Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. (Proverbs 3:6)

Scripture tells us “do not depend on your own understanding” when we have an idea of what plan to implement for a business career or venture, a vacation, or even sharing the Gospel with others — it is important to seek God’s wisdom first. (Proverbs 3:6)

Accepting a shared insight as to what hot stock to invest in, whom to join within a business partnership, or what health measures you should take in life, has led many to troubling outcomes. It is important to prayerfully submit your plans to God and do your own due diligence. Yes, you need counsel, first from the Lord, and as you seek wisdom from human mentors who are also committed to the Lord. (Proverbs 11:14; 12:15; 22:6; 14:16; 15:23)

Jesus taught that your results indicate the level of your acquired wisdom that agrees with the Lord. He cured many, raised the dead, and opened the eyes of the blind, yet the Jewish leaders accused him of being led by and given powers from the devil. They also chided him for befriending sinners. Jesus rebuked the leaders noting that wisdom is vindicated by her deeds for good or evil. (Matthew 11:19)

Also, it is impossible to understand biblical truths for example: that Jesus is one with God the Father, and that it is His Spirit that guides you into all truth:

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matt 11: 27)

All our greatest necessary insights into life – the truth, about Jesus and His Gospel, as well as all life’s strategies in line with His will, come via the Holy Spirit, as promised by Jesus. Righteous truth will come to a man or women who is obedient to the Word of God, and asks for guidance via the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.

The world cannot receive him [Christ and His Spirit that leads], because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. (John 14:17, NLT)

Where did last year go – it just flew by! Now we face another year. If we rely on God to lead and advise us, we can rest in these promises.

• Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your limited understanding. Prayerfully seek His will in everything: including every strategy that you plan to do, every road you plan to take with every business and personal association you will conjoin. He will direct your focus on refining your life plans.¹ (Proverbs 3:5-6  ESV)
• I will guide, advise and watch over you along the best path for your life. ¹ (Psalm 32:8 ESV)

You may think your plans generally go in the right direction. Yet it is vital to know that God’s purposes will prevail for your life as he seeks to draw you closer to His will. Thus prayerful, thoughtful planning and, yes, replanning help you to stay on the right course and navigate your life. After our day-planning year by year is said and done: “…the Lord’s purpose will prevail” (Proverbs 19:21). He already knows what time has in store for you, including your best direction and potential destiny. Asking God for His guidance and ongoing supervision, you move forward with more self-worth enlivened by calm confidence, knowing that His purposes and work will prevail.

Everyone will be forgotten, nothing we do will make any difference, and all good endeavours, even the best, will come to naught. Unless there is God. If the God of the Bible exists, and there is a True Reality beneath and behind this one, and this life is not the only life, then every good endeavour, even the simplest ones, pursued in response to God’s calling, can matter forever. ²

It is important to understand that the priority in your planning must be to adhere to the gospel call to obey the Lord as one adopted into his family, keep his teachings, and live a godly principled life. (see also Colossians 3:17, 23, Romans 8:28, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Philippians 1:6)

^{1 Glen Jackman’s bible version}

^{2 Tim Keller on Why Calling Matters}

The Savior . . . has been born tonight in Bethlehem . . . and this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth! Luke 2:11-12

Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes, or powerful, or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God deliberately chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose those who are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 1 Corinthians 1:26-27

God often accomplishes his purposes in unexpected ways. God used the census of a heathen emperor to bring Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. Maybe that is also why he chose to have Jesus born in a stable rather than a palace, why he chose Bethlehem rather than Jerusalem, and why the news of Jesus’ birth went first to shepherds rather than to kings. God may have done all this to show that life’s greatest treasure—salvation through Jesus—is available to all. And it may also show that the lowly and humble might have a better chance of receiving that message. ¹

God’s Promise God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. MATTHEW 5:5 

^{1 Beers, Gilbert; Beers, Ron. The One Year Mini for Men (p. 357). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.}

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” — Jude 24, 25 ESV

The author of Jude concludes this New Testament letter with a note of praise and acknowledgement to God for saving each of us from sin.

This passage is like a very detailed picture in an art museum, full of details and very mentally stimulating.

The writer reminds us of God’s capacity to keep us from stumbling. Most of us have experienced stepping awkwardly and nearly falling.  God alone can keep us from the more dangerous spiritual fall.

God is also able to present us as persons without blame.  And in the presence of everyone:  God, friends, angels, EVERYONE.  But notice the connection between these two “acts of God.”  He prevents our injury (through actions that would otherwise damage us) and He shows us as clean, unaltered by life in a world that needs redemption!

