People’s Favorite Verse

by Olga Hermans

 

This week I somehow was into this thing of looking up the most favorite things for this and for that; have you ever done that? I was wondering what people’s most favorite Bible verse would be? Of course we have many; mine personally is: Psalm 16:11 “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of Your presence and the pleasures of living with You forever”.

Of course I have many others like Phil 4:13 and John 3:16 as most of you probably do. But then I looked it up on Google and this is what Bible Gateway said were the Top Five Bible Passages of 2011: 1. Jeremiah 29:11, 2. John 3:16, 3. Philippians 4:13, 4. Proverbs 3:5-6, and 5. Romans 8:28

They say they run these numbers every year, and that for the most part, the same Bible verses make the top-five list each year; they shift around in order but in general the list always looks familiar.

I must say Jer.29:11 is certainly one of my favorites, so let’s have a closer look at it.

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out–plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. Jer 29:11 Msg.

God knows what He is doing; of course He does. He is the God of all creation. It is a verse that brings comfort when people lose their job. It is often mentioned on graduations from high school where of course it fits very well.

Just recently one of my dear friends lost her husband and this is one of the verses that came to mind for her. God knows; He knows what is going on and He knows what He is doing, He has it all planned out; He has plans to give you the future you hope for. We find comfort, hope, rest and peace in knowing that God has a plan for our lives. He knows the plans He has for us and His plans are good. His plan is not to harm us. His plan is to prosper us.

With that kind of news, it’s no wonder this Scripture ends up on our favorites list time and time again! If someone prophesies over us wonderful things in the name of the Lord, what they say to us may express the heart, the will, and the desire of God for us. But that does not mean it is going to happen just as it is prophesied.

This is because it cannot and will not come to pass if we choose to refuse to cooperate with God or to stay away from His will.
God has a plan for your lives, but we have to participate in that plan for it to come true. God is not likely to do anything in our lives without our cooperation. We need to cooperate with God every single day of our lives in order for our potential to be developed.
Every day we ought to learn something. Every day we ought to grow. Every day we ought to discover something. Every day we ought to be a bit further along than we were the day before and come to our fullest potential.

There is no other being on the face of the earth that can develop the potential that is on the inside of you. You are are the only one that must discover the gifts and talents that God has placed on the inside of you. God has a plan for each and every one of us. It is a good plan, the best plan; it is not an average plan or a mediocre plan; it is a divine plan.

This is GOD’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out–plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. “When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen. “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. “Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” GOD’s Decree. “I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”–GOD’s Decree–“bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it. Jer 29:10 -14 Msg

God’s people had been prisoners and had been captive for seventy years when the Lord gave them the promise of a good future. The reason why the Israelites had been in captivity was because they had been unfaithful to God, they had been following the ungodly practices of the culture. They had been mocking God’s messengers and despised their words of truth. Because of their unbelief and rebellion they were led into Babylonian captivity for seventy years.

How does this apply to your life? Do you feel hemmed in or maybe imprisoned? Have you been in captivity? Did you walk away from a good marriage? Do you live in sin and feel like a slave of the devil? Are you following the ways of the world with its immoralities and corrupted values?

Maybe the Lord has tried to encourage you through a fellow Christian, but all you did was mocking their words and resisted what they were saying to you. Maybe you are in a situation right now where you feel this emptiness, depression, anger, anxiety, failure, poverty and destruction.

God is telling you that He knows what He is doing; He has it all planned out–plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. But when you read a little further, you read about your part, what you need to do. Your willingness to go to Him and to call on Him; knowing that He is your only source for everything that you need; seek Him with your whole heart.

He even says that He will make sure that you will not be disappointed and that He will turn things around for you; you can count on it!

Are you ready for a breakthrough? Are you ready to come out of that place of feeling abandoned and feeling rejected? Breaking out of whatever prison, captivity or bondage you’ve been living under? Why not get serious today and press into the Kingdom of God, and seek Him with your whole heart?

Get in that place where you become completely open before the Lord and talk to Him, tell Him how you feel, tell Him that you feel you have wasted so much time doing things that you wanted to do and that you feel like you missed everything that He had in store for you. Pour out your heart before Him, when you find the Lord in that intimate place, you will find His mercy, love, forgiveness, grace, favor and peace. He will turn your life around; He will order your steps into the plans He has for you, plans to prosper you and give you a hope and a future!

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