As I was spending time with Jesus, meditating on Psalm 27:4 where David declares his desire to:
… dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple.
I started thinking about the concept of ‘desire’ and ‘seeking after’ the thing I desire. I looked at what some of my favorite commentators had to say about this verse. They focused on the verbs and pointed out that:
‘desire’ is a wish; it is passive
‘seek after’ is an active pursuit of that wish
Spurgeon says, “Holy desires must lead to resolute action.”
The old proverb says, “…wishing never fills a sack.”
Desires are seed which must be sown in the good soil
of activity or they will yield no harvest.”
The Lord has placed a desire on your hearts to see movements launched and disciples multiply to reach the nations (Mt.28:19). How do you turn this desire into reality? One way is to make a plan to seek after what you desire to see happen.
Perhaps you, your team or your KV’s teams are stuck in knowing how to make a plan, or you may not want to write something down because you want to be open to God’s leading … it could be that you want to be careful about ‘telling God what to do’ through having a written plan. All are understandable responses.
The following are some thoughts on making strategic plans that you might find helpful in making you or your teams feel more confident about writing down longer-term plans to actively pursue the desires that God Himself has put on your heart:
- Make planning times ‘sacred moments’: time spent seeking God for His direction. When your plan is based on what He puts on your heart you can have more confidence that you are doing what He would have you do.
- Go into your plan in faith/assuming that God will answer your prayers for your scope. For instance, you may not have KVs now, but you are praying that God leads you to KVs. Make a semester-long or year-long plan assuming that God is going to give your desires – then you will have tracks to run on when He does. It glorifies Him when we act in faith believing He will work.
- The plan is your ‘Plan A’ until God gives you a different ‘Plan A’ – having this perspective leaves room for God to redirect if we aren’t doing what He wants. Have the attitude that your plan is written in pencil. Be open to any mid-course corrections (these are normal) as you continue to watch for God’s leading.
- If there is no clear leading from God from day to day, then your plan will give you a direction of where to move ahead in faith until He again gives you specific direction.
- You never come up with a perfect plan – and God is not limited if we don’t have that perfect plan. He knows our hearts and He is pleased with our hearts’ desire to serve Him. He will do His work. Our plans help us to have a front row seat to participate in His work whenever He wills it.
Alexander MacLaren, one of my favorite commentators, reminds us:
“…the two verbs …desire and seek after the necessity of uniting prayer and work … “
“…the day’s work must run in the same direction as the morning’s petition…”
Just because your plan is written down, it doesn’t mean that you no longer need to seek His direction. Remember to keep an open heart in daily prayer as you seek to participate with Him in His work.
Questions for consideration:
How can you make the activity of making a year or semester plan more ‘sacred’? What would you include that you haven’t been doing? What would you give more emphasis to that you have already been doing? How can you watch more attentively to His leading?
Passages to ponder:
2 Chronicles 20:12 (2 Chronicles 20)
Acts 16:6 – 40
Check out this workshop on the whys behind thinking ahead in planning for more perspective.