The answer is planning. "Plan the work and work the plan" is a fairly simple concept, yet very few know how to achieve this. It has been called a number of things, but we'll call it "strategic planning" for the sake of this article.
In any organization (i.e. company, church, family, government, etc.) it is imperative that the members of the organization be in alignment with the leadership. It is also imperative that these goals and objectives be successfully communicated by the leadership to the membership. If these goals and objectives have been effectively communicated, the division managers within the company had better ensure that their division's work (projects and operational activities) are aligned with those directives or their division will cease to be funded or the manager fired.
In all of the organizations listed above, God has established clear goals and objectives for each. They each have specific, unique purpose and jurisdiction, and it is incumbent on each individual to ensure that they are in alignment with these God given "policies and procedures." Whenever we recognize a lack of alignment, it is the responsibility of each individual to assess the alignment gap and create a strategy for getting back under the established guidelines.
While there are many methodologies for strategic planning, you can boil them down to four simple questions:
- Where do I want to be?
- Where am I now?
- How am I going to get there?
- How am I going to know when I've arrived?
To illustrate how you can use these questions to lay out an actionable plan for yourself, here are sample responses to the strategic planning questions. The answers below are hypothetical and should be replaced with the answers that are on your heart and mind. Remember to answer the questions by providing statements of alignment. In the case below, referring to scriptural mandates within the responses provides the necessary alignment to Biblical directives.
Where do I want to be?
1 Thessalonians 5:17-18 says I should "Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Within one year's time, I want to have a vibrant prayer life where I talk to the Lord about everything, no matter how small.
Where am I now?
My prayer life is often limited to giving thanks at meal times, but I often forget to take issues at work to the Lord. I often become frustrated or upset when things aren't going my way, rather than believing that Jesus Christ is in control of all things. Hebrews 2:8 says, "Thou hast put all things in subjection under his [Jesus] feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him."
How am I going to get there?
- During the next two month, I am going to research every place in scripture that speaks about prayer, document my findings, and share it with my accountability partner.
- After researching, I am going to keep a daily prayer journal which I will keep beside my bed. Each night I will make an entry of the things I have brought before the Lord that day and any answers that He had given.
- Once a month, I will bring the prayer journal to my accountability partner and demonstrate that I am following up on my commitment.
At the end of one year, I will be able to measure the results by looking back through the journal and identifying those items in which the Lord provided an answer, and those on which I am still seeking the Lord's guidance. Since there are 365 days in a year, I will count the number of days which I recorded an entry and divide by 365. If I only have 200 entries, then 200 divided by 365 is 54.7%. My goal is to achieve an 80% score or better.
If you have any questions or comments, or are having trouble turning your answers into actionable steps, feel free to contact me.
