God Has a Purpose and Plan for Your Life
Jeremiah 29:10 "For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.
11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
13 You will seek me and find me.
When you seek me with all your heart, 14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
" From God's Word translation: Jeremiah 29:11 I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD.
They are plans for peace (shalom: wholeness) and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.
God was telling the Israelites that the Exile to Babylon would be for 70 years, but that this wasn't the end of the story.
Why did God send His people into Exile? Because they had continued to be disobedient and to follow other gods.
So, since they were in a foreign place as prisoners, God wanted them to know it would only be for a time...
it wasn't a permanent condition.
God wants His people to know He has plans for them.
He has a predestined purpose for us, but He does not force us to fulfill His purposes.
God simply permits us to suffer the consequences of walking outside of His will and protection.
God's plans for you are formed around the shalom.
Shalom is usually translated peace.
But, it means much more.
It is about wholeness.
Wholeness is purposeful, cohesive, fulfilling, freedom, and it is real life.
A future.
Life without wholeness is stuck in the moment.
A life of wholeness has a future.
Hope is expectation that something will be realized or received.
Little girls used to begin a "hope chest", collecting things for married life, because they had a hope (a reasonable expectation) of someday meeting a man who would ask them to marry, and so, they made preparation for that hope to be fulfilled.
God has given us a hope in Jesus Christ: purpose, wholeness, fulfillment, belonging, freedom.
Jesus affirms your value: Luke 12:6 "Five sparrows are sold for two pennies, aren't they? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God's sight.
7 Why, even all the hairs on your head have been counted! Stop being afraid.
You are worth more than a bunch of sparrows.
" 8 "But I tell you, the Son of Man will acknowledge before God's angels everyone who acknowledges me before people.
You have a future and a hope in Jesus.
God does have plans for you, which includes wholeness.
He desires to heal you body, mind, emotions and spirit.
Continue to seek Him and He will hear and answer your heart's cry.
11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
13 You will seek me and find me.
When you seek me with all your heart, 14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
" From God's Word translation: Jeremiah 29:11 I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD.
They are plans for peace (shalom: wholeness) and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.
God was telling the Israelites that the Exile to Babylon would be for 70 years, but that this wasn't the end of the story.
Why did God send His people into Exile? Because they had continued to be disobedient and to follow other gods.
So, since they were in a foreign place as prisoners, God wanted them to know it would only be for a time...
it wasn't a permanent condition.
God wants His people to know He has plans for them.
He has a predestined purpose for us, but He does not force us to fulfill His purposes.
God simply permits us to suffer the consequences of walking outside of His will and protection.
God's plans for you are formed around the shalom.
Shalom is usually translated peace.
But, it means much more.
It is about wholeness.
Wholeness is purposeful, cohesive, fulfilling, freedom, and it is real life.
A future.
Life without wholeness is stuck in the moment.
A life of wholeness has a future.
Hope is expectation that something will be realized or received.
Little girls used to begin a "hope chest", collecting things for married life, because they had a hope (a reasonable expectation) of someday meeting a man who would ask them to marry, and so, they made preparation for that hope to be fulfilled.
God has given us a hope in Jesus Christ: purpose, wholeness, fulfillment, belonging, freedom.
Jesus affirms your value: Luke 12:6 "Five sparrows are sold for two pennies, aren't they? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God's sight.
7 Why, even all the hairs on your head have been counted! Stop being afraid.
You are worth more than a bunch of sparrows.
" 8 "But I tell you, the Son of Man will acknowledge before God's angels everyone who acknowledges me before people.
You have a future and a hope in Jesus.
God does have plans for you, which includes wholeness.
He desires to heal you body, mind, emotions and spirit.
Continue to seek Him and He will hear and answer your heart's cry.
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