God’s plan and purpose for your life doesn’t have to be a secret. You don’t have to become frustrated trying to figure out or discover the next step for your career, your family, or your life. As you continue seeking God in prayer, wisdom will come from your spirit to your mind revealing God’s plan and direction for your life.
Prayer is the Key to Unlocking Your Unseen Future!
The Apostle Peter is a great example of the above statement. In Acts Chapter 11, Peter finds himself in a dispute with the apostles and brethren. They were upset with him because he had preached Christ to the Gentiles. Because of Peter’s preaching, Cornelius, his family, and his friends were saved, received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and were water baptized! This was a problem because Peter’s brethren did not believe that God had granted repentance unto life to the Gentiles. Therefore, there was a big controversy between them over the matter until Peter revealed to them that he was in prayer when he received revelation from God to go unto the Gentiles with the Gospel.
Once Peter rehearsed the whole story to them, the dispute was over. They realized God’s plan was not just for the Gospel to be preached to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles. Peter received a new mandate from God that unlocked God’s future direction for his life and ministry. You are no different from Peter. God desires to direct you into His plans for your life by His Spirit!
St. John 16:13, gives us a promise regarding how the Holy Spirit will work with us in our lives to ensure that we stay on track with the plans of God.
Amplified Bible (AMP):
But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth [full and complete truth]. For He will not speak on His own initiative, but He will speak whatever He hears [from the Father—the message regarding the Son], and He will disclose to you what is to come [in the future].
I love the word “disclose” seen in the above scripture because it brings so much clarity to what the Holy Spirit does for believers who look to Him for guidance. The 1828 Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language defines the word “disclose” as: “To uncover; to open; to remove a cover from, and lay open to the view; to tell; to utter, as to disclose the secret thoughts of the heart.” To drive home the point even more, additional synonyms for the word “disclose” are: communicate, make known, broadcast, publish, report, pass on, and unveil. Praise God! With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can position ourselves to hit the bullseye!
Always Agree with God!
Once you have heard from God, it’s imperative that you agree with what He has said for you to do or speak—agreement is required to position yourself for the manifestation of His promises. If Zacharias were alive in the earth today, his advice to you would be do whatever has been revealed to you from heaven. You see Zacharias was a priest and he and his wife Elizabeth walked righteous and blameless before the Lord. However, they were also very old, and Elizabeth was barren. One day while Zacharias was performing his duties as priest an angel of the Lord appeared to him saying (Luke 1:13-17):
But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. 14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. 15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. 16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. 17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the dis-obedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
Now this was a glorious report! He and his wife would receive the desire of their hearts—the child they had been praying for, and their new child would be greatly used by God. What else could anyone in his position ask for? You would think that his response would have been, Glory! Praise God! Or, God is so Faithful! However, the response that got him into trouble was his disagreement with what was revealed to him from Heaven as seen in Luke 1:18-20.
And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years. 19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. 20 And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.
When you get a directive from God, you must align your words with that directive. One day I was speaking to someone about a situation that she had in her life. The person and I had spoken at least four times about the situation. As a result, I began to see myself in the same light as she saw herself. And, before I knew it, I was about to make a very negative statement out of my mouth. However, before I had the opportunity to speak it through my lips, the Holy Spirit rose up in me and said:
“Watch your mouth, you’re about to box yourself in!”
Whew! That was a great reminder to me to only speak what God has said about my situations. Think about that statement God made to me: “Watch your mouth, you’re about to box yourself in!” What He was trying to convey to me is that I determine what type of ceiling I put on my life with the words spoken out of my mouth. He had something planned for me, but I was about to negate it or delay it due to my own words. How many times have we blamed God for not manifesting something in our lives or complained about how long it took for a certain thing to manifest? Well, think back; reflect on the words of your mouth and you will probably find that you were the culprit that caused the delay. But the good news is that all you have to do is repent and begin to speak Gods words over your life once again.
Receive God’s Word as truth!
It is always God’s desire to manifest His will in your life. However, you must choose to be a recipient of His will no matter how difficult, or how big, the situation may appear. Mary, the Mother of Jesus also experienced receiving a word from God that seemed impossible to bring to pass. When an angel appeared to her announcing that she would be the Mother of the Messiah, (when she was a virgin) her final reaction to his salutation was one of sheer faith. In Luke 1:38 she responded to the angel by saying,
“And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.”
WOW! Not that is faith! She knew that she had never had sex with a man, but she said, I don’t care. I believe the word of the Lord! That’s how we must be. In the face of seemingly impossible situations, or when we receive a word from the Lord that makes our heads go tilt, we have to trust God and His plan knowing that since He said it, He has the wherewithal to bring it to pass! As we boldly step out in faith and agree with God we are blessed. Luke 1:45 says,
“And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
The Greek definition for the word “blessed” in the above scripture is happy, blessed, and to be envied. Look at this, just from believing God and receiving what He has planned for you can put you in a position where you are envied. In this particular instance, envied is speaking of a person receiving God’s provisions that open up His benefit(s) to you. You gain an advantage over and are able to walk in a success that absent from His supernatural intervention you would not normally have.
I encourage you to agree with God’s plan and direction for your life, keep your words in line with His promises, and praise Him until you experience full manifestation of what He has promised you!