Messed up?

We all mess up:

Abraham messed up with Hagar.
Joseph's brothers messed up by letting jealousy get the best of them.
Jonah messed up by running away from his assignment.
Peter messed up by denying Jesus.
Paul messed up by killing Christians.
...
The fact that we mess up doesn't mean we can miss it; "it" being God's plan for our lives.
👇🏽
Abraham messed up with Hagar; did he miss out on Isaac?
Joseph's brothers let jealousy get the best of them. But did that disqualify them from going to Goshen?
Jonah ran away from his assignment. Did it keep God from using him to fulfill it?
Peter denied Jesus. Did that keep Jesus from making him the rock on which He built His church?
Paul persecuted the church. Did it keep God from using him to spread the gospel?

You can NOT miss God's plan for your life.
- You can make mistakes. You can fumble. You can make the wrong choices.

But, no matter how much you have messed up, please, never get so wrapped up in your own guilty over-analysis of your mess that you start to think you have messed up God's plan for you.

📢 News flash: you are not that powerful.

And God is not so fickle that He'd sulk and say He's not doing again, just because you annoyed Him.
He's not your ex. He's not that uncle who promised to buy you a car then changed his mind because you didn't greet him properly.
He is God.
He is faithful even when we are faithless.
He is unchanging.
He sees the end from the beginning; He already knew you were going to mess up and planned to work even your worst mistakes together for good.
Has He not said it? Will He not do it? Tell me!

So, I repeat: you CAN NOT miss God's plan for your life!

But the fact that you can't miss it doesn't mean you can't mess up: so, own your mess, invite Him to help clean it up and get out of that funk you're still stuck in.
He has already forgotten about it and moved on. You'd better move on, too.

"For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." (Hebrews 8:12 ESV)

Faith vs. Control

"A lot of the things we teach about principles of faith are just methods of control."

- I got that yesterday, sitting with God for my dedicated hour, trying to make sure I stayed connected, stressing out about whether or not I was hearing Him right, whether I was in the right place, doing enough, being enough.
He said to me, "People are not successful because they work hard; they are successful because success is a gift I give. That's why you know many people who work hard and are 'unsuccessful', and many others who don't seem to do anything and are 'successful'."
Aka: the results we get are not because of the things we do, but because of the One who chooses to give them to us.

"But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'""
(Matthew 4:4 ESV)

I listened to a message where the preacher explained, that we are not alive because we have food to eat; the food on its own has no power to give life. It is because the Word of God has empowered the food to nourish us that it has any power to do so in the first place.

Which is why listening to God FOR YOURSELF is so important: the thing that looks foolish for everyone else won't be foolish for you if God has asked you to do it. Because, once He has given that instruction, He has empowered the action to produce results.

Am I making sense???

L'oro kan, you are not successful by your wise decisions. You are successful by the blessing of God. And any action you're taking or plan you're making just because it's the sensible thing to do will be a waste of the time God has invested in you, if it's not what He has asked (or nudged) you to do.

Selah.