Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 606 | It Is the Lord’s Purpose That Will Be Carried Out

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606 | It Is the Lord’s Purpose That Will Be Carried Out · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

• 0:07
  Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast.
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  With Kimberly Miller, where we believe that every man, woman,
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  boy, and girl must come to Jesus just like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is helping you experience the reality of God in your everyday life.
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  Whether you're listening in our app, on your favorite podcast platform,
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  are on our website at watwm.org.
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  We invite you to sit down with us as we open the scriptures to learn more about
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  who God is and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Hello, friends! Before we hop into today's message, I have some great news.
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  Kim's newest book, Bible Bits in His Presence, is now available.
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  You can find it on Amazon or wherever you buy your books.
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  Head to our website at watwm.org for more information.
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  And now let's go to the podcast. We make many plans.
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  Some are good and some are bad, but none are as perfect as God's plan for our lives.
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  So, when we make our plans, we must first make sure they are bathed in prayer
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  and in alignment with God's Word.
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  Then we must be flexible and allow God to adjust our plans and make them in
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  alignment with His will.
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  Join us in this podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries as Kim takes us on a
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  journey through the scriptures, revealing the benefits of planning while being
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  mindful of the voice of God.
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  Rest assured, the Lord's purpose will be carried out.
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  Hello, and thank you for joining us in this podcast of Women at the Well Ministries.
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  If you know me at all, you know that I am the happy planner.
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  I have planned for most of my life.
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  I've always had a lot of things going on in my life, and to get them all done
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  in some sort of effective way, I needed a plan.
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  And so from a very early age, I began to plan the things that I needed to do
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  or felt like I wanted to do.
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  And I bathed those plans as I got older and even from an early age in prayer.
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  Because I know that God has a plan for me.
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  And you do too. Because he says it in Jeremiah 29, 11, when he says,
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  I know the thoughts that I think toward you.
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  Sayeth the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
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  So he's telling us that he has a plan for us, and it's a good plan.
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  And He knows what He has planned to unfold in your life, the results He has
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  for you, the blessings that He has created for you to have. He knows.
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  And so He has a plan for you to follow.
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  But that in no way means that we're to just get up willy-nilly.
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  First of all, we have to be in the Word so that we can hear Him well.
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  We have to be prayed up so that we don't have any sins in our heart that are
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  hidden that would keep him from hearing us, as the psalmist David tells us.
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  We have to be willing to be flexible.
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  This is the key. We can't get so bent on our thoughts and our plans that we plan God out of our days.
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  No, we need to make a plan that doesn't just include God in our life,
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  but follows God and his plans for us on a moment-to-moment basis.
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  Let's pray.
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  Our kind and most gracious, your heavenly Father, Lord, we ask for your presence.
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  In this message. Lord, I pray that you would remove me as far as the east is
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  from the west, and Lord, that you would prepare the hearts to hear what you have for them today.
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  Lord, we invite you into our hearts and our minds to distribute these words
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  and to help us hear your ways and your thoughts so that we would be more of
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  what you would have us to be,
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  more closely aligned to your word,
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  and as effective a soldier for you as possible.
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  And all these things we ask in your most precious and holy name.
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  In Jesus' name we pray. As we begin this message on it is the Lord's purpose
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  that will be carried out,
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  I want to ask you in your mind to keep very close attention to Proverbs 3, 5 through 7,
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  which says, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not into thine own understanding.
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  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
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  And then he throws in, be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord, and depart from evil.
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  But I want to point you to this passage in such a way that as we speak from here on out.
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  That you're using it as the filter in which you run everything else we say through.
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  Because this passage tells us that when we trust the Lord with our whole heart,
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  that means when we have nothing else before him, and God has told us in Exodus
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  20, verse 3, thou shalt have no other gods before me.
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  When he is the one that we're seeking with our whole heart, and we will find
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  because Jeremiah 29, 13 tells us that.
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  We are to have every bit of our being under subjection to the will of God and
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  so committed to Him that just like when you turn the steering wheel in a car,
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  as He alters our plans, as He opens doors and shuts doors, we are walking according
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  to exactly as He is instructing.
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  And that will only happen if we trust him with our whole heart and not lean
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  unto our wisdom, our worldly knowledge, our intelligence.
