February 9, 2005
Encouragement for Today
What I Want to Be When I Grow Up
Wendy Pope
Key Verse:
"For I know the plans that I have for you declares the LORD, plans to prosper you, not to harm you; plans to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
Devotion:
Every girl and boy dreams of growing up. They make plans for their lives and often have a career choice made by age four or five. My son wants to be a "worker man". He dreams of being big enough to drive large construction equipment. My daughter dreams of being a horse back rider and a mommy. She already has names for her two girls.
As I pray over them each night, I ask the Father for many things. In one particular prayer, I ask God to do what it takes for Blaire to be the woman He planned for her to be and for Griffin to be the man He planned for Him to be. As I pray, I wonder, "Am I becoming the woman God planned for me to be?"
Becoming a Christian is only part of God's plan for our lives. His desire is to give us an abundant and full life and has created each person with unique gifts. His plan is for each of us to discover those gifts, allow Him to develop them within us and use them to build His kingdom, which brings Him glory and gives us blessings. That sounds so simple doesn't it, as easy as 1-2-3.
I wish I could say that it is easy. The fact is that discovering God's plan for our lives is easier than carrying out that plan. When living the abundant life, there are blessings beyond measure, but there are also trials that require our total dependency on God. We know longer can rely on ourselves. The abundant life is bigger than we are. It takes both God and our obedience to be who He planned for us to be.
What kind of woman has God planned you to be? While the specifics are different for each woman, we can each pray and ask God to reveal every detail of the plan to us. Generally, the kind of woman God planned for all each one of us to be is the same. We are to:
- Receive Him as personal Savior and make Him Lord.
- Love Him more than anything or anyone else.
- Love and honor His word.
- Unselfishly serve others in His name.
- Worship, praise and adore Him.
- Share our faith with others.
I have to wonder, "Am I really becoming the woman God planned for me to be?" Do you wonder the same thing?
My Prayer for Today:
Heavenly Father, forgive me when I have stepped ahead of your plan for me or even worse, not even consulted you about the subject. Give me a desire to want to be the woman you planned for me to be and a steadfast spirit to wait patiently while the work is being done. Amen.
Application Steps:
Write down the plans you have made for your life.
Surrender them to God by asking Him to make His plans your desires.
Keep the paper in your Bible and record how God molds you into the woman He planned you to be.
Reflection Points:
Is there any dream that I am not willing to sacrifice for God's greater plan?
What I am doing that could be blocking God's work in my life?
What is keeping me from seeking Him and His plan?
Power Verses:
"And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13 (NAS)
"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good work, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
"For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will prefect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6 (NAS)
Additional Resources:
New! Message of the Month Club by Proverbs 31 Speaker Team
http://www.gospelcom.net/p31/resources/messageclub.html
Living Life on Purpose by Lysa TerKeurst
http://www.gospelcom.net/p31/resources/livinglife.html
Becoming a Woman Who Listens to God by Sharon Jaynes
http://www.gospelcom.net/p31/resources/womanlistens.html
Originally published Wednesday, 09 February 2005.
SHARE
