'God has a plan for my life' comes from a Campus Crusade tract?
I have no idea. I would say, however, that considering that a person can walk into any church in the world and hear people acknowledge that God has a plan for their life, this is a rational and reasonable deduction of God's Holy Word. The real question that should be asked is, "Which of the following do I relate with? Am I controlled by the Sinful Nature or by the Spirit? And if I don't relate to my life being controlled by the Spirit, then I cannot belong to Christ AT ALL."
Romans 8:9 NLT - "But
you are not controlled by your sinful nature.
You are controlled by the Spirit
if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)"
Does saying, 'God has a plan for your life' really give us Biblical direction on whether we make decisions and He is arranging stuff behind the scenes, or whether He gives us direction?
Presidente . . . tell us if you feel like God is controlling your thoughts and decisions? Are you running your life or is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit dictating? Remember, if you don't identify with a "controlling" Spirit in your life, then it means that you do not belong to Christ "at all."
trusting Him to work things out.
Well, so above, you acknowledge that God is in control, working things out.
I don't know about you all, but I am NOT in control over my life. My life is not the way that I would like it to be. I have suffered beyond imagination. I have been blamed and accused of things that are plainly opposite. I have been hated in this world for doing good things for others. Loving people has been a total burden. Giving money to people has not been recognized by authorities while under accusations of stealing. Attempting to create a Christian non-profit organization has gone unrecognized by the government, thus persecuted for being said in court documents that I "channel the Lord" or that I am a "master of chaos." I do not channel the Lord nor am I a master of chaos. Instead, I have been the victim of the government's sense of chaotic manufacturing and overall cluster-nightmare!
The LAST thing I would ever claim is to be in control over my life. God has led me down a path that only he could create, for the evens of my life are utterly impossible unless He were in control.
Do we not understand the Holy Word, Endure? Or do all of the peaceful Christians of the world just think that there are some Christians that are simply unlucky? Do we really think that the Christian life is about hummingbirds, butterflies and rose pedals? Scripture is clear that those who live pain-free, wantan lives . . . these people do not have the Lord as their Father. But those who are of the poor and the oppressed, they are the ones that God loves. But again, do we simply tell ourselves that some Christians are unlucky to be poor and oppressed while we live our Jimmy Swaggart and Kenneth Copeland lives?
Lastly, those who do not belong to God are NOT receiving His Holy Discipline. And those who receive the Lord's Holy Discipline . . . well, they're suffering. So if "you" aren't being Disciplined by the Lord; if "you" are not "Enduring" suffering and false persecution, then perhaps you're right . . . you are not being controlled by the Spirit. But if that's True, then "you" do not belong to Christ "at all."