Many people do not realize that the Almighty God is a strategist and a God of order. This divine character is evident in the story of creation itself. The orderliness and sequence of the project of creation can only have come from the mind of a master strategist. The light came first, then the firmament, then the gathering together of the waters and the appearance of dry land, followed by the vegetation upon which animals would feed, before the animals themselves were created (Genesis 1:1-13). Everything was in place before man was created. What a wonderful God we serve! No wonder the Psalmist in Psalm 53:1a says:
“The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.”

In Luke 14:28, the Lord Jesus Christ shared with us the divine wisdom embedded in strategic planning. It takes strategic planning for anyone to succeed in life, and the good news is that the greatest strategist is our Father in heaven. The ability to strategize wisely is therefore available to us when we give our lives to God through Jesus Christ. Irrespective of how disjointed you may appear to be as a person, as a born-again Christian, you are a partaker of the divine nature of God, and so you are a strategic planner by nature (2nd Peter 1:4). You need to understand this truth and begin to apply it to your reality.

Nehemiah was one strategic builder. Through strategic planning, he was able to do what seemed to be humanly impossible. Though very passionate and driven about his mission to rebuild the house of God and the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah was not presumptuous in the zeal. His strategy was built on the foundation of first seeking divine guidance through prayer and fasting (Nehemiah 1:4). Some children of God, maybe due to unrealised hidden pride, would not pray like Nehemiah did to find mercy in the sight of the king (Nehemiah 1:11). To succeed in life, we need the favour of God to be manifested in the attitude of men towards us. No wonder Luke 2:52 says:
“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”
The good news is that even though human beings are complex and unpredictable, they are still under the control of their Maker. Establishing this truth in Proverbs 21:1, the Holy Spirit says:
“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.”
Nehemiah strategically presented his case before the king, and because he had presented his case to the Lord before going to the king, he got what he wanted: leave of absence, authority to build, the materials for the project and security in the course of building. The project would have ended in failure if any of these variables was missing. Beloved, be strategic in the planning of your life under the guidance of the Holy Trinity.
Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.