7 key principles of planning change

The article is going to use the seven planning principles of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ gave us one of the most powerful but yet simple principle of understanding the power and the process of planning change. The most important forces on earth are time and change. This is because these are the only things that are guaranteed in life. Everybody has to deal with time and change. The key in life is how do you handle time and change? As that will determine what happens to your life.

Introduction

The key to kingdom success on earth is initiating and planning the change. Change will happen with or without you and time will move with or without you. So these two elements must be managed and the only way to manage these two and to be successful is through planning. Success, therefore, is always in your hands because everybody has to deal with both time and change. These two things are given to everybody in the morning. Nobody is richer in time or poorer in time; everyone has 24 hours every day. No one is richer in change or poorer in change, change is happening to everybody; everybody faces change, no matter who you are.

Your dream is only a dream until it has a plan

You can dream about the kind of life you want, you can dream about the kind of change you want, you can dream about the kind of future you want but until you wake up and begin to plan to get there it will only be a dream!

The secret to success in life is:

1. Effective management of time and change.
2. The principle key to management of time and change is planning.
3. Planning is the most important principle of success in life

Why Planning is the most important principle of success in life

The only regulator of time and change is planning because without a plan time and change will ruin your life. People are destroyed in life because they didn’t choose the kind of life they wanted. You were created by God to live life not for life to live you. And the only way for you to live life is to control life, and life is simply changes through time.

The moment you came from your mother’s womb, the journey begun. The recent and coming years are years of massive change in every sphere both personal, corporate and national. I think you are feeling it already. Nations are converging, they are changing; there are massive changes in government, ideologies, and philosophies – there is massive change in the economic systems, the formulas that we used in the past have become fruitless.

There is massive change in religion, where nations are being overrun by other cultures and there are religious clashes everywhere. There is change in the communities that were isolated; they are being diluted by people coming in who never used to live in those countries. There is change everywhere! So, my admonition to you is – the only key to regulating and controlling change is planning.

Young people plan your life now. When I was 14 years old I wrote my life’s plan on paper because I began to read this book called the bible. And I realized that the Bible, was teaching me as a teenager that my life would be determined by the things that I planned for my life. And this is why I never had sex before I was married, I never drank alcohol, I never smoked a cigarette, marijuana joint, I never took any kind of substance to destroy my mind. I never dealt with girlfriends. The reason is not because I was so holy, the reason is because I had something on paper that I kept comparing my decisions to.

If you don’t have a plan you have no protection! A plan doesn’t only tell what you want to do; a plan also tells you what you don’t want to do. So, the key to success on your journey through this planet is to have a clear plan.

So what are the first steps in this process of being successful in life?

The most important response to managing time and changes is planning. And God’s strategy for guaranteeing your future is planning.

Jeremiah 29:11 NLT says For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

This statement tells me that God himself is a planner. God says I already know your future; I created it but I also know that I need a plan to get you to your future. Even God knows that planning is a requirement for arriving to a destination.

Human beings have the power to plan

So, the purpose, the passion and power of planning must be understood. God gave you a brain and the gift of imagination so that you could participate in creation through planning. No other animal on earth has the capacity to plan. Every creature God created lives on instincts, instincts mean that they have a built-in ability to respond or react to circumstances.

You and I can actually create the circumstances. So, you are the only creature on earth that has the power to not live by reaction; you can design your response. And, that is why I consider planning the highest expression of divine nature. God made you just like him. He can actually plan forever. That is why God is called the alpha and the omega- he already knows the end because he planned it. He is called the beginning and the end because he planned the beginning and the end the same time. He has the capacity to do that.

You can actually do that and you do, do it but you don’t even know that you are different from a monkey, a dog, a cow, or birds. They don’t plan they live by instinct. This is why God commands you not to worship animals, these are instinctive creatures. There are some religions like Hinduism that really honour cows and creatures. And, these cows cannot plan. How can a creature with such power bow down to beef on four legs?! Don’t you ever worship an animal! You are in the god class. Psalm 82:6 NLT says I say, ‘You are gods; you are all children of the Most High. The capacity to plan is what distinguishes you from the animal kingdom. That makes you very important.

A good plan is like a road map, it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there. – H. Stanley Judd

A plan does not only show you where you want to go, it also, usually shows you the best way to get there. It is important for you to be able to change a plan than to not have a plan. Plans may change but purposes are permanent. Your purpose is your destination. Your plan is the route to get there. If you wanted to go to the airport in your country right now in your city, there are many roads to get there.

