I Know the Plans I have For YOU!!

Good morning to all on this glorious Sunday morning. Waine and I have already been up walking and exercising, enjoying each other's company and thanking God for all our blessings. There is so much to thank God for--our children who are all successful and healthy; our grandchildren who bring joy into our lives; and after 24 years the joy of waking up together. God is truly good!

I am continuing my journey in Jeremiah 29, verses 1-23, "This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.  (This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.)  He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said: This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper. Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord. This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.  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.   Then you will call on 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. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” You may say, “The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,” but this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people who remain in this city, your fellow citizens who did not go with you into exile— yes, this is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse and an object of horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. For they have not listened to my words,” declares the Lord, “words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,” declares the Lord. Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: “I will deliver them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes. Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: ‘May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire.’ For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and in my name they have uttered lies—which I did not authorize. I know it and am a witness to it,” declares the Lord.

We have traveled with Jeremiah for 28 chapters; chapters filled with stories of the disobedience by the children of Israel; their chastisement by God; their enslavement by King Nebuchandnezzar and still God did not turn His back on the promise made to Abraham. God NEVER turns His back on a Promise. It is not in His nature. He tells us that He knows the plan He has for each of us. The Plan is for PROSPERITY; God's Promise does not include any harm for you. So why do so many Christians find themselves in harm's way? Because we forget the Promise!! We begin to focus on the circumstances that surround us as Peter did when he walked out on the sea to meet Jesus. He took his eyes off God and got caught up in his circumstance and then became afraid. Fear is what Satan uses to distract us from the Promise. Actually when you get frightened with all the "what-ifs" of life that the time to STOP and FOCUS on the PROMISE. When I focus on the Promise of my prosperity, I get calm; I have clear thinking and confidence; I become bold in my pronouncements of God's promises for my prosperity. I count on God and not on man and what man can do for me. Even in the face of disappointment I maintain that God's promise for me is one of prosperity and that is what I trust. My faith is the evidence of God's Promise. My circumstances is the evidence of my faith. As my faith soars so does my circumstance of prosperity.

Claim your Circumstance of Prosperity and look to God to deliver what He says. He is not man that He should lie so look for your prosperity daily! Do not believe in the devil for he is a liar; proven over and over again. Have a blessed day and now may the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you;  aythe Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace!

Stephanie