God has a Plan for You
Notes
Transcript
Jeremiah 29:11-14
Jeremiah 29:11-14
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear 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 I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
In this passage God was speaking to the Israelites in the Old Testament, however God’s Words here can also be applied to us today.
The same message that God gave the Israelites is true for ya’ll as well: Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
This text simply means that before you were born, God has destined you to:
Be His child
To do great things for Him.
You see you all have a purpose and it is not a small thing. God took time before you were born to plan out the good things that he has for you.
So do not think for one second that your lives are not meaningful. Some of you may have been mistreated by your parents and families, some of you may have had people at school tell you things that hurt your feelings, and as a result of these things, you might feel that your life is a waste or that nobody cares about you.
I want to remind you all through the Words of God, that He does care for you and you DO have a PURPOSE.
So with that being said I want you all to begin to wonder what that purpose may be, and in doing that I want you all to begin to seek God about it.
Let’s be honest, when life has hurt us it is often hard to move on from the pain that we have went through. Words hurt, especially when they come from someone we know very well. So what is the solution? How do we move on and fulfill what God has called us to do?
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.””
Jesus is simply saying here that for those that carry around a heavy weight, he is your healing, He is promising rest from the painful experiences, but not only that He is also promising to show you a new way to live. He is saying here that if you come to Him and listen to Him He will teach you a better way to live, and the benefit is that you will finally have peace.
So Jesus has great plans for you all and He really wants to step into your lives and help you through whatever it is you are going through.
If you need your heart to healed from pain or regret, Jesus says just to ask, tell Him what is going on, what is bothering you and then trust Him to heal whatever it is.
If you aren’t saved, Jesus wants to first set you free from your sins and in the process of doing that He will begin to reveal and show you your purpose, and if you are saved Jesus may be trying to get you to become a little more devoted to Him, so that you can enjoy the purpose that He has for you.
In whatever condition you are all in, the same is true whether you are saved or not saved, God has a purpose for you, He prepared it before you were even born, you are NOT a mistake, but the only way that you will discover it, is if you seek Him with all your heart, just like Jer 29:13
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Notice how God didn’t tell the Israelites to seek just the plans for their lives, but He told them to seek Him. Guys, God wants you to find Him before He discloses to you His plans. You find Him, and He will show you the plans. But if you don’t seek Him you will never know Him, nor His plans.
So How do we seek God?
Jesus gives us the 3 step plan in Matthew 7:7
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
First you go to God in prayer and ask Him to come into your life and to lead you everywhere you go. Ask Him to change you and to mold you into the man or woman He wants you to be.
Second you seek God by looking for Him throughout the day by reading his word, thinking about Him, and by obeying what His Word says. You devote yourself to living for Him.
Thirdly you knock by consistently making it a priority to go to Him privately, this can be through prayer, worship, bible reading, etc. As long as it is consistent. God does not care about qauntity as much as he does quality. Consistency shows God your level of devotion, and God will reward you on your level of devotion to Him.
Notice how these three things revolve around spending time with Jesus, Jesus wants to literally spend time with you. Not just at church but at your homes, while your in school, everywhere Jesus makes Himself available to you, so you should do the same for Him.
In summary, you all have purpose given to you by God, you did nothing to earn it, but out of God’s love for you He destined it for you.
But out of God’s amazing love for you, he desires to know you personally more than He desires to see you accomplish all the things He has prepared for you. He does this by making it a requirement to seek Him with all your heart before He discloses these plans to you.
Isn’t it a comfort to know that despite all our shortcomings the God of the Universe wants to know us personally more than He wants us to work. You would think we have to prove oursleves to God first before He wants to get to know us, but no we get the honor of coming to Him as we are and Him receiving us.
If you feel like you have nothing to give God, I want to remind you that all He wants you to give Him is yourself.