Plans 2 Prosper U Blog

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off you old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

(Ephesians 4:22-24, NIV)

     This topic of the “shedding of dead leaves” (from the previous post) and of “departing from old ways” also holds great significance to Jeremiah 29 and the verses that we cling to so dearly. You see, long before Jeremiah ever wrote the words: “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.” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV) he had given the Jews warnings.

     God warned the Jews through Jeremiah to depart from their evil ways. He warned them about the coming fall and about their captivity. But they would not heed those warnings. The Jews of this time were so comfortable with their current situations and lives that they wouldn’t hear God’s message. They wanted to be a people of God, but they wanted to do it their way. They didn’t want to upset their lives. Their complacency, neglect, and sin caused their own downfall.

     Even when they were displaced and living in exile there were groups of them that still didn’t believe the prophecies. Jeremiah had already foretold that their captivity would last 70 years. The Jews chose to ignore this timeframe and to believe the words of the false prophets of the day. You see, the false prophets were preaching of a speedy return home. That message was exactly what the Jews wanted to hear and so that was what they chose to believe. God decided to address this very issue just prior to uttering the words “For I know the plans I have for you…” In Jeremiah 29, verses 8 and 9 we read the words:

     Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.

     In these verses, God clearly tells us who is in charge. The false prophets were telling the people exactly what they wanted to hear even though they had no authority to do so. That kept the false prophets popular with the masses as opposed to God’s true prophet, Jeremiah, who was often despised and viewed as a traitor. God was saying that He had a plan and that the Jews needed to listen to Him and not try to pursue their own plans.

     Who are you in this brief story? Are you the captive Jewish people, relying on your own goals, methods, and plans, and clinging to your old way of life? Do you try to influence those around you to give you the answer or advice that you want to hear? Or are you like the false prophets? Do you tell people what they want to hear because it keeps you popular or out of conflict? Do you help others pursue plans that are not good for them?

     You see, its actually a matter of will. Whose will do you choose to pursue: your will or God’s will? When we choose to pursue our own will, we will interpret the signs in our environment in light of our own plans and use the signs to justify our desires. When we seek to fulfill His will, the Holy Spirit will help us to correctly interpret the messages and signs that God is giving us so that we can fully live out God’s plan for us.

     Once again, in this Fall Season I ask you to shed the leaves of your old self, the leaves of pursuing your will first and to prepare yourself to put on new leaves, the leaves of following God’s will for your life. Then, and only then can you fulfill your purpose in this life and reap the benefits of it in the next.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:15,16, NIV)

Psalm 139 tells us that God saw us when we were in our mother’s womb. Not only did He see us at that time, but He saw every day we would ever live. All at an instant He knew exactly what was going to happen to us and perfectly equipped us to handle every obstacle. Actually, the truth is that this didn’t solely occur at our conception.  Oh no.  God knew all of this from eternity past.  It doesn’t get much better than that.

Think of a time in your life when you were encountering a tough situation and God provided you with the perfect amount of resources, strength, and people to get you through that time.

When I think of my son, now 5 months old, I can’t help but wonder what God has in store for Him. I know that He has great plans for my little Adam and I can’t wait to see them unfold.

Learn more about the book

Plans To Prosper You: Find Your Purpose through Jeremiah 29

By George E. Sayour            

http://www.plans2prosperu.com/Jeremiah_29_Book.html

Hello family, friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ.  Sorry for the lack of recent Blog entrys.  Susan and I are currently enjoying our vacations and time away from our students.   We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and we pray that you will have a Blessed New Year.  Frequent Blog entries will resume in January.

We leave you with this thought for the New Year.  Something to base your resolutions around:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord “plans to prosper you and not to harm you plans for hope and a future.”  (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)

May your pursuits in 2007 be focused on fully realizing God’s plans for your life.

God Bless,

George E. Sayour

Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”

(Luke 1:45, NIV)

How strongly do you believe that God’s Will for your life will be accomplished?  How much do you believe in the promise found in Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord….?

Mary believed that God’s work would be in done in her life.  Mary knew what God had directly promised to her and trusted that those plans would come to fruition.  How often in our own lives do we know what God wants for us, yet we doubt that the plans will or can come true.  During this Christmas season let us be like Mary by trusting in the promises of God.

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of hte gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains.  Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.  (Ephesians 6:19-20, NIV)

I find these 2 verses so encouraging.  Often times I am upset with myself for not declaring the word of God boldly enough.  Then I read these verses and realize that even Paul struggled with this.  He wouldn’t be asking people to pray for him to be able to fearlessly declare the Word of God if he didn’t need the help.  Its kind of hard to believe isn’t it?  Most of the New Testament was written by Paul, yet he is asking for prayers and support to be able to spread the Word. 

Paul knew that it was his purpose to spread the Good News.  It was God’s plan for him to do this.  In order for us to fully realize the plans that God has for us the plans referred to when we read “For I know the plans I have for you”  we must spread the word of God. 

