Trust God's Plan

Hello beloved and Happy September! Are your ready to study the #9? Even though we study one thing for an entire month, it goes so fast and we just scratch the surface of all that God has for us. I encourage you to go deeper each week on your own with the Lord. Allow Him to show you something that we didn't talk about. Allow God to show you a new depth of Who He Is. Our God is a God of substance. Meaningful relationship is what He is after. The more time we spend with Him, the more we are proving to Him that He truly matters to us.

When we look at the number nine in the Bible, at first it seems disjointed until we look at the context in which nine is used. If you listened to the podcast this week, then you heard me talk about how from Adam to Noah, the men lived to be over 900 years old. And as you read about their lives you see how each one of them lived until God's plan was complete through their lives and then they died. We also see that Jesus died in the 9th hour of day, right after He declared "It is finished!" The Father's plan through Jesus was then complete. Since the beginning of time the Lord has always had a plan and part of His plan is using His children to bring His plans to this earth. God loves partnership with us! So when we look at the "nines" of the Bible, we see that God uses the number 9 to represent His plan for man.

The biblical meaning of the Number 9 is God's Plan for Man.

Psalm 33:11

The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the thoughts and plans of His heart through all generations.

Our God, Who is full of intent and in every detail, planned your existence and you play a vital role in His plan upon the earth. It's pretty amazing that our glorious God loves us so much that His first choice is to partner with us in accomplishing His plan! Unlike humans, too often we come up with a plan and carry it out ourselves because we don't trust others to take care of the plan like we would. But not our awesome God because He's not worried about perfection, He just desires relationship, so when we are willing to be a part of His plan, we say "yes," follow His instructions and He provides all of the perfection. His role in the plan is much bigger than ours but He desires our participation.

Most of the times, in our own relationships (even friendships) we look for those who we deem as "equals" to us. Similar educations, similar financial situations, similar value systems but our Almighty God, Who knows we are so much less than He, desires us to spend time with Him. Jesus talked about leaving the 99 to go after the one because none of God's creations are supposed to be alone. God doesn't like to be alone either. Relational, authentic community is vital to God's Kingdom design.

Matthew 4:4

But Jesus replied, “It is written and forever remains written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.’”

A layer of meaning to this scripture is that we are called to be in relationship with the Lord, as we spend time in studying His word, because we are not meant to go through life alone. As we study His word, He is right beside us.

God's plan for our lives includes Him in that plan.

Psalm 57:2

I will cry to God Most High, Who accomplishes all things on my behalf [for He completes my purpose in His plan].

GOD completes (number 7) our purpose by allowing us to cry out and begin again (number 8) because He is the One with the plan (number 9.) God's Kingdom ways, His order, the way that He uses numbers which builds on itself, ties it all together and scripture confirms it. For those who listened to the sermon in July titled "I am Satified, I am Complete" we made the declaration that "I am satisified, Jesus completes me!" (To listen to that sermon, CLICK HERE.) Little did you know that in July, we were declaring our partnership with the plan that God has for our life! With the Lord there are NO short-cuts, NO cliffs notes and NO short-hand. In order to have a firm foundation, we have to put in the time and effort into forming that foundation and making sure it was secure before building on top of it.

So far this year, in our study on numbers, we can easily see how we've built a foundation that now we can build upon:

• 1 - Union with God. The first step in the first step can only be our union with Him, building relationship and trust.

• 2 - Companionship in Equally-Yoked Community. Finding others that have put time and effort into their union with God.

• 3 - God's Divine Design. Studying the Way God Works so now that we have God as the foundation along with a community we can come into more understand of His ways.

• 4 - God's Creative Movements. A deeper study of the ways that God works, how it affects us both individually and in community. Learning how to partner with His movement in this life.

• 5 - God's Grace. A study of the consequences that could take place when we haven't established numbers 1-4 in God's way.

• 6 - God's Transformation. Going deeper in our understanding of how God's ways affect everything in life and how He transforms us when we surrender to Him.

• 7 - God's Completion. Understanding the ways that God completes us; spirit, mind and body. We go from transformation to completion because God doesn't leave any loose ends.

• 8 - New Beginnings. Learning to step into our new way of life, our renewed self that God has transformed. Being able to leave the old behind to start the new thing God has called us to.

• 9 - God's Plan for Man. Learning how to step into God's plan for our life now that He's given us a new beginning.

Only God could come up with such a foundation of building life with Him, a way to partner with Him, since the beginning of time. And we get all this, and grow immensely "just" from studying numbers in a biblical way! Numbers are not trivial. Numbers are not of the occult. God uses numbers and gave them purpose and order so that we could come closer to Him and understand a new facet to the ways that He works. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!

If you haven't studied with us since January, it's not too late to start! Better to start it now then delay your own blessings by starting it next year. You can go back through the blog posts, listen to the podcast, and listen to the church sermons by starting from January and coming forward. Do it for yourself and your relationship with the Lord. Build your foundation so it's solid and you have no concerns about building upon it.

It's going to be a fascinating month of studying God's Plan for Man and stepping into the new thing that God has for each of us!

If you are a woman looking for more foundation, you can apply to our Ministry School but APPLY TODAY because applications for the 23-24 Academy Year close this week! To learn more about it CLICK HERE.