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One day I was in a service and before the preacher started preaching I could feel a shift was happening. It was one of those times I felt prompted by the Holy Spirit that things were about to change. Not change in a new way exactly, but change back. Let me explain…

Since the beginning of the year I’ve been working on things that I honestly didn’t have to do. God didn’t necessarily have me do it, I just really enjoyed it and started working on certain initiatives. However, what you start in the flesh, will take the flesh to maintain. As they say “It can be a good thing, but not a God thing” and I felt that. So at first I hit the ground running and it was fine, until I realized maybe this plan is not the blueprint. Maybe it’s needed but it’s not ministry like I tried to make it. If we’re not careful, our good ideas can look like “God said” if we really want it to work.

So during that service, I came into agreement with what He was directing me to do. I didn’t need a fresh new idea, I needed to follow the plan already before me. I didn’t need to sit and plan, I needed to sit and hear what’s next. That’s a plight for many people, not just me.

Whether you are scared….

6Then said I:

“Ah, Lord God!

Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.”

7 But the Lord said to me:

“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’

For you shall go to all to whom I send you,

And whatever I command you, you shall speak.

8Do not be afraid of their faces,

For I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord. (Jeremiah 1:6-8)

Whether you are confused…..

So Moses said to the LORD, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land which You swore to their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now—if I have found favor in Your sight—and do not let me see my wretchedness!” (Numbers 11:11)

Whether you are overwhelmed….

“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,

Then how can you contend with horses?

And if in the land of peace,

In which you trusted, they wearied you,

Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan? (Jeremiah 12:5)

Or, you just don’t want to…..

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.” 3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. (Jonah 1:1-3)

Many others have clearly been there before. Where in one way or the other, we wanted to jump ship and change the plans a little. It doesn’t matter whether the decision was fueled by fear or anger, the result is the same which is being out of His plan. So when you notice that life is looking more like your idea than God’s, it’s a sign to pull back and get into position.

Until Next Time,

Jess