When you tell the Lord your plans, does he laugh, or does he consider them?  

One time when on a walk, I was talking to the Lord about some new life plans I had been scheming up, and the Holy Spirit brought this verse to mind:

“…God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus…”

Right then, I imagined myself sitting in a chair next to the Lord. I was in his inner council as if I was to simply lean over and say, “But Lord, have you considered this?”

I stopped walking, thought for a moment, and then said out loud something like, “Any plans I come up with are really your plans.” And then he fired back, “No, YOU came up with them!”

I was giving the Lord my counsel. How preposterous! The Lord was reminding me that I was leading the plans.

“A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.” 

Are you the Lord’s friend?

Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I say.” Doesn’t sound like a friend… 

Jesus was not only creating a boss/worker relationship with his disciples, he was also exhorting his boys to step up and share in the work of the Lord together, as equals, for even he does not work for himself, but for his Father.  

Friendship must share something. To be a friend with Jesus, you must do what he says and then you will share in his great work, his easy yoke, and his overwhelming joy. We get to ‘run together’ with Jesus as his friend. 

Did the first disciples still serve Jesus as LORD? Of course, but I believe Jesus’ ultimate desire is friendship. And this relationship “clicks over” from servant to friend when our thinking begins to be like his, when our motives are transformed to seeking his kingdom first.

When you do what Jesus says, you automatically start thinking like him too. Like with any job, you naturally begin to understand and care more about why you are doing what you are doing, even when you are just following simple orders. It’s on the job training. 

To take it one step further, I believe to counsel the Lord you must be Seated. 

Almost always when I pray, I may bow down, or sit on the ground, or even sit criss-cross applesauce – all well below the Great Master.  But this is not the same as being Seated.

To be seated, you must see yourself sitting alongside the Lord (in a Chair) in his great council.  You are war planning with the Lord, strategizing with Lord, and dreaming with the Lord.

This is a planning type of prayer, an altogether different type of prayer.

Planning prayer can be for anything: small day-to-day things or large, nation-changing dreams. But this type of prayer is night-and-day different from the daily “filling back up at the Lord’s feet” type of prayer.

While we don’t get to pursue every idea we propose to the Lord, it does mean we get to go after the Yes’s. Even with ever maturing motives, our hearts will always require guidance and correction. Still Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another.” 

“Love one another” could mean an infinite number of things. And the ultimate answer is Yes.

Bill Johnson says it best:  getting into the Kingdom is very narrow, but once you’re in, it’s wide pastures. We got into the kingdom only through the one gate – Jesus – and no other way. But once you see the kingdom and are within the kingdom, love is the new command.

Love means go out and do as Jesus did and create, propose and pursue your new and creative “love plans” for the father. Plans to help, to serve, and to expand his kingdom!