Good day brethrens, I hope we are all in good health. Few days ago, I shared a message on this topic and this is a continuation. I hope you are blessed by it.
Text: Nehemiah 2: 1-8
And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of
Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and
gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.
Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou
art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore
afraid,
And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my
countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth
waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed
to the God of heaven.
And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have
found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the
city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it.
And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long
shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to
send me; and I set him a time.
Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me
to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come
into Judah;
And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give
me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the
house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into.
And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.
Setting goals to achieve is a prelude to the realization of a dream and helps us to maintain a sense of purpose and focus. The earlier this habit is imbibed in one's life the better the chances of overcoming distractions in this challenging world. Planning is having the knowledge of what one intends to do, its importance and the strategies of how to do it. Such a strategy is a grand plan based on deep thinking or meditation with workable facts and figures. Organizing and planning activities for execution largely involves mental intelligence or the mind the ability to see a process and its product before they come. Dr. Spencer Lewis once said, “Thinking, planning and determination have enabled man to rise above obstacles.” Nehemiah readily comes to our minds signifying the importance of setting goal and pursuing its achievement with strategies. Nehemiah approached King Artaxerxes tactically, giving him the time his project will take, and obtained letters from him to relevant personalities needed to assist him in the execution of the job at hand. Nehemiah. 2:6-8.
Planning entails a process which works together with other intrapersonal habits in order to do the right things which makes us achieve a particular goal, as we can see in the life of Nehemiah. Ideas that come out from what we see beyond the obvious are brought to shape by connecting one loose end to the other through planning. A look at nature reveals that everything was created through detailed planning and for particular purposes, not by accident. God has planned everything out; it is left for each of us to figure the plan out as this can be seen in the lives of all achievers.