Monday, March 16, 2026

GREAT PLANS

 

Jeremiah 29:11

 

My exhortation for you in 2022 from the background of Jeremiah 29:11

 

     The background for this verse is Jeremiah sends a letter to the captives in Babylon. 

 

1.      He tells them to settle down, build houses and plant gardens.  Simply put occupy until Jesus comes.  Be a blessing in your community.  We are called to be light and salt.  We are to go into our world, preaching, living, loving the gospel through our words and actions.

2.      Marry, have family and increase in number.  It is okay to have family and procreate.  We are to use our time, talents, and resources for the Lord.  We are to be exhibit the fruit of the spirit and release the gifts of the Spirit.  We are called to be God consumed.  Prayer warriors, intercessors and fighters in the spiritual realm for the next generation.

3.      Pray and seek peace and prosperity in the city in which have been carried to.  When it is in peace and prosper so will you be.  We are to work that we can have enough for ourselves and others.  The blessing, prosperity, and peace of the Lord follow us.  When we live in a place it is blessed because of our presence.  Remember wherever we go that is our territory.  Our duty is to pray for the peace and prosperity of wherever we are and then do our part to make it happen.

4.      Don’t let false prophets and diviners lie to you.  Simple by their fruit you will know them.  They will promise and not deliver.  Their prophecies and predictions will be wrong.  They will speak what you want to hear not what you should hear.  They will not base their teaching on the word of God and if they do it will sound right but not be right.  We need to walk in discernment, knowledge, understanding and wisdom.  Learn to discern the times you live in. 

5.      They will be in Babylon for 70 years.  There is always a waiting period when God is about to do a work of healing, restoration, breakthrough, victory, and freedom.  You have to battle through.  Great victories are won in the heavenlies by the Lord before they manifest on earth.  Waiting requires faith, trust, obedience, faithfulness, prayer, the word, expectation, grace, love, thankfulness, and worship.  I love this praise.  When I am waiting for God to open a door I will praise Him in the hallway.

6.      The Lord promises to restore them and bring them back after the appointed time.  That is a powerful message of hope to the people.  Like Judah we are waiting.  Jesus has promised to come back.  Here are five things you must do while waiting for the promises of God and for Christ’s return.

 

a.      Keep on Praying.  Keep in touch with Him. Prayer is a form of connection and communication to God.

b.      Keep on Serving.  Even if how many times you fell down in serving God, God says CONTINUE the walk. Continue to run this race with joy in the heart.  Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.  Hebrews 10:25.  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

c.      Keep on Sowing.  While waiting on the Lord, keep on planting good deeds. At the end, you can get big reward in harvesting it.  Praying, going to church are some of the ways of planting..  Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:58, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”

d.      Keep on Believing.  It is hard to please God without Faith. Faith without action is absolutely dead. Faith is hoping for the things that are not seen.  Hebrews 11:6:  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

e.      Stay Active.  Be active in serving the Lord. Don't be passive. Get involved in a ministry.

 

 

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.

 

1.      There are five things we learn from this verse for 2022.  First, God has a plan for us.  We have already revealed that plan in our previous verses.  So let’s get with the plan.    “A goal without a plan is just a wish.”  “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”   “Good planning without good working is nothing.”  “Plan your work and work your plan.”  The beautiful thing is we have the Bible, prayer, the Holy Spirit and each other.  To help fulfill the plan.

2.      He has plans to prosperity us.  Jesus came to give us life abundantly.  3 Jn 2 tells us health and prosperity begins from the inside out.  Prosperity in mind, will intellect and emotions.  Health in family and friends.

3.      God is not out to harm you.  Every lesson, trial, problem, testing, persecution, hurt, misunderstanding happens for a purpose.  To help us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ and that all things work together for good.  The reality is God loves us to much to leave us the way we are.   Remember sorrow is for the night but joy comes in the morning.

4.      Plan to give us hope.  Hope believes you have a future.  Hope is based on faith in God’s love.  In the case of the Christian.  Hope is trust.  It is the expectation and desire that certain things will happen because of God’s word and promises.

5.      He has a plan for our future.  We have a future home, eternal life, to be with Jesus, family and friends who have gone on before.  A new body without pain or sickness.  The expectation of Christ’s coming.  An inheritance and legacy.  To reign and rule with him. 

 

God closes off this wonderful prophecy with a series of promises and our application and actions to this wonderful portion of scripture to which we will conclude with these.

 

1.      If we come, call and pray the Lord will listen.  Vs 12

2.      When you seek you will find the Lord with all your heart.  Vs 13

3.      I will be found of you and will bring you back from your place of captivity which the Lord allowed us to go.  Vs 14

 

I close with this story.  As Jesus went along, he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.

While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's eyes.  "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

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