PLANNING YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS

Failing to plan is planning to fail. Benjamin Franklin

said, "by failing to prepare you are preparing to

fail".

Planning is the arrangement of facts to achieve your

set objectives. It is the process of deciding in detail how

to do something before you actually start to do it.

For every achievable destiny, planning is required. 

"The preparations of the heart belong to man, but the

answer of the tongue is from the LORD."

A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his

steps." (Prov 16:1,9, NKJV)

Two things are noted here:

1) When the heart is prepared, God brings an answer.

But planning or preparation precedes the answer.

2) When the plan is set, God grants the inspiration

and direction required in achieving the plan. Planning

precedes direction. You will receive the wisdom to

move step by step.

Many indolent people simply fold their arms waiting

for God to move. It’s like lame man at the pool of

Bethesda who sat down crippled for 38 years waiting

for somebody to push him into the water. (Jn.5:1-7).

Thank God for people that move us, but when there is

nobody around, my friend, move yourself. In fact,

don’t wait for anybody. E.W. Kenyon said, "What you do

for yourself counts far more than all that others have

done or could do for you". Sometimes you have to defy

all sorts of discouragement, and like David,

"encourage yourself in the Lord". (1Sam.30:6) 

Dr Mike Murdock said, "When your heart decides the

destination, your mind will design the map to reach

it".

Not having everything in place is not sufficient

enough to become an excuse. You don’t to have

everything in place before you launch out or even

begin to plan or prepare. Pastor Mary Yohanna says,

“Excuses are for those who are not determined.”

Eccle.11:4 (TLB) said ‘if you wait for perfect

conditions, you will never get anything done’.

A one-time British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli

said, “The secret to success is for a man to be ready

for his time when it comes.”

I’ve heard of people who were trusting God for doors

to open for them, and when the doors opened, they

couldn’t enter because they were unprepared. Do you

remember the parable of the virgins, and how the five

foolish ones lost out because they were unprepared?

(Mt.25:1-13).

Whitney Young said, “It is better to be prepared and

not have an opportunity than to have one and not be

prepared.”

"The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but

victory rests with the LORD." (Prov 21:31,NIV)

It is true that the battle is not to the strong (Eccle

9:11), and that no one wins on account of the strength

of the horse (Psa.33:16,17), yet, to enjoy victory

from the Lord, it takes a prepared horse.

When you do what you can, God will do what you can’t.

God will do His part, but you’ve got to do your part.

"Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes

strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully

by keeping abreast of the facts". (Prov. 23:3-4, TLB)

Planning is using what you have to get what you want.

Thinking

Thinking is the principal tool for planning. Yet Henry

Ford said, “The most difficult job in the world is

thinking’”

Never confuse worrying with thinking. What is

thinking? It is the rational, analytical, intelligent

and logical reasoning. It is considering facts or

realities on ground to produce a desired result.

While worrying focuses on impossibilities, thinking

focuses on possibilities. Worrying sees ‘a brick

wall’. Thinking expects a way where there seems to be

no way.

A man once said that only 5% of the world populace

think. 15% think that they are thinking. 80% would

rather die than think. Why is thinking that much of a

problem? It is because many have not been trained to

make use of the resources that God has deposited

within them. They fold their arms and think they are

being spiritual by asserting ‘God will do it for me’.

Don’t try to use faith for something you can do.

Purpose

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the

LORD's purpose that prevails." (Prov. 19:21,NIV)

This verse admonishes us to plan based on purpose. God

calls us to accomplish different things based on His purpose

for our lives. So you need to seek out God’s purpose for your

life and then begin to plan towards achieving that purpose.

Goal-setting

Goal-setting is an act of mental projection of things

you desire to achieve. It forms the framework for what

you desire to build.

The purpose of goals is to stop you from wandering

around achieving nothing. You will not be full of

activity yet lacking productivity; moving yet making no 

progress. 

Can you imagine a football competition without goal

posts on the pitch? How then will you determine the

winner?

Someone said, ‘your goals need to be S.M.A.R.T., an

acrostic meaning Specific, Measurable, Achievable,

Realistic and Time-related.

Take some time out and prayerfully set your goals for the year

and trust God to achieve them all in Jesus name. Be

free to share some of your goals with me so I can join

my faith with yours and pray in agreement for them to

come to pass (Try to limit your goals to not more than

seven for the sake of focus, concentration and

expectation). Then do like Jephtath: “Speak (repeat) all

these words before the Lord.” (Judg. 11:11)

I see you rising to the very top this year. I see you

celebrating every day of this year. I see you walking

in victory over every onslaught of the enemy. I see

you shining gloriously. In Jesus name!

YOU WILL OCCUPY!