Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”  NKJV

First, I know this was written specifically for the Nation of Israel regarding the seventy years of Babylonian captivity and that God had not forgotten them and they had a future beyond captivity.  However, as with many if not all passages of the Bible it has an application for you and me in our current existence, lives, purposes, plans and condition.

God is not a disinterested, absentee landlord as some seem to believe but is very interested in our lives, situations, conditions and future.  When we came to Jesus to receive His forgiveness and drink of the cup of salvation the Bible describes that event as the NEW BIRTH and in that birth, we are new creations in which the old has died or has passed away and now we embark on a New Life or Future.  God has plans for each of us and while some spend their entire earthly walk trying to find God’s Will for their lives He never intended it to be complicated, obscure or mysterious.

Let me illustrate it this way.  If I have a child and want that child to do some specific things how would either of us be served for me to say, “I have something I want you to do but you’ll have to figure out what it is without any explanation or direction from me.”  Failure is almost guaranteed and the child and I will both be disappointed.  Likewise, if I have a business and tell my employees, “I have a business plan and plan of productivity for each of you but you will have to figure that out without my help and if you fail, you are fired” how can anything but failure occur?  NO, God has a plan and purpose and has given us His written word to guide us and nudges our hearts toward that which so draws us that finding His purpose is not mysterious but simple if we stop complicating it.  He has not called everyone to be the leader of the Free World, lead the largest congregations, build dynamic and prosperous businesses or be generals in the Army of God.  But, He has given each of us a gift(s), talent(s) and abilities through which we can fulfill that niche He has designed and purposed for our lives.  It is in learning to be “content” that we find His purposes not in striving to be something we are not and He has not ordained.

Through Ezekiel God utters an incredible statement, “…I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”  [Ezekiel 36:26].  The result of that can be seen in the words of Malachi, “But for you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.  You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.”  [Malachi 4:2].  One of the most powerful declarations of any believer in the Bible or out is found in Philippians 3:14, where the apostle Paul declares, “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward (high) call of God in Christ Jesus.”  

Our Future and Hope is to do that which we hear in our hearts and say that which we hear in our spirits.  God will guide us one step at a time and if we would surrender to following the purpose inspired by that which draws our hearts the most we would be light years ahead in our pursuit of The Will of God for our Lives.

God bless you as you pursue His purposes and enjoy this wonderful day of transition from one month to the next.   Abundant Blessing is my prayer and desire for each of you!