Living with a God-Driven Strategic Plan
Holistic introspection makes it easier to take care of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
I used to believe it was unnecessary to have a five-year plan because I wanted to live open-handed, trust God, and be where He wants me to be. That worked until I had a team of 20 people and a massive organization to lead. Even in my personal life, I needed a plan because I have four kids that are growing older.
Many Christians share this belief. Sometimes we worry that having plans means we’re manipulating God’s will. But Pete Richardson changed my view on life planning. He helps individuals and organizations plan strategically. During our conversation on the ‘Made For This’ podcast, Pete shared over 30 years’ worth of strategic planning wisdom.
The importance of holistic introspection when planning
Any sustainable change begins with dreams, a prayer, and a plan. This is not always easy, but it starts with holistic introspection. The next step is laying out a structure for your daily life. Holistic introspection makes it easier to take care of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
Figure out what you need to do on a daily, weekly, or monthly rhythm to put life and energy into your body, mind, emotions, and spirit.
Exhaustion and burnout are often caused by the depletion of energy. Therefore, we must find ways to recharge that energy.
This ensures that we have enough good energy to give to relationships, productive energy to give to projects, and creative energy to give to the things that fill our hearts.
Energy management for the soul
Energy management is especially important when you’re going into an intense season. Find a daily or weekly activity that could restore energy to your body and soul. Because our health is interconnected, taking care of one aspect trickles down to your overall wellbeing. So, where do you start?
First, get moving.
This doesn’t mean running 10 miles a day. Find any physical activity that’s suitable for your circumstances. Not only will this benefit your physical health, but it will also impact your mental and spiritual health. Even better, listen to podcasts or audiobooks while working out so you can put life into your body, mind, and spirit at the same time.
Next, practice solitude.
Take a few minutes out of your morning to journal. Write a prayer, letters to yourself or loved ones, or reflect on scripture. Morning solitude is a life-giving practice. Pete does this four times a week in combination with reading scripture, meditation, and silent prayer. You can add a book to your mornings or find other activities you can control that put life into you.
When you’re fulfilled in your life, you’ll be able to pour life into others around you.
There’s no pressure to do this every day. You may be a parent with multiple toddlers, which makes solitude nearly impossible. Start by carving out as little as 10 minutes for yourself each week. You can do this before the kids wake up or after they go to bed. Find a time that works for you, even if your schedule feels overwhelming. Be intentional about prioritizing time for solitude.
The Theology Around Planning
You may be a fellow Christian who sees no need for a plan because you listen to God's Spirit and do what He says. Granted, God is the ultimate strategic planner, and strategy is a very biblical concept.
Strategy is thinking about tomorrow, today. Even scripture tells us that where there's no vision, people perish. God created us to go and create the future. So, you have to set things in motion today if you want to get some work done tomorrow.
We do our best to plan and create the future, and then keep in step with God and allow Him to direct and edit our plans accordingly.
He's created us to think forward and walk with Him. Plans come from deep in our God-created spiritual hearts.
Dealing With the Fear That Comes With Dreaming and Planning
You may be in a place where you don’t see the future. You might not even know what you’re good at or have a lot of clarity on what it means to dream. Therefore, you might shut down. Sometimes, the dreams we have can scare us so much that we don’t even try to reach them.
If fear is whispering its cold, chilly voice inside your inner ear, you're probably on to something.
Many times, fear can point the way and validate what God is nudging you to do. And the only way to discover that is by moving towards that fear and through it. Fear never comes from God or your friend. It's always coming from the opposition to God's call on your life.
So, How Do You Discover God's
Call in Your Life?
No matter what season you’re in, you have God-given gifts and talents. Part of the discovery is identifying the talents you were born with. Over time, you must cultivate those gifts because neglected talent stagnates.
Once you’ve discovered your God-given talent, you've got to discern where He’s moving you to apply that talent. And this may look different for every one of us. We find our greatest joy when we’re using our God-given gifts in a meaningful way, usually to benefit others.
Involving The Spirit in Your
Strategic Planning
Whatever your life plan is, always ask for God’s input first.
There's something that happens in the human heart when we open ourselves up to receive the creative ways God engages us in our world. So, always bring what you're thinking to God.
Paul said we can only be really free if we surrender. Surrender by letting go of things God didn't create you to control and trusting Him with those things. As you're inquiring about God and moving forward towards that fear, life begins to open up. You begin to keep in step with God's presence in your life. You start to have a vision for the future.
Frame your vision within the constraints of the season you’re in and begin to move in that direction. The vision will pull you towards it. That's the power of God-given vision. So, if you have a vision for something, you've got to bring that into dialogue with the Lord, and then begin to move in that direction. Over time, what you envision will become your reality.
Strategic planning is both about practical strategy and dependence on the Spirit.
Create your God-driven life plan today. Write down the things you want to do within the next 5 years, work towards those goals, pray, and trust God with your vision.
This is only a snippet of our chat with Pete, but you can listen to the full episode at the top of this page. We’re always trying to find creative ways to connect with you, so, we've set up a text message system where we can chat. Text “podcast” to 214-225-6267 to connect with us.
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