Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
8 Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day. 9 The Lord does not delay [as though He were unable to act] and is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is [extraordinarily] patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! Amen.
Many of God’s plans are detailed throughout the Bible.
He has plans for nations, for people groups, and for individuals.
Isaiah 46:10–11 summarizes what God wants us to know about His plans:
“My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that I will bring about; what I have planned, that I will do.”
It’s one thing to recognize that God has an overarching plan for the world; it is quite another to acknowledge that God has a specific life plan for each person.
Many places in Scripture indicate that God does have a specific plan for each human being.
It starts before we are conceived.
Lord told Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).
God’s plan was not reactive, a response to Jeremiah’s conception.
It was preemptive, implying that God specially formed this male child to accomplish His plan.
David underscores this truth: “You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13).
Unborn children are not and never will be accidents.
They are being formed by their Creator for His purposes.
That is one reason abortion is wrong.
We have no right to disrespect God’s plan and violate God’s workmanship by killing a child He is in the process of forming and shaping into His Image.
God’s plan for every human being is that each one comes to know Him and accept His offer of salvation (2 Peter 3:9).
He created us for fellowship with Him, and, when we reject the reconciliation He offers, we live at cross purposes with His plan for us.
Beyond salvation, God also designed good works for each of us according to our gifts, strengths, and opportunities (Ephesians 2:10).
He orchestrated the location, time into which each of us is born (Psalm 139:16).
If He knows the number of hairs on our heads, then He knows us better than we know ourselves (Luke 12:7).
He knows the gifts, talents, strengths, and weaknesses He gave us, and He knows how we could best use them to make an eternal impact.
He gives us opportunities to store up treasure in heaven so that, for all eternity, we can enjoy His reward (Mark 9:41; Matthew 10:41–42).
God’s plan for each person is generally stated in Micah 6:8:“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
His plan is for relationship over duties.
When we walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16, 25), enjoying a loving relationship with the Lord, our actions indicate that closeness.
Pleasing Him is our delight.
His plan unfolds naturally as we grow in faith, mature in knowledge, and practice obedience with all we understand.
As we obey His general plan for His children, we discover His uniquely designed plan for us individually.
We know God’s plan for those who know Him includes reaching others with the good news of reconciliation and salvation (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 5:20).
His plan is for His children to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29).
He wants us to grow in grace and knowledge (2 Peter 3:18).
He wants us to love other Christians the way He loves us (John 13:34).
As we diligently read, and study and follow His Word, we will discover our own spiritual gifts and abilities that specially suit us to serve Him in unique ways (2 Corinthians 12:4–11).
God’s plan unfolds in our lives as we use all we have exclusively for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31).
We often become impatient in wondering what God’s plan is for our lives.
But it is not as complicated as we make it out to be.
God’s plan for us is revealed a little at a time as we follow Him, and His plan may look different in different seasons of life.
Hypothetically …
A middle aged person working hard to support the responsibilities of career and family, an older person working hard to successfully get into their retirements.
An already retired person looking to quietly move and gradually settle into their “time away” years, a young person may ask God to direct their steps to His plan for their lives and believes college or vocational training is part of that plan.
But halfway to their happiness and joy through their plans for themselves, they fall ill and must spend an extended and unknown period of time to rest, recover.
Are they now out of God’s plan?
Not if their hearts and souls are set to focus exclusively upon Him.
In that time of rest and recovery and rehabilitation, the young women meets a young man who becomes her husband.
They both love the Lord and desire to serve Him and believe that His plan for them is some ministry or mission field which they have had their hearts upon.
They begin planning and preparation, but halfway through the training, she becomes pregnant with what becomes an unplanned high-risk pregnancy.
Did they miss God’s plan?
Does the Lord have a plan to forsake them?
Has the Lord got a “plan B” to abandon them when things go awry?
Will the Lord abandon or forsake the middle aged person when plans change?
Will the Lord subtly or suddenly turn His face or His back unto the aged when their lives subtly, or suddenly become diverted by health or financial concerns?
Will the Lord change His plan for everyone to come to know Him in these times or from these times and seasons?
Not at all.
Proverbs 16:1-4 English Standard Version
16 The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. 2 All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.[a] 3 Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. 4 The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
We must recall, God guides and Shepherds us in and unto HIS plan not our own.
The answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
The Lord alone is the one who weighs the spirit.
Commit your work unto the Lord and your plans will be established.
The Lord has made everything for its purpose.
The Lord alone has made everything beautiful in its time.
Ecclesiastes 3:10-13 English Standard Version
10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.
All this is of God, from God alone, to fulfill God’s own purpose, plan for them.
Hypothetically,
Perhaps because of their experience caring for a child with special needs, they are able to get closer to God and minister to other families with similar needs.
A person coming through the harsh reality of a Cancer diagnosis may find the need to share their experiences with treatment and surgery – to give comfort.
Whatever was “their planned mission field” will subtly, suddenly look much different from the one they had envisioned, but it is now God’s plan for them.
Hopefully, Prayerfully, Faithfully, Lovingly so …
They are able to look back and see God’s hand in every turn along their way.
Ecclesiastes 12:9-14 English Standard Version
Fear God and Keep His Commandments
9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. 10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.
11 The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. 12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.[a]14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with[b] every secret thing, whether good or evil.
“Will God please make up His and my mind so I will know what I am to do!”
We will struggle mightily acknowledging and accepting God’s plan as rarely being a straight shot to, as much as we can tell anyway, a clearly visible goal.
Psalm 57:2 English Standard Version
2 I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.
His plan requires of us a journey, illustrated so well in Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, and that journey may be filled with detours and diversions, sudden and slow crawls, stops, and hosts and myriad and myriads of confusing turns.
Psalm 138:8 English Standard Version
8 The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
Romans 8:28 English Standard Version
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,[a] for those who are called according to his purpose.
But if their hearts and their souls are genuinely set to obey Him in all that they know to do, then they will be at, in the center of His will every step of the way.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 8 The Message
8 God, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name.
2 Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you; toddlers shout the songs That drown out enemy talk, and silence atheist babble.
3-4 I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry, Moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, Why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?
5-8 Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods, bright with Eden’s dawn light. You put us in charge of your handcrafted world, repeated to us your Genesis-charge, Made us stewards of sheep and cattle, even animals out in the wild, Birds flying and fish swimming, whales singing in the ocean deeps.
9 God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
8-9 Yes. Believe it or not, this is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, Israel’s God: “Don’t let all those so-called preachers and know-it-alls who are all over the place there take you in with their lies. Don’t pay any attention to the fantasies they keep coming up with to please you. They’re a bunch of liars preaching lies—and claiming I sent them! I never sent them, believe me.” God’s Decree!
10-11 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.
12 “When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen.
13-14 “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.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
How rare is the Word of God today?
How rare is the genuine understanding of the Word of God today?
How rare is the genuine truth of the Word of God sought after today?
How rare is the person who seeks after the genuine truth of God’s Word?
How rare is the person who actually, diligently, genuinely, seeks to apply the wisdom and the genuine truth of the Word of God to their lives?
How rare is the person who actually, diligently, genuinely applies the genuine truth of the Word of God to their lives?
How rare is the person who then actually, diligently, genuinely, seeks with all of their heart, souls, minds and strength, to diligently, genuinely teach all others? (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)
Do we genuinely want to know, love, experience God through His Word alone?
Do we really and genuinely want to surprise ourselves by seeking His Kingdom?
The True Deeper Meaning of Jeremiah 29:11 Might Surprise You
Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most well-known and quoted verses in the Bible.
It’s promise is held dearly by Christians all over the world.
But despite it’s popularity the meaning of Jeremiah 29:11 is often misused and misapplied.
It’s one of the most misquoted verses in the entire Bible.
While many Christians have this verse memorized and hanging on their walls, the context in which it’s written is often ignored.
The Bible passage of Jeremiah 29:11 is a popular verse that we, as Christians, cling to in times of trials and hardships.
Whenever problems occur in our earthly lives, we always find safe refuge in the Word of God and one of those verses is Jeremiah 29:11.
Because of this,
it is essential to understand the historical as well as the literary context of the verse to give us a deeper understanding as to why Jeremiah wrote it.
When we ignore the context in which the Bible is written we can quite literally make it say anything we want.
What We Commonly Get Wrong About Jeremiah 29:11 Meaning
Jeremiah 29:11 is everywhere.
From coffee mugs to graduation speeches this verse is plastered everywhere.
Yet despite the popularity the meaning of Jeremiah 29:11 is often misapplied.
Most commonly the meaning of Jeremiah 29:11 is applied as a personal promise.
That God has a wonderful and perfect plan for ME.
Many take this verse and apply it specifically to them, that God has their life perfectly mapped out, and that they only have to walk in obedience to God.
Others take this verse a step further claiming this verse is a continuous promise of health and wealth.
Since we are children of the King we would, could, should only hope to expect the best from God.
With this view, anything less than that view, pain and suffering are interpreted as a sign of disobedience, being disciplined by our God for our true lack of faith.
The main problem with these interpretations of Jeremiah 29:11 is that they are very ME centered.
It’s all about what God can and is going to do for ME.
And that’s not the meaning of Jeremiah 29:11.
Or the Bible for that matter.
Where do we begin to more deeply, genuinely acknowledge, the grace of God?
When do we acknowledge the genuine authority, sovereignty, power, of God’s exclusive to God truth behind Psalm 46:10-11?
Psalm 46:10-11 The Message
8-10 Attention, all! See the marvels of God! He plants flowers and trees all over the earth, Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all the weapons across his knee. “Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything.”
11 Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God-of-Angel-Armies protects us.
See all of the marvels of God and God alone!
The alleged marvels of humanity are not even mentioned by the Psalmist!
The sovereignty of God and God alone is where everything remains the same.
Psalm 46:10-11 Amplified Bible
10 “Be still and know (recognize, understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth.” 11 The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold [our refuge, our high tower]. Selah.