I went to the airport yesterday to take my colleague dr. Marvin and his wife to the airport. When I got to an area, there was an obstruction. They call it a detour. The detour did not cancel my trip. I simply had to go another way to get to the same destination.

Life is that way; when you meet an obstruction, don’t turn back. And that obstruction may be many things like getting pregnant because you made a bad decision out of wedlock, don’t kill the baby; keep the baby and go another route. If your house burns down that’s a detour, rent an apartment and call an architect. Don’t commit suicide because your house burnt down. Make another alternative plan. You cannot have a plan B if there is no plan A. And you cannot have plan A if you have no plan at all. So, it’s critical for you to understand that planning protects your life even from depression and obstructions.

Proverbs is a powerful book if you want to read about planning.

Proverbs 20:18 NLT says Plans succeed through good counsel; don’t go to war without wise advice.

If you want to know who I am in your life right now at this moment; I am your advisor. And what I am doing right now is helping you to make a plan for your life and for your business, family, marriage, future, career, and education.

Never pick a fight you can’t win. Plan how you are going to win before you pick a fight. David did not go out to meet Goliath as an experiment. David practised with that sling before Goliath met him. He became an expert slinger. So, he walked up with confidence because he knew he was going to win this. Do you know how he knew? He knew that a man with a sword cannot stop a rock.

So, when you go out with your life every morning, always go out with the confidence “This day is mine!”.You got to wake up every morning that way; that means you got to have already lived the day before you started. A plan is finishing before you start.

Even your government, the ministry of works in your country won’t allow you to start building a house without showing them the finished house. Proverbs 21:5 NLT says Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

People without a plan will become poor. That is scriptural prophetic fact. In other words, we plan our poverty without planning our profit. We are the way we are because we didn’t think enough. There are people for example who retired but didn’t have a plan after retirement. Sometimes we think that things are just going to work out. Things don’t just work out; they will work you out if you don’t have a plan. You got to plan everything if you want that thing to be what you want

Let me stress something about success and failure. This is Myles Munroe quote “Whether you succeed or fail in life depends on the plan you have or don’t have.” So, success is waiting for a plan. Planning is more work than working. You spend more time planning in life than actually working. This is why the Bible uses the word haste. You can’t go into life hastily; you have to stop and think.

What is planning?

Let me show you what I mean about planning. These are the definitions of planning.

What is planning? Planning is the management of the distance between your conception and your destination.

Planning is the management of the distance between your birth and death.

1. Planning, therefore, has to do with that distance that is dynamic

2. Planning is applying purpose to time

   Time is present anyhow; planning is giving that time purpose-meaning.

3. Planning is documented, preconceived determination of how time will be used

   Time is going to come anyhow, so what planning does, is it forces you to put on paper, how you determine to use that time. You are telling time, you will be used for this! You aren’t going to tell me what to do, I am going to tell you what to do time!

4. Planning is giving meaning to unused time motivated by a clear sense of purpose.

   Purpose means you are going somewhere. For example, what will you do with tomorrow? It’s unused at the moment, you aren’t there yet. So my question is what are you going to do with the 24 hours that begin at 12:01 tonight? Have you determined what those 24 hours will do connected to your life’s purpose? Miles Monroe habit: every day, I always plan at least one thing that takes me toward my eternal destiny. I have many things to do but I try to do one thing that moves me toward my assignment in life. It might be a phone call, an email that I have to write or meeting with someone who has information. In other words, you must have your time determined by your purpose.

5. Planning is the regulation of time

6. Planning is planning the use of resources

   Resources mean your time, energy, talent, gift, relationships, money, house, car, fuel…how are you going to use them? Planning helps you regulate that. Some of you have been driving your cars to places that don’t give you any money. You spend the whole day driving around to meet people who can’t help you. You are misusing fuel. Think about it. The wear on your car tyre is taking you to places to people who are taking from you not giving to you. That’s abuse of resources because you didn’t plan. If you had a plan, then every time you jump into your car, there is a purpose for the ride. There are people who drop in on you, tell them to drop right back out. Let me tell you something friends, People call me “are you busy? I say yes. Sometimes I know who it is and I say okay you’ve got two minutes. Why? I ain’t got a lot of time for you, I know you. 2 minutes say what you’ve got to say. If you take more than two minutes then you’d better see somebody else. Thank you. If you don’t control your time, other people will.

