Knowledge and understanding are the best tools for planning our future but how do we get them. Solomon, the wise king, said, “Without counsel plans go awry but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.” (Proverbs 15:22) Why, this was the wisest man alive saying this! If the wisest man alive says we need help with out plans, so be it. Let’s get some help! Our knowledge of God and understanding our plan perfect us, but where does our help come from? Sing the song!!!! Our help comes from the Lord!

Know what you’re doing!

Knowledge is most important to have when we decide we are going to do something. For me the knowledge of God is my most important asset so I depend on the Holy Spirit to provide many answers about who God is. I use the Internet for research and I listen to speakers. If we go back two weeks we asked ourselves some questions. We began looking at how much we have learned over the last year then last week we looked at how to make a plan for change. One of the goals I talked about is ‘knowing God better.’ For all of us to know God better we must know Him in a personal way for every day living. This even includes the teachers of the Word. We must know Him personally so we are proving out our faith as not to be disqualified from being respected as a teacher. In my plan of action my first go to is the Scriptures but yours might be to listen to a teacher. Either way we are getting the knowledge we need. Let’s say you are learning about human trafficking, abortion, church, women, men or children. No matter what topic you are learning you need knowledge to continue in it. Regardless of our task or career we must obtain knowledge or we will be deemed incompetent. I design cars as my day job for which I learn daily to complete the tasks I am assigned. Obtaining knowledge is how we are able to complete a task or a goal or even make a plan. We do not know everything and are not expected to know everything that is why we need Elohim. Leave perfection to Him and learn all you can about what you are currently doing.

Understand WHY you’re doing it!

Learning is one thing; understanding is a different animal all together. Solomon said, “Get wisdom and in all your getting get understanding.” [Paraphrased by me] There will be no wisdom without understanding and no knowledge is remembered unless it is accompanied by understanding. It is questioning the people who know, which leads us to an understanding. Some people understand quite quickly while others are involved in a lengthy process to understand. Our understanding depends on what we are learning and how we learn. There are visual learners who must see it to understand it. There are auditory learners who need to hear it and there are kinesthetic learners who need to touch it to understand it. These are not the only factors by far. God has gifted us to do a particular job for Him and He has gifted us to learn how to do the job in a specific way. We understand the way He wants us to understand and what He wants us to understand. We need to get the understanding. It is not good enough to get knowledge. We cannot go through life lacking understanding of our own plan and why we got to where we are. Failure will plague us if we choose to ignore the answer to the questions ‘WHY?’ God is not going to zap understanding into us! He can and maybe Has for certain topics or questions for us but on the whole He makes us work for our understanding through a process that really drills it into us. Sometimes He gives us quick ways to understand (thank You Jesus for the Internet) and sometimes He takes us on a journey to understand. He knows us, our mind and our purpose therefore the journey is always a means to His end. Leave perfection to God and understand all you can about why you are doing what you are doing!

My Understanding from My Knowledge

I have come to a much-needed understanding that perfection is from God alone. I am a carnal perfectionist! I like to do perfect work with no mistakes and no criticisms but it is impossible to do without the Father. I have also come to the understanding that if not for our imperfections we would have no advancements which has given me great ease to be imperfect. We can improve our life skills significantly if we give ourselves permission to use God’s knowledge and understanding to advance our plan. Our plans do not have to be perfect off the start they just need more knowledge and understanding to get us to where we want to go. All knowledge about God comes from God. Elohim will lead you to all the knowledge and understanding you need to be able to do His works (all of our works should be His works). He is perfect and His ways are perfect so to be the perfect person (obedient) He has asked us to be we need to get knowledge and understanding while working our plan out with God. Jesus has called us to be perfect and we can be under His tutelage!