So, accounting for it being about God alone, what does Jeremiah 29:11 mean?
Let’s dive into the context and find out.
The Meaning Of Jeremiah 29:11 In Context Historically
Context matters. In fact, I would say context is king.
When we are reading the Bible we cannot ignore the context in which what we are reading is written in.
That means we should do three things when reading the Bible:
Look at the surrounding verses
Consider the original audience
Look at the larger narrative of the Bible
What is the history behind his words and what is the reasoning?
What is its literal meaning and how can we apply it to our daily lives, not just during tribulations, but rather, as followers of Jesus Christ and children of God?
To help us understand the meaning of Jeremiah 29:11 we will focus primarily on the first two in the list above.
Let me just say this, the common ways this passage is interpreted does not fit the Biblical narrative – the Bible teaches selflessness not a ME centered faith.
When you rewind a little bit from Jeremiah 29:11 what you see is God talking to the nation of Israel through the prophet Jeremiah.
What Does ‘For I Know the Plans I Have for You’ Mean in Jeremiah 29:11
Based on the historical context of the verse and the major events that happened in the past, we can understand why Jeremiah said the words in Jeremiah 29:11.
His primary goal was to speak to God’s people amidst hardships and suffering.
The people on the long march into Babylonian captivity needed to know there was some kind of hope they could latch themselves onto to face down reality.
The people were ready to grasp onto any smidgen of reality that would reveal for them that somewhere in this national tragedy befalling them, there is hope.
The unfolding breadth, unrelenting scope of trauma in every which direction of recent events of Babylonian siege, and plunder and war, of this disaster abound.
No one was immune from the impossible to measure effects of its devastation.
National identity was being systematically, violently stripped away from them.
Even their beloved Temple, where God was always to be found – was destroyed.
The Temple where God resided, was desecrated beyond repair – God was gone.
No God in residence…the spiritual trauma behind that thought – unfathomable.
Can anyone of us identify with this feeling?
Their lifeline to God and His divine protection – violently, visibly, severed.
Can anyone of us identify with this feeling?
No lifeline to God was equated with having no Hope of seeing Hope ever again.
Can anyone of us identify ourselves with this feeling?
The people of God were asking for an immediate rescue from the suffering that they were experiencing, and the counter-cultural, against the grain, prophet Jeremiah had a huge responsibility to tell them the truth about God’s promise.
He was also tasked to rebuke a very huge and ultra convincing lie that the false prophet Hananiah had widely circulated, which was not a very easy task to do.
This verse was his message, inspired by God’s guidance, to tell the people that God’s response is not an immediate answer, rather, God has a plan to prosper His people amidst hardships, God has a promise for the future of His people.
The needed caveat to these words – being after seventy years of exile is done.
The duration of the exile would continue until God had designed it to be over.
There would be no avoiding it or getting away from its experience or its effects.
The exile was a done deal.
Praying would not end it before its anointed and appointed time.
The exile was going to have to be fully, inescapably, endured. (Psalm 137)
Considering the coming tragedy of that march to Babylon, and what the people already had to endure and bear witness to (Psalm 137:8-9), it was a bitter time!
If we reflect on the words of Jeremiah, we can see the wisdom that God gave him during those trying times.
He starts with a clear, direct message, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,”
These words can be interpreted as a direct message and an assurance that God knows their plans.
And then, the verse continues with a more profound explanation of God’s plan, “‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).
These words give more detail of His plan — to inspire His people to continue on, to persevere through the very harshest of seasons, times and circumstances.
The Historical Context of ‘For I Know the Plans I Have for You’ in Jeremiah 29:11
In its context, Jeremiah is speaking to his fellow people as they were forced to exile from their home in Jerusalem to Babylon and, now, under enemy rule.
There was too much turmoil in terms of emotional and physical stress among the believers of God during this time.
To add to this, there was also a false prophet named Hananiah who gave false hope to the Jews regarding the prophecy of God.
According to Hananiah, God promises to relieve the Jews of their suffering after two years and would come back to their home.
This was a false prophecy that Jeremiah heard and rebuked. We can read this verse further in Jeremiah 28:15-17;
Jeremiah 28:15-17 Amplified Bible
15 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen now, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. 16 Therefore thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am about to send you away from the face of the earth. This year you will die, because you have spoken and have counseled rebellion against the Lord.’”
17 So Hananiah the [false] prophet died [two months later], the same year, in the seventh month.
Imagine Jeremiah having to tell the Jews that instead of two years, they would live in Babylon for 70 years and endure it as it is written in Jeremiah 29:4-10,
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.
This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.”
Jeremiah was tasked to deliver a message that God’s people would have to live, build houses, marry, pray for peace, and prosper in a city that was not theirs.
It was an arduous, difficult task, and Jeremiah had to give the people an inspirational message and thus the words in Jeremiah29:11 were written.
What Deeper Meaning Would, What Could, What Should, ‘For I Know the Plans I Have for You’ Genuinely Mean for Us Today?
Indeed, Jeremiah 29:11 is a great reminder amidst the longevity of suffering, God alone has a boundless God sized plan for us to prosper and hope for our future.
We should not give up. We may be experiencing different situations such as the severe health or a financial crisis or a family relationship on the brink of being torn apart, the verse tells us that these things are in passing and God has a plan.
Just as what happened in the past with the Jews in Babylon, we may experience “lets grasp for human straws” hopeful words of false prophets like Hananiah.
The much beloved verse also reminds us not to believe in human things that are too good to be true and instead, trust God alone, His Grace, His processes alone.
For it is only in trusting His process we can all be assured of hope for the future.
Lastly, this much cherished verse also reminds us that if we seek God in our hearts, we will never be weary even if we experience suffering in our lives.
Let God alone transform our mindsets of unrelenting suffering to unrelenting joy in the Lord and the Lord alone who is our strength. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)
More Bible Verses about Hope
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. ~ Isaiah 40:31
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. ~ Romans 8:24-25
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead ~ 1 Peter 1:3
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. ~ Romans 15:4
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. ~ Romans 15:13
Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ~ Romans 12:12
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ~ Hebrews 11:1
2 Timothy 3:14-17 Amplified Bible
14 But as for you, continue in the things that you have learned and of which you are convinced [holding tightly to the truths], knowing from whom you learned them, 15 and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings (Hebrew Scriptures) which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus [surrendering your entire self to Him and having absolute confidence in His wisdom, power and goodness]. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed [given by divine inspiration] and is profitable for instruction, for conviction [of sin], for correction [of error and restoration to obedience], for training in righteousness [learning to live in conformity to God’s will, both publicly and privately—behaving honorably with personal integrity and moral courage]; 17 so that the [a]man of God may be complete and proficient, outfitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Seek out the deeper meanings, immeasurable truths of the Word of God.
The entirety of our lives is a Tapestry weaved by the Grace of God by God.
In Christ Jesus, our Savior, in Him alone our hope is found (Acts 4:8-12)
Give God 100% of the Glory – saving or hoarding none of it for yourselves.
Give God 100% of the Praise – saving or hoarding none of it for yourselves.
Give God 100% of the Honor – saving or hoarding none of it for yourselves.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Majesty, worship His majesty Unto Jesus be all glory, honor and praise, Majesty, kingdom authority Flow from His throne, unto His own His Anthem raise Majesty, worship His majesty
Unto Jesus be all glory, honor and praise, Majesty, kingdom authority Flow from His throne, unto His own His Anthem raise
So exalt, lift up on high, the name of Jesus Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus the King Majesty, worship His majesty
Jesus who died, now glorified King of all kings
Copyright:
1981 New Spring (Admin. by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing, Inc.)
10 “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years [of exile] have been completed for Babylon, I will visit (inspect) you and keep My good promise to you, to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call on Me and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear [your voice] and I will listen to you. 13 Then [with a deep longing] you will seek Me and require Me [as a vital necessity] and [you will] find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and I will [free you and] gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Some years ago the well-known author James Michener wrote a book called The Drifters.
It’s a story about young students traveling aimlessly through Asia and Europe, drifting from one day into the next, without either a plan or even any purpose.
Lots of people today are drifters too.
Even if you have everything life has to offer, you can feel unfulfilled and without purpose, drifting from one day to the next.
Or maybe you feel as if you’ve been cut adrift.
For example, maybe you’ve lost your job and you don’t see much of a future.
Or maybe you’ve lost your spouse through death, separation or divorce, and you feel as if you’ve reached the end of the road.
Perhaps you are in that place in life where you are feeling unfulfilled, at an age where perhaps you are considering a career change but you are unsure what the next career might be or you are struggling with how you are going to finance it.
Or maybe you just retired and you feel as if you’ve been put on a shelf.
Or perhaps you’re permanently disabled and you’re not sure how you can go on.
If you’re feeling adrift for one reason or another, take heart from God’s words to us through His Prophet Jeremiah: “I know the plans I have for you … plans to prosper you and … to give you hope and a future.”
God does not want us to drift through life.
He assuredly, definitely has a purpose and plan for each one of us.
Whoever you are reading this, ask yourself, “What does God have in mind for me? And how does God want to use me today so I can have hope and a future?”
God’s Presence in Our Plans
Jeremiah 29:10-11 The Message
10-11 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.
This quote was part of a letter God had Jeremiah write to the Jews whom King Nebuchadnezzar had been forcibly taken captive to Babylon from Jerusalem.
They had been ripped from their homeland, marched, walked, taken to a land where they were aliens and strangers.
I cannot imagine how hopeless they felt. (Psalm 137)
But God had already told them what to do when they arrived there.
What we do not know is how receptive this first generation of exiles were to the message of God, through Jeremiah, of a hope not manifesting itself for 70 years.
