God Has A Plan For You

(Message by Pastor Joseph, Founder and Chairman, New Life Fellowship. Reproduced from notes...better be there than look here; but yes, as best as I can. Happy reading!)

We’re thankful to God for His faithfulness in our lives-from generation to generation! David made this observation: I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendents begging bread. (Psalm 37:25). If we walk in His principles, we are bound to be blessed with a future and a hope. God, the Holy Spirit is with us, leading us to God the Son-Jesus Christ that God the Father might be glorified.

All right! My subject for today is that God has a plan for you. Yes…each one of us has a plan; God is the Planner. Look at Jeremiah 29:7, And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.

God has a plan for you, whether you belong to this city, or you have come here as a migrant; whether Mumbai or Navi Mumbai. Remember, Jeremiah is writing to the captives that they had a responsibility – to pray for the city’s peace! It is the same now, PRAY for peace of the city where you are right now, for in its peace, you will have peace. It is like water – if you want water, you ask the Lord, water for the city. When the city has water, you will have water too!

It’s a privilege that we can pray to God the Father! See, there are only three nations – a Gentile nation, a Jewish nation and a Holy nation. We, who belong to the Holy nation, have this privilege-we can call out to God. Jesus says in John 16:24, “Until now, you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full”. That is why it is written: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and ALL THESE THINGS- the practical life requirements of food, clothing and shelter, will be added unto you (Matt 6:33). Do not worry over them, for worrying belongs to the Gentile nation…

You can pray and sing 'change me'; but do you know the secret to success? Success is everyday and every moment making a choice to live for Him and not live for your-self. God is not going to change you until you change yourself! Hallelujah!


Change is by your own choice, by the decisions you make every day and every moment. And God is interested to see change in His people before there is change in the city. God’s plan is found in Jer. 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” God’s thoughts are not our thoughts…it is much higher; And God says here, Look, My child, I’m thinking about you to give you a future and a hope.

Since God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, we must learn not to lean on our own understanding! In all our ways we are going to acknowledge Him! We understand He is the author of our blessed hope and a bright future!

Now, how do you FIT-in to God’s plan? When you DO fit in to His plan, there are so many promises found in the old and new covenant that is faith-marked for your benefit. But if you don’t FIT in, then there is no future and no hope. You may as well look up to fate and sing “What will be, will be…the future is not ours to see…” You find such people everywhere; submerged in problems and more problems…whenever you meet them, they tell you it is a hopeless problem. I can well understand these situations…for I too was at the end of myself when God met me; Yes, God meets you when you are at the END of your SELF…

Recently I was chatting with an IT engineer and asked him whether he was interested in the IPL matches going on. He said he was more interested in chess and this made me quip that in chess, once the game is over the king and the pawn go to the same box. Now, do you know your destination? Life is a journey and you need direction going towards your destination! Otherwise you may as well book a burial spot and wait to die – whether king or pawn will make no difference. You see, God’s plan is not going to change – you can receive it or reject it!

Romans 11:33 says “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” And v36 that says, “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” Therefore, not democracy, not autocracy, but theocracy is the way of the Holy nation. We are subject to the Kingdom authority, where our Father is the King. There are four ways in which we can fit in to God’s plan for us.

1. Constantly be RELATED TO THE KING

Our relation to the King is through Jesus Christ and by His Spirit. Romans 12:1 show us some practical ways of constantly maintaining our relation with the King. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”

We are called to be a ‘living’ sacrifice’. You know in the old covenant, the sacrifices comprised of animals that were ‘dead’. But now, we are to unconditionally surrender our bodies as a ‘living’ sacrifice…which means we no longer live for our selves. We reckon that once Jesus was put on the cross, our desires too were put on the cross; once Jesus died, we too died to our sinful nature; once Jesus was buried, we too were buried and once He rose again, we too have risen to a new life. Therefore present your bodies…to fit into God’s plan.

2. Constantly be RENEWED IN YOUR MIND

Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this word, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” There is a world system and a spiritual system. We are called to resist and not allow ourselves to be conformed to the world system, but rather embrace the transformation. We did once belong to the natural but now are born-again to the spiritual… See, being born-again implies spiritual babies. And if you don’t grow up, you are still carnal and are likely being conformed to the world system; but it's growing up that leads to transformation.

Now, transformation is vividly visualized in the growth, from a crawling caterpillar to a beautiful butterfly. If we are not willing to renew our mind, we can live all our lives as a caterpillar and die as a caterpillar. On the other hand, transformation leads to three proofs; the good, the acceptable and the perfect will of God. This can be imagined as the fruit or harvest of 30-fold, 60-fold and 100 fold respectively. When we change, our priorities change…and JOY is the result of putting Jesus first, Others next and Yourself last.

3. RECOGNISE YOUR CALLING and


4. RELEASE YOUR GIFT

Romans 12: 3-7 says, “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophecy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.”

The first thing we understand is there is GRACE given to us; GRACE – God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense… and a MEASURE of FAITH that we may think of ourselves not highly, not lowly - but soberly. Grace and a measure of faith is the potent combination of your calling! It’s time to recognize your calling… there are problems in the body of Christ, because a ‘hand’ wants to be an ‘eye’ and the ‘foot’ wants to be the ‘mouth’… and there are members who want to be functionally the BE ALL and DO ALL part. But, success is not of being ‘Jack of all trades-master of none’. Instead, you can choose to be the master in just one function…

And about releasing the gifts, each one of us is called to be useful in the body of Christ. There is none who are ‘spare-part’ here… Yes, some members are visible in their functions and some are not; but all are useful. I remember a brother who sounded dejected saying that he was the ‘kidney’ in his church; that nobody sees him, but he does the work of cleaning… I assured him that the purification function of 'kidney' was essential anyway, and he should be cheerful to use his gifts.

Also, it is for you to develop the gifts that you have received by using them…then you will fit into God’s plan for your life and have a future and a hope. Otherwise, you will be back in the carnal side of the coin sooner than later… Over the years, I have seen members dance & sing in the church and then get offended and go on a BREAK, backsliding to the carnal nature…I’ve met people who I’ve counseled 40 years back and still reporting similar kind of problems, problems and more problems… Problems from the womb to the tomb!

Yes, the kingdom of God has its set of problems against the enemy; but we are peaceful and secure in God and in the centre of God’s will. As you continue being renewed in your mind and being transformed, as you minister to others, you will find God ministering to you…Yes, it’s true, the favor of God will be upon you and God opens the door that no one can close…

Remember these words – Relate yourself to the King, renew the mind and be transformed, recognize your calling and release the gifts in the body of Christ. We are on course for the take-off to 30-fold, 60-fold and 100-fold growth if we will prove the good, acceptable and perfect will of God in our own lives. Amen.