This week has been all about two things: Praying and Planning.

Did you ever feel like "praying" felt a lot like "doing nothing." I have. Now it is true that I'm a minister, and I do know that prayer does something (usually to me and in me); but I have to confess that a lot of time it just felt like "doing nothing".

But praying is not "doing nothing". More than anything prayer is "becoming something". It makes us available to God. It allows Him to work in us. It provides Him access to our lives and aligns our hearts to His.

This has been an exciting week as you have joined me in prayer as I carved out time to pray and plan. We never know what the future holds, but God does. That's why we need to pray and plan. I've been a pastor now for 28 years. For the majority of those years, I've planned out up to a year in advance what to preach/teach. It is amazing how those plans are confirmed by having the right message at just the right time. It's not that I can see what is coming, but God guides and directs. I can't tell you the number of times that the exactly right message is scheduled for the precise need of the time.

That experience has confirmed this truth to me: God is honored by wise and careful planning. Have you ever known someone who didn't plan and used faith as their excuse for poor planning? "No, I don't know what is next, but God will provide and I'm going on faith!"

Now don't get me wrong here ... I am all for stepping out in faith. I'm all for attempting what seems impossible unless God shows up! That is faith! (see Hebrews 11:1).

But "faith" is never an excuse for poor planning. And I would also hasten to say that "good planning" is never an excuse to not take a step of faith. We need to do both.

Do you ever pray with your family calendar at hand? Do you look toward the days to come with a prayerful sense of availability to God? What is God planning for your life? It is so easy to get locked into a dull routine of monotony in which we shuffle through life like cattle. Is that what God really has for you?

Pray and plan. Allow God to confirm the plans of your heart-but begin in prayer.

Listen, in just a few weeks is Easter. The one time of the year when people are more inclined to attend church than any other day-what are you planning for that weekend? Some of those people you are praying for-might be inclined to join you in worship on that Sunday-if you pray and plan.

How about it?