Day 4 - Week 35 - Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future."

"I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord.

God knows His plans for us, we don't.  God chooses, in His sovereignty, not to disclose His plans for our lives to us ahead of time.  Instead, He asks us to trust Him, and His plans, telling us that they are good plans, plans that we can put our hope in.

All of the verses that we have studied so far should be building in us a clearer picture of God. 

• We have seen that He is the God of creation---His plan for a place of existence that is completely sustaining for us. 
• He is the God of salvation---His plan for redeeming mankind and restoring us to relationship with Him. 
• He is the God of the written word---His plan for transmitting His message to us, a message of love and of hope. 
• He is the God of prayer---His plan for communicating with us throughout this life.
• He is the God of assurance---His plan for taking away our doubts and fears
• He is a God worthy of praise---His plan for revealing to us His majesty and glory
• He is a God of promise---His plan for guaranteeing to those who believe in Him their eternal future

God has great plans, doesn't he?  Never doubt that God does have a plan, He has many plans.  They are all good and all working toward good things for our future.  And He has a plan for you and for me, individually.  We can choose to trust and obey Him and live within His plan for us, or we can strike out on our own, abandoning His plan and living our lives according to our own plans.  But when you stop and think about it, who is that can see beginning to end, and who is that can only see to the end of their nose?  Who is able to make a better plan?  Who is wiser, the Creator of the Universe, or me or you, with limited intelligence? 

I think I will choose to live by the plan of my Father who loved me so much that He planned for His Son to come to earth, teach me His ways, take my sins to the cross, bear the punishment that I deserved, rise from the dead showing His power over death, and ascend again to sit at His right hand waiting for the day to return to earth to gather His own!

Now that's a plan!

Day 3 - Week 35 - 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."

Context is very important to us when we study Scripture.  Robert J. Morgan gives us a good summary of the context of Jeremiah that aids in our full understanding of this week's verse. 

Jeremiah 29 is a letter Jeremiah sent to displaced Jewish captives who'd been dragged from their homes and resettled in refugee camps in Babylon.  Other prophets were claiming God would perform a miracle and deliver the nation of Judah as He'd done in the past.  Jeremiah's message was the opposite, saying in effect: "The Lord will not save us this time.  Our sins have so alienated us from Him that only judgment is left.  And yet even the judgment of God is merciful.  It may take seventy years, but God will reestablish our nation, and His ultimate plans are undeterred.  His purposes are stubborn things and will win in the end."  It's in this context we find verse 11.  

Morgan also includes a very insightful quote from Warren Wiersbe...

Verse 11 is a powerful promise to claim when you are "in exile."  God thinks about you personally and is planning for you...You need not fear the future."

How much of our time do we spend fearing the future?  The "what ifs?" can become overwhelming when we let them.  But we need to remember that if we are trusting in God for our eternal salvation, then surely we can trust Him with our earthly futures as well.

I find it interesting that God feels compelled to include the reassurance to His people that His plans are not plans to harm them.  Remember that the people of Israel are currently in exile in Babylon....it would be easy for them to think that God's plans hadn't turned out all that well for them.  But God is telling them that where they currently find themselves is not His ultimate and final plan for them, it is a step along the way...His  plan is always a plan that brings hope and a positive future.  Surely the people of Israel remembered the stories of their forefathers and the redemption of their people from the oppression of slavery in Egypt, the establishment of their nation in the promised land, the glorious reigns of Kings David and Solomon, and all of God's promises that had been given to His people.  Jeremiah was reminding them of their true destiny...and it would not be as exiles in Babylon. 

Does any of this apply to you in your current situation?  If you are in a time when God feels far away, or your circumstances are less than what you imagined for your life, hear these words as if they were spoken to you..."Your current situation is not where My plan will leave you...in Me, you have hope and a future."  The people of Israel had to endure their time of exile for the next 70 years; we aren't given time frames on our hard times.  But we are give the assurance, just as in our prior verse of Romans 8:28, that God is working all things together for our good future.

Hear this promise spoken to God's people so many years ago as a fresh word to you today, for we are God's people when we hear His voice and follow Him.

Day 1 - Week 35 - 3rd of our Promises...a promise for our future!

Tuesday nights have become a very special night of the week for me...first I get to spend glorious time with the wonderful ladies of my Tuesday night Bible study.  I am SO blessed by these women, just all trying to grow in our relationship with Christ.  It is a great time of study, growth, encouragement and fellowship.  I've said it before, but I'll say it again...if you are not studying the Word with a like-minded group of believers on a regular basis, you are really missing out on a special blessing!  If it's a group of three, it's still a group and you may be just the one to organize it!

