S05E094, Plans, The Bible and God, Andy B 2 Minute Video
The bible tells us that God has a plan for our lives. It demonstrates how God’s plans are always best for us to be able to live our lives to the full. The big issue is that what we think that means only sometimes ties up with what God’s plans actually are.
It isn’t that God is tricking us. By no means! That is against His entire nature, for God will never trick or tempt us. But, He will test us!
The issue, unsurprisingly, is with us. It isn’t with God’s methods of communication – seriously, the Holy Spirit is an amazing comforter and guide for each one of us in our daily lives! It’s just that God has, well, God sized plans and reams and we humans, well we tend to place God’s dreams and plans for us against what we can see and understand.
The bible also tells us that God is so much greater than anything we can imagine. So it is no wonder that we would reduce His plans for us into what we consider probable or logical, reasonable or easily attainable.
But God has the better view, so we need to test what we think He is asking us to do by measuring it against scripture for God will never ask us to do something contrary to scripture. We need to measure it against the peace that comes from an ongoing relationship with God, through His Son Jesus Christ. We need to measure it against the wisdom of the wise people God has put in our lives.
In short, we need to stop looking at God sized dreams through our small eyes, and start seeing what God is asking us to do through His eyes.
Just a thought...
Andy B
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Transcript
[00:00:00] So another Andy B Two Minute Video. Let me start with this. Have you ever made an experienced, wise, mature minister of the gospel laugh really, really hard because of something you've said? Not because you're making a joke, but because you're making an illustration about life, but it really hits them hard.
[00:00:25] I did that one time. I've done it quite a few times, but one time that sticks out is this, and I was saying to this minister about how, don't you ever feel like sometimes we just, we just want to help God out cuz He hasn't quite realized the plan we've got, needs our assistance to make it go. At which point he was almost on the floor with laughter and crying.
[00:00:41] Why? Because it's so true, isn't it!
[00:00:44] How much of the time do we hear from God that we, He well, we think, think this is important, we think He wants us to do something. It's not happening, so rather than allow God to make that happen, we jump in and decide we're gonna help God out.
[00:00:57] It's all right. He's busy. We'll do something to get His [00:01:00] plan going. What happens? Well, usually it goes wrong.
[00:01:04] In Acts chapter two, it talks about how old men should dream dreams. Why? Because God desires that, through our lives, that we don't just go through the day, oh, it's another day, but we actually have dreams for the future. But here's where it's really, really important. God desires for us to have dreams for the future. But those plans, we need to be humble and accept that sometimes what we think God has said to us may not be exactly what God has said to us.
[00:01:30] God's always speaking to us. He always has desires to prosper us, good things for your life and my life. And He is always speaking to us and we're always hearing what He's saying. but as human beings, sometimes, frequently, hand up for that one, we interpret what we think God has said to what we can see.
[00:01:52] Rather than hearing God's dream, which is amazing and huge, we, we humanize it into something that's really small and [00:02:00] accessible, that we can do.
[00:02:01] Or the other element of this, and perhaps it's an additional element to this, not necessarily an or, is we expect God to rubber stamp the plan that we think He's given us, that we've started, that He hasn't done. It's like, come on, God, just, just put a stamp of approval so I can get on with this.
[00:02:14] And we missed the point of relationship. We missed the point that we want to serve God, not God to serve us.
[00:02:21] Make plans for the future. Dream dreams. In Acts 2, it says that old men dream dreams. Young men have visions, the old men have dreams. Have dreams for the future, but don't make them so concrete and set that God can't come along and say, that's not actually what I wanted.
[00:02:37] And be willing for the plan that you know He's giving you, for God to say, that's enough of that. Always have open hands to God saying here's the plan. What do you wanna do with it? What do you wanna do with me?
[00:02:48] Just a thought.
Andy B, 30/06/2023