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The horses are prepared for battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD.
           Proverbs 21:31

I’m a planner. I love planning. It brings me a sense of peace. It brings order and structure to chaos. Although many would see planning as something restrictive – something that boxes them in, I have come to understand that planning is a form of creativity. In creation, God brought order to chaos. The earth was “without form, and void” (Gen 1:2). That describes many projects before a planner steps in. Anyway, I used to believe that I had no creativity. Now I recognize that creativity comes in many forms, and my ability to bring order to chaotic projects is a form of creativity. And I feel better about myself!

Strange, I suppose, how I feel better about myself because I now believe I have creativity. I’m not sure why that is and should probably do some inner searching to figure it out…but that’s a blog for another time I suppose.

Today’s blog is about preparing horses for battle. Planning is a lot like that. To mix a few metaphors, planning is getting all our ducks in a row, it’s lining up the troops. It’s laying out an efficient and strategic way of getting the job done. Like I said, I love doing that. The  challenge that’s hard for me to resist is the challenge of bringing order out of chaos.

Maybe you’re like me. If you’re not, you probably know someone who is (perhaps the person you’re married to!)…Now you have insight into our wierdness.

To Those of You Who are Like Me
Let me strongly encourage you to remember that God is honored by our planning, but only when the planning is done with the full faith and trust that victory belongs to the Lord. We prepare our horses for battle, but victory belongs to the Lord. The trap that Satan will set for us is that we subtly begin to believe that our well-established plans are sacred and that they have won the victory. At that point, friend, your strength has become your besetting sin. To avoid this, let me encourage you to develop the strong, consistant habit of acknowledging Him in all your ways (Proverbs 3:5-6) – always pause to pray before, during and after planning. You need to do this not only to allow God to direct your planning, but to remind yourself that you need God to direct your planning.

Let me also encourage you to not take your plans (and yourself) so seriously. Practice flexibility. Yes, you probably developed the best plan, but sometimes following someone else’s plan is more important. There are more important things than attacking a project in the most efficient manner possible. Sometimes making someone else know how important they are to the team is more important. Sometimes giving someone else the experience of leading is more important. Sometimes just playing well with others is more important. Be flexible. Don’t let your plan become your idol.

To Those of You Who Know Someone Like Me
What a treasure you’ve found! 🙂 Help us become the people God wants us to be. When you see us placing too much importance on/in our plans, gently remind us that victory belongs to the Lord. I used the word “gently” for two reasons: (1) Depending on your personality, just a little planning on our part might look to you like I’m trusting in my plans when in reality I’m just using the gift God has given me – don’t crush my spirit by accusing me of not trusting God everytime I use my gifts. (2) If I really have fallen into Satan’s trap of trusting myself or my plans instead of God, you are uncovering my sin. No one wants that to be broadcast to the world. Be gentle with me. Trust that the Holy Spirit will convict me of my sin.

Praise God! Victory is always His!

This entry was posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 6:25 am and is filed under Christian Living, God's power. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.