STEP TEN

Ask About Your Father’s Plans

Now, we don’t mean here that you ask God to tell your future in detail. God doesn’t tell us about our future in full. Here’s what we mean.

As God’s child, you belong to his family, his kingdom, and he has put his own Spirit inside of you. We often refer to Jesus as our Lord, and that’s true. He is the chosen King in the Kingdom of our Father. He is our older Brother. But the passage in this lesson tells us, in Jesus’ own words, that we are also his friends. He loves to tell us what the Father and he are up to in God’s kingdom, and his Spirit prompts us to do acts of love that reflect the nature of our Father and Brother.

God wants us to play a part—to bear much fruit—as Jesus says. And Jesus welcomes us to ask him for whatever we need to play the part God has given us in his kingdom. In the Bible, God has shared with us the plans for his kingdom, his hopes for the world, and his desires for our lives.

With all that has gone on in your family, it might be really hard to think about the future at all.

But God has given you a special gift. His Holy Spirit can help you see reality, even the future, through the lens of trust in God and hope in Christ (1 Corinthians 2:9-15). He can give you vision—desires for the future that match his desires for you. Your future is not defined by what has happened in your family. Your future is held in the hands of a Heavenly Father who wants to see you grow to be more and more like your wonderful Brother, Jesus Christ.

Your Father has a purpose for you, he has great love for you, and he has promised to never leave or forsake you. You have the rest of your life to get to know your Heavenly Father—this is only the beginning of your adventure, your reality.

It’s time you two talk about what kind of plans he has for you and who he wants you to be.

BIBLE STUDY

Psalm 143:8

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.

(New International Version)

John 15:14-16

“You are my friends if you do what I [Jesus] command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.”

(New International Version)

ACTION STEP

Take Step Ten

1. Spend some intentional time this week, asking God to help you understand more of his Word.
2. Ask him to lead you into his plan for you and give you a willing joyful heart to fulfill his purposes.
3. Ask him to put his desires for your life in your heart, and to make them become your desires.