Plans

Something to think about.

Plans

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Is it a secret? The plans He has for you are they a secret? This is an inspiring, invigorating, motivating verse. However, taken in context, it is not secretive. God promised His people He would restore them back to their homeland. 

It is important that when we recite this verse, we keep it in context. We have to know what God's plans are for our lives. It does you no good to recite this verse without knowing His plans for your life. In Jeremiah 29:10 God tells Israel His plans. In verse 11 God is expanding on what He has already promised. Verse 11 is not a mystery verse of hopeful expectations. It is an explanatory statement tied to verse 10. God is referring to the prophecy He gave to Jeremiah. He is reassuring Israel of His good intentions.

What are the dreams God has placed in your heart? In Jeremiah God is speaking to captives and telling them I have a dream for you. A dream of freedom and restoration. He even tells them the time frame for the fulfillment of the dream. So, when verse 11 is made it is not something new it is the confirmation of an intended result. 

What dream do you have buried in your heart? What dreams have laid dormant in your life for years? Bring those dreams to the fore of your mind and then repeat express, recite and claim verse 11 of Jeremiah 29.

What if God has placed a dream in you too turn the world back to Him.  For years your dream has laid dormant in the furthest recesses of your mind. But now your God is saying to you "I know the plans I have for you." He is saying to you this is the time, this is the place I will bring this about through you.

All of the promises of God require one thing your action. Even the free gift of salvation requires something. John 3:16 (KJV) ¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The condition of salvation is a belief in Jesus. 

The plans of God for you require the same thing your belief in Him.  Those dreams long regulated to the area of fantasy are they dreams God has placed in your heart? Dreams that require no more than belief in the God who put them there?  You must believe His plans for your life are for your benefit.

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Above all That we Ask or Think

Something to think about.

Above all That we Ask or Think

²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, Ephesians 3:20 (NKJV)

This verse used to be a beautiful, uplifting undefined ideology. In other words, I didn't really know what it meant.  Until you experience it, it is not easily understood. And you don't understand it until it scares you a little bit or a lot.  Why would this verse be scary?

"Above all that we ask or think," when God gives you a vision that is bigger than you have ever thought or imagined it is frightening. He can do more with you than you ever thought possible. He can actually use you to change the world. Think about that for a minute. He can use you to change the world. As a matter of fact, He has created you to change the world. He never intended for you to be a nameless cog in the machinery.  He knows your name. He knows your gifts and abilities, and He knows how best to apply them. 

Then the verse says, "according to the power that works in us." It is referring to the Holy Spirit which resides in your heart.  Just to remind you who the Holy Spirit is. Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. In Genesis 1:1 God is. In verse 2 the Holy Spirit is introduced as the spirit of God. The formation of the earth proceeds after the introduction of the Holy Spirit. This is the same power that is working in you.  The power that created the heavens and the earth is in you to create and accomplish more than "we ask or think. 

Moses tended to His father-in-law's flocks for forty years in Midian. Do you think the in the furthest recesses of His mind He thought He would someday go back to Egypt and liberate his brethren.  I assure you it was never a thought that entered his mind. Nowhere prior to the burning bush is there any indication that he intended to return to Egypt. The entire story of the Exodus is the fulfillment of this verse. All of the Exodus was "exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think." The undertaking was so much bigger than anything anyone could have imagined. And yet God through Moses accomplished something that to this day cannot be achieved by any country or power.  

I am not saying that we must all accomplish an Exodus as Moses did. What I am saying is the same God who gave Moses the directive to bring His people out of Egypt. Is the same God that will give you a directive to accomplish something altogether beyond anything you can ask or think. This same God has placed in you the Holy Spirit. Who will empower and lead you to achieve what God has directed you to do.  

This verse is the empowerment of your life, the motivation of your spirit, it is the definition of your purpose, it is the life you were created for.  

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

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