Jesus comes into the narrative as the central player, the instrument of our ‘being made right.’

There’s another piece here worth noticing.  Two phrases: ‘presence of his glory’ and ‘with great joy.’  There’s a lot to think about in those words.

God, eternity are definitions of what glory truly is.  Here the awkward one (you, me) is made comfortable in the glorious presence of God.  Our natural tendency is forgotten.  Never comes up again in this passage or in Eternity.

Now notice the next part.  ‘With great joy!’  Ever been around someone who got the task done but with a boatload of protest?  Like, ‘do I HAVE to mow the lawn?’  Not this one, salvation, is done with joy.

That’s how God is.  How about you and me?  Are we joyful about others?  ^{1
 
1 The above is used with permission. Worship encouragement from my friend Pastor Mark Johnson, President SDA Church in Canada}
 

Waiting for things patiently is a quality that must be developed in us (see Romans 5:3–4; James 1:3–4; 5:11; Revelation 13:10; 14:12). Patience is one of the Spirit’s fruit borne in our lives. It includes fortitude, endurance, and the ability to bear up under pressure in order to attain the desired goal.

In the same way that our “hope” gives us fortitude, the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. At times, our weakness is so intense that we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. At those times, the Spirit voices our requests for us. He intercedes by appealing to the only one who can help us, God himself. We may not know the right words to say, but the Holy Spirit does. His groanings to God become effective intercession on our behalf. (Romans 8:26)

The companionship of the Spirit in prayer is one of the themes of this chapter. Here, the Spirit literally “joins in to help” us, expressing for us what we can’t fully express for ourselves. How should we pray?

• Utilize all the forms prayer takes: adoration, confession, petition, thanksgiving, and meditation. As we pray, we should trust the Spirit to make perfect what is imperfect.

• Listen during prayer. We should ask the Spirit to search our hearts and minds, and then we should be silent.

• Practice prayer as a habit.

• Combine prayer with other regular spiritual disciplines (see Philippians 4:4–8).

• Confess sins that the Spirit points out.

The Father knows all hearts and he knows what the Spirit is saying (see Romans 8:26-27). God can look deep, past our inarticulate groanings, to understand the need we face, our hidden feelings. Even when we don’t know the right words to pray, the Holy Spirit prays with and for us, always in harmony with God’s own will. With God helping us pray, we don’t need to be afraid to come before him.

Because the Spirit’s efforts on our behalf are carried out in full agreement with God’s will, everything that happens to us in this life is directed toward that goal. What happens may not itself be “good,” but God will cause everything to work together for the ultimate good of his children, to meet his ultimate purpose for their maturity. The point is, God works all things for good, not “all things work out.” (Romans 8:28) Suffering will still bring pain, loss, and sorrow, and sin will bring shame. But under God’s control, the eventual outcome will be for our good.

God works behind the scenes, ensuring that even in the middle of mistakes and tragedies, good will result for those who love him. At times this will happen quickly, often enough to help us trust the principle. But there will also be events whose results for good we will not know until eternity. Our ultimate destiny is to be like Christ. God’s design is more than just an invitation; God summons us with a purpose in mind: we are to be like Christ and share his glory.

^{1Barton, B., Comfort, P., Osborne, G., Taylor, L. K., & Veerman, D. (2001). Life Application New Testament Commentary} 

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13 ESV)

It is noteworthy that Jesus referred to Himself as the embodied character of absolute truth and honesty as noted in these verses: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”. He would often say in the gospel of John regarding the truthfulness of His words: “But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.” (John 8:45 ESV); and “If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?” (John 8:46 ESV); and “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth…” (John 16:7 ESV)

And if it wasn’t true he’d tell you: “if it were not so, I would have told you” (John 14:6; 14:2 ESV).

Before He ascended to the Father, He told His disciples that “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13 ESV). All truth is not half-truths. Half-truths are lies. The apostle Paul wrote: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” (Rom 8:14 ESV)

When you accept Jesus, you are then sharing the glory of His absolute Truth, his Holy Spirit’s Light on the subject, His Love towards your understanding, and His Moral Laws that you can know the wiles of the devil, and thus His Divine attributes as One in the trinity -divine unity with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You realize that to believe everything He says and lovingly represented as an incarnate man, you’ve now bound yourself to this convincing logical insight – and thereby have let the Spirit of Christ guide you to honesty within your own heart.

