Jeremiah 29:11 ” for I know the plans I have for you; plans for your good and not your harm; plans to give you a hope and a future.” 

I have not posted for a while due to issues regarding the transplant of my daughter in a distant hospital. 

Now Nisia is home having won very trying battles. These being won by her faith and being helped by the prayers of many people. 

The verse quoted above is part of a letter from the prophet Jeremiah. He is writing to the captives in Babylon.  In this series: through the Eyes of the Prophetic we are taking lessons from the period of the Captivity from 587-517BC . Here Jeremiah demonstrates that whilst there have been great losses there is a greater purpose coming if they would look away from the trauma and see what God wants to do. 

He establishes a few facts 

1. I know the plans I have for you : call to trust 

2. Plans for good; call to surrender 

3. Give you a future; call to obedience. 

Right now across the world we are seeing upheaval and confusion on a grand scale.  In fact I am of the belief all this upheaval is all preparation for greater plans which are not good ones. 

God knows what plans He has for us. Those plans in this case were at first great losses. My own call to the prophetic came in a time of loss in that my father died and I was led to Brixham. The loss caused me to seek to understand the purpose in the losses. Sometimes we stay stuck on the losses and the traumas that come with them.  However if we want to walk with God in a deeper way we must seek to understand that in the losses there are purposes at work for gains that don’t limit themselves in this realm. 

God is taking us through a school of trust where when things are constantly changing and where the “prophets” continue to promise business as usual we find we are driven from our zone of influence to a place which we regard as enemy territory. We are in the domain where our insecurity comes strongly.  However if we are led into the prophetic dimension we learn that if we step back we become knowledgeable of the processes that will eventually bring us back to the place where we are recognised and in a place of flowing in our Call. All the plans and circumstances we are experiencing now God knows about them! We need to trust that this painful time is preparation for a powerful time.  

Plans for your good; God is not interested only in your present state more than your eternal state. You can live with comfort but your eternal destiny will be forfeited by this earthly comfort. The Captivity purified the lives of those called Israel and prepared them for Christ. So in all God is preparing you to receive Christ in Greater measure.  That is why the plan is GOOD! God knows how to lead and where to lead. 

To give you hope and a future. God invests in giving us hope because it is where GREAT FAITH IS BORN! Romans 4 tells us that Abraham believed in hope where there was no hope.  He received a son. Where is your hope? 

If you have been trained in the school of hope you would have seen in this period of History that Judah had become wicked and dependent in their own superstition.  The ark and the Temple became mere tokens which they could use in the hour of crisis.  That is why we should not neglect the spiritual disciplines so that in that hour we may be found in faith and peace.  

So today invest in hope. Bring to your mind the times when God in impossible circumstances came through for you. You will see how much you will have peace.  

These are days of great upheaval and destruction. It seems that judgment is falling. It is publically visible. But like Jeremiah who faithfully served God; when all houses fell his did not and he lived with the favour of even the Babylonians.  So God today wants to assure you that He knows the plans He has. He has decided to take you through the seas and bring you to a pleasant place. Just trust; surrender and obey. 

Shalom!