FOLLowING GOD IN A DIY WORLD

I {Toi} notice that we live in D.I.Y. (Do it yourself) culture where we are  encouraged to fix things ourselves. On Social Media and YouTube you'll find all sorts of "life hack" tips, "Top 5 ways" or videos to fix almost anything you can imagine.  

The D.I.Y approach isn't always the Lord's plan for us.

As Christians, our first course of action for any situation should always be to pray, surrendering our problem or situation to the Lord.   We should pray His perfect will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.  The next step should be asking the Lord what He wants us to do or not do.    

 Sometimes when you surrender a problem or situation to Him, He may have you hold your peace and remain at rest (Exodus 14:14) so that He may handle it for you.  Other times, He may give you a strategy or send reinforcement to help you. 

In 2 Chronicles 16, King Asa decided on a D.I.Y plan to rely on men instead of God when dealing with enemy armies. King Asa chose to compromise to obtain peace but He strayed from the plan the Lord had given him.  2 Chronicles 16:7-8,  the Lord had a prophet, Hanani, rebuke King Asa. Hanani reminded King Asa of a previous battle that the Lord helped him win because Asa relied on the Lord. 
 
Then in  2 Chronicles 16:9 NASB  he says  "   For  the eyes of the  Lord  move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those  whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.”  

In the world's opinion, King Asa's actions seemed wise because it brought peace with little effort. Unfortunately, it was a foolish mistake because King Asa failed to obey and follow the plan the Lord had given him. It's never wise to go against what the Lord is instructing you to do.  We should always seek to be obedient to what we know the Lord is instructing each of us to do.  We can trust in knowing the Lord's intentions for us is always good and never to harm us. 

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"FOR I KNOW THE PLANS I HAVE FOR YOU," DECLARES THE LORD, "PLANS TO PROSPER YOU AND NOT TO HARM YOU, PLANS TO GIVE YOU HOPE AND A FUTURE." JEREMIAH 29:11