Rick Warren on Facing Your Future

How to Face your Future By Rick Warren

"Decide to make the most of each moment this year."

No matter what the pollsters, pundits, and prognosticators claim, no one
  can accurately predict all that is going to happen in the next 365 days.
  Our best forecasts are just educated guesses.

Changes in our society have not only increased in speed and intensity,
  but also in their unpredictability. Doing business in this environment is
  what Michael Annison calls "Managing the Whirlwind."

How can anyone — including ministers — succeed when the future is so
  uncertain?

The Bible suggests three timeless principles for facing your future:

• Include God in your goal-setting. Frankly, it's dumb to make plans without
    consulting God first. He's the only one who DOES know the future — and
    he's eager to guide you through it. The Bible says, "We may make our plans, but God has the last word" (Proverbs
    16:1, TEV). In other words, planning without praying is presumption. Start
    by praying, "God, what do YOU want me to do in 2005?"

• Live one day at a time. While you can plan for tomorrow, you can't live
    it until it arrives. Most people spend so much time regretting the past
    and worrying about the future, they have no time to enjoy today! The songwriter John Lennon once wrote, "Life is what happens to you
    while you’re busy making other plans." Decide to make the most
    of each moment this year. Jesus said, "… don't be anxious about
    tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time" (Matthew
    6:34, LB).

• Don’t procrastinate — do it now! "Do not boast about tomorrow,
    For you do not know what a day may bring forth." (Proverbs 27:1, NAS) Procrastinating is a subtle trap. It wastes today by postponing things
    until tomorrow. You promise yourself that you'll do it "one of these
    days." But "one of these days" is usually "none of these
    days."

What did you plan to get done last year that you didn't do? When do you intend to start working on it? “‘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, NIV) 

Have a happy and fruitful New Year!

Take a spiritual inventory of your life. Click HERE and take
  the Purpose Driven Life spiritual health assessment.

©Copyright 2004 Rick Warren