7 Questions To Help You Align Your Plans With God's Purposes

I love Staples. (the store, not the small metal fastening device)

I love it because I have an unhealthy obsession with personal organization tools. I could stand in the "planner section" of Staples for hours and browse the different notebooks, forms, tools, etc. which are available. It's a sickness.

I've read all the important books about planning. I've been a fan of Stephen Covey since I was a child. I had a Franklin planner before Franklin and Covey merged. I know GTD inside and out. And I know that this paragraph makes 0 sense to most people. I apologize.

I love planning.

James 4:13-15 says, Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 

When I make plans, if I don't align my plans with God's purpose; I've missed the mark. My plans are like a mist, but God's purposes last forever.

Proverbs 19:21 says, Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.

So how can I include God in my plans (it would be better to say, "How do I submit my plans to Him?")? Here are 7 questions I can ask each night before I make my plans for tomorrow. Think about these questions for yourself. Or maybe, create your own questions which will help you align your future plans with the purposes of God:

• How might I demonstrate my love for God tomorrow (with my heart, my mind, my strength, or my soul)?
• How might I contribute to the body of Christ tomorrow (by using the resources which God has given me)?
• How might I demonstrate Christ's love to those around me tomorrow?
• How might I influence someone else to do good tomorrow?
• What roles has God ordained for me to fill during this stage of my life?
• What actions might I take which will further God's kingdom rather than my own?
• What might I do to live out the truths I've been learning from God's Word?

That was easy.