How Do I Know God’s Plan For My Life?

Devotional

Day 1: Peg the “God Is Real” Meter

Before you can chase God’s plan or rest in His provision, settle this: God is real. When this conviction is anchored, the other meters steady and hope rises. Doubt may still swirl around whether He will provide in this moment, but your core stays planted in who He is. Today, choose surrender—say to Jesus, “I trust You,” and take your next step toward Him. If baptism is on your heart, keep moving toward that yes as a way of staking your life on His reality. Plant the flag and let everything else flow from it [13:06]

Ephesians 2:10 — We are God’s artwork, remade in Christ Jesus so we can step into the good things He mapped out for us long ago.

Reflection: What daily practice (for example, a brief morning prayer of surrender or one psalm at breakfast) will you adopt this week to consciously affirm “God is real” before you face the day?

Day 2: God Is Good All the Time

Sin and pain try to bend how you see God, but His heart toward you is steady goodness. The enemy whispers that goodness is for others, not you; that is a lie. God hates sin, yet He loves you, and even in your hardest places His goodness is at work. Anchor this truth: God is good on your bright days and your stormy ones, and His provisions are good even when you can’t yet see how. Let this conviction quiet the rollercoaster and steady your trust [20:33]

Psalm 119:68 — You are good, and what You do springs from Your goodness; shape me by Your ways.

Reflection: Where has a recent disappointment caused you to doubt God’s goodness, and what simple gratitude rhythm (journaling three gifts each night, thanking God aloud in the car) could retrain your heart this week?

Day 3: Live Under God’s Yes, Not No

Many feel too small or unqualified to matter, but God already said yes to you. Before time, He chose you in Christ, set you apart, and looked at you with delight. This means you can begin practicing a posture of yes—leaning forward instead of holding back. Say yes to serving, yes to learning, yes to small risks of obedience, because His yes over you came long before your yes to Him. Let His choosing silence your self-doubt [22:37]

Ephesians 1:4 — Before the world began, God chose us in Christ to belong to Him, set apart and seen without blame because of His love.

Reflection: What invitation from God have you sidelined because you feel unqualified, and what first “yes” step (an email, a sign-up, a conversation) can you take in the next 48 hours?

Day 4: Practice the Yes—Bless, Share, Trust

Hearing God’s voice grows with use—so act on nudges to bless others and to speak hope. You won’t get it right every time, but obedience matures as you practice. When the impulse is to overanalyze, remember: God knows how to close doors you shouldn’t walk through. Choose generosity, offer encouragement, and tell someone, “Jesus loves you,” trusting that small seeds can become big stories. Let action be your classroom for discernment [28:34]

Romans 5:8 — God proved His love for us by sending Christ to die on our behalf while we were still caught in our sin.

Reflection: Who is one specific person you can bless this week, and what concrete action (cover a meal, write a note, run an errand) and time will you commit to do it?

Day 5: Pray Your Way Into a Yes

Prayer should align your heart with obedience, not stall you into a safe no. Set short, honest windows to pray, seek wise counsel, and then move; courage grows as you go. Trust that God’s presence walks with you, and He can redirect you if needed. Like a raindrop pulled by gravity, let God’s steady pull guide your next step rather than resisting it with endless delays. Be strong and courageous; He is with you wherever you go [33:11]

Joshua 1:9 — I’m commanding you: be strong and courageous; don’t be afraid or discouraged, because the Lord your God will be with you everywhere you step.

Reflection: What decision have you been circling with “I’ll pray about it,” and how will you set a short deadline to pray, get counsel, and then take a clear step of faith?

Sermon Summary

What a day to celebrate God’s work among us. With 69 people across our campuses stepping into the waters of baptism, I talked about how we discern God’s plan for our lives. I framed faith like a three‑legged stool with three “meters”: Is God real? Can God provide? What is God’s plan? If the first meter isn’t pegged—if I’m not settled that God is real—then the other two wobble. The second meter, God’s provision, will have ups and downs, but it can’t be a roller coaster of extremes. As that stabilizes, we can actually engage the third meter—God’s plan—with growing confidence.

