Friday Fight 232: When Good Plans Miss God

Every Friday, when I wake and pray, God places something on my heart to help fight darkness beginning in our minds. Today is FF232.

Have you ever made a plan or decision that seemed perfect, only to realize later it wasn’t? You prayed, fasted, and perhaps even asked for confirmation, yet soon after, the plan seemed to unravel. What happens in these moments, when we are so sure of our path, believing it’s parallel to God’s will, only to realize that it probably wasn’t at all? What can we learn from these moments to help us walk closer with God, truly in His will, not just of our own?

When Good Plans Miss God:

It's easy to move forward and ask God to catch up, as if His role is to endorse our plans rather than lead them. We must be careful not to tell the Lord what we want to do, who we want to be, or where we want to go, and only then ask Him to come alongside our vision.

Why does this matter? If we’re not spiritually aware, we can fall into the habit of acting first and then praying later. When we're faced with decisions, especially ones that seem logical, safe, or orderly, it can feel natural to follow what we think makes sense. However, God’s path doesn’t always feel logical, and it might not follow what we’d call an “orderly progression.” It’s important to remember, we can’t execute our plans and then expect God's blessing when we’ve ignored His leading.

Perhaps instead, we begin with prayer before we move. We must always ask, "Lord, what would You have me do at this time?" or “What is Your will in this situation?” If it is of the Lord, for the Lord, or from the Lord, His blessings will follow. No one of us wants to stand before the Lord on judgment day and realize that we traded a God-directed life for one shaped by comfort, popularity, and good intentions. When we believe our plan is superior, we become vulnerable to the exploitation of the enemy.

In Matthew 16:26, Jesus reminds us that many will trade their souls for safety, success, or control, but eternity is too high a price to pay for a life lived outside God’s will. Even well-intentioned resistance to God’s direction is dangerous. Peter tried to stop Jesus from going to the cross, and Jesus rebuked him harshly, not because Peter was evil, but because he was misaligned with Jesus' purpose. We can either work for God or unknowingly work against Him.

The powers of darkness will continually work to convince us that our will and God’s will are the same, but to follow Christ means we will have to make difficult decisions. Some of which will be painful. True alignment with God’s will begins with surrendered hearts willing to follow. This week, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what fears might be influencing how you are currently responding to God’s leading. If God asks us to walk a certain path, then we walk it. Period. Even when it doesn’t make sense. That’s faith!

I have recently been listening to sermons preached by my dad, Pastor John Lane, to preserve them for my mom. This post was inspired by one of his sermons.

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In His Grace,

Pastor Shannon

River Church