What is the difference between a “good idea” and a “God idea”? For one thing, a God idea originates from Him. It is inspired by Him and has the potential for taking you to a different place than where you are currently. All of us have had good ideas that upon acting them out and reflecting back, realize that maybe they weren’t such good ideas after all.

I am tired of making decisions based upon something an idea that I have not even been asking the Lord about. I need to see if He may have inspired my thoughts or whether it was from my own soulish desires that may have had impure motives or an improper perspective.

I think a God idea is not only to bless you but also others. I have been listening to a few people who understood that they had been given a God idea. It wasn’t necessarily easy to see that idea come to fruition and did not happen without them pressing in to it. But the results were tangible and in some cases profoundly impactful for the direction of their future as well as the opportunity to be a blessing to many others. These ideas originate from heaven! From our loving heavenly Father who wants to bless us and mankind.

“My thoughts are completely different than yours,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

God thoughts or ideas will line up with the Word of God. They will reflect the nature and character of God. As you continue to renew your mind to think like the Lord thinks, He will begin to drop God ideas into your mind. They can be very simple ideas or they can be seeds that will one day grow into something that could bless many people. Witty inventions, new business concepts, humanitarian efforts — I think “the sky is the limit”!

I have to say I think I have had more good ideas than God ideas. Some of the good ideas were okay but several of them really took me down a path of regrets. Once you start down a path that is not a God idea, you may have to circle back (repent) and even repair the damage done by (in my case) being presumptuous. Thank God, He is merciful and kind and in my case helped me to get back on the right path He had been leading me down. It was costly but I learned some good lessons that I hope have instructed me and enlightened me so that I would not make those mistakes again. Not all of my “higher education” came from the university I attended!

I was thinking about some of the examples I used in last week’s column concerning the different kinds of warfare that the Lord used with the children of Israel that were very unconventional. I was applying that to our spiritual warfare insights that the Lord gives us in our times of prayer and intercession. Most of us pray from our intellect and understanding a majority of the time. We have learned that praying and declaring scripture over our situations may add an extra dynamic of spiritual authority. Praying “in the Spirit” or from our spirit man, where Holy Spirit resides, can also add potency to our prayers. Praying from heaven’s perspectives gives us God results.

The same can be true when He gives us a God idea. I think that we could apply these tools mentioned above to direct our thoughts for any endeavor we may be seeking the Lord on. If you are seeking the Lord for direction in any area — God ideas are so much better than any of our good ideas could ever be!

There are God ideas and there are also God instructions. Someone once said “you are currently moving at the speed of your obedience.” Obedience is a choice and when the Lord gives you His instructions, obeying Him is the only option for being blessed. God instructions are certainly an invitation from Him to move into a higher or better place. Sometimes a simple (or not so simple) act of obedience can change everything. Some of His instructions are actually conditional — if you do this, then He will do what He promised. Thank God for His unconditional promises to us. We are a blessed people because of what He has already provided for us.

A few years ago I was driving back from a day-long conference with a good friend. One of the speakers was an author who shared about his most recent project, which was a novel on spiritual warfare. I went up to him to ask a few questions and he gave me a copy of the book. On the way home we were discussing his focus on dealing with our enemy who always gets too much attention in my opinion. I said “someone needs to write a book on spiritual warfare from the place of intimacy with the Lord.” The Holy Spirit flooded the car, bearing witness with both of us, that this was a “God idea” – one that He liked and wanted to see happen. My friend and I looked at each other and she said, “I think you are supposed to write that book.” 

I had no experience or desire to write a novel and certainly didn’t think that was a “good” idea at all. However, after arriving home and praying about it, the Lord made it very plain to me that He did want me to do just that. It was a “God” idea and He gave me the ability to write it where the Lord was definitely the focus and intimacy was the weapon of warfare He used to illustrate a different type of prayer and intercession. It was published originally by a national publishing company and I am about ready to do a second edition, self-publishing it this time.

I don’t know about you, but it is my desire to please the Lord in all the ways that He wants to manifest Himself both in and through me. Waiting upon Him, seeking Him for His ideas and instructions should be something that each of us aspires to do.