7. Planning is taking control of your future

   The next remaining months of this year, who is going to control them, in your life? The only way to answer that question is with a plan. You have to plan- what are your major goals for this year or next year? It is dangerous to live in “limbo”(def: an uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition). Limbo is a serious country where nothing gets done. It is dangerous to live in that land where you don’t know what to do. Some decisions you need to make are going to be very hurtful and uncomfortable. But believe me doing nothing is not an option.

8. Planning helps you to fulfil the mission and vision in your life

   

   The best way to predict the future is to invent it! You can invent the future with a plan. What I have become today I planned it. What I like about God is when you make a plan he will always exceed the plan but if there is no plan, he has nothing to exceed. Ephesians 3:20 KJV says Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask, think or imagine according to the power at work within us. 3 Things you’ve got to do first: ask, think or imagine. In other words, if you haven’t asked for anything, thought about anything or imagined anything then God doesn’t have anything to exceed. Stop asking God for a plan, give him one! The power of planning is so important.

   This is Myles Munroe vintage/original If life was a bow and you were the arrow, then planning would determine the direction and destination of your life’s flight. Planning is that powerful. Life is a bow, and when you arrived here you are the arrow Psalm 127:4 NIV says Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. You arrived here as an arrow and life grabbed you and said “okay, which direction should I point you?” I don’t know. Life is asking you for direction and destination. “Show me where you want me to go” life says. “Where do you want me to shoot you with all this power I have of energy, time, and change.” Show me where I should send you. Give me something to work with. Because if you aim at nothing, you will always hit it. This is the power of stopping and making a plan.

The power of planning

Isaiah 32:8 NASB says But the noble man devises noble plans; And by noble plans he stands.

Plans make you stand

The word stand has to do with bearing up under pressure, disappointment, attacks, criticism, misunderstanding, abuse, corruption, hate, jealousy, deceitfulness…he says that if you have a plan, you can handle all of that! Because you know no matter what happens around you, you know exactly where you are going. If you don’t have a destination, then any road will take you there. Sometimes people will drag you through alleys, your plan will protect you young man from people abusing your life.

Plans give you patience

You go to your job tomorrow and these people are treating you with disdain, you know that they have problems with you and they talk about you. Listen, you go in there because you know this is not your permanent address. So you can buy them lunch while they curse you, take them for dinner while they gossip about you and smile with them and say it doesn’t matter what you do, am just passing through. And, most of the people who are in that environment trying to destroy you, they’ve been there so long you’re going to leave them there. And that’s why they are so grouchy; they are tired of being nothing. Don’t allow anyone to control your life and the way you protect yourself is to have a plan. A plan makes you stand.

Planning is the greatest act of faith

Why? Because we are never commanded to live by hope. Hope is good, but hopeful people are always broke! “I got hope one day that I will be on my own house.” No wonder you are still renting. “I got hope one day that I will start a business.” That’s why you are still working. “I got hope one day I will be married” That’s why you are still not married because you’ve got so much hope that you don’t meet nobody. Hope is wonderful but hope is empty. The just are not supposed to live by hope, the just shall live by faith. Hebrews 10:38 KJV says Now the just shall live by faith.

The highest form of faith is planning. That means you believe something, you start planning to get there. “You can’t plow a field simply by turning it over in your mind.” ― Gordon B. Hinckley. There are people who have been thinking for 20 years, about what they would like to do; and they keep thinking, and thinking and thinking. And, then what happens is they meet someone who is doing what they were thinking of doing. And they are so stupid to tell the person I was thinking of doing that. Stop thinking and make a plan! Turn your thoughts into a design.

Planning allows you to take control of your life

Planning is also not for heaven, because in heaven life is eternal.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 NIV says Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

You better do it NOW! In, other words, stop procrastinating now. Stop telling me you’re going to do it 5 years from now. Stop telling me that one day you will do something. If you die today, you have no time to plan. That is why you are alive and reading this – God has sent me into your life to tell you that if you don’t design your life somebody else will.

The need to plan

Planning without action is futile, action without planning is fatal.

You can destroy yourself without a plan. And this is why again; it is never too late to start planning for your future. Whether you are 16 or 61. You can plan right now the rest of your life. You’ve been wandering through life, for the last 45 years, you’ve been drifting and letting people tell you what to do. Even your marriage is basically just kinda doing what people tell you to do and how you should live. The culture has taken over your life and told you what to expect. Even you as a divorcee; they told you that once you get divorced, you cannot have life after that.

