Ain’t No Such Thing As Plan B

Before you grammar buffs get your feathers all ruffled because the title has a double negative and uses the word ain’t, let me tell you that it is intentional. The intent is to create that same cringe in you as I feel when I hear a fingernail scratch against the chalkboard or the drill in the dentist’s office. Just writing these examples down makes my stomach tighten up with dread.

I believe that God has this same type of reaction when we begin drafting Plan B. Plan B is contrary to the nature of God. Plan B is a man made philosophy.

My work is in the world of Information Technology (IT). Our customers come to us with business problems they need solved. At times they may have an existing system that needs to be enhanced to solve their problem. Other times they have a need which necessitates building a new application solution.

Once the business has come to IT with a problem and ask for our help in providing a solution, the most important phase of the project begins; the gathering and documentation of business requirements. You may be wondering why this is the most important phase. The answer is clear, concise and accurate business requirements reduce the overall cost of the project and eventual maintenance of the solution. IT departments on average spend approximately 75% of their budget on rework and maintenance. Much of this cost can be attributed to insufficient business requirements at the beginning of a project.

Now it’s up to the IT department to take the business requirements and create the solution. On time, on budget are the buzzwords we IT professionals preach to our staff. Our credibility and marketability is tied to being able to bring development projects in “on time, on budget”. This means that the estimates we gave the business at the beginning of the project were accurate. We delivered the solution in the time frame and within the cost estimates we provided.

With that being said, many of us practice contingency planning. What will we do if we get to crunch time and we don’t have enough resources? What will we do if we have problems with infrastructure or hardware? Will we be able to recover and still deliver on time and on budget? In other words, we try to come up with Plan B in case Plan A is not possible.

The practice of creating Plan B options is not Biblical. God never has a Plan B. If He did then he wouldn’t be God. If He did, then the Word of God would not be true.

Let’s look at Romans 11:29 from various translations.

King James Version - “For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance.”

New King James Version - “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

Contemporary English Version – “God doesn’t take back the gifts he has given or forget about the people he has chosen.”

Simply put, God doesn’t change his mind. God doesn’t do contingency planning. God doesn’t have Plan B. In the IT world, God would be on time and on budget 100% of the time! Who wouldn’t want to work for a company with a reputation like that!

I hear some of you right now saying, that’s only one scripture. You can’t build a theory out of one scripture. You’re absolutely right. Let’s look at a few more.

Romans 9:20 (KJV) “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?”

Romans 9:20 (NKJV) “But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?

Psalm 139:13 (NKJV) “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.

Isaiah 44:21 (NJKV) “Remember these, O Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me!”

Let me ask you, friend, when did you give up on God’s plan? What occurred that caused you to doubt God’s plan for your life? When did you begin creating Plan B? Are you beginning to doubt your abilities, your desires, and your dreams? Are you wondering when the promises of God are ever going to come true in your life or in your church? Are you thinking that you better start creating Plan B so that you can at least see part of these things that you are able to make happen yourself occur?

Let’s examine a couple of situations from the Bible where people tried Plan B.

Abraham created Plan B because he did not wait on God to deliver on this promise of a son to carry on his name. That one decision has led to an international crisis between the Israelis and the Palestinians which affects us even today.

Saul could not wait on the man of God to come and offer the sacrifice on the altar; performing a role that was not his. His plan resulted in the loss of the monarchy to another man who, even though he had many failings, was considered a man after God’s own heart.

If you buy into the concept of Plan B, then you are in effect telling God that his plan for your life is flawed. God is the same yesterday, today and forever! God never changes! If God said it, we can believe it. If God gave you a dream, then he is well able to bring that plan to pass in your life.

Do you really believe that God can’t work through you because you committed some sin in your past? If so, then you truly do not know the forgiveness of God and understand the freedom of true repentance.

Do you think that because you are not able to use flowery words and create great oratories that you’ll never see your church grow? Then you must not believe that God used Moses to bring approximately six million people out of Egypt.

Do you think that because you are a woman that God cannot use you? Then you do not know about Deborah, the prophetess, which led the people during the time of the judges to victory over the armies of Sisera.

Do you think that because you are a young person and don’t have a lot of experience that God cannot use you right now, today? Then you’ve never heard the story of the boy named David, who believed that with God’s help he could kill a 9-foot giant that had all the armies of Israel cowering in caves just by the sound of his voice.

Friend, God wants you to go back to Plan A; His plan for your life. He gave you those promises and dreams. The things that you have gone through are ordained of God to bring you to this place, this time, this very hour! They have happened to you in order to form you into the person that God can use.

