WELCOME TO THE “PASTORS PAGE”, I BELIEVE THAT YOU’LL RECEIVE VALUABLE LIFE LESSONS, EQUIPPING YOU FOR THE ISSUES IN EVERYDAY LIFE!  MAY YOU BE BLESSED AND ENCOURAGED WITH A NEW LEVEL OF MATURITY IN ALL THE LORD HAS FOR YOU, THROUGH THESE INSIGHT’S.

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The lesson which we will look into during this time together is taken out of a personal exploration for my own specific purpose and the plan to reach it. The Lord brought this passage to me many years ago, at a time of uncertainty and intense questioning. That is just like the Lord to meet the need in His timing with His resources. Have you been in a similar situation? When you knew that you needed an answer and it had to address your specific need, but you could not see how it would get answered? You may have even caused the situation to happen. Or maybe something happened to you and it was no fault of your own, but it is vital for you to have a solution that would bring your breakthrough. No matter the set of circumstances, the Lord desires to restore and remind you that you are a favored son/daughter of His. The passage we are going to look at is from the Old Testament and out of the book of Jeremiah, it is the 29th chapter and the verses are 11 thru 14.

“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 a 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. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord” and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

 I remember when I had heard the words “plans” and “purpose”, words that I had wrestled with in my heart, those words that I longed to hear from the mouth of God. Those words were there all along, before I was ever formed God spoke them out. My soul had been waiting to be blanketed by the power of those words. To hear those words and to hear them from the mouth of God is what introduced me into a whole new level of faith. A faith, that gave way to action, personal growth and real maturity.  I realized that the “WORD” of God is my ticket to getting whole with a real opportunity to see my purpose and get the plans that would fulfill that calling.

There is a lot of insight and parallels in this passage between Israel and the believer’s life. It is a demonstration of God’s favor, grace and mercy given out to those who desire it. Regardless of what you have done or what has been done to you, crying out to the Lord is a sound He loves to hear. The first three words of this passage make a statement, declaring the Lord to be the one who declares “for I know”. He knows the very best for you and me, not just a good idea or one of many options! He knows the very perfect plan and purpose for us all and wants to share it with us. Our faith comes into play when we are faced with the decision to believe He wants to “prosper us and not harm us”. We are challenged to see Him unlike no one else, as one who cannot lie, one who will not tease and is one sure to fulfill His promises to us.

The Lord repeats three times that we will be found when we seek after him. We play the vital part in our own breakthrough! The scripture tells us in Matthew 7:7, 8 that we are to ask and believe by faith and we will receive it. This amazing privilege of coming to the Lord and asking has been given to us to enable us to live victorious. Excitement is generated by knowing that our places of captivity, those, areas that have caused us much pain and bondage shall be overcome! How do we know this, because “it is by His strips we are healed”,Isaiah 53:5. We can ask for healing of every kind, because Jesus wants us to be healed in spirit, soul and body. I can remember being asked to do tasks around the house with my brother, as kids. I would do that task for awhile and then it would be his turn to do it for a while. I remember how I felt when I could stop and just relax, give my body a break, what a freeing and empowering moment. That moment, is how the Lord wants us to live out life! A sense of relief that He has taken over and we can trust and rest in Him.

The Lord promises to gather the nation of Israel from all over the world and unite them in one promised place of wholeness. This place is the promise land, or as we know it today as the country of Israel. It has always been the Lord’s desire and will to have a united whole country for Israel. It has always been the Lord’s desire that you and I walk in wholeness, to flourish in our promised lands. To have those places or area’s of our lives that are dysfunctional or broken or in captivity, freed and operating in cooperation with the Kingdom of God.

Notice it was the Lord who allowed the people of Israel to become prisoners and end up in bondage. He did not do it to them, but when their thoughts, words and deeds rose up to try and be competition or better yet opposition to the truths of the Lord. It is then, that He steps back and allows the people of Israel or even you or me to become captive to those harmful things. So, that it may be exposed for what it is, a counterfeit. Once we recognize that we need Him and we cry out, it is then that we are putting ourselves into the position to be delivered from those harmful and often very self destructive patterns in our lives. We see it right now in Hollywood even as we speak, with certain young stars, going over the edge with their issues! The issue must be exposed and a challange made with the "WORD" of God, to bring deliverance to the individual. So, there you have it, if God did not give it to you then do not keep it! Go now and be all God called you to be. When He shows you something in you that needs to be removed because it holds you captive. Allow the Holy Spirit  to guide you into accountability and address it before it addresses you as a resident in a place called bondage! 

God Bless You!,

   Pastor Thom