Plans to prosper you - 17 June 2008

We saw yesterday that God has plans for us. What about those plans?

“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 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. 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.” Jeremiah 29:11-14

God wants good things for us. His plans for us are to prosper us, for our welfare, not to harm us; and plans to give us a future with hope. That doesn’t mean that we will necessarily prosper in ways that the world would recognise, in terms of wealth and possessions, but prosper we will in the blessings that God has in store for us in this life and in the life to come.

The problem we have is that we view life through our eyes and not God’s eyes. We can only see a short way ahead while God can see the whole picture. We tend to be fearful of the unknown and of what we cannot control ourselves. We can so easily defeat God’s plans for us by not obeying Jesus when he calls, because of the fear of what it might mean. We so easily slip into preferring to try and rely on ourselves than on trusting in God.

God has planned good things for us, because he loves us. We must trust him, obey him and follow him to give those plans a chance.

Take time today to reflect on what God is calling you to do or be at this time in your life. Are you obeying that call with all that you are, or are you holding back in some way?

Father, help each of us become more obedient to your will and trust in you more and more.

Amen