Last week we talked about putting questions to ourselves in this New Year. When we question ourselves it leads us into a plan resulting in change but what if we don’t know how to plan. Didn’t James say, “we do not know what tomorrow will bring so don’t make plans!” We could use this verse as a great excuse to avoid making plans yet we would be incorrect. James was talking about bragging about the future. Planning is a whole new ballgame God has a hand in. Before you begin your plans though there are three directives from God we need to think about; count the cost, commit them to the Lord, and watch them.

Luke 14:28 says, “Count the cost”

A lot of people never reach their goals because they never first counted the cost of getting to those goals. Let us use the goals of last week as our examples for this week. If I am to know God more I need to count the cost of doing that in my daily life. What will it take to know God better? Reading the Word. How much reading? This will take the rest of my life and it is unreasonable to think that I will be able to spend all day just reading. A good way to start is five minutes per day. This is the beginning of a plan but what is the cost of this plan. We need to be alone, we need to make the time and we need a Bible. The cost of getting to know people better is ‘shutting up’ to hear them talk about themselves. The cost of knowing ourselves better is probably a box of tissues. No matter what the plan is there will always be a cost to be counted otherwise the plan will fail. Do you think Jesus knew the cost of His plan? He did! Regardless, the plan still went forward and many people benefited from His obedience to God! When you count the cost and you are not willing to spend it then you are not willing to purchase your goal either but if you are willing many people will benefit.

Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit them to the Lord.”

If you have counted the cost and decided you are willing to spend the time, the resources and the effort it is time to commit the goal to the Lord. Is it what you are being called to do? Has the Spirit been leading you to do what you are about to do? This is the stage of goal setting most people will forgo because the goal they have is not the goal God has for them and they know it. If you know it right now stop going so time is not wasted. If you are sure the directive is from the Spirit then let’s go! Commit the thing to the Lord every time you work on it. Each time you create a plan or act commit it to the Lord too. It is in doing this He establishes our plans. His way of establishing our plan is to give them a nay or a yay. We can only know the difference when we know Him. If we go in the directions He guides us into we will get to our goal. Elohim will establish our plan if the goal is His. To commit your work to the Lord is to commit your goal to the Lord and follow Him throughout the whole process. You will go in directions you never dreamed and accomplish more than you ever imagined.

Proverbs 21:5 says, “Diligently watch them!”

We can count the cost and go! Commit them to the Lord but if we just let them work themselves out they are bound to fail. We have to work our plan from the time of conception until fruition. When we start slacking in our work the goal starts to fall apart. This is where the hard work and commitment come into play. Without hard work there is no plan and without commitment our hard work will go nowhere. Diligently watching our plan means knowing it location and its direction. Where are you right now in the plan? Beginning, middle or end? Determining that information is important because the work changes as the plan continues. There may be days we work endlessly and stand still. There may be days when we think the plan is working on its own and everything in between. If we do not know where we are with our plan we will not know how hard to work or for how long, leaving us lagging in our commitment to it as well. This lagging is not in our plan but in God’s plan too. This is very costly for us for our future. Not only for our goals but for our residence on the New Earth too. If we cannot be trusted with the small stuff we will not be trusted with the big stuff (Luke 16:10). I do not want to be stuck with the small stuff for eternity, do you? Let us watch our plan so it goes exactly where Elohim wants it to go.

Planning is time consuming and tedious work but avoiding it will leave us with failed goals all of our lives. We can talk about a goal and dream about the fruition of the goal for years but the day we start planning the goal is the day we get one step closer to completing the goal. I know there are a lot of folks out there who have trouble planning their goals as a result they have trouble accomplishing their goals too. Once we get used to planning, it then becomes the first thing we do outside of going to the Father with our petition to adopt the goal as our own and the direction He wants us to go. He does not come down and move our feet for us He expects us to move our own feet. Just put one foot in front of the other and you too will be walking out the door.