God couldn’t use Moses when he was in the king’s house. But after the desert experience, Moses was ready to lead! God couldn’t use Peter’s enthusiasm in the Garden of Gethsemane when he tried to defend the Lord. But after his denial of Christ and his repentance, God took that enthusiasm and used it to convince 3,000 on the day of Pentecost that the Holy Ghost was genuine and it changed their lives.

You are right where God wants you. It is now time to awake and see the glory of God fulfilled in your life. Now is not the time to waver and believe that letting down, or backing up and reconsidering, or tweaking the plan will bring it to pass. Don’t fall for that worldly philosophy. It’s a lie! Quit trying to figure out the how or the why. Let God direct your paths.

We’ve got to return to the old paths; the paths of our forefathers. What did Peter and John do that caused them to be so confident that they could tell the man at the gate to “take up his bed and walk”? What was so powerful about Peter that when he walked by and his shadow passed over people that they were healed? What did they do that caused men like John Wesley to walk through a factory and men and women repented? What was the outreach plan or program being used during the times that we hear recounted to us by our forefathers when men and women walked in drunk off the street, ran to an altar, repented of their sins and were filled with the Holy Ghost and walked out completely sober? Times when they were walking by a house and they felt to knock on the door and tell the person that God loves them and found out that person was just about to commit suicide and cried out to God for a sign that he still loved them?

That’s just it. It’s not a program. It’s living in the realm of the supernatural. It’s living the Word of God out in our daily lives. It’s Plan A. God’s original design and plan for mankind. What does it require? The requirement is to have a relationship with God. We must be in his Word. We must be talking to Him. We must be listening to Him. We must be asking for direction. We must be sensitive to His voice. We cannot have this type of ministry without the relationship. Relationships take time. Getting to know someone and recognizing the sound of their voice takes time. If we are to hear from God, then we must spend time in his word. We must spend time around people that know him. We must spend time talking with God. We must spend time listening to God.

I heard that. You just said that this type of relationship takes time and you have very little of that to spare. Between working your job and keeping your family going and all your church responsibilities, you have very little time to just sit around reading and listening. Really? Then would I be correct to say that you haven’t planned any birthday parties, family vacations, get togethers with your friends or family, or that mini-vacation with your spouse? I’m pretty sure your answer is no. You did some or many of these things this year. My point is not to stop doing those things, but to get real. You have time to do the things that are important to you.

Our problem is that we really do not value the things of God so we don’t make time for them. The things that will bring revival to this world today require that we commit time and effort to our relationship with God. Revival will not come to us, to our people, or to our communities without making the time to get to know God. There is no program to follow. There is the Word of God. Perhaps we don’t have the 12 stones taken from the Jordon River such as the Israelite's did, but we have the examples of our forefathers who lived before us to give us direction. Yes, our world has changed. Yes, the challenges that face us today are different than those of our forefathers. And, yes, you can argue that the same methods of evangelism may need to be adapted to reach our world. I won’t argue with that.

What I can say though is that the preparation for ministry has not changed. You must read and study the Word of God. You must pray and fast and learn to hear the voice of God. You must sacrifice your own desires and thoughts to those of God. You must allow God to direct your paths. You must die daily to your selfish desires. You must resist the temptation to follow the other man’s plans because they are working for him. You must resist the temptation to let down a little because “times have changed”.

You cannot expect to be used in the supernatural without building a relationship with the supernatural God we serve. Plan A is still the only plan that will work in your life. Oh, Plan B may have some benefits and results. But Plan A is God’s plan.

Remember God’s gifts and plans are without repentance. He chose you. He gave to you the gifts you have. He expects you to use them.

Someone is saying, yeah, but……I sinned and therefore I can no longer be used in that gift. Really? Who said that, God? I hear the Word telling me that God restores all that Satan has taken from us. I remember the Word of God telling me that God gives His gifts without taking them back. He’s not like the child that gives you something so you’ll be his friend and then takes it back because he no longer likes you. That’s stinking human logic. God gives his gifts and calling without taking it back. His is Plan A. The original! The only plan that brings true satisfaction and fulfillment in your life.

Ain’t no such thing as Plan B in the world that God created!! Take back what the devil has stolen from you! Stand of the Word of God. God has given us the authority, the gifts, the calling to execute Plan A. Begin today to build that relationship with God and execute Plan A!

Proverbs 19:21 “There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel – that will stand.” (NKJV)