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This is the Promises of God Podcast and I’m your host, Tracie Rollins. This podcast is about you, your ability to hear and believe and take action on God’s promises in your life because all of God’s promises are yes and amen. Resources mentioned in today’s episode can be found on PromisesofGodPodcast.com. Now, let’s get started.
Welcome back to the Promises of God Podcast, episode number 2. My name is Tracie Rollins. Thank you so much for spending time with me as we learn and take action on God’s promises in life. Today we’re talking about the importance of planning. It is so important to plan. Many of us look back on the past and wonder where did the time go in, and why our goals didn’t seem to see the light of day. This month series is about setting and having the very best year ever, and we’re working out of the momentum devotional offered by BibleJournalingMinistries.com, so I’ll link that in the show notes below. Our verse for today is Luke Chapter 14, verse Twenty Eight, and it reads, “for which of you desiring to build a tower doesn’t first sit down and count the cost to see if he has enough to complete it.” I was on my way to a friend’s house the other day to spend some time with her before chemo treatment began.I’ve been to her home many, many times before, but the road that she lives on always confuses me. They’re like these twists and turns. And before you know it, I have missed her street again. It happens all the time. So I opened up my map program and I listened to the voice tell me to turn left or turn right. And at one point I wonder if the program is actually going to send me in the right direction. Sometimes I don’t quite get it right and I make the wrong term, but eventually, I find the right path because the program will recalculate and tell me to make a U-turn at the next light or whatever. And I’ll find my way to her house. We had such a lovely afternoon of conversation. Um, we had some tears and prayers for her as she began her battle to fight cancer.
A map is useless without a destination. You have to have a destination, a God-given purpose. Prayerfully ask God to eliminate his will in your life and set milestones or goals to help you know you’re on the right track. Goals are the map that gets you closer to your destination. Identifying, discerning, and working on them is sure to make this your best year ever. As you start thinking about the goals in your life, of course, sometimes we might just put them all up there and, and try to tackle them all at the same time, but I would encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit, which one goal is the one that you should really put your most attention and focus on Maybe that goal is to improve your marriage. Maybe it’s to lose 20 pounds. Maybe it’s to spend some time with your kids or start a new business. Whatever that goal is, I asked you to pray to the Holy Spirit. Have the Holy Spirit tell you and listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say. Sometimes we go about our days and we just want to do it our way, right, which is going to go ahead and forge our own path. Oftentimes when we do that, we may or may not be in the will of God and I would just hope that you will take some time to pray that you’re in the will of God and then sit and listen to what he has to say, the truth that he has to speak over your life, the promises that he wants to give to you today, the promises he wants to fulfill in your life, and listen to them. Now, once you’ve identified that one thing that he wants you to work on, of course, you can have other things you know, just put them on a list and you can get to them, but they’re, you know, having your mind focused on so many things sometimes is a distraction and sometimes it’s a distraction.
I’ll be honest with you. The devil likes to distract me all of the time. I promise you there’s like 100 things on my list of things to do that I need to get done today, but you know what My one thing today is to focus on this podcast so I am going to focus on it. So once you understand what the Holy Spirit is asking you to focus on, ask yourself why will addressing this make it my best year ever. Why If I do this, will my life be different If I lose 20 pounds, how will my life be different Will I be able to walk more freely Will I be able to exercise at the gym Will I be able to hang out with my kids more Or you know, if we’re talking about marriage and relationships, will focusing on my marriage help improve the relationship between me and my spouse will maybe go to the movies, maybe I have to put a date night and make it a regular thing every week or maybe if you’re trying to start a business, maybe the one thing that you have to focus on is setting up the first website or even defining why your God wants you to be in this business or what it is that you’re going to sell and how will it further his kingdom or how will it bring him glory. So all of these things you need to sit down and think through before he gets started and then you’re gonna Start Planning and when you start planning, you’re going to take the ideal or the thing that the holy spirit wants to bring to your attention and you’re going to start taking one step closer. So what is the one thing that you can do today that will help you get to the next step you don’t have to have all of the resources available? Of course, you can list them all out. You can say, you know, if I’m going to start a business, I have to have a website. I have to have a youtube channel or social media. I have to have an email provider. All of the things, certainly part of the planning process is to list all of those things, but don’t get overwhelmed with all of those things. Start with the one thing that you have today. Perhaps your one thing today if you’re going to start a business is to really define the purpose of your business. Perhaps if you’re going to strengthen your marriage, maybe one of the things you need to do is find out how can I talk better to my husband Right Or if you’re gonna, spend time, more time with your kids. How can you incorporate another maybe five, 10, 15, 20 minutes of your life, you know, in, into hanging out with you into hanging out with your kids as possible?
So take some time to plan these things out, map them out into maybe a step by step. I need this one thing here. I need this one thing next I need, and then what is the next thing And the next thing after that. Now don’t get overwhelmed. If God hasn’t provided those resources to you today. Um, he often, at least in my life, doesn’t provide everything I need right away. He usually will provide the one thing that I need today, and then the next thing that I need tomorrow, sometimes I like to him to give me everything at once, but he doesn’t necessarily do that. So it’s important to realize that it is God’s timing and that as a good steward, you’re going to use the resources that it gave you today to make that first step. So after you’ve decided you know what you’re going to do, you’ve kind of mapped out some of the things that need to happen. You may not even know, like all the things that happen to have to happen, you may have to get some additional education or resources as you move along, but don’t let that overwhelm you. Just take the first step. That is the one thing that the Holy Spirit is calling you to do. Take the first step. Don’t wait for everything to be perfect. Don’t wait until everything is exactly how you want it, because oftentimes that’s not gonna happen. I didn’t plan to start this podcast. I hadn’t had aspirations to do this, but the Holy Spirit called me to this today, so I am here talking about the promises of God with you and tomorrow you’ll have to wait and see what God will provide for that, for the next thing in my life. It is so fun. This journey of life that we’re on, and if you don’t yet feel the love of Christ in your life, I encourage you to invite God into your life. Today. You’re not promised tomorrow, so don’t put this off. Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus, our Lord. So turn to him, confess your sins and follow his will in your life. Thank you so much for tuning in today and I’ll see you in the next episode of the promises of God.
Thanks for listening to the Promises of God Podcast. This podcast is sponsored by Bible Journaling Ministries where thousands of women grow in the word creatively. Get your free 10-day course here. https://xy270-a69b8c.pages.infusionsoft.net
