“From the Heart” teaching by Drs. Rodney & Adonica Howard-Browne.
Foundation Scripture: Proverbs 16:1-3 (AMP)
1The plans of the mind and orderly thinking belong to man, but from the Lord comes the [wise] answer of the tongue. 2All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits (the thoughts and intents of the heart). 3Roll your works upon the Lord [commit and trust them wholly to Him; He will cause your thoughts to become agreeable to His will, and] so shall your plans be established and succeed.
Proverbs 16:9 (AMP)
9A man’s mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps and makes them sure.
We make plans for our lives and our future, and indeed we should, for we must have goals to aim for and a direction in which to go – if we are wise. We know that if we aim for nothing, we are sure to hit it, so we make our plans, but for all our planning we do not know enough to make perfect decisions every time. We need the wisdom that only God gives.
We make plans – they may be wonderful, well organized, detailed, plans – but without God’s wisdom, there is no guarantee of success. Another, often overlooked aspect of planning is motivation – the attitude of our heart. The attitude of your heart might not seem to be an important issue to you, but it is important to God and crucial to the success of your plans. We think that we are right – everyone thinks that they are right – but only God can be the judge of the motivation of our heart.
So many people want to have God’s forgiveness for their sins, so that they can have peace of mind and a ticket to heaven, but they do not see God’s Word as a standard to live by or the wisdom they need to make their plans succeed. We have our plans, but God has His plans for us, too. We make plans and then ask God to bless them, but if we would ask God for His plans for us – we will find out that they are already blessed.
We should commit and roll all of our plans onto the Lord. In other words, we should run every decision by Him before we begin to act on our plans. With God involved in our plans, we are sure of success. We may not know the future, but we know who holds the future and we hold His hand as He leads us and makes our steps sure. Sure – means that we will not stumble or go in the wrong direction.
Psalms 37:23-31 (NIV)
23If the LORD delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; 24though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand. 25I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. 26They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed. 27Turn from evil and do good; then you will dwell in the land forever. 28For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. They will be protected forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off; 29the righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever. 30The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks what is just. 31The law of his God is in his heart; his feet do not slip.
When God is welcomed and allowed to be a part of your planning process and the carrying out process, you will find that your way is a lot smoother and more prosperous than before. Angels will go before you to make a way for you. You will have favor wherever you go. How can you fail when God is on your side?