Did You Ask God First? - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) March 25, 2025

We are well into 2025. How have your plans for the new year gone? I'm talking about the resolutions you wrote down and the expectations you had for them. I ask because it is easy for us to create great plans without first asking the Lord what He wants us to accomplish. We humans tend to be self-focused instead of God-focused, after all.

And so, how is that working out? I ask this question so that if you—a believer—realize things aren't going so great, you can take this opportunity to pivot. And by pivot, I mean to turn to God and ask what He wants from you in 2025.

Having aspirations for ourselves is not inherently bad, in my humble opinion. Wanting to be better or desiring to have better of certain things can benefit yourself and others. However, the Bible teaches us to put people's needs before ours and to be wary of selfish ambition. These realities of our faith need more attention. By the Lord's grace, we will tackle them eventually.

The issue is that most of us pushed God out of the picture of our 2025 plans. We didn't make Him the starting point and thus didn't ask Him what He wants for us. Rather, we forged ahead with identifying our goals, expecting Him to bless what we wanted. We allowed little to no room for His input or instruction on how to approach the year.

This is not how those who have given their lives to Christ and walk in the Spirit of the Lord are to behave. Matthew 6:33 teaches, [b]ut seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Forgetting this may be why so many face headwinds that require you to expend more energy than necessary.

Thanks be to God for His grace and mercy. Despite the choice to move without His direction, He has shown kindness. This is why you've experienced some progress with certain of your plans.  Let us be grateful and thank Him for this, and then let us repent for not seeking His will in the first place.

Next, we must remedy what we did wrong by praying and possibly fasting to hear what God wants us to accomplish. That way we will move knowing that we have His approval as we take steps to do what He wants. As we honor Him first, He will bless us and we'll discover that much of what we wanted only needed our genuine submission to Him for them to come to pass.

If you prayerfully sought God's will for your year, I praise Him on your behalf. Please pray for those of us who neglected to apply that wisdom. Call on the Lord to show mercy and grant His grace as we seek to discover what He wants for us in 2025. May we all learn to make God the center of our lives so we seek Him first about everything, IJN, Amen.

Kindly share your thoughts on today's message so the group can be edified. We shall commence our offering of praise at Noon EST, then pray for the needs of others at 12:25 EST. And at 12:50 pm, we will petition the Lord to know His mind as to what He wants for our year. God bless you.

To learn more, please read:

1. Give God What He Wants To Get What You Want

2. God's Best is for His Children

3. Your Toolkit for the Promised Land