Jeremiah 29:4-8 Amplified Bible
4 “So says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captives whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, 5 ‘Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there and do not decrease [in number]. 7 Seek peace and well-being for the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its peace (well-being) you will have peace.’ 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your [false] prophets who are among you and your diviners deceive you; pay no attention and attach no significance to the dreams which they dream or to yours,
He told them to build houses and live in them, plant gardens and eat their produce.
To get married and have children, then give their children in marriage to have more children, to multiply there, to not decrease in their population numbers.
And incredibly, God told them to seek the peace and well-being of Babylon where ultimately he had sent them into exile.
God even told them to pray for Babylon’s welfare.
For in Babylon’s peace and well-being, the Israelite’s would have their peace.
Then God promised that after 70 years he would bring them back to Jerusalem.
He essentially told them to take heart, a measure of solace, He had plans for them, plans for their good, plans for their future, plans to give them hope.
This is a good reminder for us.
We need to regularly remember that this world is not our home.
As the Apostle Peter would later remind his congregations of readers;
1 Peter 2:9-12 Amplified Bible
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a [special] people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies [the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections] of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people [at all], but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers [in this world] to abstain from the sensual urges [those dishonorable desires] that wage war against the soul. 12 Keep your behavior excellent among the [unsaved] Gentiles [conduct yourself honorably, with graciousness and integrity], so that [a]for whatever reason they may slander you as evildoers, yet by observing your good deeds they may [instead come to] glorify God [b]in the day of visitation [when He looks upon them with mercy].
Just as Babylon was not the Jews’ final home, neither is this our final home.
Our home is heaven.
But like the ancient Israelite’s, we are to build our lives here for now.
We’re to seek the good of our nation, our churches, our friends and neighbors.
John 14:1-6 Amplified Bible
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
14 “Do not let your heart be troubled (afraid, cowardly). Believe [confidently] in God and trust in Him, [have faith, hold on to it, rely on it, keep going and] believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and I will take you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also. 4 And [to the place] where I am going, you know the way.” 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “[a]I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
We are to settle in, have generations of family, and build homes – temporarily.
We are to pray for the welfare, the well-being of where God will settle us down.
But we mustn’t forget that after “70 years” – sooner or later – God will come back, His Son, our Savior Jesus will take us unto our ultimate home – heaven.
Those are God’s plans for us.
But he has plans for us now too.
More on this tomorrow ….
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 8 The Message
8 God, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name.
2 Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you; toddlers shout the songs That drown out enemy talk, and silence atheist babble.
3-4 I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewelry, Moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, Why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?
5-8 Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods, bright with Eden’s dawn light. You put us in charge of your handcrafted world, repeated to us your Genesis-charge, Made us stewards of sheep and cattle, even animals out in the wild, Birds flying and fish swimming, whales singing in the ocean deeps.
9 God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one [the only God]! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and with all your soul and with all your strength [your entire being]. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be [written] on your heart and mind. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your [a]children [impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths] and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. 8 And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand (forearm), and they shall be used as [b]bands (frontals, frontlets) on your forehead. 9 You shall write them on the [c]doorposts of your house and on your gates.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! Amen.
Parents, Grandparents and God’s Children of all ages and walks of and among life, what first comes to our mind when we meditate about “family devotions”?
Does it include regular times set apart for your family read Scripture? Prayer? Worship in song? Formal Bible instruction with age-appropriate resources?
Yes, all these things and quite a few things more characterize family devotions.
And all serve to glorify and honor God and too will definitely come to benefit our children and our families as we instruct them in what is most important.
I don’t think there’s a mandate to be found in sacred Scripture that is more solemn than this one. That we are to teach our children the truth of God’s Word is a sacred, holy responsibility that God gives to His people. And it’s not something that is to be done only one day a week in Sunday school. We can’t abdicate the responsibility to the church. The primary responsibility for the education of children according to Scripture is the family, the parents.
God instructed the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 6:6–9,
“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
This ancient passage of text makes it abundantly clear that God’s forever intent is for parents to teach their children and each other about God and His ways.
God’s Word should be at the forefront of our lives and the center of our homes.
Thousands of years later, Apostle Paul echoes the importance of these words.
Ephesians 6:4 says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” One way we teach our children this truth is by coming together as a family to be in God’s Word and praying together.
The wisest of the wise King Solomon: Proverbs 22:6 gives this wisdom: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
As parents who love God and who deeply believe and cherish Him, we want to help our, and future generations of children also come to love and believe Him.
Deliberately, Intentionally, Purposefully, our setting aside time for our family devotions each day will show our children that God is the very center of our lives, and spending time with Him is our priority, and we desire to do His will.
We want to show them that it’s okay, God can be the center of their lives, too.
We also want them to be taught, see how God guides them through life in their community, schools, family, and decisions – so they may teach their children.
To raise them up with critically important biblical values that they may one day, as might be needed, to emphasize these values before school board authorities.
Advocate, Communicate, Educate, the highest values of acceptance and sanctity of all life which God indelibly places upon everyone – without any exceptions.
Living, Loving, Moving, Being enveloped in the Word feeds us with everything we need from advice, to wisdom, to morals and ethics and unto His salvation.
It sets us up with a rock solid, sure and certain and steadfast and immovable foundation, a place for all to turn to in times of trials, tribulations, and praise.
Family devotions are a wonderful time for discussions with your children.
As you and your family read through God’s Word together, you can discuss the ways in which it is inescapably relevant to their lives.
For example, some of your discussions might include the ways in which God’s character applies to our understanding of our morals, attitudes and behaviors.
Be sure to not only discuss troublesome behaviors, but positive ones as well.
Your discussions might also include questions about how and why the world works the way it does.
You might just find yourselves talking about your relationships with others and all the ways in which God’s character and His commands help transform those.
These discussions can help your children see that God’s Word is “living and active” (Hebrews 4:12) and “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16b–17).
Family devotions help create a firm foundation for your children’s spiritual growth.
In diligently and prudently practicing the spiritual disciplines of reading and studying God’s Word of fellowship and praying together, you help train your children to incorporate and carry these “God” practices with them through life.
You’re also helping them to learn the immeasurable dimensions, the infinite applications of the truth of God’s Word and to come to know, love, Him better.
When we dive into God’s Word, we are teaching our children that God loves and cares about them and us relentlessly.
When we come together to God to pray, to seek Him, we are showing our children we have access to a God who is holy, loving, able to meet our needs.
Our family devotions will likely challenge our faith and contribute infinitely to our spiritual growth as well.
Family devotions also help us meaningfully connect with our children in the midst of a sometimes hectic world.
Taking time to pause to focus on God together is the sweet intimacy of Christian fellowship.
A family time that is deliberately, intentionally, personally, purposely set apart can also serve as a time to honor God and each other, to relate with one another.
As we share our joys and our concerns, our struggles and trials, prayer requests or discuss how God’s Word applies to our lives, we are sharing God in our lives.
Dedicating this time to focus on your children and on God can help strengthen your relationships with your child.
Family devotions do not have to be elaborate.
You can keep them as simple as reading through a passage that pertains to issues you might be facing in your family, to reading through a certain book of the Bible, or purchasing age-appropriate devotional books.
You can include time for worshiping with music if you desire.
Psalm 139:23-24 Amplified Bible
23 Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart; Test me and know my anxious thoughts; 24 And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
There is no set time-length that family devotions have to last, but you can be assured that you will soon find this experience to be a joyful time together.
At the conclusion of your time together, pray for God’s goodness in your family, any requests of friends and family, and for His abundant guidance in your lives.
Psalm 139:1-18 Amplified Bible
God’s Omnipresence and Omniscience.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
139 O Lord, you have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up [my entire life, everything I do]; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And You are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue [still unspoken], Behold, O Lord, You know it all. 5 You have enclosed me behind and before, And [You have] placed Your hand upon me. 6 Such [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high [above me], I cannot reach it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will take hold of me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me, And the night will be the only light around me,” 12 Even the darkness is not dark to You and conceals nothing from You, But the night shines as bright as the day; Darkness and light are alike to You.
13 For You formed my innermost parts; You knit me [together] in my mother’s womb. 14 I will give thanks and praise to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was being formed in secret, And intricately and skillfully formed [as if embroidered with many colors] in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were appointed for me, When as yet there was not one of them [even taking shape].
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I could count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
Remember to always praise God for His answers to your prayers, too.
Create an environment that is calm, loving, and memorable, one that your children will want to foster, nurture, impress, upon the lives of their children.
“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen” (2 Peter 3:18).
Family devotions are a crucial means of declaring, living out family priorities.
By turning to God’s Word and prayer together every day (or most days, at least), we model the uncompromising centrality of these practices in our Christian life.
These daily times together will also prove an important means of our building closeness within our family…
Our devotions call us to a family experience each day.
Hebrews 6:19-20 Amplified Bible
19 This hope [this confident assurance] we have as an anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whatever pressure bears upon it]—a safe and steadfast hope that enters within the veil [of the heavenly temple, that most Holy Place in which the very presence of God dwells],20 where Jesus has entered [in advance] as a forerunner for us, having become a High Priest forever according to the order of [a]Melchizedek.
Our time away with God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and each other gives expression to this “confident assurance” we have all an anchor for our souls.
We each have our own hopes and dreams we desire to see lived in each other.
And while few of them are remarkably miraculous on their own, it is their gradual and steadfast accumulation which will add up to something special.
And then there is the benefit of building a habit that adds structure and stability to the family’s shared life.
As we have emphasized family devotions, we will gradually find out it becomes a kind of disciplined, organizing structure to the God life we all share together…
Through disciplined family devotions we model our own discipline of personal devotions, for the two closely, inextricably, inescapably, resemble one another.
By relating to the Lord as a family, we teach how to relate to him as individuals.
Growing up in a prayer-filled home is a beautiful and powerful thing.
Parents can pray over their children from the moment they are conceived through adulthood.
Children can learn alongside their parents how to pray to the Lord themselves.