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  But we put all of that which are amazing and helpful in our lives and help us
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  to carry out the plan God has for us and to be able to fulfill the strategies
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  for actually carrying out those plans.
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  We need skills and abilities. We need knowledge and we need wisdom.
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  But for it to be successful in the way that God is intending,
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  we must put all of that at his feet and.
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  And under his control. And he tells us as we humble ourselves under the mighty
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  hand of God, he will exalt us in due time or in the time that is appropriate.
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  So trust in the Lord and lean not into your understanding.
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  And he shall direct your paths, are the parts of this passage in Proverbs 3,
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  5 through 7 that I really want you to keep rolling over and over in your heart
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  and mind as we begin to talk about it's the Lord's purpose that's going to be carried out.
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  When we plan our days, it is not because we are setting solid lines in cement, and this is how it is.
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  It's so that we know where there are gaps in our time, that when God comes in
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  and rearranges the schedule or the plan that we have,
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  we know where we can put those without it causing a lot of problems.
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  So what we're doing is we are writing a schedule,
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  planning our day out to accomplish what we feel God has told us to do with full
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  comfort when he decides that what you thought you were doing at 10 a.m.
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  Isn't what he's going to have you do. And so we flex during the day as he prompts our heart,
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  as he talks to us, and as other things that we didn't know become part of our day.
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  And I think most of us can understand that.
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  Where it gets difficult for all of us is when he gives us a plan for our lives,
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  and we are strategically working to fulfill that plan.
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  And he really has only given us a section of the plan, but because of the way our minds work,
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  because of the way that we think, We've taken that section, which very well
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  might be only a brief moment of our life.
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  But we have added on what we have concluded or deduced to be what follows the actual plan he gave us.
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  In Proverbs 19, verse 21, here's what we read.
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  There are many devices in a man's heart.
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  Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.
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  And what he's telling us is our many are the plans in a man's mind,
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  but it is the Lord's purpose for him that will stand or be carried out.
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  And that's where we have to submit.
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  Because when God tells us that you are going to do A, B, and C,
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  the human mind comprehends
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  a b and c but it begins to
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  do this process of if
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  i do this then this
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  will happen and so though the process of a b and c is completely understood
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  fully delivered by god approved for our life and the plan he has for us,
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  when we start adding our D to that,
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  that's where we mess up.
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  Because what can happen in our minds is we can deduce, well,
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  this is the logical thing that follows.
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  And it may be a good thing. You may go through seminary, and you may go get your ordination,
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  and you may be serving in a church.
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  That's your ABC, and you're followed perfectly.
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  And so then in your mind, you conclude, that's where I'm going to be.
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  That's where I'm going to stay. That's where God's work is for me.
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  That's where I'm going to be a pastor.
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  This work that I'm doing now is preparing me for this work ahead.
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  And all of that is true logically. But Scripture tells us that but without faith,
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  it is impossible to please Him.
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  And you must believe that He is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
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  God doesn't ask you to deduce what happens next.
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  He says in Jeremiah 29, 11, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,
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  saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
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  The kicker is it's not your expectation of what the end will be.
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  It is his design for what the end is going to be for you that he has created
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  you to fully accomplish.
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  See, we understand the plan that God gives us, but we don't always know the underlying purpose.
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  God may move you to another church. He may move you to evangelism.
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  He may move you to writing.
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  He may move you to one-on-one discipleship, all because you did the schooling,
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  you did the work, you did whatever he says, and it doesn't require ordination.
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  It doesn't require schooling to do the work of the Lord.
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  So the path that he has you on may not be the same path that he has another
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  person on, But when you get to the D, you are doing the same thing because we don't use our mind.
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  We are not to use our minds to take a part of his plan for our life and move
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  it forward in the direction we choose.
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  No we are to take up our cross daily
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  and follow him so
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  the first thing as christians that we must begin to do is we must begin to give
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  him full reign and full control over our lives and that is a moment-by-moment control.
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  We must trust in Him with all of our heart and allow Him to lead us in the way that He wants us to go.
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  And we have to stop inserting our opinion, our deductions, and our choices.
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  We have one choice to make every day, and that choice is to follow Jesus.
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  That means his word, and that means his words to you.
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  The promptings of the Holy Spirit and the directions he offers you moment by moment and day by day.
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  We must realize that even though we have all these thoughts and all these plans
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  in our mind, God's purpose for them may not be what we think it is.
