Matthew 25:14-18 Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
Good Morning,
This morning I would like us to continue focusing on God’s plan for our lives. I want us to get a step closer in developing our plan and working our plan. I would like to share with you today how to measure your plan. It’s very important that we measure our plan and position ourselves for the more God has in store for our lives.
In Matthew 25:14-46 Jesus is speaking of a story about 3 servants that were given talents, each according to his ability. In this parable He references money, but we can use this parable and have been taught time and time again that it can be substituted for other areas of our lives. I would like to focus in on this scripture for a moment and connect it to our plan. In the beginning of our lives, just like in Joseph’s life, God gave us gifts. He gave us desires that we could accomplish with Him. Some of us He gave a few and some of us He gave less. We learned yesterday that we all were born on purpose, with purpose and for a purpose.
We all can relate to this scripture. Some of us have tapped into our passion and moved forward with all that God has given us and others have taken what God has placed on the inside of us and as the last man did in the parable, we hid it. Well as I mentioned earlier this week it’s time to come out of hiding. We will focus in on our plan, we will develop our plan, we will work and measure our plan. I believe I was led to inspire each of us on a daily basis because we all need encouragement along our journey. I am not willing to waste another day not doing what God has designed me to do and God wants the same for you. He no longer wants you to focus on things that will not benefit the purpose He established for your life.
As we look back over the story of Joseph’s life we will see that along his journey he had great successes through it all. We will see that because he remained faithful to God, Joseph was able to excel in all areas. Even though he went through all that he went through, it was all about his maturing process. God gives us gifts for us to use for His glory to be revealed. We must learn to stand on faith and submit ourselves wholeheartedly to His Word. His guidance is all we need, in order for us to enter into our promised land. We must be patient and allow God to humble us, in order for us to get to where He needs us to be.
Today I want you to evaluate your plan and measure it against your tasks and accomplishments of each task. If you have not already written your plan, you still have time to do so today. If you have a plan and you set it aside, the time is now to pick it back up and press forward towards your goal. When we measure our plan, we can actually see the benefits along the way. It helps us do away with the unnecessary things that hinder us along our journey.
Measuring the Plan
The first thing we have to do when we are measuring our plan is to identify the pros and cons of each goal and the developmental task we have completed against the goal. We have to examine what’s working and what’s not. If the developmental task is not working for us then we may need to research another way to get us to our end result. We may have to take identify several task to each goal in order to get mature in that area. So we may need to evaluate ways to reach each goal. One developmental task may not get you matured in that area, in order to accomplish it and get to your next level.
For example if your goal was to become a business owner. Let’s say you want to start a nonprofit. Your developmental task would be to research nonprofits, by reading books and attending training. Now if you are a hands-on person like myself you will need a lot more than reading and attending forums. You may need to contact some nonprofit business owners in your area and get yourself a detail or internship. You may even have to volunteer in your free time and put to work what God has given you. It’s a lot easier to volunteer and/or step out on faith when it’s your passion. So make sure when you are planning, working and measuring your goals that they are things you would like to do.
As apart of my Executive Leadership Program, I had to evaluate my plan and realign some of my goals over the past few weeks. I had to think about how many talents God had given me and incorporate them in my plan. I realized why I was frustrated, stressed and overwhelmed at times, because my focus was in the wrong place. I had to think about my love for community outreach and my willingness to help someone else. I decided to edit my plan in such a way that would allow me to grow with my passion to help others and at the same time help me mature in all areas of my life. I went goal by goal identifying what was working and what was not working.
I came to realize once I measured some of my goals and accomplishments a lot of them had nothing to do with my passion, a lot of them had nothing to do with the talents God gave me, a lot of them were things I allowed myself to get sidetracked with. I had to take a serious step towards aligning myself with God’s purpose for my life. I believe each of us has heard from God. I believe God has told each of us about our gifts. He gave them to us in the beginning and over time we developed a sense to know what they were, by understanding what we liked and disliked over time.
So today I challenge you to sit down with your plan and measure each goal and examine the benefits. Will they help you get to the next level? Will they position you for a new job? Will they give you the experience needed to get to wherever you believe God will have you to be? Have you talked to God lately and asked Him, where do you need me to go? Are you growing in the workplace? Are you growing in the home? Are you growing at school? These are some of the questions I had to ask myself and I would like for each of us to get serious with the plan God has for our lives and move forward. May God lead you forward today with your plan!
Blessings,
Tennille L. Whittington
Prayer for Today
Lord I come to You in this morning asking Your forgiveness, Lord I want to be who You have called me to be, Lord connect me with Your plan for my life, Lord I want to live out my purpose, Lord place Your mirror in front of me, Lord allow me to see what You see, Lord I know I was created for much more than what I believe today, Lord send forth the angels that are assigned to my life, Lord reposition me, Lord lead me out of hiding, Lord show me how to increase my talents, Lord show me how to utilize my passion, Lord get me up out the way, Lord have your way in my life today, Lord when I measure my plan, I want Your glory to be revealed, I want souls saved and hearts cleanse, I want to do all and be all that You have called me to be, Lord I expect You to show up in my life today and show out, Lord no longer do I want to hurt You, Lord no longer do I want to waste Your time, Lord I am all Yours from this day forward, Let’s work Your Plan for my life! In Jesus name, Amen
Also check out:
Writing the Plan
http://unique-encouragement.blogspot.com/2010/01/dynamic-dreams-writing-plan-working.html
Working the Plan
http://unique-encouragement.blogspot.com/2010/01/dynamic-dreams-working-plan.html
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