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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you—for I will be going through Macedonia. Perhaps I will stay with you for a while, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go.
For I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.
When Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am. No one, then, should treat him with contempt. Send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me. I am expecting him along with the brothers.
Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.
1 Corinthians 16:5-12
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
We all like to make plans. It seems to be as normal as breathing at times.
There are those short term plans where we are mapping out days and organizing all the things we want to accomplish before trying to carry them out.
There are more long range plans we have in life like maybe vacations we plan months out in advance. Some long range plans place the emphasis on long, especially when a person begins to ponder what they will do when they get to their retired years.
We are always planning, that’s for sure, but here’s something we learn along the way.
The Lord has His own plans for us and they often differ greatly from ours.
We know He has plans for us for we have this word of God spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” 29:11
We can have all the plans we want but it’s the Lord’s plans that matter most and it’s His plans we should be constantly seeking and carrying out. Those plans will help us proper and give us hope and a future, all things we should want to have from our Lord.
Unfortunately, there are too may Christian believers who don’t prayerfully consult God before making plans. People know what they want to do and the main focus is on fulfilling their own desires, no matter what the Lord thinks. For if they were really concerned about the Lord’s plan, they would always seek it first to make sure His will is done, His perfect will.
As we look at our scripture passage for today, we see the Apostle Paul making plans. In particular, he yearned to once again visit the Corinthian church and be able to stay with them for some time. He hoped that his visit wouldn’t just be in passing but look where Paul puts the decision as to the length of his stay. He simply states, “If the Lord permits”.
You see Paul got it. While He had lots of ambitions about what he wanted to do, he knew that it was all about what the Lord wanted. Paul was fully committed to going where the Lord wanted him to go to do what He wanted Him to do.
Note the contrast with the way that Apollos handled his planning. Paul had hoped Apollos would visit Corinth in his stead but Apollos was “quite unwilling to go”.
Are we like this sometimes when it comes to the way we make plans? Are we resistant to the way the Lord wants us to go because it takes us off the path we charted, the path we planned to take?
I don’t know about you but I have many testimonies about how the Lord’s plan came into play, blew up my own plan, and then revealed His glory to me through what He had me do. Let me share one with you and if you have your own story, please include it in a response to this message post.
My testimony takes us back to 2010. I was in the United States Navy and finishing up my final tour of duty as Command Master Chief of Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, Africa. This assignment was unaccompanied and so it was a long time to be apart from my wife, Grace.
Since this was my last homecoming, one that would quickly lead to my retirement from active military service, I had made big plans for the reunion. I was actually going to arrive back in the United States on my fiftieth birthday and two weeks after I got back, I was taking Grace to a Christian music concert by Phillips Craig and Dean, a group we loved but had never seen perform live. The tickets were right up front and it would be a perfect getaway together to celebrate being back together again.
This was my plan and it didn’t quite turn out the way I expected. This is because the Lord still had things for me to do. Here’s what happened:
Three weeks before my flight was supposed to leave, I received a call from the Command Master Chief who was supposed to relieve me. He informed me that he had been medically disqualified because of high blood pressure and wouldn’t be coming. There was no alternate.
So, there I was, in a position of very high leadership without someone to replace me and my departure right around the corner. My plan was pretty much shot at that point.
And so I called my rating detailer and proposed to cancel my retirement, willing to remain in Djibouti until relieved and then do one more Command Master Chief tour. This was approved and the target arrival date for my relief was set around mid-May. This left me around eight weeks before I would hear back home.
At first, I was really depressed about what had transpired. I pouted around for a few days until the Lord spoke to me and asked me to consider what He wanted me to do, to think about the possibility that my delay was for some divine reason. When I did this, the Lord filled in the blank quickly. He wanted me to teach a Bible study on marriage, The Love Dare Bible study. I ordered the books and worked through the Chaplain on base to form the class. Much to my delight, we had 12 to 14 people come.
One attendee was really struggling in his marriage. You could see it in his face as we went over the first Love Dare steps. He confessed his marriage was on the rocks and he felt it was too far gone to save but he wanted to take the class and see what happened. By the fourth class, this person’s whole demeanor changed from depression to joy. He had been carrying out the Love Dares from the book and his wife was noticing a huge difference in him and the way he treated her. In fact, she went and got a Love Dare book and started doing the steps with him. This carried on through the end of the class, after which time I turned everything over to my relief and came home.
Fast forward about 3 to 4 years later. I was working a resource table discussing the educational and counseling options offered by my employer for service members and their families. As I was standing at the table, up walks the person who took the Love Dare class in Djibouti. He simply wanted to thank me for playing an important part in saving his marriage which had just not survived but thrived. In fact, he shared that they even had another child together. His testimony touched my heart and left me in a place of thanksgiving to my Lord who waylaid my plans so His plans could be accomplished.
The next time your plans get altered by unexpected circumstances, I encourage you to step back, pray about things, and commit yourself to His plan first and foremost, a plan that will bring you prosperity, hope, and a future just as He promised.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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