Don’t let people give you a life. Take control! Plan your way out of your depression. People spend years worrying about who they should marry – that is a waste of time and thinking. Get busy and do something valuable, let them meet you in a plan. It’s dangerous to marry someone who is looking for a mate. Why? They have been pre-occupied looking. That means they have no time to develop themselves; which means you’ve got a deficit not an asset. People who are progressive and focused are attractive. People who are always praying at the altar, hanging around church all day, looking for God; people run from them!

If you don’t have daily objectives for your life, you qualify as a dreamer

That means you know what to do every day. And dreamers are always the people who sleep under bridges on cardboard boxes. Dreams don’t change your life, plans do! Plan your way into your dream. Because this is how you make life how you want it to be. Again, Jeremiah 29:11 NIV says For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God says I know the plans I have for you which means that God has a clear picture of not only where you are going, but how he wants you to get there. Remember that a plan is the distance between the beginning and the end. He created your end that’s your purpose and he also says that I have a route to get you there. And that route has very little to do with the destination; it has more to do with preparing you for it.

If God wants you to do something that will make you a billionaire, God knows he cannot give you a billion dollars. You aren’t ready for that kind of money. So, he got to create a plan, to prepare you to handle a billion. And it might mean going through a pit, being sold into slavery, being lied on, being put in prison, and then they come and get you and give you a billion dollars. And now you can handle the stress of pressure.

So, much of what you are going through could be a sign that something big is on the way. So, don’t curse the darkness cause the light is coming. Don’t curse your poverty unless you’ve got a plan, God is going to plan you out of poverty and people are going to be amazed about what God is going to do for you.

Planning is the key to unlock your future.

Your future is behind a beautiful door of a dream, but to get through that door- you need a plan.

Purpose and plans

• Planning is the original reason for your existence.Proverbs 19:21 NIV says Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. This means that God has a purpose that is supposed to produce the plan. Don’t plan until you know God’s purpose for your life.
• Purpose is the destiny that began the journey.
• Purpose is the End that caused your beginning.
• Purpose is the pre-destination.
• Purpose gives birth to plans. So, if you don’t know where you are going then you don’t know what to plan.

It is important for you to ask God. What is my purpose? Why did you create me? What is my passion, my dream? What is this destiny that you have for me? When you find that when you make your plans to get there. And God says I will take you to your destiny. There are many roads in life and you and I have to decide, where do I go and how do I go. If you don’t know where you are going then any road is right.

Kindly take note of this, I learnt this when I was 16 years old and it still guides me today. There is no wrong exit; there are no bad roads in life. If you are driving down the highway, you will notice that there are many exits along the way. What is an exit? It is where you get off. That means that you were on something. So, exits take you off. Are there any bad exits on a highway? No, they are all good; that’s why they built them. So, why do you pass them? Why would you pass good things? All exits are good and they lead to certain places. There is nothing wrong with an exit but what makes you ignore them? Your destination! Destination turns good things into bad things.

If you know where you are going, you also know where you don’t want to go. And if you don’t have a plan, destination and purpose then people will keep telling you come through their exits. And you end up in towns you don’t belong, end up with people you shouldn’t be associated with. Your greatest danger is sometimes your best friends or through an alley. And you got to live this highway of your life to keep company with people who aren’t going nowhere. Life is not only measured by the things you do but also by the things you don’t do.

Good is not always right. That’s the lesson. Exits are good but they may not be right for you depending on where your destination is. Planning therefore controls where you exit. There are people who send me invitations and I get hundreds of them, every year. This year has been the worst of all and I’m looking at these invitations to go all over the world and I got to keep testing them against my assignment. My assignment is third world leadership training, so I got to check these exits. “I want you to come and speak at my pastor’s anniversary” No, no, I can’t do that because that is not third world leadership training. See, so I write them back “Thank you very much for your kind invitation, but it’s not in keeping with my assignment in life.” I will pay you 10,000$. “I don’t care, you don’t get it, it isn’t money, it’s my destination.”

Good is not always right. There are some good people around you who aren’t right for you. They just suck up your time, energy, passion, thinking, and they contaminate you with all kind of gossip and stuff. You don’t have time for that. Do you have a plan to protect yourself?

What’s the process of planning?

Our dreams may be real but our plans give them breathe. It gives them life. Dreaming, therefore, is not enough. I don’t believe your dream until you give me a plan. Dreams are waiting for a plan.

Proverbs 16:1 NIV says To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the proper answer of the tongue.