Have you ever discovered, inside yourself, a prejudice you were unaware?  As women, we see them all the time and most of us swear we would never have one BUT we do. They are a product of our surroundings and never see the light of day until we are questioned about it. A situation will arise to bring it into the light and it doesn’t like the light. It would prefer to remain in the dark where no one sees it (presumably) and we continue to deny its existence. We enjoy being fooled by our outgoing, warm and unbiased attitude. We know better as humans this should not be so and we hate that we hate and we want to put an end to it if we love Jesus. There are only two solutions to overcome a prejudice putting an end to it, admit the prejudice and turn from it.

Ignorance is not Bliss in the Eyes of the Lord!

Remaining ignorant about our feelings toward certain people is not what God wants from us. How will we be able to serve anyone from behind this veil. Admitting a prejudice is very difficult especially if we see ourselves justified in our hatred. The wall we built last week is not to keep our prejudices in but to keep trouble out. If I am to do what God has called me to do, all of my prejudices must be brought into the light so His heart can shine on others. If I do not admit them, the women I am serving will become prejudiced like me. I remember when God first called me out on my prejudice against abusive men. He brought it into the light and I was not happy to turn from it. It gave me comfort to see an abuser punished but ignorance is not Bliss in the Eyes of the Lord because we know as Christian,s we have all fallen short! As much as I believed women were more deserving of Elohim’s heart, men also need to see His heart to turn from their sin. Worse than dealing with my hatred, for me, was knowing I would be responsible for teaching women to hate men. Elohim continually makes me deal with my prejudices so I will have a pure heart when He sends me to serve a woman. Women need to see the pure love I have for them, along with every other person, so when they come out the other side of their affliction their prejudices are not in control of their destiny. Elohim shines a light on our prejudices so we will turn from them.

Allow Love to Control our Destiny!

Jesus gave us one commandment to follow in the Scriptures  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 If we look at the love Jesus showed, even during the times when His friends did not understand Him, we will fully understand what He has said in this verse. We know each disciple admitted in the end, they were prejudice against others because of their laws (not God’s but man’s added laws), they turned from it and preached the gospel to all mankind including those whom were forbidden by the law such as women and children, undesirables and the disabled. Yes, they failed in human relations and had to be corrected. Yes, they failed in loving everyone and had to be corrected but this shouldn’t discourage me or you it should encourage us to do the same. Turning from my hatred of anyone for one reason or another is what Jesus was talking about when He said to love one another. He was talking to His disciples about the love they have for  each other, for others to see and desire. He was the most forward thinking person of His day because He consistently gave examples of loving those we are prejudiced against by saying turn the other cheek or walk the extra mile. In other words He was saying “turn from it!” We need to turn from our prejudices because that hatred will eat us alive one day. When we turn from hatred we allow love to control our destiny! That is God’s heart for us!

Let God’s Heart not our Hateful Heart Control our Destiny!

Admitting a prejudice is extremely hard because most times it is ingrained in us from even an early age. We use prejudices, as if they are truths, to deny people the mercy they need. Elohim said He desires mercy, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6 Prejudices take many forms such as pet peeves, partiality, preconceived notions, cultural and hierarchy biases. Each one of us has experienced these, and unfortunately, been guilty of these. None of that concerns us more than doing what God has instructed us to do. If we are to improve our life skills we must understand God’s heart toward people and what He deems important with regards to our destiny. The salvation of man is more important than any agenda, any hatred or any sacrifice. We cannot serve the whole person if we teach them to be biased as we are biased. Our Lord wants us to rid ourselves of each and every prejudice and take on His heart for the salvation of His Children. Ask Him today to reveal each  bias you have, so when you present yourself for service, you are only revealing God’s Heart for His Children.

I live in a city called Derbyshire. Its walls are fortified now but once upon a time they were not. They were broken through, then partially built again with children’s building blocks allowing them to be broken through again. Eventually there was not one stone on top of the other holding the walls in place. Everyone gained access! There were people coming in to plunder my possessions and raid my safe house. I even went out and gave away my possessions along with the contents of my safe house. Since I also wasn’t living up to my God given potential I was giving myself away. My walls were gone leaving my kingdom vulnerable. This was the beginning of my quest to improve my life skills to rebuild my walls.