Siblings can pray for and with one another as they resolve conflict and build strong relationships.
Extended family can cover loved ones in prayer through both joyful and challenging seasons.
Families can pray together more often than just before dinner, and it can be a life-changing and spiritually transformative experience that not only brings family members closer to God, but blessedly, ultimately closer to one another!
It is the kind of disciplined habit, perhaps like eating and praying together, and attending church together, that anchors family to the centrality of Jesus Christ.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
“Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:16-17
Lord, I pray that the message of Christ and his sacrifice is the root of gratitude in my and my family’s heart. That His gracious gift leads me and my family into thankful living, setting a timeless example for the rest of my family and their children. That they will have their own truly abiding relationship with Jesus one day, and that You would grow gratitude in their hearts out of the acceptance of Jesus as their Savior. Lead us to do everything in the name of Jesus and give thanks to You through Him.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
10 “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up from some other place [on the stone wall], that one is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep [the protector and provider]. 3 The [a]doorkeeper opens [the gate] for this man, and the sheep hear his voice and pay attention to it. And [knowing that they listen] he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out [to pasture]. 4 When he has brought all his own sheep outside, he walks on ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice and recognize his call. 5 They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Whose Voice Are We Following?
Internet, iPad, iPod—the “I”s certainly have it today!
At home and at work we call on Siri, we talk into our phones, we sit or stand or lie down in our living rooms or dining rooms, of kitchens or even bathrooms.
We will talk into our television remotes and search for a particular favorite channel or programming station, for whatever it is they call entertainment.
We call out to some voice identified only as Siri and ask her or tell her to call up some random search parameter – a recipe, or a song or list of vacation spots or whatever happens to land into our wandering randomized thought processes.
And in an instant a disconnected computer voice from our phones or Alexa chimes in with “okay, this is what I found…!” and we are on our way to read whatever information was “found” in less time it took to type this sentence.
At the beach, in the department store, on the college campus, everywhere people have “earbuds” wireless listening devices planted deep in their ears.
While both technology and music are gifts of God, I hope we also take time to listen to the springtime chatter of robins or to the hoot cry of a Barn Owl.
What we hear and what and who we listen to makes a difference in our lives.
What information we hear, and who we hear it from, will end up profoundly influencing our thought processes and will inevitably guide our actions, into how we respond to a particular life altering, life transforming circumstance.
How we make decisions, how we judge what is morally and ethically right and wrong, how we interpret whether what we see and hear is truth or a deception.
People will tell us anything to sell their products and increase their profits and their bank accounts, to sell us a bill of goods which ultimately has little value.
Do you read or listen to, or hear the lyrics of the songs your children listen to?
Do you take any quality time with your children to discuss their song choices?
Together, do you come to a place where you can share your thoughts with them, they can share their thoughts with you – come unto an “acceptable boundary?”
Do you know what they are hearing and how it impacts what both of you have both come to be known as “morally and ethically right versus wrong” truth?
Jesus is the good shepherd.
Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life. (John 14:6)
He laid down his life for us on the Good Friday cross.
If we are to follow Jesus and avoid impostors, we must recognize his voice clearly and quickly in every situation we encounter.
To do that, we ought to be considering counseling others away from technology and spending more time studying, hearing, listening, to his Word in the Bible.
Spending quality devotional time with the children (whatever their ages are).
Talking about current events, their impacts on what is understood to be true.
There are words spoken through whatever social media medium which are worded with the intent of moving their version of truth into our forefronts.
“Words of someone else’s truth” specifically spoken, specifically manipulated, of what someone else desperately wants us to unequivocally believe as gospel.
Differentiating between the voice of someone else’s truth and God’s truth?
What possible difference could it make, what possible influence could it have to one life knowing what the difference is between the world’s truth and God’s?
Love Letter to my Ears, “Whose Truth Guides Us?”
John 10:1-5 The Message
He Calls His Sheep by Name
10 1-5 “Let me set this before you as plainly as I can. If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler! The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice. They won’t follow a stranger’s voice but will scatter because they aren’t used to the sound of it.”
When I became a new Christian, hearing and knowing God’s voice and differentiating from the world were the things I struggled the most with.
How could I know whether I was hearing from God when I didn’t know His voice?
How could I be sure the Lord was speaking to me while reading Scripture, listening to a sermon, or going to Sunday school or a Bible study lesson?
I was so afraid of missing God’s instructions, warning, and encouragement that I often found myself paralyzed by raging questions of faith, my truth and doubt.
Sorting through what I had “known and believed” was truth and what the Word of God, the often complicated “Parable” teachings of Jesus and Paul was tough.
Unraveling and un-weaving of the mess I made of my own interpretation of the word truth along the long, winding and hardened concourse of my life – was a complex time of hardcore self introspection, challenging my life against God’s.
As I began studying the Bible, I learned how God’s voice matched the Scriptures.
Thus, if I wanted to know what God had to say on a particular topic, I had to devote considerable time to studying, to know what the Bible said on that topic.
If I heard a voice and was unsure whether or not that voice was the Lord’s, the Bible through Holy Spirit, would work with me to confirm whether it was Him.
I have learned the hard and soft way God’s voice will never contradict the Bible.
If the voice you’re hearing is encouraging you to take Scripture out of context to make it fit your situation, the voice is not of God and the truth is not of God too.
We can grow, we can mature to learn and discern God’s voice by studying the Holy Scriptures, praying, and asking and pleading with our Savior to teach us.
God invites us (not forces us) to ask and answer the question on all our minds:
In this time when our available resources are stretched nigh to invisibility;
Isaiah 55:1-5 The Message
Buy Without Money
55 1-5 “Hey there! All who are thirsty, come to the water! Are you penniless? Come anyway—buy and eat! Come, buy your drinks, buy wine and milk. Buy without money—everything’s free! Why do you spend your money on junk food, your hard-earned cash on cotton candy? Listen to me, listen well: Eat only the best, fill yourself with only the finest. Pay attention, come close now, listen carefully to my life-giving, life-nourishing words. I’m making a lasting covenant commitment with you, the same that I made with David: sure, solid, enduring love. I set him up as a witness to the nations, made him a prince and leader of the nations, And now I’m doing it to you: You’ll summon nations you’ve never heard of, and nations who’ve never heard of you will come running to you Because of me, your God, because The Holy of Israel has honored you.”
Jesus, the good shepherd, says, “Listen, listen to me … that you may live.”
Those who have ears, let them truthfully hear and let them truthfully live!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Precious Holy Spirit, I come to you today asking for guidance. I feel lost and overwhelmed, and I need your help in finding my way. Please open my eyes and heart to the direction you want me to take. Help me to make wise decisions that will lead me closer to your path for my life. Give me the strength and courage to persevere when times are difficult. Lead me with your truth and love, so that I may live a life that brings glory to your name. Thank you for your guidance and protection. Amen.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
2 I will stand at my guard post And station myself on the tower; And I will keep watch to see what He will say to me, And what answer I will give [as His spokesman] when I am reproved. 2 Then the Lord answered me and said, “Write the vision And engrave it plainly on [clay] tablets So that the one who reads it will run. 3 “For the vision is yet for the appointed [future] time It hurries toward the goal [of fulfillment]; it will not fail. Even though it delays, wait [patiently] for it, Because it will certainly come; it will not delay.
4 “Look at the proud one, His soul is not right within him, But the righteous will live by his faith [in the true God].
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
God is constantly speaking to people.
But too often, they miss out on hearing God’s messages because they seek His guidance only occasionally – usually when they are going through a crisis or they are about to be facing a major life decision – family, health, finance, career.
Then, with a dire need to hear from God, people will become confused and then become sad, and frustrated when they do not clearly hear what they should do.
They start to wonder when and how to hear from God and why they are not.
It does not have to be that way.
God wants everyone to hear His messages clearly, and it’s possible to do so.
The key is to forget about formulas and gimmicks for hearing from God, and to focus instead on developing the kind of relationship with God will empower you and me to hear God speaking regularly.
The closer you get to God, the more you can enjoy ongoing conversations with Him, both listening and hearing from Him, and the more God will use those conversations to transform you into the person He wants me, you to become.
Simple Keys to Hearing God’s Voice
There are a few simple keys that can be found in Habakkuk 2:1-2, which unlocks the treasure of hearing God’s voice.
Using these simple keys together allows the hearer of God’s voice on a daily basis.
Being intentional about hearing God’s voice is a critical step.
In Habakkuk 2:2, Habakkuk knew the sound of God speaking to him.
Elijah also described this as a still, small voice (1 Kings 19:12-13).
Do you know that we can listen to God in an inner audible voice?
God does speak that way to us at times.
However, we find that God’s voice usually comes as spontaneous thoughts or flowing thoughts.
Have you ever experienced driving down the road, and had a thought come to you to pray for a certain person or situation?
Don’t you think it’s God’s voice telling you to pray?
It’s not really an audible voice most of the time.
Instead, it’s a spontaneous thought.
It’s God who is already giving us a prophetic discernment to pray for this person.
Usually, humans are able and capable to experience, Holy Spirit-level communication as spontaneous thoughts, impressions, and visions, and Scripture communicates in many ways.
For example, one definition of ‘paga’, a Hebrew word for intercession, is “a chance encounter or an accidental intersecting.”
When God gives us a burden for specific people, He does it through ‘paga’, a chance-encounter thought “accidentally” coming into our minds.
The inexperienced prophet might consider it a chance encounter, spontaneous or owing thoughts.
Even Satan can plant deception in our minds through spontaneous thoughts.
Paul tells us to take captive of those thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:5).
Have you encountered evil thoughts coming to you in the middle of prayer and worship times?
There are different things going on in our minds.
Humans are usually responsible for analytical thoughts.
Spontaneous good thoughts come from the Holy Spirit, and spontaneous evil thoughts come from evil spirits.