1. To man belongs the plans. The human is responsible for making the plans and not God.
2. The plans mean that you are responsible for controlling time and change. You are, not God.
3. It needs the heart. The word heart here has nothing to do with your chest, the Hebrew word is mind. It means your mental intellectual faculties; it is in your mind God says. I put the plan in your mind. God didn’t give you a mind for you not to use it. God gave you a mind and intellect for his purpose. He wanted to use your mind to deposit in it, spiritual destiny. It comes in your mind. Do you know why this is important? Because most of you have been taught that you’ve got to go and find God’s will somewhere. And you have been looking for it all your life and can’t find it. Do you know why you haven’t found it? It’s been on your head all these years. It’s called ideas, imaginations. These are gifts from God. God says your plan is in your mind.

   The next part says that he gives the reply of the tongue. The Hebrew word here means that God will explain how the plan will be executed and financed. God says you make the plans and don’t explain to anyone how it’s going to happen. That is not your business. That is by business he says. Why? Cause sometimes the plan is so big you don’t have the resources in your pocket. This is so important because most people don’t plan because they believe they have to come up with the resources. So, they don’t even start to plan. God says “Stop it, start!”

   I have a display of buildings which are about 98-100 million dollars that am planning to build, they are finished in my mind, that’s why they are in the display. The whole property here is already designed, and planned. The first building is up, we got the paving in, we moving. See, if I was trying to find a way we could get a 100 million dollars before I started planning, I would never have a plan. So, doctor Munroe how are you going to build the media center? How are you going to build the leadership center? I don’t care and I don’t know. I give God what he asked me for.

   God says if you don’t give me a plan, you give me nothing to work for. Stop sitting down and waiting on God to bless you, attract it by giving God a plan. Here’s why. God doesn’t give you resources for you to go on vacation and play golf. God doesn’t give you resources to go shopping in Florida. God gives you resources to complete his covenant he made with you to finish your assignment he gave you. He pays for his assignment not for your fancy vacations. Your plans are supposed to be in keeping with God’s assignment for your life. And that’s why he says you make the plan and I will explain how it will be done.

Proverbs 12:5 KJV says The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.

Remember I told you. Where did God say the plans are? In your heart. Where is your heart? In your head. The thoughts of the righteous are right– God says look, you’ve been thinking these thoughts for the last 25 years and you’re still looking for my will? You’ve been praying and fasting and getting prophesies and traveling to prophet conferences and telling folks to prophesy to you, calling on your phone on TV saying send me a prophecy.

People are never supposed to run your life; including me. No prophet is supposed to tell you what to do with your life. The bible says that prophecy is for confirmation, edification and encouragement. It’s not for instruction. Prophets come into your life to affirm what you already know. They come to encourage you to keep doing what you already know you are supposed to be doing. They come to edify you to keep you built up to keep doing what you already know you are supposed to be doing. You don’t go to prophets to get no instruction! God says I give my plan in your thoughts.

A young man who is a gifted actor, one day stopped me and said pastor Myles this is what I want to do. I want to create a company that produces movies. I told him, you do not need a prayer for that, if it’s in there and it won’t go away, that’s what you are supposed to do. If it’s in there and it won’t go away that is God.

Can I suggest to you that your mind is a womb. And a thought is a sperm; And God wants to impregnate you in your mind with his thoughts about why you were born. And when you produce what you produce they call it your “brain child”. iPhone was Steve Jobs brainchild. Can a brain have children? You were sent on earth like a womb because God has a baby he wants you to bring forth and he puts it in your mind and he says if you’ve been thinking about it all these years, it is right! Stop looking for prophecies.

This ministry didn’t start from a visitation from no angel or prophet. I had an idea, that’s all and the idea never left me. And then I met pastor Richard and he had the same idea. And then I met pastor Henry and he had the same idea, I met pastor Dave and he had the same idea, I met pastor Jay and he had the same idea. And we decided you know something, this idea won’t leave any of us. Let’s do it; today we are reaching millions of people around the world.

What are you waiting for? Sometimes God will send you away to isolate you so that you can think. He hides you in somebody’s house so that you cannot be interrupted. So that you can hear his voice and his thoughts can impregnate your mind.

I was at the food store another day and I was checking out, and a young man was packing the bag and I said you know son, I used to do this. He was so overwhelmed and said I saw you on TV, I said yes am the guy on TV. I said you know what; I used to do this, I used to pack bags in Cityleaf market. He said you used to do this? I replied yes, I worked for four years packing bags after school in a food store. All over sudden he changed; he said you mean if you pack bags you become like you? I said absolutely yes! Such a wise young man!

