For God's Sake Be Flexible!

Flexibility! You will need it if you desire following the plans of God for your life. Otherwise you will be frustrated and angry with people and with God. Flexibility does not mean that you don't visualize and plan. No, if you are going to be successful you better know your purpose and mission and how you want to go about fulfilling it, but allow God the opportunity to do things outside of your vision and plans. If it helps, even Jesus had to be flexible with his plans.

Nestled in the gospel of Mark is a wonderful story of Jesus having to be flexible. Jesus had sent out his disciples for ministry, and after they returned, he took them to a secluded place so that they could get some rest (Mark 6:30-32). Jesus knew the frailty and limitations of his disciples, so he planned for a rest. Nevertheless, his plans were short lived because as soon as the crowds got word of their location, they made their way to meet them (Mark 6:33). Even Jesus had to be willing to adjust!

However, what if Jesus was not flexible? Well, he would have missed out, along with his disciples, on a wonderful opportunity to perform and experience a miracle. What followed this disruption of plans was Jesus feeding 5,000 men with five loves of bread and two fish. It was a wonderful miracle, and would have been missed without a willingness to adjust plans and visions.

Plan, strategize, and visualize, but you need to allow God the opportunity to do things that were not planned, otherwise you may miss out on a miracle. Just remember the wisdom of Solomon, "The mind of man plans his ways, but the Lord determines his steps" (Proverbs 16:9).