God’s thoughts line up with Scripture and His different names and roles: Comforter, Counselor, Teacher, Giver of Life, Healer, and Deliverer.
God’s thoughts edify, exhort, and comfort you.
They are pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy, good fruits, and are unwavering (James 3:17).
On the other hand, Satan’s thoughts line up with his different names as well: Accuser, adversary, thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Satan’s thoughts condemn, bring despair, rejection, fear, doubt, unbelief, and misery all together. Satan’s thoughts also bring jealousy and selfish ambition (James. 3:14-15).
Studying, Pondering, Meditating, Ways to Regularly Hear from God
1. Recognize that God created you for a very personal relationship.
By design, the way we hear best from God is in the context of a friendship with Him.
God intends for us to figure out His will freely and intelligently as you engage in regular conversations with Him.
God’s will is to be personally present with you and speaking with you moment by moment as you go through life.
Then we’ll grow to understand Him more and become more like His Son, Jesus.
2. Consider your motives for wanting to hear from God.
Honestly reflect on why you want to hear from God.
Is it because we are truly open to whatever God has to say and committed to putting His guidance into action and fulfilling His purposes, even when doing so is so fully, completely and utterly enveloping, overwhelming, challenging?
Or is it for a selfish reason, such as wanting to feel righteous or comforted?
Confess and repent of any wrong motives.
Ask God to give you an openness to hear and respond faithfully to what He wants to tell you.
3. Make your goal more than just hearing God.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. – Matthew 6:33
While it’s important to hear from God, that shouldn’t be your ultimate goal.
Instead, make your main goal to become a spiritually mature person in a close relationship with God.
That’s the only way we’ll clearly and correctly hear what God has to say to us.
4. Know that you’re important to God, but be humble.
Have the confidence that God is willing to speak to you just as powerfully as He did to the ancient people in the Bible, because He values you, me, just as much.
However, do not let pride creep into your soul, because you must be humble in order to faithfully receive and respond to the messages God has for you and me.
5. Don’t try to force God to tell you something.
No matter how much you want to hear from God about something or how hard you may try to convince Him to speak to you.
We will only hear from God when He chooses to communicate with us.
Focus on developing a respectful relationship with God and wait for His timing to deliver messages to you.
Also, if God chooses not to give you specific guidance about something you’ve prayed about, what you’re considering is within the Bible’s moral principles,
we can confidently go ahead and make our own decision about what to do and still be within God’s will.
6. Recognize that God communicates in many forms.
God may choose any one of many different ways to communicate to you, me, according to what’s best at particular times and in particular circumstances.
You may sometimes hear God’s message in dramatic ways, such as through angels, visions, or miraculous events.
But more often, we will hear God speaking through our thoughts, and He will use ordinary practices such as reading and studying the Bible, praying quietly, learning from circumstances, or seeking counsel from other Christians to reach out to us as you think about them.
God will also use dramatic, even miraculous means to get our attention when necessary, but His goal is for you and me to be so closely connected to Him that you and I will pay attention whenever He speaks to us.
Usually, God speaks through what people have described as a “still, small voice” (1 Kings 19:12-13) to encourage those He loves to choose to keep walking closely with Him through life.
7. Renew your mind.
Since God often speaks to you through your mind and wants you to develop what the Bible calls the “mind of Christ” (the ability to make decisions as Jesus would), it’s crucial for you to follow the Bible’s urging in Romans 12:2:
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.”
As we invite the Holy Spirit to renew your mind every day, He will cleanse it from such dirt and clutter as false beliefs and attitudes, unhealthy feelings, and misguided plans.
Then the Holy Spirit will minister to us, intercede, work to replace all of that spiritual mess with true thoughts that more genuinely reflect God’s purposes.
8. Invite the living Word to help you when you read scripture.
The Word of God is a living, creative force – Jesus Himself – and He is actively at work when you read God’s written word – the Bible – prayerfully.
Hebrews 4:12 Amplified Bible
12 For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged [a]sword, penetrating as far as the division of the [b]soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.
As we read the Bible, as we study the Bible, we ask Jesus to make the Bible’s words come alive for us and through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, become conduits through which He sends His thoughts, faith, and love into your soul.
1 Timothy 4:12-14 Amplified Bible
12 Let no one look down on [you because of] your youth, but be an example and set a pattern for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in [moral] purity. 13 Until I come, devote yourself to public reading [of Scripture], to preaching and to teaching [the sound doctrine of God’s word]. 14 Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, [that special endowment] which was intentionally bestowed on you [by the Holy Spirit] through prophetic utterance when the [a]elders laid their hands on you [at your ordination].
Then discipline yourself to focus on what He sends you and strive and work to orient yourself towards a pattern of faith so it will begin to transform your life.
9. Recognize God’s voice above all others.
By experience, you can learn to recognize God’s voice when He speaks, and to confidently respond to what He says.
When thoughts recur, pray about them to discern if they may be coming from God.
Keep in mind that God will never send you and me any message that contradicts the Bible’s principles.
Also, God’s voice carries the weight of authority within it, and expresses a spirit of compassion, peace, confidence, joy, assurance, reasonableness and goodwill.
If you think or believe that God may speaking to you, ask Him to confirm so as we study and meditate on the Bible, as we are alert to the circumstances we’ll encounter, or as we experience the Holy Spirit’s impressions in our mindsets.
10. Set aside time regularly to listen for God’s messages.
2 Timothy 2:14-15 Amplified Bible
An Unashamed Workman
14 Remind the people of these facts, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God to avoid petty controversy over words, which does no good, and [upsets and undermines and] ruins [the faith of] those who listen. 15 Study and do your best to present yourself to God approved, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skillfully teaching the word of truth.
Make a plan to discipline your mind and your heart and soul, make a habit of intentionally and expectantly listening for whatever God may want to tell you.
It’s more important to become a person who listens regularly to God than it is to constantly ask God to give you guidance.
Set aside sometime today to begin listening for God’s voice and hearing his promises and plans for you.
Perhaps even keep a journal to remember the things he brings to life in you.
You open your Bible, but quickly become distracted.
You want to dig deeper, but you don’t know where to begin.
Frustrated, you close the book.
It’s not that you don’t love God—in fact, you long for more intimacy with God.
Maybe God is calling you to deeper waters . . .
Imagine yourself purposely, randomly, opening to a passage of God’s Word and by spending time, its becoming so engaging that you actually lose track of time.
Imagine yourself digging deep, and deeper still into God’s Word and seeing it, and hearing it come alive in amazing ways you had never experienced before.
Imagine starting each day—not with a tiny nugget of truth you hope will get you through—but through hearing a fresh encounter with our living Savior.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and kindle in us the fire of Your love. Send forth Your Spirit and we shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth. O, God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy Your consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Alleluia, Amen.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
3 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.
2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.
4 Then the Lord called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down.
6 And the Lord called again, “Samuel!” and Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
8 And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant hears.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Hearing the voice of God is something that everyone, Christian or not, wants to experience.
Although we all want to hear God, actually doing it, for most of us, is sort of a mysterious process.
We often don’t know how to hear God consistently, if at all.
Yet hearing and understanding what God is saying is critical for our spiritual development.
As we look at people in the Bible who heard from God, Samuel was one of the best.
The story of Samuel is found in 1 Samuel 3:1-10.
Samuel, who was just a boy, was living and serving the priest in the temple.
We are told that, “the word of the LORD was rare in those days” (v.1 ESV).
Not many people were hearing the voice of God.
Yet this rare young man was about to experience something people in the land of Israel had not seen nor had heard for quite some time; Samuel was about to clearly and succinctly hear his name called from the LORD three times.
As we look at this story about Samuel, we can discern there are six steps which can take some of the mystery out of clearly, succinctly hearing the voice of God:
1. Position Yourself Close to God
Samuel set his bed up in the temple, “where the ark of God was” (v.3 ESV).
Samuel had never heard God speak before.
Samuel did not know what to expect, but what he did know was that if he hung around the temple, God would eventually show up.
Through Bible Study, personal devotions, times of fellowship, and regular church attendance, are we now putting ourselves in a place where God is?
2. Find a Place of Regular Service to God
In v.1 it says, “Samuel was ministering to the LORD in the presence of Eli” (ESV).
If we want to hear the voice of God, we have to be doing the things of God.
If we’re not serving, don’t wonder why we are not hearing the voice of God.
3. Listen for God’s voice
Eli was “lying down in his usual place” (v.2 NIV), too set in his own ways, too set, too accepting in the past lack, the rarity of revelation, too preoccupied with his own, son’s interests, his own physical and spiritual limitations to hear God.
When God began speaking, he was not used to listening.
He too easily accepted the unchangeable; the precious rarity of God’s voice.
Status Quo was the Status Quo …
Who before him had taught and mentored him on how to listen for God?
Many times to hear what God is saying we have to slow down and take time to get close to God.
We have to put aside our interests and lean in to hear what God is saying.
How close was Eli to God?
How accepting was Eli that even at his current season and stage and condition of life, he could still get closer to God – “teaching an old soul new ‘God’ truths?
How accepting are we ourselves, in our current seasons, stages and conditions of life, that we too can still get closer to God – “teaching us new ‘God’ truths?
4. When God Calls, Respond Eagerly
When we hear our parents calling to us, we look to respond eagerly.
When we hear our spouses calling to us, we look to respond eagerly.
When we hear our children calling to us, we look to respond eagerly.
When Samuel first heard his name called, even in the middle of the night he got out of his bed, rushed to Eli’s bedside to inquire of Eli: “why have you called?”
This repeated itself three times until Eli finally realized it was truly God calling.
When Samuel heard, recognized the voice of the Lord he was immediately up and moving (v.4) and declaring – “Speak Lord, for Your Servant is Listening!”
If we want to hear the voice of God, we need to be not just ready to put ourselves into action eager to do what He tells us – we need to be obedient enough to do it!
