Do you like to plan for the future? How far do you plan ahead? Have you gone through the exercise some planners teach, meaning to plan the next five to ten years? What if you were told about things that would happen in twenty years? Do you believe it would be beneficial?
We like to plan things out. We develop schedules for our family vacations. We set aside a certain amount of money each month for our retirement. We plan how we will raise our children. Some of our plans are written down and others are simply done in our heads.
Our plans may or may not work out. In fact, what I have found over many years of making plans is they are often adjusted along the way. Something happens that requires us to change our plans, even if minutely. When I was a Marine, we used to say that war plans are only valid until the first shot if fired.
But God’s plans go just as he designed them. God informed the prophet Joel through his Holy Spirit that he was going to pour out his Holy Spirit on everyone in the future. Though he did not give Joel the timeline, he provided him the prophecy hundreds of years before Jesus Christ was born. Jesus, in turn, restated it to the apostles.
On Pentecost, God fulfilled that promise and continues to fulfill it today. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we are gifted the Holy Spirit. He has been provided to guide us in our lives as we choose to follow Jesus by teaching us, revealing God’s plan to us, and speaking on our behalf through prayer. What are we to do? Reach out to the Holy Spirit, listen for him, and follow the guidance he provides.
I pray we all choose to follow Jesus. I pray we seek out the Holy Spirit for guidance. I pray each one of us will listen to and follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit as we grow in Christ. God’s plans work. God fulfills his promises. The Holy Spirit is given. He provides guidance. Listen for the Holy Spirit. Follow his guidance.
Joel 2:28-29
Then afterward
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female slaves,
in those days, I will pour out my spirit.
Marty Pressey 