I also become fully aware from these verses that I do need the prayers. We all do.  It is not just up to ourselves to get this done.  We need to support each other in identifying ourselves as Christians and in spreading the Good News. 

Take a moment and pray for your family and friends that they not only become closer in their relationship with Jesus but that they become fearless in spreading the Word of God.

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do everything through Him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4: 12-13, NIV) 

Are you able to find good in all situations?  Are you able to be content no matter what the circumstances?  I know that I sure struggle with this.  Not many of us (if any at all) have ever faced the life that Paul lived on a daily basis.  Yet, Paul was able to find peace and be content whether he was in prison or traveling a long road or even while being stoned.  And the reason that he was able to find that peace was because he found his strength in Christ Jesus. 

Often we are called to go through rough circumstances and troubling times.  It is how we handle ourselves during these obstacles that will determine how well we come out of them.  The Jews during the time of the Prophet Jeremiah were going through one of those rough times.  Like Paul, they too knew what it was to “have plenty.”  But the tide had turned and under the Babylonian rule they were living in a time where they were “in need.”  It was at this time that they were given the prophecy that says: “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.” (Jeremiah 29:11, NIV)

They were given so much hope from this promise.  We gain so much hope from it also.  Yet, we often overlook the verses that precede this verse.  In verses 5 and 6 the captive Jews are called to “Build Houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.  Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for you sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters.  Increase in number there; do not decrease.”

In other words the Jews were to make the best of their situation. They were to be content and find the peace of God in it.  In God’s time they would reap the rewards of His promise found in Jeremiah 29:11.  But for the time being they were to go on with their lives and to make the best of things.

We too need to understand that there will be ups and downs as well as good times and bad times.  There are many seasons of change in our lives.  In the end it is God’s plan to give us Hope and Peace and Prosperity.  But in the meantime we need to be like Paul and “learn the secret in being content in every situation.”

Remember You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

Over the course of the last week and a half we have been covering verses from the book of Philippians.  You may be wondering how or why I picked Philippians as our starting point.  I must admit that it was somewhat arbitrary, yet there was a reason for it.  Philippians is a great letter that discusses Paul’s journey to achieve the plans that God has for him.  It is my contention that if even Paul had “not yet achieved” or “grasped” what God had for him that obviously we shouldn’t feel bad when we don’t either.  The example that Paul sets is the very reaction that we need to foster in light of our efforts to follow God’s will.  Paul says that he “presses on”  and that he “strains forward” to achieve what God has for him.  He also acknowledges that there will be troubles while on this journey but that we are to give them up to God.  We are to do all of this without complaining or arguing. 

You may also be wondering how all of this applies to the prophecy and Scripture that this Blog is named after.  I’m talking about Jeremiah 29, of course, which speaks of the the wonderful plans that God has for us.  Our walk through Philippians is helping us to understand the promise in Jeremiah 29.  Through Paul’s encouragement to the Philippians as well as the example of his own Journey to acheive God’s plan for his life we can begin to understand what we must do to fully realize what God wants from us as well as how to live out the wonderful plans that God promises to us.

I encourage you to read this short, yet powerful, letter of Paul to the Philippians.  It is my prayer that it will come alive as much for you as it did for me.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  (Philippians 2:3-4, NIV)

It is true that Jeremiah 29 speaks of God’s great plans for our lives.  And it is also true that God does indeed bless us here on this earth.  But the question that we need to consider is how are we using the gifts, resources, and talents that God chooses to give us?  In the verses above, Paul is telling us what we are supposed to do.  We are to consider others first, even before ourselves.  This ,in fact, why we have what we have.  We are to share our abilities, talents, resourse, blessings, and so much more with others.

This idea is actually counterintuitive and very against what we are taught in society.  Sure, we say we should help others but then what do we actually do.  When I worked for Procter and Gamble the drive to get ahead definetly overshadowed the need to help those around me in the company.  More often than not it was my goal (and that of my co-workers) to show that I was better than those around me and not the other way around.  But here Paul explicitly tells us not to do things out of selfish ambition but to consider others better than ourselves.  Easier said than done, I know.  But it is our calling and one of our purposes while here on earth.

In what aspect of your life do you too struggle with this?  Who are you trying to impress at the expense of others?  Is it your family?  Is it your friends?  A coworker maybe?  And how are you going to try to correct that and live out Paul’s words in Philippians 2:3,4?

God spoke through the Prophet Jeremiah a message that He would have all hear.  It goes like this:

“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.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.” (Jeremiah 29:11-14, NIV)

Isn’t that exciting! Once again, Welcome to Plans To Prosper You, Inc.!  The purpose of this blog is to provide all who would visit it with scripture, devotions, insight, and questions that will ultimately help them to discover and live out their God given purposes in life.  In the coming months, more and more features will be added to this blog.  Please visit it frequently so that you don’t miss out on any of the great information.   In the end, it is our prayer that you will grow closer to our Lord Savior, Jesus Christ.  

May God bless you on life’s journey.

George E. Sayour, President  Plans To Prosper You, Inc.  www.plans2prosperU.com