From Ephesians 2:10, we’re God’s masterpiece, created anew in Christ to do good works He prepared long ago. The enemy tries to distort that by using sin to separate us from the confidence that God is good and that He gives good things. Psalm 119:68 says, “You are good, and You do only good.” That’s true in pain and in joy. If I anchor there, I can learn to live under a “yes” rather than a “no.” Before the world began, God said yes to you (Ephesians 1:4), and He proved it by sending Christ while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). So I challenged us to say yes more often—especially when it comes to blessing others and sharing our faith—trusting that if we step onto the wrong path, God knows how to close doors.

I confessed a moment when I missed it—at Burger King—after Kim sensed we should buy a family’s lunch. I rationalized, and we learned later the parents removed their own meals to afford their kids’. I blew it. You won’t get it right every time either. But the way forward is practice: say yes, act, and learn the Shepherd’s voice in motion. And please stop praying your way out of obedience. Don’t use “I’ll pray about it” to stall until fear sounds like wisdom. Joshua 1:9 reminds us to be strong and courageous because God is with us wherever we go. Let the gravity of God move your life like a raindrop finding its path. Believe He is good, live under His yes, and pray your way into obedience. Today’s baptisms are a chorus of yeses—let’s keep saying ours.

Key Takeaways

1. Anchor in God’s unchanging goodness Believing God is good in both pain and joy fortifies the heart to trust His leading. Sin distorts our view of Him, but Scripture corrects our lens: He is good and does good. When that conviction takes root, it changes how we interpret circumstances and quiets the inner panic. Confidence in His character precedes clarity about His plan. [20:14]
2. Live beneath God’s prior yes Before you were born, God chose you in love; Christ died for you while you were still a sinner. That means your starting point is not auditioning for God’s favor—it’s responding to it. When you operate from God’s prior yes, you risk obedience more readily because your identity is secure. Let His election silence your self‑disqualification. [22:18]
3. Practice obedience to learn His voice You won’t discern God’s voice from theory alone; you learn it in motion. Start with simple acts of blessing and bold acts of witness—God often speaks through small nudges. Even if you misread a moment, humility keeps you teachable and moving. Over time, your reflex shifts from hesitation to holy responsiveness. [27:17]
4. Stop praying yourself into safe disobedience “I’ll pray about it” can be a holy practice—or a polite stall. When fear masquerades as discernment, you’re not waiting on God; you’re negotiating with reluctance. Pray to align, not to avoid; pray your way into obedience, not out of it. Courage grows when you decide quicker and trust deeper. [29:04]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[08:34] - Baptism Sunday energy
[09:34] - “You Asked For It” series kickoff
[10:10] - Three meters of faith
[12:04] - God’s plan as the third meter
[14:39] - Stabilizing belief in God’s provision
[15:30] - When personal plans fall apart
[18:04] - Masterpiece and good works (Eph 2:10)
[19:32] - How sin skews God’s goodness
[21:46] - Living under a yes, not a no
[23:39] - Practicing yes: generosity and witness
[29:04] - Stop praying your way out of obedience
[31:51] - Raindrop and God’s gravity
[33:44] - Celebrate baptisms and closing prayer

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading
- Ephesians 2:10

Observation questions

What does Ephesians 2:10 say about the relationship between being created in Christ and the “good works” God prepared? [18:04]
What claim about God does Psalm 119:68 make, and how does that claim shape the way a person might interpret both pain and joy? [20:14]
What are the three “meters” of faith (Is God real? Can God provide? What is God’s plan?) and how does the sermon describe the way they interact to form a stable faith? [10:10]
What concrete examples were given of choosing to say “yes” (the Burger King moment, the people getting baptized), and what do those examples show about risk, obedience, and outcomes? [24:01]

Interpretation questions

What does calling people “God’s masterpiece” imply about their identity and about the expectation that they will walk into the good works God prepared for them? [18:04]
How does anchoring belief in “God is good” change the way someone reads setbacks or confusing circumstances when trying to discern God’s plan? [20:14]
How should the three‑legged stool metaphor shape the order of a person’s spiritual work when doubt is present (which meter should be addressed first, and why)? [10:34]
What are the practical consequences of using “I’ll pray about it” as a way to delay a decision, and how does praying to move toward a yes differ from praying to avoid action? [29:04]