Where you are is not permanent. Measure your life not by your present conditions but by the condition of your thinking. What is in your brain? What has God put in your mind? What do you have in your heart? That is where God says you are going. That is what God has for you; God says the plans of the righteous are right.

So, don’t get counsel from the wicked and deceitful. The word deceitful is important here. Some people if you tell them what is in your mind, their deceitfulness will cause an abortion or a miscarriage. They will destroy your dreams with their tongue. They will poison your baby with their language. Who do you think you are? That will never happen! You aren’t from the right family. You don’t have any money! You don’t have any connections. You don’t have right relationships. Your skin is wrong; your nose is too big. They tell you everything; they are deceitful. All they want you to do is to be just like them. They are doing nothing! Stay away from the counsel of the wicked and protect your baby. You’ve got to say “God keep me in the right environment”.

Sometimes in a board meeting you’ve got to protect your thoughts. Even board members can start throwing stuff out in the meeting and it starts eating away at your dream. And you’ve got to protect yourself by talking to yourself. Sometimes you are in a group of investment and you’re thinking what if I start talking what can happen? You’ve got to start thinking about how you can protect that dream. Sometimes you’ve got to cut off a relationship or even a contractual agreement with someone because they are now thinking negatively.

Proverbs 12:5 NIV says The plans of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.

Deceit means I have a plan in my mind for you; to destroy you. I have an alternative plan that I didn’t tell you about and even though I may tell you something positive am really trying to get you to do something negative. I am trying to destroy you; that’s deceitfulness. It’s called misrepresenting yourself. There are people who don’t mean you any good. It’s so important for you to watch yourself.

Divine partnership in planning

Proverbs 16:3 NIV says Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

God says commit to me whatever you plan to do and your plans will succeed.

Proverbs 16:4 NIV says The LORD works out everything to its proper end– even the wicked for a day of disaster.

God says I am going to make this successful for my reputation. Give God something to do and he is going to finish it and get the glory. He says I am going to do it for my sake. I am going to give you success so that I can look good. I am going to do this for me but first, you’ve got to present the plan.

1. Commit to the Lord means to submit your plans- to the passion and purpose in your heart that you have to God.
2. The Lord Works everything means that the Lord is responsible for the provisions, resources and direction of the plan that you gave him.
3. To his own ends means that the plan must fulfil God’s ultimate purpose on earth, not your own personal ambitions. Any plan that is from God will never profit only you. It will profit humanity. And that is how you measure whether the plan is from God. If you have a desire to build a big house, own a big yacht, and, have a nice car. That is not a plan from God; that is ambition. If you have a plan to build a business, to change the world and hire people and help families – that is from God. All of God’s plans benefit humanity, not just you. So don’t confuse ambitions with plans.

Proverbs 16:9 NIV says The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD determines his steps.

The heart of man – You are responsible for using your mind to make the plan. Stop praying for God to give you a plan from heaven. Sometimes we seem to be waiting for God to drop something on our bed in the morning. So, there it is, hallelujah! God says NO, you sit down, and use your mind and put what is in your brain on paper. In your womb, I put an idea, put it in a document, even though it seems to cost 3 billion dollars- that’s not your problem; that’s my problem.

the LORD determines– the word LORD means owner which means that the Lord owns the plans, you are just the manager – you are the steward. If he gave you a plan, then that’s his responsibility. So, he owns all the problems in it, all the needs of it. Therefore, your job is to produce it and he is supposed to make it come to a reality.

Determines the steps means that he designs the process, the timing, and the guidance. You have a plan, God determines the steps. Pastor Myles, why haven’t we built the next building yet? I don’t know, that’s not my problem. When the time comes, it’s going to fall into place. He determines the steps. The thing it is, the next phase of this project may not even be mine – it may be the next leader who takes over after us. God determines the timing. God spoke to Adam and Eve and when he spoke to the devil he said the seed of the woman is going to come and bruise your head. That seed didn’t show up until 4,000 years later. He determines the timing but you’ve got to have a plan otherwise he has nothing to do.

7 planning principles of Jesus

Luke 14:28-30 NIV says “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

These are the words of Jesus Christ. Do you think that God wants to work miracles in your life? I want to build a tower, bam! In the name of Jesus, tower built. He said NO! God doesn’t work that way. I want to go to college I believe God for money! NO! It doesn’t work that way. I want to start a business, God gave me a plan and I just go to the bank with a plan. God says No!

