Often when we gather with God’s people whether on a Sunday morning or in a smaller group setting, we learn that someone is going through a significant trial or challenge like the loss of a job and finding another one, the daunting search for and purchase of that first home, finding that God ordained husband or wife, etc.
I will probably add to this list from time to time. But I wanted to put in one doc some of the passages that have encouraged me over the years that God has a good plan for me, and that He will reveal and fulfill those plans. Lots of these verses come from His dealings with His covenant people Israel. But as Paul said in Romans 15:4, “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
Ultimately to fully discern and to fully fulfill God’s will for our lives, we need to hear and heed every word He has ever spoken whether in Scripture or to us more directly/personally per Jesus’s declaration, “….MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.” Matthew 4:4
But I trust this selection of pertinent Scriptures might be of help to some of you as they have been to me as we wait on Him for His will and way.
Job 23:13,14 “But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me, And many such decrees are with Him.”
Psalm 20:4 "May He grant you your heart's desire And fulfill all your counsel (or purpose)". A good prayer for those we intercede for.
Psalm 23:2 "He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters."
Psalm 31:3 "For You are my rock and my fortress; For Your name's sake You will lead me and guide me."
Psalm 32:8 “I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.”
Psa. 33:11 “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, The plans of His heart from generation to generation.”
Psalm 37:23 “The steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way.”
Psalm 73:24 "With Your counsel You will guide me, And afterward receive me to glory."
Psalm 138:8 “The Lord will accomplish what concerns me; Your lovingkindness, O Lord, is everlasting; Do not forsake the works of Your hands.”
Psalm 139:17,18 “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.”
Proverbs 3:5,6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 16:1 “The plans of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.”
Proverbs 16:3 “Commit your works to the Lord, And your plans will be established.”
Proverbs 16:9 “The mind of man plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.”
Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, But the counsel of the Lord, it will stand.”
Isaiah 11:2 "The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord." He is the One we are to look to for counsel, though He does sometimes counsel us on which way to go through others.
Isa. 25:1 “O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.”
Isa. 46:9-11 “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure; Calling a bird of prey from the east, The Man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.”
Jer. 18:12 “But they will say, “it’s hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.” = Israel’s negative example
Jer. 29:10, 11 “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you,’declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
Romans 8:14 “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
I Corinthians 2:9 “but just as it is written, THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND WHICH HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”
II Corinthians 2:14 "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place." I was meditating on this chapter this morning and noticed in vs. 12, 13 Paul states that even though "a door was opened for me in the Lord" in Troas, something which he had asked the church in Ephesus to pray for him for (see Eph. 6:3), he decided to leave there because he couldn't find his brother and co-worker Titus. Certainly does not seem like a wise or strategic move on Paul's part, but his confidence is in the truth of God's sovereign and faithful and triumphant leading of him.
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His worksmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
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