The Perfect Business Plan- The Plan

"Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. " Joshua 1: 9b

God has a plan and a purpose for each one of us. His overall and primary plan is to  have a loving relationship with us that calls us to reconcile the world to Him. In the mist of that, is the day to day ideas and visions He gives us for the plan of the next day.  Our present is not based on the past, or, what may be going on in our culture today. But it is the glorious opportunity we may have to carry out a God given, God ordained idea and plan that He has counted us worthy to undertake.

Such is the purpose God has for Joshua. It is God's idea that Joshua has received. God has counted Joshua worthy for the task and has spiritually and mentally prepared him for this task. In verse 6 of chapter 1, God shares the vision with Joshua. He is to lead the people into the land God had promised to the generation before him. It is this vision that Joshua is to keep before him at all times. It is this vision that will enable Joshua and the people to remain strong and courageous in the mist of all the difficult circumstances that will come before them.

Several years back, I had the opportunity to meet a man who owned a manufacturing plant in Ohio. His company manufactured nuts and bolts, a fairly insignificant product on the surface. He relayed to us that at one point in his company's history, the moral of his employees had reached an all time low. Upon investigation of the situation, he learned that most of his employees felt what they were doing had little significance. Thee nuts and bolts actually went into the makings of an airplane. He explained to all the employees that the plane could not fly were it not for the nuts and bolts they produced. He then placed pictures of airplanes all over the production facility. It was that vision of the final product and the importance of each persons role, that inspired the entire company to reach great success.

Joshua starts to initiate the plan by first revealing the vision to his officers, which is his management team. Joshua then delegates to the management team the responsibility of going to all those under them and sharing the same vision. He also makes sure that everyone, including the entire company, has all they need to execute the plan. We not only need to be mentally and spiritually prepared to carry out a vision, but the plan must include all the necessary tools. We can be pumped from the mental preparation and excitement of the vision, but if we don't have the tools to carry it out, we will fail. Too many plans have failed for lack of information, knowhow, and proper funding for the project. We can have the want to, but not the how to.

But leaders can't lead unless those under them are willing to follow. Joshua reminds his people that this task is a God idea and plan. He then reminds them of the past victories and spiritual coaching God has given them. Joshua is able to pull his people together by convincing them of the idea that this is a team effort, with each tribe(department)  supporting the other until each department has accomplished their goal. The entire team then gave their pledge of loyalty to Joshua as the leader. They had their trust and confidence in Joshua because they knew he was not only capable, but also because they believed in the plan.

The next few words the people gave to Joshua should be what every leader desires of his team. Not only did the people give Joshua their loyalty, but they agreed to keep him in prayer and to stand with him against any opposition in the company. And finally, they rendered thir support by encouraging Joshua to be strong and courageous.

In chapter two, we see where Joshua made sure he had all the information on the project and that he knew the full situation before jumping in. It took time, but he was not willing to risk success for the expediency of getting the task completed. Time is a precious commodity, but it is nothing if we fail by acting without knowing all we should. Joshua was now ready to implement the plan.