1. Want to build.- set a clear vision and destiny. Do you have a clear picture of what you want? Do you have a clear image of your destiny? He says first you’ve got to have a clear vision of where you want to go. First get the vision. Don’t start until you know where you are going he says.
2. First- priority. First means the priority in life is not to do the thing.
3. Sit down- stop, think and focus. Don’t go into your life, a new year rushing. Stop first. Sit down means stop, think, get quiet, meditate, get away from the noise, lock up in the closet, stay away from your family and your children and get God’s ideas. We are so busy doing things that make no sense that by the time we realize that we haven’t done anything, we are tired. Plan your energy by first stopping.
4. Estimate- project, assess, predict. Estimate means use your imagination and see the projects. Assess things. Predict what could happen. They call it SWOT in business. You’ve got to do an analysis of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. What is it going to take to get things done? How much can it cost? What might I lose or gain? What might you face? What might happen to the economy? What might happen to the government? What might happen to the policies? You’ve got to estimate everything. It doesn’t mean that he’s going to interfere. He says go in there with your head on and your eyes wide open.
5. The cost- price, impact and demands. Everything you plan to do will cost you. And that cost maybe not just in the price of it but the impact it could have in your life and your family’s life. And the demands it will make on you. The cost it would mean to your energy, body, focus, time, intellect. Your cost may also mean friends you might lose. Are you willing to count the cost for this plan? Do it before you get up.

   You know when I began this ministry- this work, people thought I was crazy, and you know it’s amazing that some of my family didn’t understand me. My own brothers and sisters didn’t understand me.

   I thank God for my father and mother- they told me son, we don’t understand what you are doing but we believe that God is with you, do it anyhow son. I thank God for good fathers and mothers. Other people are sceptical. You know, why are you leaving your daddy’s church? I had to leave my father’s church. Boy, you know you grew in that church all your life? You know your name on the bench that kind of thing. And am like, you know something you don’t understand that church is not my destiny. Don’t ever make a church your destiny. Now my father comes to my church, listens to me and even takes notes. There is nothing wrong with the church but your destiny takes you to different places.

   Your future may not be where you were born. So, it can cost you even your family relationships. When you have a plan, people don’t like you anymore because they don’t have any and they want company.

6. Enough– Make sure that you have enough. Sit there can calculate before you start. Every project that I do, I sit down and calculate. I would tell my board, am going to do this and I say don’t worry about the money. Why? I’ve got that covered already. When I announce something in the church, I already have it figured out. Why? God tells us to check whether we have enough. That takes thinking, imagining.

   Do something new, that makes you want to think differently- make a change. Jesus doesn’t want you experimenting with your faith. You make sure you calculate the best you can even whether you can finish something he says then commit it to him afterwards. God says don’t ever give me an open figure. God bless me. With what? Give me something. Why? Lead me. To where? I need some money. For what? See, give God a target.

   Enough means that you knowing that’s enough; there is a figure. You need to give God the whole thing. Estimate what’s enough and give it to God and he will exceed it. But first, you need to give him something that he can exceed. I want to build a house. Okay, God says fine. So, what kind of house do you want? Don’t know yet. Then God says I do not know what to give you.

7. See if you can complete it. God wants you to finish things. Finish your phase of it. Complete your assignment in it. You want to be like Jesus Christ who estimated the cost of dying on the cross. The bible says about Jesus behold the lamb who was slain before the foundation of the earth. And then it says that he was able to handle, the pain and the stress because of the joy that was set before him- he could endure the cross.

   The plan kept him enduring the pain because he already counted the cost. The cost was sealed in Gethsemane when he told God, this cup is going to hurt me but not my will but yours be done. He already counts the cost and that’s why he could say to them father forgive them because they are just part of the program.

Another example that Jesus gave about principles of planning

Luke 14:32-33 NIV says “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

1. War-fight for rights of others. War means that if you are going to fight to get something in life, if you are going to fight for the rights of other people to help them be free from oppression, if you are going to fight for justice for other people, if you are going to fight to achieve something to help humanity- he says first you must sit down.
2. FIRST- priority
3. Sit down- stop activity, withdraw, isolate. Stop all your activities; withdraw and isolate yourself and think it through and consider.
4. Consider- think, study, dream and focus. Consider- that means he wants you to study it and dream about it and focus on it and get details and put it on paper.
5. Ten thousand- assess resources. And then check how much the other guy has who is against you. What are your odds? What do you have to find to make this happen? Assess the resources and resistance. 10,000 against 20,000. If you see that the resources aren’t enough, don’t fight-Negotiate.

