
Lord, please speak to each and everyone of us this week. Shine light on what areas we need to clean up, and purge. We don’t want to be left behind, say yes when it’s too late, or think we did well and we did not. We love You and want to serve You in our created purpose. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Christi
My Prayer Notebook 
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