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  So we really can only act upon what he has fully given us.
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  We can't draw conclusions for the daily work he's asking us.
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  We must come to him daily.
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  It's very much like a worker who's a day worker and doesn't really have a contract with a person.
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  You see this a lot on contractors who are building buildings and shopping malls and things.
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  And these workers stand in some assembled place,
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  and people who need work for that day
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  come and they choose these individuals and they work for them for an agreed
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  upon price for that day and then the next day that worker goes back to that
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  place assembles himself and
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  maybe even the same contractor will hire him but maybe another one will.
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  But regardless, on the next day, he's asking, what do you want me to do today?
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  He does not assume that he'll be doing today what he did yesterday,
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  because it's a day-to-day proposal and a day-to-day contract.
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  And with the Lord God Almighty, we are his children, we are his servants,
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  and he is a loving, amazing God that chooses to allow us to have part of his plan.
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  He doesn't need us, but oh, how we need him.
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  And he comes to us every day telling us what it is we need to do.
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  And those who trust Him with their whole hearts and fully understand Proverbs
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  19, 21 begins to see that their thoughts are not all that important.
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  Their plans about what He's going to do next doesn't factor in.
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  And so they are obedient because obedience is better than sacrifice.
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  And as God speaks, they listen, they obey.
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  And when He gives them, the plan that he unfolds before them,
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  those individuals who are fully following God with a heart that's fully trusting
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  him, they're not looking to figure out what the next step is.
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  They're simply following the steps he has given them with full assurance that
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  when they have completed that, he will give them the next set of steps.
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  And so what you find with those people is that they do not get in God's way,
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  and they do not miss His will for their life because they're not inserting their will into His plan.
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  Proverbs 16.9 says, A man's heart devises his way, but the Lord directs his steps.
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  And that's what I'm trying to tell you a man plans the
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  way you plan what god
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  wants you to do with your day but
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  you let him direct how you actually get that
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  done because it's all done with
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  a submission to know that he is the way the truth and the life and no man cometh
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  unto the father but by him in john chapter 14 verse 6 he's the way so he knows
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  the way we are his followers so we should be in his way.
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  We should be following what God has for us.
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  But too often, we follow that first set of instructions,
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  and then we take it out of his hands, and we devise the plan,
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  because we don't understand the purpose.
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  We don't understand why God has given us the instructions he has.
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  And instead of just trusting them and following them, we add to them our choice of conclusion.
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  It's somewhat like going to a movie where, or watching a movie where there are
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  two endings, and you can pick you whether you want to watch ending one or ending two.
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  We need to be the people that are just letting it unfold the way God asks and intends.
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  And we can do this when we understand that a man plans his way but the lord
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  directs his steps so as god is giving us the information about what he wants
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  you to do where he wants you to be,
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  and how he wants you to do things you do that but you allow him to have absolute freedom,
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  to plan what it is you're doing and how to get it done.
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  Because you don't know his purpose for the A, B, and C.
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  So if you don't know his purpose, you can't figure out D, E, and F.
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  But you don't need to. Because he says, for I know the plans that I have for
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  you in one translation of Jeremiah 29, 11.
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  But he says, I know the thoughts I have toward you.
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  I know your expected end. So it all dovetails back to the truth that we are simply to follow.
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  He doesn't ask us for our opinion. He doesn't require us to have a skill set
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  that could get to the end.
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  No, he blesses the willing heart and equips those he calls to do what he's asked them to do.
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  And it really comes down to just following.
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  When we look at Proverbs 19, 21, where we think of many are the plans in a person's
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  heart, but it's the Lord's purpose that prevails.
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  It's the Lord's purpose that wins out.
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  I think it's important that we figure out how we can be okay with that?
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  Well, the spiritual answer is, we're okay with that, because God said it, and that makes it so.
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  My trust in him is so complete that I embrace his every word and moment for my life.
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  My faith is in him, so I know.
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  Like Isaiah 55, 9 says that the heavens are higher than the earth,
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  so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. That's what God says.
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  But let's see how that works in our lives to have this ability to choose correctly,
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  which is to choose Jesus and his sovereignty every time.
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  Well, first, we have to realize that His sovereignty is divine.
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  God's purposes are supreme and unchanging, and our plans, they're all over the place.
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  They're uncertain, and more importantly, they're limited.
