Day Planner

Over the past several years I have tried a few different mediums to try and manage my day.  It all really first started in college when I met my wife.  She was the very organized and scheduled one and I was the one that was haphazardly moving through life, hoping to hit all of the points that I needed to hit, to get at least some things accomplished.  It started out with a Palm organizer.  It was electronic and I would find myself forgetting to use it, I would often misplace it, and, ultimately, I stepped on it while it was sitting on my floor.  Not a very effective tool.  I then tried to use a Blackberry 7520, arguably my favorite Blackberry handset of all time, but I digress.  This was my phone and my planner and for the first two weeks I was pretty good with it.  After those two weeks though I did not stay consistent and I would primarily use it as a phone.  I ultimately got rid of the phone for something more simple because I was not utilizing all the features that were made available to me.


Towards the end of my college career my wife and I experimented with Franklin Covey organizers.  For anyone who doesn't know about Franklin Covey they are pretty pricey but very effective when you work with them.  Using it took some getting used to but I was about 75% effective with utilizing it.  I had a case for it and everything that I eventually made my wallet.  When that got too big I scaled down to a smaller organizer similar to the ones that they give you in high school to use (why I didn't master the whole planner thing in high school is beyond me since they made me use it).  Even though I was planning 75% of the time I still wasn't getting the optimal results because I would still miss appointments and my life still felt a mess.  Finally, I have, once again, abandoned all things paper and gotten a Motorola Droid which is my phone and organizer. I'm at 85% efficiency and that is increasing daily.


I say all this to say that I have been sadly mistaken.  I have been unsuccessful with planning because I have neglected the fact that He, God, is a Day Planner.  I have been searching for what has been missing in my life for quite some time, finding myself hitting and missing with a lot points.  I would get results with little to no effect and wonder, why do I feel like it is not all together?  I was aimlessly seeking a solution within the natural realm when I know that I have been called to all things spiritual.  I can't remedy natural with natural.  I realize I need something Higher.  I realize that He is my Day Planner.  God/Jesus/Holy Spirit can do things for my day and my life that I cannot begin to fathom.  He has structure for me that I just need to accept.  He says in Isaiah 55:8-11:


"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways saith the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts your thoughts.  For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater:  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:  it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."


God said all of this to say I got this.  I've mapped this out. I know what I am doing and if you follow what I have for you, you will prosper.  I know that I have tried to think a certain way or go a certain way but God tells us that He has it mapped out to produce a result.  He knows the appointments we should make, places we should go, things we should, and it is planned out in such a ways that everything will be taken care of (hence the reference to the seed, time, and harvest).  If I let Him be my Day Planner I can't go wrong.  In Jeremiah 29:10-12 it says:


"For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you and expected end.  Then shall ye call upon me and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you."


God says He knows all that He thinks toward us and all of those thoughts are of peace to get me to His expected and final destination.  Whether circumstances be good, bad, or indifferent the Lord knows the direction of my life.  He knows when I will turn down a dark place but He also knows when I will get out.  How about I just sit tight!  I haven't been so willing to follow because of fear doubt and unbelief.  I realize today that I need to seriously let Him be my Day Planner.  If He knew me before I was formed in my mothers womb and called me [Jeremiah 1:5] then He has got to have a plan for me.  He tells me in Proverbs 8:17, "I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me."  I know that I want to find God so He can tell me what my day should look like.  I am giving up the days where I try to chart my course and prioritize my life.  I want every day to be a God encountered day because I heard His voice.  I want to acknowledge Him in all my ways so that He can direct my path [Proverbs 3:6].


God/Jesus/Holy Spirit is your Day Planner and if you incline your ear to hear then He will guide you.  There are things in the earth to be done and things that God wants us all to accomplish.  I am pretty convinced that if I stop concerning myself with trying to manage my own schedule and let God make all my appointments I will be 100x more effective than I am now.  Jesus says in John 16:13-15:


"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:  for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak:  and he will shew you things to come.  He shall glorify me:  for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.  All things that the Father hath are mine:  therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it you."


Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to be "another Comforter."  One that walks like Him, talks like Him, acts like Him, and thinks like Him in order to show us where we need to go.  All the things that belong to the Father will be shown to us because we are in Christ.  I know that I want to know what God has for me.  I know that I don't have the know how to make the things happen that God has called me to without Him.  Today I make a change.  I make it priority to seek first and early so I can know exactly what my day should look like according to the word.  This is the place where I have seen the Lord and from this day forward He shall be my DAY PLANNER!


Be More. Hear More. See More. Do More.
You can do anything [through Christ]