It’s one of the most quoted verses – Jeremiah 29:11
This morning, in a message I heard from Andy Stanley, he really turned it upside down. He suggested, (and is right), that many of us (me included) embrace this verse as a wonderful promise from God and presume or assume that because I am a Christian and know and love God that all the things that happen to me will be prosperous and that nothing will never harm me.
It’s not what we see around us. We see Christ-followers – wonderful servants of God – suffering terribly.
So what’s with that? Where does this very fit in?
Andy Stanley suggests that a lot of the time that we are assuming our plans are God’s. The series we are working through at the moment is entitled Pause and the primary subject is temptation.
Temptation is a test of your faith and not just your self-control. Three things are at stake when you are tempted:
- Your future.
- Your family.
- Your faith.
It all comes back to one question, “Can God be trusted?”
In quoting from Matthew 4 where the devil takes Jesus to the highest point of the temple and says ‘if you are the Son of God, throw yourself off’, the devil is assuming that God will swoop down and save Jesus. Jesus in turn, quotes from the time when the Israelites taunted God while they were in the wilderness. Out of that came from Deuteronomy 6:16
Matthew 4:7
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Of all the people who ever walked the planet, God could have and would have saved Jesus if it was part of His plan for Him.
But it wasn’t.
Jesus trusted His heavenly Father explicitly, knowing the plan for a hope and a future was bigger than His suffering.
God can be trusted.
Andy Stanley goes onto say that we can’t force God to work on our behalf. Don’t mix faith with presumption. Don’t manipulate God. Don’t try and force His hand. Cooperate with God. We are here not to have a plan for God’s life but to be totally surrendered to Him. WE are here to live our lives on God’s behalf and not our own.
There were a lot of lessons to be learned this morning.
Total surrender to God. It’s never too late to totally surrender ones life to God, regardless of what it takes – whatever the sacrifice – humbling oneself – saying sorry – paying the price.
Andy explains it so much better than I. Watch:
These are the days.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