Daily Hope with Rick Warren - Wednesday, 22
January 2014 – “Leaning on the Promises of God” Thursday, 23 January 2014 ”
You Need a Plan”
“For the Lord, the God of heaven, who
took me from my father’s house and my native land, solemnly promised to give
this land to my descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will
see to it that you find a wife there for my son.” (Genesis 24:7 (NLT))
Many people start the calendar year off
with a goal. They resolve to lose weight, to spend more time with their kids,
to read more, to achieve something specific at work, or some other noble (or
not so noble) goal.
But not every goal is a godly goal. Godly
goals are attached to God’s promises in his Word. His promises give us the
courage and faith to move forward when it’s much more natural to be scared or
worried.
In Genesis 24, Abraham gave his servant,
Eliazar, a very tough goal: find a wife for his son, Isaac. At first Eliazar
let fear get the best of him. He asked Abraham, “What do I do if I find a wife
for Isaac, but she won’t come with me?”
Abraham then reminded his servant of
God’s promise: “For the Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s
house and my native land, solemnly promised to give this land to my
descendants. He will send his angel ahead of you, and he will see to it that
you find a wife there for my son” (Genesis 24:7 (NLT)).
After Abraham reminded Eliazar of the
Lord’s promise, his fear vanished. The same thing happens with us. It’s scary
to put everything you have into a big goal. No one wants to fail.
But the Bible urges us not to look to our
own strength to reach our goals. In fact, if we can accomplish our goals in our
own strength, we’re not pursuing godly goals in the first place.
What does God’s Word say about your goals
for this year? You’ll never know unless you get to know what the Bible teaches.
It’s like having an insurance policy, but you don’t know what that policy
covers. You’d worry about many things needlessly.
In the Bible God promises to help us as
we get healthy, become better parents, eliminate our debt, and more! But unless
we know those promises and claim those promises, we’ll worry needlessly about
achieving those goals.
The truth is, you don’t have to have big
faith to accomplish huge goals either. You just need a little faith — in a big
God! Your God is the God of the universe. He can do anything.
Are you ready to trust God for the
unbelievable?
Talk It Over:
·
How do broken promises from people in our
past impact our ability to trust God?
·
What promise from God’s Word do you need
to lean on for your 2014 goals?
·
How does leaning on the promises of God
give you the needed confidence to pursue your goals?
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“Sensible people always think before they
act, but stupid people advertise their ignorance.” --Proverbs 13:16 (GN)
If you want to achieve the goals you’ve
made for yourself in 2014, you’ll need a plan to get from where you are to
where you want to go. You’ll need a plan to overcome the expected problems
you’ll face on that journey. Without a plan all your goals will go up in smoke
this year.
Genesis 24 tells the story of Eliazar’s
ingenious plan to find a wife for his master’s son, Isaac. Eliazar had two
major obstacles to fulfilling this goal. Where would he find a wife for Isaac
in his master’s homeland? And how was he going to find a high character woman
without observing her long term? Eliazar devised a predetermined plan to solve
both of these problems.
First, Eliazar went to a place where
women gathered in those days — a well. He had much higher odds of finding a
wife at that well than any other place he could have gone.
And, Eliazar knew exactly how to get the
type of wife he wanted for Isaac. He wanted to find a compassionate woman, so
he looked for someone who would offer to draw up to 15 gallons of water for
each of his 10 camels. That’s a lot of water!
Eliazar didn’t fly by the seat of his
pants to accomplish his goal. Instead he prayerfully established a plan, and,
ultimately, he was successful. In doing so he proved what the Bible says in
Proverbs 13:16: “Sensible people always think before they act, but stupid
people advertise their ignorance” (GN).
Good planning — whether that plan is for
your family, your work, your ministry, or a different area of your life — has
three parts to it:
·
Steps: You need to establish how you are
going to get from where you are now to where you want to go. Write down those
steps.
·
Deadlines: Put a date with every one of
those steps. A goal is a statement of faith as you say that you believe God
wants you to accomplish your goal by a particular date.
·
Schedule: Write those dates into your
calendar. Don’t just hide it in a filing cabinet or up on a shelf. Show me
what’s on your calendar, and I’ll tell you what’s important to you.
Studies show that only 5 percent of
Americans have written down goals for their lives.
Those same studies show that the same 5
percent are the highest wage earners in the U.S. Successful people set their
direction and go for it. Unsuccessful
people drift. Life just happens to them.
They don’t have any goals. They don’t know where they’re going in life. At the end of 2014, it’s just another year
down the drain.
Don’t let that happen. Develop a plan to
reach your goals in 2014.
Talk It Over:
·
Looking at some of the goals you’ve set
for yourself in 2014, what are some step-by-step plans you can write down that
can lead to these goals?
·
What part or parts of the planning
process do you struggle with the most: writing down your steps, planning a
schedule, or keeping deadlines? Why do you think this is so?
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Saddleback Community Church
1 Saddleback Pkwy
Lake Forest, CA 92630 United States
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