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  We have limited information. We can only go on what we know, and it is limited.
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  But God sees the past, the present, and the future.
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  God knows what's around the corner.
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  He knows what's coming. He knows what you know, what experiences you have,
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  how that's going to play in, what that's going to mean. He knows it all.
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  He knows everything.
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  And because he knows everything, he has the ability to make it all right because he is God.
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  So when we come to the decision Do I place my life and the plans for my life
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  In my hands with limited knowledge Far less abilities.
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  And no omnipotence, or do I place my plans in my life,
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  and he who knows it all is more powerful than all and is everywhere,
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  so we can begin to accept his plan for our life and to submit ourselves to him
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  because we know he is divinely sovereign.
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  I think if we got into our planning, which I am a full proponent of for our
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  days and our times, if we planned with humility.
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  This understanding that many are the thoughts in my mind and the plans in my
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  heart, but it's the Lord's purpose that prevails.
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  It's the Lord who's going to direct my steps.
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  It's the Lord who's going to get his way.
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  If when I plan, I understand that.
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  And I am able to allow myself to allow God to redirect our steps and to align
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  with his purpose, because I accept he knows best,
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  then my days are going to go more smoothly. There'll be less frustration.
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  I will have planned a day, bathed in prayer, in alignment with God's will that
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  he's given me with the full assurance that he knows what I don't know.
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  So he has full permission from me, no rebuttal, no anything.
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  He can come in and disrupt what I have planned for that day,
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  but it's okay because one, it's him,
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  two, it's right, and three, I have planned for that to be okay,
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  because I am yielding myself to him.
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  So understanding that there are many devices in a man's heart,
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  nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that's what's going to stand.
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  There are many plans in a person's heart,
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  but it's the Lord's purpose that's going to prevail, allows me to be flexible,
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  and my planning for my day allows me to know where I can do those things I thought
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  I needed to do or I wanted to do at another time during the day because he's come in and he said,
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  this is what you're going to do right now.
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  But it also keeps me from trying to deduce and conclude the rest of my story,
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  the rest of my life based on the limited information I have on the here and now,
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  because I don't know God's purpose for my life.
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  I just know the plans he's revealed.
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  And then what understanding these verses in Proverbs helps us is that it allows
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  us to be comforted in our disappointment.
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  When our personal plans fail, this verse provides comfort that God is still
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  in control and working according to His higher plan.
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  His ways are not my ways. I'm a fleshly, sinful person saved by the amazing grace of God.
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  He is sinless and perfect. All-knowing and all-powerful.
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  And I want you to understand some things that we learn as we conclude our time together on this.
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  And I want to sum it up like this.
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  Plans are bathed in prayer, sowed in faith, watered by obedience,
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  and witnessed through the blessings.
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  God's plans are perfect, and his ways are higher than our ways.
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  And if we acknowledge him, he shall direct thy paths.
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  I think it's important to note in your time with the Lord, God's going to tell
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  you some things in secrets that you don't need to unfold in public.
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  And God's going to unfold some things in secret that public's going to see at a later time.
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  When you really understand that you are a follower of Jesus Christ and that he came,
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  that you might have life and have it more abundantly, and you fully submit who
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  you are to him and walk in obedience because of the full faith and trust that
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  you have in a God that cannot fail,
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  and you love him with your whole heart, you'll stop concluding the rest of the story.
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  You won't be paralyzed because you don't know the next move and then decide
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  it for yourself and pull yourself away from the center of God's will.
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  Won't be miserable by your expectations not being met, because instead of your
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  expectations being way out there guesses,
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  your expectation will be that all things work together for the good to them,
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  but love the Lord to them that are called according to his purpose in Romans 8, 28.
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  It'll be, I know the plans for you, the thoughts I have toward you, and the expected end.
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  It'll be that no good thing does he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
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  It'll be, Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.
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  Remember, you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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  Thank you for joining us for today's podcast. You can find quotes and scripture
• 30:08
  references from this episode in the show notes.
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  We pray today's message has been a blessing. If it has, please consider leaving
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  a rating or review on your podcast platform.
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• 30:23
  You can connect with Woman at the Well Ministries through our app at watwm.org
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  and on Facebook and Instagram.
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  While you're there, learn more about Bible Bits, Kim's daily devotional delivered
• 30:35
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• 30:40
  Thank you for your prayers.