When We Make Plans Without God

It has been extremely busy lately. I haven’t written as much as I like, but my devotion to Jesus is steadfast! I have been in the Word- steady, anchored, rooted!

Life has pulled me back into the classroom far more than I expected. Yet I have committed my plans to the Lord. I am following His lead, not my own.

Which that brings me to the post I have for y’all today.

I want to being this with this:

“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord,
“who carry out a plan, but not Mine,
who make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
that they may add sin to sin.” Isaiah 30:1

This verse speaks to me so much! God was speaking to Judah. He was scared; the people were afraid. Instead of seeking the Lord, the people form an alliance with Egypt. They didn’t turn to God for security and strength but their own power. They did not turn to God for protection; they went to something familiar. Can you relate?

If I’m being honest… and I am. I know this of kind of lost.

The Alliances We Weren’t Meant to Make

This makes me think of the things that we commit to in our life that God has NOT approved. We form connections God never authorized simply because we convince ourselves. We commit to plans He never initiated. We attach ourselves to people, places and perverse opportunities that feel good… but are not Spirit -led.

This matter is more important than we may realize because this decision to push our own agenda can literally cost you and delay you. Delay our blessings, cost our clarity, peace and our future.

I’ve been there. In some ways, I am still walking through the consequences of it right now. But I have eyes and a heart to know it and a heart to correct it.

Fear makes Egypt look appealing. Familiarity feels safer than faith. We cling to what we know instead of obeying what God is showing us.

When Something Is Not God-Approved

Lost. Confusion. Exhaustion. How do we move during times like this? We don’t want to return back to Egypt. We don’t want to return to slaves or revisit what God already freed from us! Does this make sense?

The truth is, we can form alliances that God never authorized even with good intention. I can say this with humility. I am paying a heavy price right now for doing exactly that.

We cling to familiarity instead of obedience. We lean on our own authority instead of praying, surrendering and trusting God to lead. It’s fear, it’s uncomfortable and sometimes, for me it’s been pressure to keep the peace which only led to no peace at all.

We have to ask the hard questions: Where is our faith? Who is our God? What are we worshiping?

Maybe the connections, the plan, the person… whatever it is… can feel so right in the moment. It might be full of lovey feelings that we get lost in. Money might be flowing. The opportunity might look perfect on paper, so we put our hope it this.

But if it’s not of God’s Spirit, eventually, you have to kiss that business, goodbye. Nothing these things will bring are going to bless you, if they are not of God. They will drag you to hell and don’t I know it.

There are ways of knowing when something in your life is not God approved.

1.You feel yourself pulling back instead of leaning in. Something feels off, but you continue to force it. Like Judah running back to Egypt, it becomes a bad cycle… a loop you can’t seem to break. The emotional toll is too heavy, and the same pain keeps replaying on repeat.

When you start shrink yourself. You doubt yourself and can’t focus. Praying becomes harder for you, and your spirit feel weighted down.

Understand this, God will not send you back to what He already saved from, a situation, or a place that pulls you away from Him.

2.There’s no peace… only confusion, relapse and the repeat of old patterns. There is no peace for someone who keep repeating the same bad behavior.

As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly. -Proverbs 26:11

God bring peace but a bad attachment brings nothing but confusion.

Ask yourself: Does this connection light you up or stir anxiety in you? If your gut tightens and stomach drops… listen to that warning. If every return feels like a relapse than that bad cycle needs to be removed.

3. God keeps exposing it, but you are making excuses for it. God will put His finger on the same issue, the same person, the same connection, or same path but you are explaining it away. You push forward, leaning on your own understanding, trying to make it work, even when He has tried to pull you out perhaps more than once.
And that is where this verse comes in:

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. – Isaiah 43:19

You can’t receive renewal from God while still tightly holding on the wasteland of the past. Yes, let it strengthen you, grow you but don’t live there. God wants to renew you in His glory, His peace, and in His Will.

Patterns Don’t Break Without Surrender

The tears keep coming. You have said all the words you can say and done all you know how to do. And the hardest part is this: You have been here many times before. These are patterns. Excuses are made, but changes never are. All that is left is exhaustion.

We cannot previse a new thing while holding on to what God already closed. Don’t be afraid to lose anything. Let it go. God is recusing you.

There may be connections that need to end. A person that was not approved. The plan that needs to be changed. Say Good-bye to it all.

These attachments were not God approved.

Obedience will always cost less than arrogances. Again, it bears repeating Egypt might look safer in the moment out of fear but that is bondage. God is not trying to take something from you to hurt us. He is our protector and He wants to protect what He placed inside us.

So, stop. Breathe. Pray. Ask for the Lord to release what He never approved for you. Too return what He saved you from. To return the blessing and deliverance. Ask God to do what only He can do. Help you make the hard break.

A Prayer

Father,

Search my heart, Lord. If I formed alliances, You never authorized, exposed them and clear them away. Give me the courage to release what You did not approve and the wisdom to discern what is not from You.

Lord, break patterns I keep excusing. Silence fear that drives me back to Egypt. Restore my peace, my clarity and strengthen my obedience in You.

I trust You more than familiarity. I trust You more than comfort. I trust You more than my own understanding.

Lord, lead me in Your Spirit, not in my fear and my comfort. I want to be where You want to go.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.

Woven in the Fabric

This writing …and this journey is rooted in Jesus, it’s not tidy but it’s always held by Him. What I share here is offered honestly, prayerful, and with trust that that He meets us in both seen and unseen, I am so thankful for it.

If something in my writings lingered with you, stirred curiosity, or brought quite reflection, your welcome to carry it forward, to sit with it, pray over it, or pass it gently along.

You’re always welcome to stay connected here through the blog, or find daily reminder threads of reflection, truth and grace on Instagram and Pinterest for as this journey keeps unfolding.

-Skelly 🙏🏼

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