YOU NEED STRATEGIC PLANNING: OPEN HEAVENS DAILY DEVOTIONAL, 9TH JANUARY 2019

MEMORISE:

For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Luke 14:28

READ: Luke 14:28-32, Nehemiah 1:11-2:8

Luke 14:28-32
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

29 Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,

30 Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.

31 Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?

32 Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.

Nehemiah 1:11-2:8
1:11 O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

2:1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.

2 Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,

3 And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?

4 Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.

5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.

6 And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

7 Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;

8 And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.

MESSAGE:

Many people do not realise that the Almighty God is a strategist and a God of order. This divine character is evident in the story of creation itself. The orderliness and sequence of the project of creation can only have come from the mind of a master strategist. 

The light came first, then the firmament, then the gathering together of the waters and the appearance of dry land, followed by the vegetation upon which the animals would feed, before the animals themselves were created (Genesis 1:1-13). 

Everything was in place before man was created. What a wonderful God we serve! No wonder the Psalmist in Psalm 53:1b says:

“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”

In today's memory verse, the Lord Jesus Christ shared with us the divine wisdom embedded in strategic planning. It takes strategic planning for anyone to succeed in life, and the good news is that the greatest strategist is our Father in heaven. 

The ability to strategise wisely is therefore available to us when we give our lives to God through Jesus Christ. Irrespective of how disjointed you may appear to be as a person, as a born-again Christian, you are a partaker of the divine nature of God, and so you are a strategic planner by nature (2 Peter 1:4). 

You need to understand this truth and begin to apply it to your reality.

Nehemiah was one strategic builder. Through strategic planning, he was able to do what seemed humanly impossible. Though very passionate and driven about his mission to rebuild the house of God and the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah was not presumptuous in his zeal. 

His strategy was built on the foundation of first seeking divine guidance through prayer and fasting (Nehemiah 1:4). Some children of God, maybe due to unrealised hidden pride, would not pray like Nehemiah did to find mercy in the sight of the king (Nehemiah 1:11). 

To succeed in life, we need the favour of God to be manifested in the attitude of men towards us. No wonder Luke 2:52 says:

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”

The good news is that even though human beings are complex and unpredictable, they are still under the control of their Maker. Establishing this truth in Proverbs 21:1, the Holy Spirit says:

“The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water:  he turneth it whithersoever he will.”

Nehemiah strategically presented his case before the king, and because he had presented his case to the Lord before going to the king, he got what he wanted: leave of absence, authority to build, the materials for the project and security in the course of building. 

The project would have ended in failure if any of these variables was missing. Beloved, be strategic in the planning of your life under the guidance of the Holy Trinity.

ACTION POINT:
Strategically plan how you will achieve your vision and objectives for this year.

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Matthew 18-19, Isaiah 7:10-8:10

AUTHOR: PASTOR E. A. ADEBOYE

HYMN 3: TRUST AND OBEY

1. When we walk with the Lord
In the light of His word
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will,
He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey

Chorus:
Trust and obey,
For there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey.

2. Not a shadow can rise,
Not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt nor a fear
Not a sigh nor a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

3. Not a burden we bear,
Not a sorrow we share
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief nor a loss,
Not a frown nor a cross,
But is blest if we trust and obey.

4. But we never can prove
The delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favour He shows,
And the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.

5. Then in fellowship sweet
We will sit at His feet,
Or we'll walk by His side in the way;
What He says we will do
Where He sends we will go
Never fear, only trust and obey.