And then there's the second thing about Tuesday nights...it's the night of the "new verse"!  YAY!  Always another verse of Scripture to add to our heart's treasury.  And tonight another verse of promise. We'll get to that in a minute...right after a moment of review!

The Gift of Prayer (3)

Hebrews 4:16 Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.

1 John 5:14   Now this is the confidence we have before Him, whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.

1 John 5:15   And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.

The Gift of Assurance (10)

1 John 5:11 And this is the testimony:  God has given us eternal life and that life is in His Son.

1 John 5:12-13  The one who has the Son has life.  The one who doesn't have the Son of God, does not have life.  I say these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life.

John 14:1  Your heart must not be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in Me.

John 14:2  In my Father's house are many mansion, if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you.

John 14:3  And if I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you unto Myself, so that where I am, you may be also.

John 14:6  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through Me.

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you.  I do not give as the world gives.  Your heart must not be troubled or afraid.

Isaiah 26:3-4  You will keep in perfect peace the mind that is dependent on You, for it is trusting in You.  Trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed . (KJV)

Isaiah 53:6  We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquities of us all.

Praise and Thanksgiving (4)

1 Peter 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  According to His great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Psalm 100:4  Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.  Give thanks to Him and praise His name. 

Psalm 100:5  For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Revelation 4:11  You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.


Promises of God (10)
Matthew 6:33  But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (ESV)
Romans 8:28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.

Our third promise is another of the most quoted verses of the Bible and one that brings so much assurance to us...

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."

In our hearts I think we know that God's plans are absolutely the best plans for our lives, but sometimes in our minds we second-guess God, don't we?  We can dwell on the doubts rather than on the promise.  Well, this is the promise....this is where we need to dwell.  Be assured...God's plans are g-o-o-d!

Day 6 - Week 34 - Romans 8:28 "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God; those who are called according to His purpose."

Remember last week when we talked about "if/then" formulas?  Last week's promise was in the form of "if" we seek God's authority and redemption above everything else, "then" God will supply our earthly needs without need of worry on our part.

This week's verse can be placed in an "if/then" statement as well...

"If" we love God and are true to His purposes in our lives...

..."then" He will work all things occurring in our lives together for our ultimate good.

It is a good exchange, isn't it?  For we know that God is already completely deserving of our love, and we also know that His purposes for our lives are the highest, and the grandest.  We can never design a life on our own that could possibly exceed what God would have in store for us. 

Robert J. Morgan says, "Memorize Romans 8:28, and you need never despair again!"

So it's up to us...do we choose a life of despair and worry, trying to make all the pieces fit within our own power? 

Or do we, falling on our knees and acknowledging our complete inadequacy to bring our lives into any semblance of true purpose, choose a life of confidence in our loving God, knowing that He is taking all the seemingly "unfittable" pieces and putting them together to form a beautiful picture...in fact a masterpiece...that is our life.

Ephesians 2:10 ~ For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Day 6 - Week 34 - Romans 8:28 "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God; those who are called according to His purpose."

As I said earlier, Robert J. Morgan's words on this verse are so good that I really don't want to miss sharing any of them with you.  Here is another paragraph from his writing:

Romans 8:28 is all-inclusive, all powerful, and always available.  It is as omnipotent as the God who signed and sealed it.  It's as loving as the Savior who died to unleash it.  It can do anything God can do.  It can touch any hurt and redeem any problem.  It isn't a mere platitude but a divine promise.  It isn't a goal but a guarantee.  It isn't wishful thinking but a shaft of almighty providence that lands squarely on our pathway each day and every moment.

The Lord moves heaven and earth to keep this promise.  He puts His eye to the microscope of providential oversight and scans the smallest details of our lives, working them into a tapestry of blessing, making sure goodness and mercy follow us all our days.

Every detail - every moment - God knows and God is willing to do everything and anything to work our lives into beautiful tapestries of eternal purpose.  Our part is allowing Him to do so.  Releasing ourselves into His hands and letting the Potter do the shaping.  The Bible uses all kinds of artistic metaphors, doesn't it?  He does make beauty from ashes, and beautiful treasures out of lumps of clay. 

I know my life has been transformed by His power.  It's the only explanation of the changes within me and the difference in my outlook on this life.  I want to continue to walk down the path that He is leading where I am assured that goodness and mercy will always follow me.  For my God is good and He is merciful and He is who I walk beside. 

Thank You Lord for being merciful and gracious to me, a sinner so undeserving of Your love.  Thank You for promising me that only You can take everything that this world throws at me and turn it into a beautiful life...not only for the here and now, but also for the there and then of eternity!