Don’t plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him— that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning.

In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our “spiritual face” before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.

Don’t plan with a concern for evil in mind. Does God really mean for us to plan without taking the evil around us into account? “Love . . . thinks no evil” ( 1 Corinthians 13:4-5  ). Love is not ignorant of the existence of evil, but it does not take it into account as a factor in planning. When we were apart from God, we did take evil into account, doing all of our planning with it in mind, and we tried to reason out all of our work from its standpoint.

Don’t plan with a rainy day in mind. You cannot hoard things for a rainy day if you are truly trusting Christ. Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled . . .” (John 14:1 ). God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command— “Let not. . . .” To do it, continually pick yourself up, even if you fall a hundred and one times a day, until you get into the habit of putting God first and planning with Him in mind.

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Journal Entry for Today-JDV

July 5, 2010

I woke up a bit out of sorts….sore and a little more than still tired. Oh I got enough sleep, but riding that 10 miles on Saturday took its toll.

My legs were still a bit rubbery, and unusual for me; I seemed to be taking a while to wake up. I reached for praise and connection with my Lord, and it felt a little “disconnected”. I wonder why? What had I done to break the connection? Why couldn’t I “feel” the connection?

Why couldn’t I “feel” the Spirit of God inside of me? Where was it? Why must I struggle to find it?

And God says… “I am with you always…., nothing can separate you from my love…I have made it very clear in My word in deed that I am always with you, regardless of how you feel about it. You will be constantly under attack from the enemy, especially as you continue to seek me in all things and before you step out into anything. The enemy sees your obedience, and is angry about your happiness and faithfulness. You need not “feel” the Spirit to know that I am there, however, whenever your spirit senses a “distance” between us; know that it cannot exist unless you allow it through your lack of faith. There is never a distance because I have never moved except to be even closer to you.  

The enemy will try to make you believe that there is a distance between us, resist him and he will flee.

There is power and strength in My word and your worship, praise and reliance on me. Within worship, praise and reliance you will always find and “feel” the connection because within the worship, praise and reliance your faith is strengthened.