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Aneel Aranha is an author, preacher, and evangelist who has spoken to hundreds of thousands of people around the world. You can find a huge selection of his reflections, articles, sermons, songs and other resources on his website www.aneelaranha.com.

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Don’t Make Plans Without God

August 01, 2022 • Aneel Aranha • Episode 77

0:00 | 4:01

We often blame God when things go wrong in our relationships, with our careers, even our health, and get mad with him when he doesn’t give us an instant fix to our problem. But here is the point we often forget: we never involved God in our decisions when we made them!

077: Don’t Make Plans Without God

Hello and welcome to The Hope Podcast. I’m Aneel Aranha. Today we are going to talk about how we should ensure that God is part of our plans when we make them.

We often blame God when things go wrong in our relationships, with our careers, even our health, and get mad with him when he doesn’t give us an instant fix to our problem. But here is the point we often forget: we never involved God in our decisions when we made them or our lifestyles as we live them!

We fell madly in love (madly being the operative word!), and we got married without even the pretense of consulting God! We accepted the job offer without asking God if this was what he wanted for us. As for our health, we treat our bodies shamefully, eating as we please and never exercising, unmindful that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and should be treated as such! And, then, we act surprised when things go wrong and wonder where God is!

These are, of course, generalizations, but I am sure we will agree that we don’t always discern the will of God before we make decisions. We can’t do anything to undo these things except repent for them, ask God to mitigate the consequences, and believe that he will still make good come out of our mistakes.

Going ahead, however, we can take a page from Moses’ book. From the time God called Moses at the burning bush when he was eighty years old until he died on Mount Nebo forty years later, Moses never took a step without divine guidance. And even when God directed him to do something, he refused to move unless God went with him. When God told Moses to lead the people into the Promised Land, “Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here” (Exodus 33:15). God assured him: “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you” (Exodus 33:17).

We please God when we seek his will in everything we do. “But,” you may ask, “How do we determine his will?” By reading the scriptures! Paul advised: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2). Our minds are renewed when we replace what is programmed in them by the world with the word of God.

And, while we are at it, we can do what a friend of mine does. He gets God involved even in simple decisions. When eating together at a restaurant one day, he was presented with the menu. He closed his eyes for a moment, then placed his order. When he saw my quizzical expression, he said he was asking God what he should eat. I laughed, but when I thought about it later, I thought it was a fantastic way to get used to seeking God’s will in every situation. I hope you think so too.

May the Spirit be with you.