God's Priority Over Our Personal Agendas

There’s something satisfying about accomplishing a goal you’ve worked hard to achieve. Whether it’s earning a degree, building a successful career, purchasing your first home, or reaching a level of financial independence, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to do well in life. And when you’ve had to overcome obstacles along the way, there’s an even greater appreciation for what you’ve accomplished. You can look back and thank Heavenly Father for bringing you through the things that once seemed impossible.

As single Christian women, we have opportunities to pursue our interests. We can develop our abilities and make decisions about the direction of our lives. And that’s a blessing we sometimes take for granted. Some women are focused on their careers, others are building businesses, and some are working toward financial security before considering marriage. We’re on the grind, making things happen, and that’s admirable in many ways. The concern arises when our personal ambitions begin taking priority over God’s Will for our lives. That’s when the grind can start taking more from us than it’s giving.

When Our Plans Become More Important Than God’s

We can become so determined to accomplish something that we make our plans, set our deadlines, and decide exactly how we want things to turn out. Then we pray and ask Heavenly Father to bless what we’ve already decided to do. But did we stop to ask whether those plans agree with His purpose?

Proverbs 19:21 (NLT) reminds us, “You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.” We can spend years working toward something we believe will make us happy, only to discover that we’ve been pursuing our own desires without giving much consideration to what God wants. And sometimes, that’s a difficult thing to admit. Especially when we’ve invested our time, money, and energy into something that means a lot to us. We may even recognize that the Holy Spirit is leading us in another direction, but we’re reluctant to let go because we’ve already decided what we want.

This is where surrender becomes more than something we talk about. It becomes a decision we have to make.

Can We Have It All?

The career, the home, financial stability, a loving husband, children, and a comfortable life. When our Lord and Savior talks about a more than abundant life in John 10:10, it’s easy to include all those things in our thoughts about the kind of life He’s made available to us. Can we have them all? Society tells us we can, and Heavenly Father may bless us with many of them. But the abundant life Jesus Christ spoke about isn’t measured by our possessions or personal accomplishments. We have to be careful about adopting the world’s definition of a successful life and making it the standard we use to measure our own.

A woman can have a successful career, a beautiful home, and plenty of money in the bank and still be spiritually immature. She can be admired for her accomplishments and still struggle with pride, selfishness, unforgiveness, or a refusal to surrender certain areas of her life to God.

Jesus Christ gives us a very different priority in Matthew 6:33 (NLT): “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

Notice that Jesus didn’t tell us to seek personal success above everything else. He instructed us to seek God’s Kingdom and live righteously. That means our relationship with Heavenly Father and our obedience to His Word must take precedence over the things we want to accomplish.

And we shouldn’t misunderstand His promise. Jesus wasn’t guaranteeing that every personal ambition would be fulfilled. He was teaching us to trust Heavenly Father to provide for our needs as we make His Kingdom our priority.

Don’t Confuse Personal Ambition With God’s Purpose

Sometimes we use the word purpose when we’re really talking about our personal goals. We might say that our purpose is to become a successful businesswoman, purchase property, or reach the top of our profession. Those may be worthwhile accomplishments, but they don’t necessarily define God’s purpose for our lives.

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) tells us, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” God’s purpose begins with our relationship with Jesus Christ. He wants us to become spiritually mature, develop His character, obey His Word, and accomplish the good works He has prepared for us. Our careers, talents, education, and resources can certainly be used in fulfilling that purpose, but they must remain surrendered to Him. He’s the One who determines our futures.

We should also recognize that being busy doesn’t necessarily mean we’re being fruitful. We can fill our schedules with activities, commitments, and personal projects while neglecting prayer and studying God’s Word and refusing to pay attention to the Holy Spirit’s leadership. We may be accomplishing plenty, but are we growing spiritually?

Sometimes, God leads us in another direction. It’s one thing to say that we trust His Will when everything is going according to our plans. It’s another thing when obedience requires us to change those plans.

What if Heavenly Father leads us to postpone something we’ve been looking forward to? What if He directs us to serve in an area that doesn’t bring recognition or financial reward? What if the opportunity we’ve worked so hard to obtain isn’t the direction He wants us to take?

Are we willing to obey Him?

We have to be careful not to become so attached to our plans that we resist the Holy Spirit’s leadership. There are times when obedience may require us to release something good because Heavenly Father has something different for us to do. That doesn’t mean we’ve failed, and it doesn’t mean the time we invested was wasted. It means we’re learning to trust His wisdom above our own understanding.

And we can’t overlook this important truth: God doesn’t have to explain every detail of His plans before we agree to obey Him. Our responsibility is to trust Him, remain faithful to His Word, and follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Marriage Shouldn’t Be Another Personal Achievement

For women who desire marriage, there’s another area where we need to examine our priorities.

Marriage isn’t something we should pursue simply because we’ve reached a certain age, accomplished our career goals, or decided that it’s time to move into the next phase of life. Neither should we view marriage as another achievement to add to our list of accomplishments.

Marriage is a serious covenant before God, and it requires spiritual maturity, selflessness, commitment, and a willingness to love according to His Word. If we’re unwilling to surrender our personal ambitions to Heavenly Father while we’re single, we shouldn’t assume that marriage will automatically make us more obedient or less self-centered.

And there’s something else we need to consider. Sometimes we become so focused on finding the right person that we neglect becoming the kind of person who is spiritually prepared for a godly marriage.

The work Heavenly Father is doing in us right now is very important. We shouldn’t postpone our spiritual growth until our relationship status changes.

Keep God’s Purpose First

There’s nothing wrong with setting goals, working hard, or enjoying the blessings Heavenly Father has given us. We should be responsible, diligent, and thankful for the opportunities He places before us. But none of these things should become more important than our relationship with Jesus Christ.

As we examine our lives, we need to ask ourselves whether we’re genuinely seeking God’s direction or simply asking Him to approve the plans we’ve already made. Are we willing to change direction when the Holy Spirit leads us? Are we giving as much attention to our spiritual growth as we give to our personal accomplishments?

We don’t have to abandon every dream or stop planning for the future. We do, however, need to keep our hearts surrendered to Heavenly Father and remain willing to follow His Will, even when it differs from what we had in mind.

A successful life isn’t just about accomplishing everything we set out to do. It’s about living in a way that pleases God and being faithful to what He has called us to do, even when our lives don’t turn out the way we expected. At the end of the day, what matters most is not how much we’ve accomplished, but whether we’ve lived in a way that honors the Lord. ■

“God’s Priority Over Our Personal Agendas”, written by Reverend Fran Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2026. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to encouraging and inspiring Christian Women to live boldly through God’s Word.