{"id":3602,"date":"2020-08-27T20:47:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-27T20:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/?p=3602"},"modified":"2023-01-31T19:09:35","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T19:09:35","slug":"what-does-god-have-prepared-for-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/?p=3602","title":{"rendered":"What Does God Have Prepared For You?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Proverbs 10:22<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cThe blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.\u201d<\/strong><\/em>
<\/strong>
God has a \u201cplan\u201d for your life. His plan is one that brings joy, peace and an abundance of blessings. In fact, the Bible describes it this way in Proverbs 10:22, \u201cThe blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.\u201d To choose to ignore God\u2019s plan for your life is to endure a life of regret and heartache. God puts it this way in Proverbs 13:15, \u201cGood understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard.\u201d Ron Haskins\u2019 March 13, 2013 Op-Ed \u201cThree Simple Rules Poor Teens Should Follow To Join The Middle Class\u201d, published on the Brookings\u2019 Institution\u2019s online website (brookings.edu) states some simple principles everyone should follow to avoid poverty. \u201cLet politicians, schoolteachers and administrators, community leaders, ministers and parents drill into children the message that in a free society, they enter adulthood with three major responsibilities: at least finish high school, get a full-time job and wait until age 21 to get married and have children.\u201d Ron Haskins goes on to say, \u201cOur research shows that of American adults who followed these three simple rules, only about 2 percent are in poverty and nearly 75 percent have joined the middle class (defined as earning around $55,000 or more per year).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sad part is there are many young people who have chosen the way of the transgressor and they find out that choices have consequences. If I defy the principles of God\u2019s Word it leads to bad consequences (guilt, no joy, lack of peace, single parenthood, sexually transmitted disease, addiction, severed family relationships, loneliness, violence and poverty).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s interesting to note that Jonah (a Prophet of God) would disobey the command to preach the Word of God to Nineveh. He clearly heard God\u2019s call and knew what was expected of him. Here is a Prophet who refuses to speak on behalf of God. What in the world is Jonah doing when he calls himself a Prophet but refuses to preach God\u2019s Word?! Young person, if you are a Christian then you belong to God. His Word says that very thing in I Corinthians 6:20, \u201cFor ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God\u2019s.\u201d You no longer belong to you! If you choose to do it \u201cyour way\u201d then rest assured God has some things prepared for you, just like he had some things prepared for Jonah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, God prepared a WHALE to get Jonah\u2019s attention.
<\/strong>Jonah 1:17 says, \u201cNow the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and nights.\u201d Matthew 12:40 says, \u201cfor as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale\u2019s belly:\u2026\u201d. God prepared a whale to put Jonah \u201con his knees\u201d for 72 hours. Young person you don\u2019t want God to prepare a whale to get your attention. The stomach of a whale has Hydrochloric acid and there is no doubt Jonah came in contact with that chemical. Hydrochloric acid has a distinctive pungent smell. It\u2019s said that this acid attacks the skin and if you were to inhale this acid it produces nose, throat and laryngeal burning, irritation, pain, inflammation, coughing, sneezing, a choking sensation, shortness of breath, need I go on\u2026I can\u2026because it continues! Jonah\u2019s rebellion to God\u2019s plan brought him to a place of pain and regret. In fact, his sin literally caused him to \u201cstink\u201d! Imagine what the skin and hair of Jonah would have looked like when he exited the belly of the whale. I would imagine Jonah no longer looked like he did \u201cpre-whale\u201d. That\u2019s exactly what sin does for us when we choose \u201cour way\u201d. Now one would think Jonah learned his lesson and that the whale would have been enough, but while he did get right and go preach in Nineveh, his heart never got truly right with God \u201cpost-whale\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, God prepared a WEED to comfort Jonah \u201cpost-Nineveh revival\u201d.
<\/strong>Jonah 4:6 says, \u201cAnd the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So, Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.\u201d If you were to read the context of Jonah chapter 4 you would see that Jonah is angry with God. Yet even in Jonah\u2019s anger towards God\u2026who by the way saved Jonah from suicidal drowning and then gave him a second change at ministry and life\u2026then God blesses him with some shade from a gourd (weed). How many times we have not been right with God and yet He blesses us anyway? Too many times to count and I\u2019m grateful He doesn\u2019t give me what I deserve!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, God prepared a WORM to convince Jonah of who is really in control.
<\/strong>Jonah 4:7 says, \u201cBut God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.\u201d As quick as God can bless you, he can just as fast remove His Hand of blessing upon your life. God would use a worm to destroy the very weed (gourd) that gave Jonah comfort in the shade. Keep in mind that everything in this life comes from God. If we take credit for anything let\u2019s be honest and say that it was our poor decisions that got us into the belly of a whale. It\u2019s only by the grace and mercy of God that we get a second chance or get some comfort from the LORD. If we think we did anything then watch how God begins to send worms into your life and remove the blessings you\u2019ve enjoyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, God prepared a WIND to chastise Jonah.
<\/strong>Jonah 4:8 says, \u201cAnd it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.\u201d Here we see Jonah suffering because the sun zapped him of all energy. He might have been dehydrated or had early stages of sun poisoning because the Bible says, \u201che fainted\u201d. What I see from this point is Jonah was more interested in His PERSONAL PLANT than he was in PEOPLE. Jonah 4:10 says, \u201cThen said the LORD, Thou has had pity on the gourd, for which thou has not labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:\u201d While Jonah cared more for personal comfort God cared more for people getting right in Nineveh. Jonah 4:11 says, \u201cand should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young person, God has a plan for your life. Your life needn\u2019t be wrapped up in personal plants but in the people you touch! God has a plan for you\u2026will you follow His plan or your plan?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Brother Jeff Harris | Assistant Pastor
Clays Mill Baptist Church | Lexington, KY<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Proverbs 10:22\u00a0\u201cThe blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.\u201dGod has a \u201cplan\u201d for your life. His plan is one that brings joy, peace and an abundance of blessings. In fact, the Bible describes it this way in Proverbs 10:22, \u201cThe blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"0","layout":"no-sidebar-narrow","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"float","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"0","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_food_recipe":[],"enable_food_recipe":"0","food_recipe_title":"","food_recipe_description":"","food_recipe_serve":"","food_recipe_time":"","food_recipe_prep":"","food_recipe_level":"","food_recipe_keywords":"","food_recipe_category":"","food_recipe_cuisine":"","food_recipe_yield":"","food_recipe_calories":"","enable_print_recipe":"0","ingredient":[{"item":""}],"instruction":"","jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_podcast_option":{"enable_podcast":"0","podcast_duration":"","upload":""},"jnews_podcast_series":null,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"jnews-series":[],"class_list":["post-3602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-youth-truth"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Blue-Whale-Illustration-Desktop-Wallpaper-1.png","blog_images":{"medium":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Blue-Whale-Illustration-Desktop-Wallpaper-1-300x300.png","large":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Blue-Whale-Illustration-Desktop-Wallpaper-1.png"},"ams_acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3602"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3724,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3602\/revisions\/3724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3602"},{"taxonomy":"jnews-series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yplife.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fjnews-series&post=3602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}