When Adam sinned, everything on earth was subjected to God’s curse; that is, to futility, change, and decay. Creation also is cursed because it is unable to attain the purposes for which it was made – to bless mankind made in His image.¹ For example: when the people of Israel began worshipping idols God put the whole land under an agricultural curse, often challenged by radical weather changes and drought. Moses had warned of punishment for rebellion.

You will sow much seed in the field but harvest little, because the locusts will consume it. You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but will neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout your territory but will never anoint yourself with oil, because the olives will drop off. (Deuteronomy 28:38-40)

A word on climate change  The scriptures teach that we are also stewards of the earth and all nature. In fact, God told Adam to take dominion over the entire earth. (Genesis 1:26-28) Soon the perfect order in the world was marred by sin; therefore, fallen people had to live in a fallen world and have demonstrated over many years that they have not been caring stewards – quite the contrary. Our perfect world continues to be harmed by a world population concomitantly marred by continuing sin as it continues to deny the Creator’s guidance. Yet all nature’s creation anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. Revelation 22 describes the future removal of the curse from the earth when the earth will be renewed. (Romans 8:20–21)

Adam and Eve were the first polluters of the environment when they sinned. Their act of rebellion affected the entire world. It has taken many centuries to realize the interrelatedness of this global village, but the Bible begins with that assumption. Having the same Creator links us with the rest of the created order. But as much as we do personally and corporately to clean up and care for the environment, we must realize that creation will require the same kind of transformation that we require in our hearts in order to be set straight again.

In fact, in Romans 8:22–23, Paul pictures the fallen creation as groaning as in the pains of childbirth. Consider earthquakes, floods, fire, drought, famine, plagues—these are surely not what creation was meant to be, but sin and evil now rule. Just as the pains of childbirth end at the birth of the child, so the groaning and pain of the creation will end at the birth of the new earth. Creation groans and longs for its release and transformation into the new heaven and new earth. We Christians also groan to be released from pain and suffering, longing for our own release from the cycle of sin, effects of aging on health and eventual physical death (Romans 8:23).

We long for redemption when God will give us our full rights as his children, including the new bodies he has promised us. In this process we are not alone, for the Holy Spirit groans with us, expressing our unutterable longing to God and giving us a foretaste of future glory. But until the time of our release and redemption, we must groan, wait, and hope.

When we put our faith in Christ as Savior, we are saved and we can eagerly look forward to the freedom we will have at Christ’s return. (Romans 8:24–25) We already have the presence of the Holy Spirit, who is unseen, but we must eagerly wait for our new bodies, which are also unseen. Our full redemption has not yet happened; it will happen when Christ returns. That is why it is still a hope for believers.

Our salvation is both present and future. It is present because the moment we believe in Jesus Christ as Savior we are saved (Romans 3:21–26; 5:1–11; 6:1–11, 22–23); our new life (eternal life) begins. But at the same time, we have not fully received all the benefits and blessings of salvation that will be ours when Christ’s new Kingdom is completely established. While we can be confident of our salvation, we still look forward with hope and trust toward that complete change of body and personality that lies beyond this life.

^{1Barton, B., Comfort, P., Osborne, G., Taylor, L. K., & Veerman, D. (2001). Life Application New Testament Commentary} 

The world today is not unlike the world of Elijah when many of the Israelites were worshiping pagan gods. He built an altar to demonstrate that Yahweh, the God of creation exists and still actively governs even his wayward children led astray by pagan secular religions. In the ten commandments, God made it clear that:  You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves. You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. (Exodus 20:23-24 NAS)

Elijah built an altar according to the commandment. He wanted to reveal to the people and King Ahab that he was the prophetic spokesperson, not the false prophets who led the people astray to worship idols.

Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O LORD, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself.” Immediately the fire of the LORD flashed down from heaven. 1 Kings 18:36-38 When the people saw it, they fell on their faces and cried out, “The LORD is God! The LORD is God!” (1 Kings 18:39 NLT)

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you may be taking too large a perspective. Let God worry about all the injustice in the world; you just need to find one small injustice and start there. The world is filled with evil, and you are here to be a light in the darkness. Even a small candle can lighten a dark room. As you minister, you may find that others gain the courage to join you, and you can begin to broaden your perspective. God’s Promise ¹

Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9 NLT)

^{1 Beers, Gilbert; Beers, Ron. The One Year Mini for Men (p. 309). Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.. Kindle Edition.}