January 23 – Planning Through Commitment

“Commit your works to the Lord And your plans will be established.” Proverbs 16:3 (NASB)

For the times in our lives when we are uncertain of our next step or the direction we need is not clear, we can find help and wisdom from God. This is a great and wonderful promise given to us in our verse today. As we face daily tasks and at times when we need careful planning for what our way should be, this practice will help. We learn from the wisdom that is freely given to us. First, we commit all details and plans to the Lord. He is the Master Planner who knows all outcomes and if we then trust Him to supply our needs, our plans will be established by Him. God will give us the wisdom we need to preform each step along our way and it will be the right way. We can also trust Him to bring us all the way through in a way that will bring praise and glory to Him. If our challenge is large or small, and if we commit our works to the Lord, He promises an eventual good result for us to follow.

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January 13 – He Knows and Gives Hope

“‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” – Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB)

The verse selected for today is often a favorite. Many take the promise in this verse as if it is given directedly to each believer. In a much larger sense it is true but not in the primary sense. Jeremiah, was sent to give God’s messages and warning to the His people in the Kingdom of Judah. (The northern Kingdom of Israel was gone and its people dispersed.) Warnings of conquest and destruction were repeatedly given to them by God through Jeremiah and each was ignored, mocked, and disregarded. They treated Jeremiah treacherously with malice and physical torture. But look one verse back to Jeremiah 20:10 we have the necessary context. God promises a time to bring the captives back from Babylon after seventy years in exile. Not all came back but God is promising in verse 11. God promised welfare and no longer calamity. He promised a future and a hope. While not directly in this verse, God has promised each believer a future and a hope. We too have this promise of welfare and not calamity from God from God. We find these promises many places. He gives us hope that is absolute and never disappoints.

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May 14 – Our Accomplisher

“I will cry to God Most High, to God who accomplishes all things for me.” Psalm 57:2 (NASB)

Today’s passage comes from another Psalm written by David when he was hiding from King Saul in a cave in the wilderness. King Saul wanted to kill David because he was jealous of David’s popularity.  But, David knew that God had plans for him. He could not forget that God had earlier sent the prophet Samuel to his home town to anoint him to be King of Israel. At the time he was anointed, David wasn’t much except the youngest of Jesse’s sons. So insignificant were his accomplishments that Jesse had forgotten him when Samuel had asked to see all of Jessy’s sons. Even now as he was hiding in a cave to save his life he did not forget God's plan for him. David knew God. He called Him the God Most High. David believed that God was able to carry out His plans so he trusted Him. God also has a purpose for each of our lives and He is big enough to carry out His plans. So, when we need His help, like David, let's cry out to God Most High, to God who accomplishes all things for us just as He did for David.

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March 23 – Welfare Not Calamity

“For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”  -Jeremiah 29:10-11  (ESV)

The words of this passage were delivered in a letter to the elders, priests and prophets and all the exiles who were in Babylon after King Nebuchadnezzar had deported most of the people out of Jerusalem.  Jeremiah, still in Jerusalem, delivered this prophecy from God to those who had been warned many times in many ways about this calamity.  Now it had come true. The words of these verses are a promise to the captives that God was going to limit their time in Babylon to seventy years and that His plans for them were not for harm but for a future and a hope. Christian believers today often come to this verse for encouragement when our future seems bleak because God’s promise to Israel is our promise too.  God has made plans for each of us.  His plans are for our good welfare and they are not to place us in harms way. They promised the captives a future return to Jerusalem and rebuild and live there. His promises for us are what we read and study each day.  God cares about our future and He has good plans for us now and in the future in heaven with Him.  

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November 17 – Avoiding Frustrations

“The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.”  -  Psalm 33:10–11 (ESV)

As each election period approaches, wherever we are, we begin to hear all that the candidates say they plan to do for the people.  It always sounds so good to some and to others it may sound like the end of the world. Each government promises to develop good plans for the advancement of their nation, country, state, province, city, village, tribe and so forth. But we learn from our passage here that the only plans that will last for all generations are the ones that God has made and promises that they are from His heart.  The plans the people make will be frustrated as they always are, and the deliberations of the leaders of the nations even when gathered together in counsel will come to nothing.  For that reason, God calls it wisdom to not trust what your politicians promise. Instead, we are called to trust in the promises of the Lord whose counsel stands forever. For they come from His heart and benefit generations after generation.  

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May 19 – Beyond Our Imagination

“However, as it is written:  “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him — these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.”  1 Corinthians 2:9-10a (NIV)

For some of you reading this today, you find this verse very familiar. That is good because recalling these truths are good for our daily walk. We need to be reminded. If today's verse is new to you, that too is good because we all need to know the power and extent of what God has done and plans to do for all who have received Jesus Christ as Savior. Our God has great plans for each of us. He has plans for each of us for this very day as well as plans for us that extend into eternity. Our God is personal and is directly involved in each of our lives. The amazing thing is that His plans are beyond anything we can imagine or conceive.  If we think of the best thing that God might have planned for us we can rest assured that his plans exceed what we have just thought of. As we go through each day of our lives, one day at a time, God reveals those plans to us through the Holy Spirit. 

May 10 - He Accomplishes Things

“I will cry to God Most High, to God who accomplishes all things for me.” Psalm 57:2 (NASB)

The words of this Psalm were written by David when he was hiding from King Saul in a cave in the wilderness.  David knew that God had plans for him. He could not forget that God had earlier sent the prophet Samuel to his home town to anoint him to be King of Israel. Even now as he was hiding in a cave to save his life he did not forget God's plan for him. David knew how big a God he had. He called Him the God Most High. David believed that God was able to carry out His plans and he trusted Him. God also has a purpose for each of our lives and He is big enough to carry out His plans. So, when we need His help, let's not fail to do as David did – let's cry out to God Most High, to God who accomplishes all things for us just as He did for David.

Scripture quotation taken from the NASB©. (www.lockman.org)

January 30

“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)

We are not living our lives by ourselves these days. We need to remember that our God is involved in the events of our lives. This is clear this message which God sent to His people by the prophet Jeremiah. We believe that these words can be applied to God’s involvement in our lives today. He has plans for each of us who are His children today. He is a great God and it is not beyond Him to have a plan for each one of us even though His children number in the millions. And just think how good His plans are. He wants to do what is good for you, something you can always look forward to. Let’s allow Him to carry out His plan for each of us today.