One Day at a Time By Cortney Donelson

In celebration of “As a Clay Jar’s” one-year anniversary, I thank God from the bottom of my heart for weekly devotion No. 52. He has been faithful and true, and I have enjoyed every minute of serving you and glorifying Him in this way. Thank you for reading!

  

Source: Unknown

James 4:13-14 (NIV)
Boasting About Tomorrow
“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

There are ultra runners. There are ultra light aircrafts, and there are ultra healthy foods.

I used to be an ultra planner. Not anymore. I no longer write out lists of things to do or items to buy. I have stopped thinking I have it all together and believing I can plan ahead for anything. I still dream and have goals, but they are no longer built on my own desires or objectives. And I love it!

There is something I want to share – a simple truth. There has not been a single week this past year when I have wondered or worried about a devotion not yet written for this blog. Most times, God has been so kind and has provided me with the words to write weeks beforehand. Some weeks, there were a few days left before the blog was to post when the content of a devotion slipped into my heart and the words came ever so easily. Yet even during those weeks when the deadline loomed, I have escaped any anxiety about whether God would come through and prove His faithfulness once again. Here’s why:

I take it one day at a time. For this season, God has me writing. Today, God is giving me the words to say – the message He wants me to convey. What about tomorrow?  In the Bible, James reminds us, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” I don’t know what the Lord’s plan is for tomorrow, and that must be okay. If God closes the door on my writing season and no more titles or content come, if God wraps up this gift and places the box back on His shelf, it must be okay. I have learned that His promises never change, but our lives do. He will forever shift the pieces of my life, opening and closing doors. That must be okay. I trust Him.

I used to take God’s door openings and run with them until I became exhausted or worse – had run down a wrong path. I would get a glimpse of God’s fingerprints on something only to make the mistake of taking His perfect gift or His perfect timing and adding my own human ambition to the mix. When I did this, things imploded. Plans fell through. People were not ready. It was not okay. Matthew Henry[i] writes in his commentary, “How vain a thing it is to look for anything good in futurity, without the concurrence of Providence.”

When we move ahead with plans for our future independent of God, we block the hand of God from moving in our favor. Lisa Bevere, a gifted Christian author and speaker, said, “God’s plan for your life is the enemy’s worst enemy.” I certainly don’t want to miss God’s plan and fall prey to the enemy’s scheming because I was too busy arranging my life on my own instead of following God’s lead.

If I wake up tomorrow and devotional writing is no longer in God’s will for me, that must be okay. The only way I can do this justice and give Him the glory is to ask Him each and every day whether writing is still a part of His plan. When I lean on God and follow Him, it eliminates all worry, all anxiety, all stress, and all fear.

Did you hear that, friends? If we choose to follow Jesus each day rather than each month or season of life (or rather than making one decision to follow Christ and then forgetting who we are in Jesus the moment the prayer, baptism, or decision is over), if we choose to follow Him no matter what He brings into our life for that particular day, we will live without worry, anxiety, stress and fear. How? Because if we trust God and know that He is working for our good as promised in the book of Romans, it does not matter what that day holds. Everything but Jesus dims to the knowledge you are living in His will. It doesn’t matter what He may ask us to do or what we might be required to endure – we can trust the end result will be amazing!

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Romans 8:28 (NIV)

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

If we pray for our journey one day at a time and ask God what He has in store for us, we will never have the kind of tunnel vision about our future that causes us to miss God’s grace and gift for this day – grace and gifts that may come as surprises and change the courses of our lives for His kingdom’s cause.

Prayer – God, we pray against our vain ultra planning tendencies – ones the enemy surely uses to his advantage. Rather, I pray we look at each and every day as a clean slate. Today, we ask You to show us Your will. We want to follow You and Your plans only. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

© 2013 As A Clay Jar. All rights reserved.

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[i] Matthew Henry was an English commentary on the Bible and Presbyterian Minister. His commentaries are some of the most viewed in our day.