Application questions

“God is good and does only good.” When you face difficulty this week, what would it look like to rehearse that truth out loud or in prayer before reacting? Be specific about one situation you can try this in. [20:14]
“God chose you before the world began.” What one fear or “I’m not enough” story keeps you from saying yes to a new step of obedience, and what is one small, specific step you can take this week to act from God’s prior yes? [22:18]
Practicing obedience helps you learn God’s voice. Who could you intentionally bless or tell about Jesus in the next 48 hours as an experiment in obedience, and exactly how will you do it? [27:17]
Stop praying your way out of obedience. What invitation are you currently postponing with “I’ll pray about it,” and what deadline will you set this week to decide and act instead of stall? [29:04]
We won’t get it right every time (the Burger King example). Recall a time you missed a nudge to bless someone: what did you learn, and how will that learning change your next response to a similar nudge? [24:01]
Baptism and public yeses move a life forward. Who in your life needs encouragement to take a visible step of faith (baptism, sharing testimony, serving), and what one thing can this group do this week to support them? [33:32]

Sermon Clips

And that's where doubt comes in. And sometimes doubt, doubt is not equal to faith. Unbelief is the opposite of faith. So doubt can happen inside of faith because sometimes I'm having a hard time believing that God can provide. And there's other times, man, I'm skyrocketing. I believe God can do anything. And we talked about how that can happen even in the middle of a prayer. [00:11:23] (22 seconds) #DoubtWithinFaith

So today, man, in this house, 69 people are going to get baptized at all of our campuses and all of our services, which are multiple services, happening in multiple communities around Nebraska. Those people had to come to a conclusion one day that God's real. And then they started making a track towards God. And so today, man, if you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, today is your day. Today is the day you surrender your life to Jesus. And you say, once and for all, God is real. Because if you want to figure out God's plan, it starts here. [00:13:15] (32 seconds) #SayYesToJesus

First, you've got to believe that everything God gives you is good. Everything God gives you is good. The enemy wants you to believe God doesn't have anything good for you. He wants you to believe that, you know, God's got good things for others and that God loves others more than he loves you. But I'm here to tell you today, that is a lie, my friends. [00:18:59] (18 seconds) #EverythingGodGivesIsGood

``When you choose independence, rebellion against God, when you choose I'm going to live my life the way I want to, forget what the Bible has to say. That's called sin. And when you go down the road of sin, no matter how destructive it looks or how minor it seems, sin always does the same thing. It separates us from God. And as you are separated from God, you are separated from the belief that God has good things for you. And the enemy gets a chance to work inside of your life in that way. Now, look, I want to be clear. God hates sin. But God does love you. [00:19:22] (34 seconds) #ChooseGodNotSin

Let's practice when God speaks something about blessing other people, let's act on it. Like, how can you go wrong if you bless someone and God didn't tell you to bless them? Unless you're enabling somebody. If you buy that lunch for that person and then they turn around and go out into the parking lot and hop into Rolls Royce, who cares? You did what God asked you to do. It's not about what they do with it. It's what God asked you to do. [00:27:03] (29 seconds) #BlessBoldly

God says to you, go across the room. Tell that person I love them. I have a plan for their life. And you have no idea how impactful that's going to be. Go tell somebody Jesus loves them. God would never have me do that. Well, yeah, of course he would. How are you ever going to know God's voice if you don't start practicing it? [00:27:47] (23 seconds) #ShareJesusLove

Stop praying your way out of God's plan. Let that soak in just for a moment, my friends. Stop praying your way out of God's plan. If I have heard this statement once, I've heard it a million times. Pastor, I'll pray about it. How long are you going to pray about it? 30 days. That's a no. I just walk away. Like I can tell you right now that's going to be a no. Hey, Pastor, I want to pray about it. How long are you going to pray about it? For the next week. That's a no. I just walk away. I just know it's going to be a no. [00:29:08] (29 seconds) #StopPrayingYourWayOut

What I want you to do is I want you to pray. But I don't want you to pray your way out of God's plan. I want you to pray your way into a yes instead of praying your way into a no. Today at New Life, man, what is it, 69 people or so are getting baptized at all campuses. What happened? They said yes, yes, yes. That's what they did. And they're going to continue to say yes. [00:33:12] (23 seconds) #PrayIntoYes

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