James 1:17-22 English Standard Version
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.[a]18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Hearing and Doing the Word
19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
5. When God Speaks, Obey Him
Starting in this passage and throughout the rest of his life, Samuel consistently obeyed the Lord.
No matter what God told him, Samuel did it.
From that point on, “the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground” (1 Samuel 3:19 ESV).
For us, probably the quickest way to turn off God’s voice is to disobey him.
6. Read and Study the Word of God
After God spoke to him in this passage, the Bible tells us,
“The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there He revealed Himself to Samuel through His Word”(1 Samuel 3:21 NIV).
If you want to hear from God, you have to know what the Bible says.
God is speaking.
God wonders to what extent we are genuinely listening.
God wonders to what extent we are genuinely hearing Him.
He wants to give you wisdom to lead your family, at your job, in your church, and in every area of life.
The questions we have to be asking ourselves is not whether God is speaking, but whether or not we are hearing Him, and whether or not we are listening?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Savior Jesus, Giver of boundless peace and wisdom, I so easily get distracted when I’m trying to focus and hear your Holy Spirit. Help me to quiet my mind in the middle of my busy life. Help me to pause and to make space to listen to the most important voice of all. Empower me to be a good listener to the gentle whispers of your Spirit. Help me follow the example of Jesus, who would slip away in the evening or the early morning to be alone with you. Teach me to listen, to hear and to abide in you. Amen.
3 Now the boy Samuel was attending to the service of the Lord [a]under the supervision of Eli. The word of the Lord was rare and precious in those days; visions [that is, new revelations of divine truth] were not widespread.
2 Yet it happened at that time, as Eli was lying down in his own place (now his eyesight had begun to grow dim and he could not see well). 3 and the [oil] lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was, 4 that the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, “Here I am.” 5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call you; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6 Then the Lord called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But Eli answered, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know [or personally experience] the Lord, and the word of the Lord the third time. And he stood and went to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you did call me.” Then Eli understood that it was the Lord [who was] calling the boy. 9 So Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and it shall be that if He calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 Then the Lord came and stood and called as at the previous times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.”
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
The Word of the Lord was TOO Rare in Those Days …
Have you ever found yourself thinking, “I wish God talked to us the way He spoke to His people in the Old Testament”?
Many times, Scripture describes God speaking to His people through a voice or an angel or through a dream. He even writes on a wall in one account (Daniel 5).
So it’s natural to want to hear God’s voice or see a big sign that will help you feel confident in God’s direction.
We all experience confusing circumstances.
Sometimes you may just want God to send you a text message to tell you what to do.
Maybe you feel far from God and want Him to reach out to reassure you He’s still there.
Maybe you’ve heard people say the God of the Bible is personal, but you have never interacted with God before and wonder how to begin.
He is the same God today that He was in the time of the Old Testament.
He still speaks to us today.
He made it possible for each of us to have a personal relationship with Him, which involves talking together every day.
He communicates with us.
1 Samuel 3:1 English Standard Version
The Lord Calls Samuel
3 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.
The Word of the Lord was “rare” in those most ancient days.
In the period of time between the words of the Prophet of Malachi to the New Testament Gospel Narratives and Apostolic writings of Paul and Peter, James, Jude and John, Hebrews, some 400 years had passed without a Word from God.
How frequently do we recall Jesus using the words: “He who has ears let them hear?” [Matthew 11:15, 13:9, 15, 16, 43, Mark 4:9, 23, 7:33, 35, 8:18, Luke 8:8, 9:44, 14:35]
I also recall this verse from Luke 1:44 when Elizabeth uttered the words to her cousin Mary: “For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” and we preach it: “how miraculous was that?”
It begs the question, how rare is the Word of the Lord in contemporary times?
Could it be that one too many of us have just never learned how to recognize His voice, have we gotten confused or have we forgotten how we heard in the past?
The young Samuel was confused and unsure of who he was hearing calling him.
He “clearly” heard a voice and thought it was his mentor, Eli, calling for him.
He kept going to Eli’s room until even the aged, tired, and confused, and nearly blind Eli finally realized that the voice was God trying to get Samuel’s attention.
Hearing and listening for God, hearing and listening to God, is an important life skill for us to remember to give our full attention to for our God is never silent.
We live in a divisive noisy, politically correct “woke” culture that often speaks in ways which are considerably devastating and utterly contrary to God’s voice.
It can be difficult to hear God if we are more in tune with the voice of this world.
As we listen for God, we will be more in tune with his leading in our lives.
Listening, Samuel “Heard!”
1 Samuel 3:9-10 New American Standard Bible
9 And Eli said to Samuel, “Go lie down, and it shall be if He calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 Then the Lord came and stood, and called as at the other times: “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for Your servant is listening.”
Hannah had named her son Samuel, which means “heard by God.”
When he was weaned, she brought him to Shiloh to present him to Eli the priest for uniquely specialized training as a spiritual leader of God’s people Israel.
God called on Samuel to listen to and bring the word of the Lord to his people.
God wanted Samuel to dedicate his life to this service.
Samuel became a prophet, and he led Israel in that role for sixty years as Israel moved from a loosely organized group of clans to a peaceful monarchy ruled by King David, an ancestor of Jesus Christ.
We live under the peaceful reign of the voice of one true, good, just King today.
“Peace on earth,” the angels sang to shepherds watching their flocks on the night that King Jesus was born (Luke 2:14).
Our Advent and Lenten peace is found in the birth of this child, who grew up to establish, by dying, the kingdom of peace over all on whom God’s favor rests.
Do you know this voice of peace?
Do you hear this voice of peace?
Are you listening for this voice of peace?
Are we paying any meaningful attention to this voice of peace?
Are we giving any meaningful thought towards this voice of peace?
Ask Jesus to rule in your heart and life, and He will welcome you into his kingdom of peace.
Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can rest in true peace because we know he is our King and in control of all that happens in the world and our lives.
This is a peace not “as the world gives” (John 14:27); it is God’s peace, “which transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).
Eli mentored Samuel by teaching him how to daily worship God, and how to respond to God’s voice: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening”—in other words, “I am ready to hear what you have to say, and I am ready to obey!”
How Rare is the Word of God in These Days?
God speaks to us in many ways.
He speaks through creation, giving testimony to his faithfulness and creativity. [Psalm 19]
He speaks through his Word, where we come to understand his salvation and purpose for us.
He speaks through wise mentors in our lives.
He speaks through life situations, opening and closing doors.
God speaks by his Holy Spirit, equipping us with gifts and passions to use for service in his kingdom.
Are we listening?
Are we listening?
Do we even care if there is a voice of God speaking to us today?
Why should we care if there is a voice of God speaking to us today?
How are we listening, hearing, experiencing God’s leading in your life?
Are you and I numbed to hearing, listening attentively for God’s voice?
So in a world full of noise and distraction, should we care if God speaks?
Does it matter one iota whether or not God speaks to us if we take one long, view of the world versus God, to say: “how miraculous would that truly be?”
Do we actually desire, want or need “God’s miraculous voice” speaking to us?
So in a world full of noise and distraction, how does God actually speak to us?
So with many questions, how ought we to “miraculously” respond back to God?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 19 The Message
19 1-2 God’s glory is on tour in the skies, God-craft on exhibit across the horizon. Madame Day holds classes every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening.
3-4 Their words aren’t heard, their voices aren’t recorded, But their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.
4-5 God makes a huge dome for the sun—a superdome! The morning sun’s a new husband leaping from his honeymoon bed, The daybreaking sun an athlete racing to the tape.
6 That’s how God’s Word vaults across the skies from sunrise to sunset, Melting ice, scorching deserts, warming hearts to faith.
7-9 The revelation of God is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of God are clear and point out the right road. The life-maps of God are right, showing the way to joy. The directions of God are plain and easy on the eyes. God’s reputation is twenty-four-carat gold, with a lifetime guarantee. The decisions of God are accurate down to the nth degree.
10 God’s Word is better than a diamond, better than a diamond set between emeralds. You’ll like it better than strawberries in spring, better than red, ripe strawberries.
11-14 There’s more: God’s Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure. Otherwise how will we find our way? Or know when we play the fool? Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins, from thinking I can take over your work; Then I can start this day sun-washed, scrubbed clean of the grime of sin. These are the words in my mouth; these are what I chew on and pray. Accept them when I place them on the morning altar, O God, my Altar-Rock, God, Priest-of-My-Altar.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia! Amen.
128 Blessed [happy and sheltered by God’s favor] is everyone who fears the Lord [and worships Him with obedience], Who walks in His ways and lives according to His commandments. 2 For you shall eat the fruit of [the labor of] your hands, You will be happy and blessed and it will be well with you. 3 Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine Within the innermost part of your house; Your children will be like olive plants Around your table. 4 Behold, for so shall the man be blessed and divinely favored Who fears the Lord [and worships Him with obedience].
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion [His holy mountain], And may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life; 6 Indeed, may you see your [family perpetuated in your] children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Psalm 128 tells us, “Blessed are all who fear the Lord.”
And then it uses the picture of an ideal family to teach us about that blessing.
The ideal family in Psalm 128 is similar to the ideal man in Psalm 1, the ideal wife in Proverbs 31, and ideal love as described in 1 Corinthians 13.
We sometimes read these passages and are tempted to say, “Get real!
That’s not the way life is.”
Well, perhaps nowadays that is stating a more contemporary truth, it may not be the way life is, but these passages tell us it is the way life can be – with God!
In other words these passages of the ideal man, the ideal wife, the ideal family with the ideal children and with the ideal love are not meant to discourage us as being unachievable, unrealistic, but rather to inspire us to greater possibilities.
And so Psalm 128 paints the picture of a happy home and presents the home as the center of God’s blessing.
Who doesn’t want a happy home?
