A new month of life has been offered to you, what will you do with it? What could you do with it? Oh, you could take photos that outlive you, you could create memories that surpass you, you could make shifts that change your entire future. You could … will you?

Just how much living will you do in this month of life? How much will you show up for and how much will you sit out on? You decide because it’s here for the taking.

God has done his part. He’s gone before you, he’s made a way, now his invitation is here for you to move forward. Step into the life available to you and start living up to your potential this month. Here it is, the opportunity of a lifetime is right in front of you.

What are your intentions for this month? How do you plan to live these days? Maybe after the kind of year you’re having you’re hesitant to even write goals because not a dang thing has gone as you planned so far. So what do you do? Stop making plans? Stop writing goals? Stop believing in the possibility for change? That’s an option, and a mighty popular one, but where’s the faith in that? It takes zero faith to lower your expectations and show up for life with no intentions. That’s not who God created you to be. He gave you desires in your heart to boldly chase after. He’s giving you the awareness of a need for change so you can get better and get in alignment with his best plans for you.

So here’s the plan for this month … we will seek God, we will make plans, we will surrender our plans, and we will praise him in advance.

1. SEEK GOD

Lord, we are here seeking you. What is it you want of me this month? Where do you want me to change? What do you want me to work on? What do you have available for me? How can I do better? Where have I been settling for less than you created me for? Where have I been playing little? Where have I been leaving you out? Where are my priorities out of alignment? Where do you want to take me and what is it you want me to do?

Jesus, you instruct us in Matthew 7:7 to ask, seek and try. You said “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.” Here we are asking. Here we are seeking. Here we are ready to try. Will you show us? Will you guide us? Will you help us?

We don’t want to waste this precious month of life in our futile worries and stresses. We don’t want to miss what you are offering in our busyness. We are here seeking you now.

2. MAKE PLANS

When you are given a gift, the giver of the gift wants you to use the gift. Enjoy it, otherwise it was a waste. Wouldn’t it make you sad to know the gift you took time picking out and spent your money on is just sitting in the box in someone’s closet now?

Well what about this gift God has given you here? The gift of 31 days in August. He wants you to USE this gift. Seize it. Savor it. Do something with it.

This month isn’t yours to just get through, it is yours to live. How will you live it? God’s gift to you is this brand spanking new month. How you live it is your gift to him. Go ahead and make plans to use it. Write down all the ways you will use your days. Create an outline for your hours and how you will fill them, enjoy them, and work with them.

Your goals are your written thank you letter to God. God, you have given me August, now here’s how I will use this gift. It will not sit in the box in my closet … nope, I’m using this for all it’s worth!

This is how we show our appreciation for what we’re given. We make a list of all the ways we’re going to use it, then we honor the giver of the gift by actually using the gift.

Use the gift of August to make the changes you need to make. Use the gift of August to get better. Use the gift of August to do things you’ve always wanted to do. Use the gift of August to create memories with the ones you love.

Make a list of how you will be using this gift … these are your goals. This is how you tell God you really love the gift … use it!

3. SURRENDER YOUR PLANS

God doesn’t love sitting on his throne wrecking your plans. He loves conspiring with you to do ridiculously good things. He loves partnering with you in the impossible. With his power, your surrender becomes an open door for greater plans.

This year I’ve discovered my favorite tool, they are the Pilot Frixon erasable gel pens. I’ve literally gone through over a dozen of them this year. You know why? Because most every plan I’ve made has been rescheduled, rearranged and revised. But I keep writing, now I just do them in erasable ink.

This is surrender. God, I’m still making plans. I’m still writing goals. My intentions are to use this gift in the following ways … however I surrender my good plans to your greater plans.

Remember Jeremiah 29: 11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Hey, he STILL KNOWS and his plans are STILL GOOD. That hasn’t changed this year. He’s still offering hope here. His plans to prosper you have not been cancelled.

Ephesians 3: 20-21 (MSG) “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.”

So God, here are our plans for this month. We are willing to work. We are here to get better. We want to live up to our potential. Now guide us with your Spirit in the best ways. We surrender our plans to you.

4. PRAISE HIM IN ADVANCE

There is power in your praise. Have you ever thanked God in advance for what he’ going to do? That takes faith.

Occasionally I will receive a message from someone who says “thank you in advance for responding to me.” You know what I will be sure to do … respond. It is their gratitude in advance that draws me in. I respond to gratitude.

God responds to our gratitude. Your praise unleashes his power.

Philipppians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

The key here is your gratitude. God, I don’t see the way now, but I don’t have to see the way before knowing you’re making the way. I don’t know when, but I know it will happen and I’m thanking you in advance for it.

God, we’re here to thank you for the opportunities you’re bringing our way this month. We’re grateful for the strength and energy you are going to provide. We’re thankful for the growth we will experience here. We’re excited about your blessings and your provision. We’re expectant of your power. Thank you in advance for an amazing month of life. A month of changes and breakthroughs. A month of adventures and memories. A month of work, progress and growth.

You have a great big powerful God who loves you wildly and he’s given you a beautiful gift. What will you do with it? Write your goals, make your plans, just make sure they’re in erasable ink.