Pursuing God's Plan
Whether we realize it or not, each and every single one of us was placed on this earth with a plan and a purpose orchestrated by God. He has placed passions and desires within each one of us that unveil the calling that He has destined for. So how do we pursue our passion? It all stems from following and being obedient to Christ. Today, I want to give you some practical action steps to pursuing your passion from the book of Joshua.
“and they commanded the people, saying, ‘When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.”
(New King James Translation, Joshua 3.3-4)
First we need to understand what the Ark of the Covenant was. The Ark of the Covenant contained the 10 commandments and God’s presence along with a couple of other things.
There are three things I want us to gather from this passage, beginning with verse 3:
“When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God you shall set out from your place and go after it.” (NKJV, Josh. 3.3)
The ark of the covenant represented God and His commands. Therefore this is saying “when you see God and His commandment you are to set out from your place and go after it.” The first action step is this:
1. When God tells you to do something it is a command that you should follow
What God has called us to do on this earth is what He has commanded us to do. Therein lies the question, what has God commanded you to do? What has He spoken to you recently? I want to encourage you to be obedient and pursue it, even if it doesn’t make any sense. God has a beautiful way of taking things from our life and weaving them together into a masterpiece. Trusting the little steps He assigns you to take will lead you to your great assignment.
Next I want to look at verse 4, it reads:
“that you may know the way by which you must go” (NKJV, Josh. 3.4).
2. You have to START MOVING so that God can direct you
The Israelites were directed in which way to go when they started moving and it is the same way with us. It’s the old saying, “God cannot steer a parked car.”
Think about your GPS system, it navigates you as you go. What happens if you stop? It doesn’t tell you anything or it tells you to “proceed to the route.” In the same way God directs us as we are moving and if we stop moving we just keep hearing “proceed to the route, proceed to the route” or in other words “go back to the last thing I told you or the last direction I gave you.”
Don’t wait for the why or how, just follow God’s leading in faith and He will take care of the rest. So how can you start moving today, this week, this month? Start moving toward where God is directing you and you will begin to see the plan that He has for your life.
The next point will be taken from the second part of verse 4:
“for you have not passed this way before” (NKJV, Josh. 3.4).
3. God wants to do something new and fresh with you
As Christians, God wants us to pioneer new journeys but we have to be willing to start moving in faith, trusting that He is the one who will direct our steps. In my personal experience, God doesn’t hand over the complete plan for our life so that we can start moving. If He did it wouldn’t require any faith on our part. Instead, He gives us little steps and visions that will help us exercise and increase our faith to get to where He wants us to go. Many Christians are waiting for God to reveal His full plan for their life so that they can start moving. Instead I want to encourage you to step out in the little things that God has revealed to you, for it is in those little steps that you will find His plan for you.
New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