Happy and God-fearing, God Loving, God Serving, Neighbor Serving Homes and Serving communities too are, according to Psalm 128 an essential part of edifying, building up God’s kingdom right where we are, here on our earth.
So let’s get into the Psalm now.
Psalm 128 breaks into two main parts.
The first part is a statement of blessing.
The second part is a prayer of blessing.
I. Blessed are all who fear the Lord (1-4)
Psalm 128:1-4 English Standard Version
Blessed Is Everyone Who Fears the Lord
A Song of Ascents.
128 Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways! 2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table. 4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.
Let’s take a look at the statement of blessing first in verses 1-4:
“Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table.
4 Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord.” (Psalm 128:1)
The psalmist begins by stating the theme of the psalm: “Blessed are all who fear the Lord.”
To fear the Lord does not mean to be afraid of God so we run away from him.
Rather it means to be in awe of God’s majesty so that you approach him with great reverence and respect.
It means you take God seriously, and you put him first in your life.
After stating the theme, the psalmist then further defines it: those who fear the Lord are those who walk in God’s ways.
In other words a right attitude towards God leads to right actions in your life. Jesus said something similar in John 14:21:
“Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (John 14:21)
God has laid out his ways for us in his Word.
Do you and I want to understand how life works?
Then we read the instructions!
God has laid it all out for you in His Word.
John Phillips calls this the center and the circumference.
First put God at the center of our life.
That’s the fear of the Lord.
And then let God’s law mark the circumference of our life.
Let God’s Word mark the limits of what we will and will not do.
And if you do that, if you put God at the center of our life and make his law the circumference of our life, then God will take care of everything else in between.
You and I will be blessed by God in all that you and I do.
The word blessed means happy.
In fact in the Hebrew the word is in the plural, so you could even translate it, “Happy, happy!” True happiness, Real happiness in life is found only in those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
As Charles Spurgeon says: “We must reverence the ever-blessed God before we can be blessed ourselves.”
This blessing from God is not for everyone, but only for a certain subset of people: those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
However, although God’s blessing is not for everyone, it is for everyone within that subset.
“Blessed are all who fear the Lord.”
There are no exceptions here.
If you will fear God in your life and walk in his ways, you will be blessed.
Psalm 128 gives us the example of a father and husband in the following verses, but verse one tells us up front that this psalm applies to us all who fear the Lord.
So whether you are male or female, married or single, with or without children, know this blessed truth – blessed are all who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
We find this truth confirmed for us in other Scriptures as well.
For example compare the opening verses of two other wisdom psalms:
Psalm 1 and Psalm 119.
Psalm 1 says: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”(Psalm 1:1-3)
Psalm 119 says: “Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.” (Psalm 119:1-2)
“Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways”
This is the foundation on which to build a family life that is blessed by God.
A. God will bless your work.
And then Psalm 128 goes on to share specific examples of the ways God will bless you as you fear him and walk in his ways.
First of all, God will bless your work and your service.
Look at verse 2:“You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.” (Psalm 128:2)
This does not necessarily mean we will become wealthy or rich, but rather we will find fulfillment in our work and that our work will provide for our needs.
God’s promise to bless our work is especially striking when we recall God put a curse upon human work and labor after Adam and Eve sinned back in Genesis.
Too often in life we work hard but we still don’t seem to be getting anywhere.
Is it because we are not fearing God and walking in his ways?
It is certainly something to consider.
The prophet Haggai in the Old Testament warned the Jews who returned to Jerusalem:
“Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” (Haggai 1:5-6)
The Jews were working hard but not getting anywhere.
That is the opposite of the blessing God offers to those who fear him and walk in his ways.
God wants you and me to enjoy the fruit of our work.
That was his plan from the start.
We read in Genesis 2:15: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”(Genesis 2:15)
Before Adam and Eve sinned they worked the garden and knew God’s blessing on their work.
It was good work with good rewards.
Psalm 127 English Standard Version
Unless the Lord Builds the House
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
127 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. 2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children[a] of one’s youth. 5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.[b]
Psalm 127, without God work becomes toil.
We will not find true blessing or satisfaction in your work apart from God.
As Ecclesiastes 2 says:“A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?” (Ecclesiastes 2:24-25)
B. God will bless your marriage.
So first of all, God will bless your work.
Secondly, he will bless your marriage.
Look at verse 3:“Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house.” (Psalm 128:3a)
This speaks of both fruitfulness and faithfulness.
The vine is a picture of fruitfulness.
Remember God’s initial blessing on Adam and Eve when he first created them?
Genesis 1:28 says: “God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.’” (Genesis 1:28)
God’s blessing is related to productivity and fruitfulness.
And this doesn’t just mean bearing children, but it means having a full and productive life.
The picture here is of a beautiful vine that is thriving, flourishing, fruitful and productive.
And then there is faithfulness.
The fact that the vine is “within the house” speaks of faithfulness in marriage.
This is in contrast to the adulterous wife described in Proverbs 7 who is never at home: “She is loud and defiant, her feet never stay at home; now in the street, now in the squares, at every corner she lurks.” (Proverbs 7:11-12)
What’s the sign of a happy marriage? Fruitfulness and faithfulness. Who could ask for anything more?
Marriage is one of God’s great blessings in life.
Proverbs 18:22 says: “He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.”
(Proverbs 18:22) We could also turn that around and say: “She who finds a husband also finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord.”
Marriage is a blessing from God, but God also wants to bless your marriage.
Husbands and wives, how you live your life has a huge impact on whether you will know God’s blessing in your marriage.
Blessed are all who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
C. God will bless your family.
God will bless your work.
God will bless your marriage.
And then thirdly, God will bless your family.
Look at verse 3 again: “Your sons will be like olive shoots around your table.” (Psalm 128:3b)
The olive tree is a basic part of agriculture in Israel.
In the Bible it is also a picture of productivity and blessing.
For example we read in Isaiah 52:8: “But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.” (Isaiah 52:8)
Images of olive shoots around the table is the picture of a mature, established olive tree with young shoots springing up out of the soil all around it.
This was a common sight in Israel.
The olive shoots represent youth and energy and, above all, promise.
When you sit down to eat with your family, your children are the hope and promise of the future sitting around your table.
Psalm 144:12 offers a similar image when it says:
“Then our sons in their youth will be like well-nurtured plants, and our daughters will be like pillars carved to adorn a palace.” (Psalm 144:12)
The olive is a slow growing tree.
It can take ten to fifteen years before it bears any fruit, but once established the olive tree needs little maintenance or supervision, and it will produce fruit for decades to come.
It’s the same way with your children.
It will take some time before they grow to independence and maturity.
As parents we need to be patient with our children as we raise them in the training and instruction of the Lord.
But all our discipline and training will pay off.
Proverbs 22:6 tells us: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)
I love that Psalm 128uses the image of the table for the family.
The family table or mealtime is especially important for us as families.
It’s where the family gathers together and shares about their day, where stories and experiences and values are passed on.
It seems it’s getting harder and harder for families to get together even for a few meals a week these days.
I would encourage you, no matter what the age of your children, no matter what the makeup of your home, carve out the time in your schedules and make family mealtime a priority in your home.
This first section of Psalm 128 paints a beautiful picture for us.
A godly husband, a faithful wife and eager children full of promise – all this is a great sign of God’s blessing in the home.
Once again, what more can we ask than God’s blessing on us and those we love?
Notice this first section of Psalm 128 highlights God’s blessing on our work, our marriage and our family.
All three of these were God’s provision for us in creation.
All three of these were also cursed by God following our fall into sin.
But now here in Psalm 128 we see God reverse the curse and bring blessing in all three of these areas when you fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
These verses do not mean that God grants marriage and family to all, but rather this is one of ways he blesses the godly.
“Make [God] your home, and He will make your home a happy home.”
Psalm 128:4 says: “Thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord.” (Psalm 128:4)
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
II. A prayer of blessing for those who fear the Lord (5-6a)
The first part of Psalm 128 is a statement of blessing for those who fear the Lord.
The second part is a prayer of blessing for those who fear the Lord.
Look at verses 5-6 with me now: “May the Lord bless you from Zion all the days of your life. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem. And may you live to see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel.” (Psalm 128:5-6)
The first part of Psalm 128 presents God’s blessing as his reward for those who fear him, but this second part reminds us that God’s blessing is not automatic.
We do not earn it from our obedience.
Even God’s rewards are all gifts of his grace.
God’s blessing must be received as a gift from God.
And we receive things by asking for them in prayer.
A. May God bless you all the days of your life.
There are three parts to this prayer of blessing.
First of all, may God bless you all the days of your life.
Verse 5:“May the Lord bless you from Zion all the days of your life.” (Psalm 128:5a)
This is a prayer of blessing not just for a time or a season, but for the duration of your life.
It picks up the language of Psalm 23 which says: “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6)
God is the source of all blessing, and this prayer is a reminder that every blessing comes from God
Notice the psalmist prays for the Lord to bless you “from Zion.”
Once again Zion is the place where God dwells.
It is the place where God meets with his people.
Blessing in your life comes as you meet daily with the Lord in his presence.
Psalm 48:1 says: “Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God [that is, Jerusalem], his holy mountain [that is, Mount Zion].” (Psalm 48:1)
It was a blessing for the Jews to be in Zion for the feasts, but Psalm 128 asks for God to bless you from Zion all the days of your life.
It’s a peek ahead to the very last psalm of triumph in the Psalms of Ascent –
Psalm 134 which says: “May the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.” (Psalm 134:3)
For God to bless you from Zion means that God’s blessing extends to you wherever you go.
This is fulfilled in the gift of the Holy Spirit for the believer today.
As Jesus said in John 14: “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of truth.” (John 14:16-17)
God the Father and God the Son are present with you through God the Spirit at all times wherever you go.
B. May God bless you within the community of his people.
So first of all, may God bless you all the days of your life.
And then secondly, may God bless you within the community of his people.
