Thursday, January 16, 2014

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."  Jeremiah 29:11

When I read this scripture, I hear the voice of God.  It's promise has carried me through the deepest valleys of my life.  Our God has plans for us. It doesn't matter what has happened in the past or what we are in the of...His plan is one of hope and holds the future....

Often in my life I have felt that whatever muck I was stuck in was all that there was for me.  The same issues, the same situations, the same for my future as was in my past...things would never get better. I often wondered, why!? Why was I always doomed to live this way, what had I done to be punished.  When others around me were getting blessings and success. 

It was then that I find myself looking at Jeremiah 29:11...a reminder that he is in charge, that his plans for to prosper me, not to hurt me, plans that promise a hope and a future. So I held on...clinging to that promise.  

One day I was reading on and discovered a nugget of truth that I had conveniently missed before. 

 "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you" declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity....." Jeremiah 29:12-14

Did you see what I missed for way too long? 
I have to call upon him, come to him and pray...he will listen to me.
I have to seek him with all my heart...I will find him. 
When I find him...he will bring my out of the captivity that I am living in..

I have discovered the truth of surrender..it is only when I surrender myself to God, when I humble myself to call upon His name and pray that I find him when I look with all of my heart.  I can't give him half of me or half of my situation. I have to surrender all of myself and all of my situation..

In this scripture Jeremiah was talking to the captives in Babylon, giving them the word from God.He a plan for them and after a time he told them that he was going to give them a new beginning and a new purpose. Just like for the people in Babylon, God used my time in unpleasant circumstances to prepare me for the blessings that he was going to give me in his time with his purpose.  

Are you experiencing a time of hopelessness or frustration? Take Jeremiah 29:11-14 to heart and see what he does with your obedience. 


3 comments:

  1. This is also one of my favorite verses!! Thank you for sharing your thoughts, excited to have you join us!!

    Kris Danko (OBS Blog Hop Team)

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  2. A great companion to these verses for me has been Joel 2:25

    New International Version (NIV)

    25 “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—

    Sometimes I have been angry at God for leaving me in a place I didn't like for too long. After 4 years of Celebrate Recovery (for perfectionism, approval seeking and co-dependency- taking care of everyone else before me), I know God had a purpose for those times. I had to go through those times again and again because I wasn't willing to learn the lessons the easy way! As I look back over some of those times, Joel gives me comfort. I now longer have regrets and chastise myself for not being perfect! God will repay me! I look forward to that!

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