   You owe the bank 4 years back mortgage or maybe a year back mortgage, he says don’t avoid their telephone calls. Go in, while they are still on the wait. At least, they are still calling you- they haven’t sent the cops. Go and sit with them and negotiate with them.

   Sometimes victory comes from negotiation. Negotiating is not compromise. Negotiating is reasoning for your advantage.

   Your enemy is not the creditor; your enemy is the fact that you are not going to talk with them. Don’t run away or hide from somebody you owe money – go and negotiate with them, tell them you have a plan of paying them back. Don’t create enemies and a bad reputation for yourself and Jesus. Make a plan even when the odds are against you.

6. Delegation- share vision, communicate. You can go to the bank and share your vision and they could say you know something we didn’t know you were thinking that way. Sure, how much more do you need? Because they saw a delegation sharing of vision.
7. Ask them for terms of peace. Why? Cause you know that they are bigger than you. Tell them how do you want me to fix this? Sometimes what you have to say to them they can’t accept so listen to them. Let them tell you. You can plan your way out of odds if you can plan the negotiation. Be honest and work something out instead of destroying each other. Have a plan to fix this. If you obey Jesus he will work miracles.

Conclusion

Give God special gifts as a source of dependence on him- he is your provider, and sustainer and thanksgiving. You plan your way out of your problems. You ACT! – a dream without ACTION has no LIFE. The two greatest acts of faith are planning and expectation. Get a plan and expect good things to plan. He who has no plan has no faith. It doesn’t matter what you say if you don’t have a plan; I personally cannot help a person who has no plan. The work of faith is planning.

Proverbs 20:18 NIV says Plans are established by seeking advice; so if you wage war, obtain guidance.

Psalm 33:10 NIV says The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.11 But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.

God is connecting plans to national success. Your country needs a plan he says. A nation without a plan will always become poor. A nation without a plan will be ruled by its enemies. A nation without a plan will always be slaves and servants to other people. A nation without a plan will be overridden by investors because plans give you the power to negotiate in your interest.

If you don’t have a plan as a country other people will plan your beaches for you. They will plan your employment for you. They will become the government. They will threaten you because they own 80,000 people in the place. Your politicians will submit to them if you don’t have a plan.

God says with no plan a nation falls. God says he will even fulfill a national plan if you give him one.

I want you to take a pen and a piece of paper. No matter how old or young you are, and say God here is my blank sheet of paper, I am going to take this in my hand and start writing, make the plan in keeping all what you have read in this article into plan. Write your plan on paper.

Instructions on how to plan

1. Reduce your plan to writing. Why write your plan? The moment you complete this you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire. A plan takes dreams and makes them a strategy. Plan the rest of the year in detail, according to your kingdom vision, dreams and passions.
2. Initiate and expect major changes in your life. Don’t allow life to catch you by surprise – initiate it!
3. Commit now to make changes that will change the destiny of your life. Read this article on ways to commit to the change you want in your life. It might mean stop eating certain things so you can live longer. It might mean terminating relationships that are not going to benefit you. In other words, you do need to get out of toxic relationships which will harm you. You are with somebody who is taking drugs, and you know their future; you may need to cut them off. You may need to break some habits that will affect your destiny right now.
4. Plan the change you want to see in your life.
5. Pray daily for the rest of your life. Every day for change guidance from the Lord. Let him guide you on the kind of change that you want.

And don’t forget to keep investing in your plan. Keep giving thins to God. I give God special gifts from my life because he keeps giving me special resources for his work. We must choose the change we desire because fools multiply when wise men are silent. In our country, we can’t afford to let the fools talk louder anymore. The problem with our country is that we are so silent. The church is so silent and wicked men are running the country.

Evil men succeed when righteous men do nothing and that is why we must remember that darkness only rules when light is absent only. Light never fights darkness, it only needs to come on; that’s all. You turn the light on darkness goes away. The bible says you are the light of the world, not the earth but the world – the system!

Plan the nation you want. Plan the culture you want. Plan the values you want. Plan the society you want. Be a person who gives God something to do. No more fumbling, guessing or wandering you are going have definition! You are going to know where you are going; this year, next year, the year after that, 10 years and even 20 years.

Credit to: Myles Munroe. Watch the video version.