We see this in the second half of verse 5: “May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem.” (Psalm 128:5b)
God is not only concerned with individuals.
He is concerned for all his people.
And therefore so should we.
One of the greatest blessings for the believer is to see all of God’s people prosper.
The church is bigger than you, and God’s blessing on the church is your blessing as well.
This part of the prayer looks back to Psalm 122 and its particular focus on the gathering of God’s people.
We read in Psalm 122:
Psalm 122:6-9 English Standard Version
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! “May they be secure who love you! 7 Peace be within your walls and security within your towers!” 8 For my brothers and companions’ sake I will say, “Peace be within you!” 9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.
This is not only a prayer for Israel and Jerusalem.
We need to be praying for Israel and Jerusalem, but it is also a prayer for all of God’s people – it’s a prayer for the well-being of God’s church.
Psalm 122 was the first of the psalms of triumph in the Psalms of Ascent.
Psalm 128 is the middle of the psalms of triumph.
We see how Psalm 128 looks ahead to Psalm 134 which is the last of the psalms of triumph.
And so this middle psalm of triumph looks back to the first psalm of triumph in Psalm 122 and also looks forward to the last psalm of triumph in Psalm 134.
C. May God bless you with a long and fulfilling life.
May God bless you all the days of your life.
May God bless you within the community of his people.
And then thirdly, may God bless you with a long and fulfilling life.
Look at verse 6 now which says: “. . . and may you live to see your children’s children.” (Psalm 128:6a)
In the fifth commandment God promised a long life and a good life to those who honor their mother and father.
Now here in Psalm 128 the blessings of the fifth commandment are applied to all those who fear the Lord.
These prayers of blessing for those who fear the Lord not only stretch outward to the community of God’s people but also onward towards future generations of children.
Verse 6 is a prayer both for long life and the continuation of your family.
This is part of God’s blessing or reward for those who fear him.
Proverbs 10:27 says: “The fear of the Lord adds length to life, but the years of the wicked are cut short.” (Proverbs 10:27)
Proverbs 17:6 says: “Children’s children are a crown to the aged.” (Proverbs 17:6)
Many of you know the blessings of having grandchildren.
Psalm 128 reminds you that they are God’s blessing on your life!
So make sure you tell others not just “I love my grandchildren!” but also, “I thank God he has blessed me with my grandchildren.
I thank God that he has blessed me with length of life to see and know my children’s children.”
Also make sure that you pass on your faith to your children and grandchildren.
The apostle Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:5: “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” (2 Timothy 1:5)
What a rich blessing you leave for your children and grandchildren when you live a godly life in fear of the Lord!
What a blessing to pass on a godly heritage to your children’s children!
Proverbs 22:4says: “Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth and honor and life.” (Proverbs 22:4)
And so we find this beautiful prayer of blessing in Psalm 128 for those who fear the Lord.
May God bless you all the days of your life.
May God bless you within the community of his people.
May God bless you with a long and fulfilling life that you may live to see your children’s children.
In Conclusion … Our Actions Will Speak Louder Than Our Words
Psalm 128 is a beautiful psalm that speaks of God’s blessing on all those who fear the Lord, and it describes this blessing in terms of the ideal family.
You might be wondering this day or season, “That’s all well and good, but what if I don’t have an ideal family?”
Well, first of all, welcome to the club!
But secondly, in holding up the ideal family, the psalm points beyond our broken, sinful families here on earth to the beauty and perfection of God’s family in heaven.
None of us have a perfect family here on earth, but we will all experience the blessing of an ideal family in heaven.
God may or may not bless you with marriage or children in this life.
But either way the promise of this psalm remains.
Blessed are all who fear the Lord. God has promised to bless all those who fear him and walk in his ways.
When you long for the same things God longs for, you will see you desires fulfilled.
Psalm 128 teaches us that there is a direct relationship between your attitudes and actions and God’s blessing in your life.
God’s blessing is available to everyone.
You can choose to either welcome God’s blessing in your life or you can choose to chase it away – it all comes down to fearing the Lord and walking in His ways.
Psalm 128 teaches us that how you live your life matters, both for you and for so many other people in your life.
There is a ripple effect in each of our lives that flows outward.
Your attitude and actions have an impact not only on your personal life, but also on your family, on your community and on future generations.
Psalm 128 teaches us that the influence of the godly person is great, that God’s blessing flows outward from the individual, to your family, to your church, to the whole people of God.
The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ became a curse for us, so that we might receive the blessing of God. (Galatians 3:13-14)
Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
He took the penalty that was due us.
He took the curse of God for sin upon his own flesh.
He paid it in full so that we could come and know God’s blessing.
So don’t miss out on God’s blessing!
Fear God and walk in his ways that you may know the fullness of God’s blessing in your life.
Blessed are all who fear the Lord and walk in his ways.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, You are my God and my Savior. Thank You for your free gift of grace, which I receive by faith. Thank you for my family. May we reverence Your name forever and walk in Your ways all the days of our lives. All our blessings are permanently rooted and grounded in Christ Jesus my Lord, in Whose name I pray.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen
13 Let love of your fellow believers continue. 2 Do not neglect to extend hospitality to strangers [especially among the family of believers—being friendly, cordial, and gracious, sharing the comforts of your home and doing your part generously], for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as if you were their fellow prisoner, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body [and subject to physical suffering].
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Love’s Generous Expression
Hebrews 13:1-3 Common English Bible
Our acts of service and sacrifice
13 Keep loving each other like family. 2 Don’t neglect to open up your homes to guests, because by doing this some have been hosts to angels without knowing it. 3 Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place.
Keep Loving each other like family.
Do not neglect to open your homes to guests.
Remember the prisoners as if you were in prison with them.
What an incredibly interesting array of both ancient, contemporary ideas!
Loving each other like family – respecting and honoring one another!
Respecting the home, respecting the life of the family and their belongings.
By showing kindness to strangers, you could be showing kindness to a messenger of God.
Paying it forward, buying an extra burger to share with a homeless person, helping someone change a flat tire on their car, offering a ride to a colleague who needs one—in these ways and countless more, our God often gives us all opportunities to show hospitality and compassion for someone who has a need.
As I encounter people who are not part of a faith community, it saddens me when they describe Christians as less-than-compassionate people.
Words I often hear in these conversations are that Christians are aloof,not friendly or forthcoming; cool and distant.and judgmental and condescending.
Many people see church buildings in their communities as little more than social clubs, entertainment centers or worse, only occupied on any Sunday.
Any other day, the parking lots are 99.99% empty of cars and any activity.
They hear church people speak out mostly about what the members oppose.
Where is that sound of “little children of all ages” glorifying God and Jesus?
The world needs to see the Body of Christians as people of compassion—good-news people who minister and act like Jesus.
That will happen only when we finally nurture a habit of practicing compassion.
It is not by accident that the writer of Hebrews urges readers to love each other and to look out for the needs of strangers.
It’s easy to overlook the unusual or the unfamiliar.
It takes the love of Christ to step out, move out and reach out to the stranger who might just bring a singularly unique blessing that you never saw coming.
Learning, Growing, Living, in the Family of Faith
There’s all the difference in the world between describing what it means to ride a bicycle and actually helping somebody learn to get on the seat and pedal away.
Making a layer cake seems to be fairly straightforward when I look at the recipe books, but I haven’t had much success in making one that actually tastes right!
What I need is hands-on guidance: somebody to actually take the time to teach me to do it in front of me and then patiently allow me to try my hand at it too.
The moral instruction provided for us in Hebrews 13 is to be trained and formed in our lives not by learning to apply abstract principles but as a result of seeing these principles successfully or erroneously worked out in the family of faith.
We can read, for example, about what it means to love one another, but it is far better to observe such love in the lives of loving people.
We can understand that we are supposed to care for strangers, but we can experience it firsthand if we are brought up and raised in a home where such care, consideration and compassion for one another is faithfully practiced.
We can read the principles and hear sermons, demands for sexual purity, but we will do far better if we are raised in a flourishing home where they are modeled or we are even able to sit in such homes as we visit other families in our church.
Praise God, the list of mission and ministry opportunities goes on and on.
Establishing these ethical norms is demanding.
It takes the first love of God, our time, effort and patience, and involvement.
The miracles wrought through purposeful discipleship, transformation cannot be achieved by searching the internet, watching a video or reading an article.
If information was enough to bring about transformation, then all we would need to do is write it down or say it.
But you can’t learn love, honor, and faithfulness from the content on a screen.
No, if you are to be content, pure, loving, and hospitable, then that is going to have to be proactively discovered and actively worked out in the family of faith.
Look, then, to your brothers and sisters who exemplify Christ-likeness in these ways.
Read Hebrews 13:1-3 again, praise God for those you know who live these verses out, then be sure to learn from them so in these ways you become like them.
Make it your aim to follow their example that you, like Paul, might humbly be able to say to others, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1).
Easter is but a short time away.
Celebrating the ultimate act of agape love and sacrifice and service.
What will your efforts at discipleship and transformation in preparation for this coming Easter look like, sound like, be more Christ like in these coming weeks?
I have heard repeatedly: “it takes an entire community, an entire village.”
According to Wikipedia, the original quote “it takes a village to raise a child” is an African proverb meaning it takes a whole community of people interacting with a child to ensure he or she grows in a healthy and safe environment.
Regardless of which stage of life we are all in: parents raising children, married with no children, single, or late adulthood, even a church, we need community.
In these times of recovery, perhaps we need to go back to the essential basics of the Gospel to learn it all over again – to teach it unto each other all over again?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, thank You that while we were yet sinners You loved us and gave Christ to be the propitiation for our sins. Help us in word and deed to increase and abound in brotherly love for one another, just as we also do for You. Give us wisdom as we enter into mission and ministry to our brothers and sisters in Christ and may we speak the truth in love to Your praise and glory. This we ask in Jesus name, AMEN.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
