Dreams and Plans- Just one way God shows His love!

I am continually amazed by God. 

First that He loves us. He cares on the deepest levels for you and I: so much so that He sacrificed His son to make a way for you and I to gain relationship with Him when we had no chance of one before. This Love of His even includes the small things too; like what job you take, or where you attend church, or even what you are meant to do with your life. - (No, this is NOT an ad for E-Harmony.) 

Jeremiah 29:11-14 GOD’S WORD Translation (GW) 

11 I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans for peace and not disaster plans to give you a future filled with hope. 12 Then you will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 When you look for me, you will find me. When you wholeheartedly seek me, 14 I will let you find me, declares the Lord. I will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I’ve scattered you, declares the Lord. I will bring you back from the place where you are being held captive. 

Now most of the time when someone uses this reference as a scripture to study, you hear a lot about the first three verses. And I must admit, I was tempted to just put only those three in this study, but God stopped me. There is something here you and I need to hear. I will break it down by verse. 

11- God is not a man that He can lie, so if He says He has plans He has Plans. Capital P. He has things for you to do, places for you to be, divine appointments to make and all of this is good: filled with HOPE and PEACE. If you are living life without hope and without peace right now, there is a way to get those things. 

12- We get peace and hope when we cry out to God, because He hears us and answers us. He is faithful to perform His word, and to complete the works He has started in us! 

13- When we search for Him He is there. Ask, seek, and knock. The right door will open: the one that Jesus designed for you in the first place. We must seek Him first though. That is one of the ways I have messed up before. I have put the cart before the horse and sought the dream before the Dream Giver, and God is the Dream Giver. Seek Him First. 

14- He will let you find Him. He is not hiding His face from you. He longs to receive you and I into His presence. When we are out of His will for our lives, and we are not seeking Him and the things He has for us, then it is as if we are captive in lives that go nowhere. We circle the same old mountains, and we feel like nothing will ever bring us back to where we wanted to be. Feeling derailed and off the tracks, we feel like there is no way to go back to what God designed us for, because we have waited too long, or missed the boat. WE HAVE BEEN TAKEN CAPTIVE BY A LIE and He wants to bring us out of that captivity! 

Romans 8 28-30 says Amplified Bible (AMP) 

28 We are assured and know that [[a] God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was [b]aware and [c]loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren. 30 And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified (acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity and condition or state of being]. 

You are so important to God, that when you truly love Him and are called by Him, (and YOU are) He takes everything, and works it! He works the good for our good; He works the bad for our good: God works for you! 

There is a real life example in the word of Jesus working for the disciples. He washed their feet. He served them. He showed us His heart that day, scrubbing the dirt and dust of life from their feet. He showed us He longs for us to accept His love in all its forms, even something as simple as a pedicure. 

When we walk around with the dust of life caked on our feet, it weighs us down. How can we walk out this beautiful salvation with dust caked on? Let Jesus wash you clean: let Him show you His love for you. Then as you begin to really seek Him, and walk after Him, then you will begin to see that His plans for you are good. 

Now I want to share something with you- I had dreams as a child, and as I grew I thought there was no way that any of them would come true. I listened to outside voices and the voice of the enemy. Some dreams were just childhood fantasy and some were what I call “Design Dreams”. God designed me to dream that way, He put those dreams in my heart. So when He says He has Plans for me, I think back to those "Design Dreams". 

When we are honest with ourselves, we can see those with more clarity because they are the things that have always been there. For me, the desire to be heard and the desire to teach have always been there. No matter what stage of life I have been in, I always seem to come back to those things. So now, when I really seek God, get serious about figuring out my walk with Him, He starts showing me what He intended with my life in the first place. So I ask you this: 

Do you have something that you keep returning to in your mind and saying ‘if only I had done ____’? 

Do you feel like you have too much in your past to ever reasonably reach for those dreams? 

Do you want that to change? 

If the answer is yes to those three things then you must seek God FIRST. Then as you seek Him, He will direct your paths, work on your behalf and accomplish what He designed just for you. 

HOW? That is for Him to know and you to find out. He says His ways are higher, His thoughts are higher. This does not mean we cannot know, it means we must CLIMB! 

I am amazed by God, first that He loves us, and second that He works for us. He is so good! 

Be blessed and be a blessing and remember seek is a verb!