“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 a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Two equations can help us visualize this verse:

1. Plans = Prosper > Harm

At the time Jeremiah was delivering this message from God, Israel was in exile because of their sin—they were in enemy land, probably very oppressed and definitely feeling like God was ready to harm them. However, God’s plans for them was instead to bring prosperity. This didn’t mean God wanted to give them all fancy sports cars and huge houses, but prosperity is a level of fulfillment only available from God.

Think about the world during this time: being prosperous meant having successful crops—bearing good fruit. Today, God will prosper us by allowing us to bear good fruit through His Spirit (Galatians 5). This fruit, much like crops are to a community, are much to the benefit of those around us. Love, joy, peace—these things are not just for us, but for us to overflow with and spread to others.

2. Plans = Hope + Future

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9:11 am  •  2 August 2012  •  1 note

As we saw last week, being connected to God isn’t based on our works. We don’t need to jump through religious hoops to be near to God—but there are ways we can help stay connected. He has given us this connection already through Christ; we are called to remain connected.

So how do we stay connected?

There are the obvious answers like: 

• prayer
• talking and listening to God
• reading your Bible

—after all, in the same way you spend time with someone to get to know them, spending time with God will help us know Him deeper. And knowing Him deeper leads to a full life, a connection to the source of what we need.

But there is another very important question that will help understand your connection to God:

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9:46 am  •  5 July 2012

In order for something to receive power (i.e. a wireless microphone), it needs to be connected to the source. In order for a radio to receive radio signals, it needs to be tuned to the right station. Maybe it’s a loose analogy, but in a similar way we need to be connected with Christ in order to receive what He has for us.

Jesus is the source of:

• Life (John 10:10)
• Love (1 John 4:8)
• Everything we need (1 Cor. 8:6, 2 Peter 1:3)
• Power (Acts 1:8)

Therefore, if we want to experience these things, we first need to receive them from Christ. For example, if we expect to be able to forgive others, we need to first receive forgiveness by Him, the source of forgiveness (Ephesians 4:32).

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11:09 am  •  29 June 2012