I am not alone. I heard tell stories about bankruptcy and repossessions, credit card debt and homelessness. There are plenty of walls broken through today! It is the intent of this world to break through walls plundering your provision to build their walls. There are folks who want what you have and some will not be satisfied until they also have you. It does not have to be this way for anyone! Just as I told you, my walls are fortified now. I had to learn the hard way I cannot be all to everyone nor can I give everything away and build a fortified city for Elohim.

How is a wall built and fortified? It is done with self-control. Every stone laid is a stone laid with each temptation denied, each urge repressed, each commandment obeyed and each sin repented. I take seriously every verse in the Scriptures advising me to get control especially Proverbs 25:28. Self-control is listed last in the fruits of the Spirit because it takes every single previous fruit before it to gain control and fortify our walls. I have created an acrostic using WALLS to help us build our walls and over time fortify them with our unwavering control. Whenever you are asked to be invaded put up your WALLS to protect yourself.

Wait before you Part ways with your Current Stone!

Our stone could be anything from our money to our time. We already have this stone in our possession so let us appreciate its current value. It is ours to give or to keep. If we learn how to say ‘wait’ it will not kill us or anyone else to actually wait. People don’t like to wait so they will want us to hurry but we are going to wait. Rash decisions break down stones more than it builds them. The wisdom gained while waiting will bring us closer to God and a fortified city. Waiting allows us the time to analyze the stone.

Analyze the Purchase of this Stone!

The reason for waiting is to analyze your stone options. This step should never be foregone or our walls will never become fortified. Asking questions of our decision gets us closer to wisdom about decision-making. Why do I want this stone? Will this stone build my wall or tear it down? Will the wall remain fortified with this stone in place or will an undesirable person be given access? If we do not know the answers to these questions we are best to pass on this stone until we are wiser. Analysis needs answers to make a decision either to love it or leave it.

Love the Stone or Leave the Stone!

Waiting to do an Analysis results in a decision based on credible information. We have asked the hard questions and can come to a wise decision. We are either going to love the stone and purchase it or we are going to lose the stone and move on. Crucial to this decision is knowing this verse Matthew 5:37 because anything other than yes or no is from the evil one and will send us right back to where we started with all the same heartache and then some. Us women come by this hard but we still need to stand by this. The consequence of wavering on our decisions is what tore down our walls in the first place. Do not let this happen again! Analyze correctly then decide erecting a wall around that decision. Wait while analyzing for a wise decision will help us learn from our previous mistakes.

Learn the Lesson for Future Stones!

We are not perfect and will make bad decisions even after we analyze it and find it to be sound. The one important lesson we will learn is reasoning skills. Elohim tells us to come and reason with Him so we will begin to see His ways are the best ways. The lesson we learn is the Spirit will guide us into all righteousness. He is guiding us to make right decisions based on the future and today. Each of our decisions will either tear down the stones or build up the stones. Our walls depend on us learning the lessons built into our mistakes and our successes. Learning lessons from these will bring us into a state of control.

Self-Control Constructs our Stones into a Fortified Wall!

Building a fortified wall takes self-control and the result can only come from walking in the Spirit. Prior to the Fruits of the Spirit Paul tells us to walk in the Spirit and we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Self-control is the very essence of walking in the Spirit because it is the opposite of fulfilling the flesh. Our walls are built by the knowledge of our exact person in Christ and what He wants us to do to fulfill our predestined life for Him. Self-control in our daily living fortifies us.

The Derbyshire fortified wall has taken me many years to construct and I am fully aware it will take no time at all to tear it all down unless I protect it. I do not want you to be ignorant about the work it takes to build your own wall and the diligence it takes to protect it. There will be many years, many failures to overcome, many decision that seemingly break your heart, many kicks at the wall and many stones tumbling down but it can be done. You can write on your wall, a person who has self-control will fortify his city walls, rather than, Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.