Monday, 18 May 2009
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"For I know the plans I have towards you..." yea, so I can I know too?
We all know that verse... the most misquoted, misinterpreted, contextually missplaced verse in almost all of the Bible... Jeremiah 29:11... yet we forget to look at the context and fail to realize that that verse is placed upon Ancient Jews who were living in a foreign hostile pagan nation as a conquered people who are being disciplined by the hand of God. And in turn, God through the prophet Jeremiah is telling His beloved people under disciplinary oppression to plant gardens and build houses and occupy this foreign land.
The Scriptures then go on to tell the Israelites to give their daughters into MARRIAGE and to tell their sons to MARRY and be fruitful and MULTIPLY... WHY!!!???
"For I know the plans I have towards, plans to prosper you, to give you a hope and a future..." and so on...
God may know the plans He has for us... but I would also venture (though I have yet to venture forth) with the notion that we may also know the plan He has for us...
Now I'm not suggesting that we need to have EVERY specific detail given to us... we wouldn't believe it even if God audibly told us individually what each path for our life was... that would be overwhelming...
But I would go so far as to say that God in His Sovereignty and Providence could reveal something and keep something cemented in our minds and hearts... in order that we may work on our character for that "something" to be a reality... though this is something that I'm not sure nor am I making this doctrinal... it might change tomorrow... and plus there is nothing in Scripture that promises this to occur for the Christian... though it did happen to many in the Old Testament... Like Abraham and Sarah with the whole notion of having a kid at their age and God just flat out said, "You'll have a son from Sarah, your wife." or Joseph and the dreams, again direct revelation...
So my question is... yes... I know that He knows He's got a plan...
For me... I don't care what that plan is... I'll do it... Yes... absolutely...
I don't care really what that plan is.
If it's to go to some remote dark place in Africa to be a missionary... fine... yes... i'll go... i'll do it....
If it's to get married and be a husband, provider, daddy, and then some... fine... yes... i'll do it and do it well...
If it's to travel and be a worship leader in front of thousands of people... fine... yes... i'll do it...
If it's to spend the rest of my days scrubbing a toilet for Jesus... fine... yes... i'll do it...If whatever it is can just be told to me... I will go and I will do it...
I would just like whatever it is to be whatever it is now...
Wish life would just get started for me... I don't care what kind of life it is... just so long as Jesus recieves honor from me... just so long as the Gospel message is heard... and just so long as I get to be a part of it... otherwise, this stagnant uneventful "season" i'm in just sucks and I'm pissed that I can't live the life I know I wanna live in light of Jesus...
I know the right plan that God has for me... I swear I know it... about as clear as it can be... and even with some specifics...
I JUST WISH THAT THE RIGHT PLAN IS RIGHT NOW!!!!
but i'm sure you've never went through this right???
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Comments (11)
HAHA. word brother. im in the same boat as you. You totally took the thoughts from my mind. I will go whereever He tells to me go. I just want to know it right now, loud and clear.
If I was to raise both my hands and feet, that couldn't be enough evidence to tell you that I have been praying for this exact thing. I love Jeremiah 29:11. Really. But.. it's just the waiting part. *sigh*
You have been bought for a price. No longer are you a slave to sin, but a slave to God. Knowing that He loved us first before we loved Him, pursue the passions God has given to you at the moment. Don't stop praying and wrestling with what has been presented to you. Seek the Kingdom first and then you will know where and what you need to do in order to serve with your full capacity. Even when you find what you think is your calling, do not stop seeking for God can easily call us out of where we are into a new area.
@thewanderingazn - it's not that God can't or can call us out.... is that for me... I want to go into a new area... something... it's just a matter of what that is so that it can be done... the case isn't WHAT it is... the case is what IT is... cuz I'm willing to do WHATEVER... it's just a matter of whatever that WHATEVER truly IS... and if I could get the Word on that...
@leadworshipper82 - Please elucidate what you mean. Am I interpreting correctly that you know the general idea of what you need to do, but not the specifics (like you know you need to worship God, but you don't know if it's through career A/B/C)?
@thewanderingazn - something to that extent... like the basic Christian things are a duh no brainer... serve, go to church, worship Christ etc... the givens are that, givens... need not be stated... it's like DUH...
it is the specifics that I would like a handle on... is it career A/B/C, is it ministry A/B/C, is it this girl, is it this place, is it this direction, is it this time... I'm basically on the notion that it doesn't matter what I do... I don't care what it is... just so long as I can do it... if I gotta go to Africa and preach the gospel and die there cuz of it, FINE... if it's staying in America and being a husband working 9-5 every day and some on weekends to support and love a wife and raise a bunch of kids to love Jesus and pass on a legacy, FINE... I don't care what it is... but for now, I've got NOTHING... and that freaks me out... I don't wanna stay and coast on the givens... that's not worth anytime or anything... I wanna know the specifics... and frankly, I would rather be a robot under God's control than be this free agent who's gotta deal with sin and pain and crap... if God were controllling me, at least I'd be doing what He says... rather than wonder what He could have POSSIBLY said... if that makes sense...
@leadworshipper82 -
There may be a better or best choice out of the options in front
of you at the moment, but sometimes those doors are not yet open
because you still need to grow more in order to go through that door
(whether it be a relationship or a job). It isn't always clear cut, but you'll KNOW when where you are isn't where God wants you to be. Be patient and continue to
work hard to seek the kingdom and GROW. If you feel God has called you
to something, do not lose sight of that because that may be a glimpse
of where you are to be in the future.
It takes time to develop the needed skills (and you need to find the right training ground) in order to serve
in a specific capacity. Looking at my story and my dad's, I can only give you encouragement to persevere in searching for the specifics of your calling in the Kingdom. In my case, I struggled with trying to find out the next step in my journey here on this earth during most of my undergrad years (one more semester left). It's still going to be a long road ahead of me (imminently GREs and grad school apps), but I'm not going to stop simply because I don't know where the best place for me to serve God's kingdom is. In the case of my dad, he felt a stirring in his heart to serve and minister to the Chinese people when he was much younger (I think either as a high schooler or grad student). Now 20 or so years after his initial stirring, he is finally catching a glimpse of the soil that needs to be worked after traveling over the mountains for years (metaphorically).
You have skills and passions that God has gifted to you. He gave them to you for a reason. Look at the parable of the talents. Some of the servants who were granted the master's property went and grew it so the master had more than what he initially granted to the servants. Likewise, be creative and use the gifts you've been granted in order to best glorify the one who gave them to you. It isn't easy, but it can be done. You just need to DO IT and follow His word. Yeah, there are always tradeoffs (do I go on this missions trip or do I take this research fellowship?) and bad choices ([insert some snappy and totally unrelated career here]), but God can still do what he needs to in your life as long as you are willing to listen and follow Him. Also, don't forget His tendency to choose those who are messed up or aren't in the most ideal conditions like Moses (bad stage presence) or Daniel (a refugee kidnapped from his own people). Just be willing to follow God wherever he leads you.
Even a small gain is worth more than not doing anything at all...
@thewanderingazn - it's not that i'm stopping the service to God... it's that I don't know what the next step in serving Him actually is...
@leadworshipper82 -
Haha, sorry if that came out wrong (-_-)". I meant in essence, don't slow down to ponder your apparent lack of options but rather plow forward with everything to figure out what's next (within reason). Here's the beautiful part: it can be something new and unique that the mind that God has gifted you can create.
God gave us our minds to think for a reason. Use that noggin of yours to consider options along with taking advice from older mentors (pastors, older guys, experienced people) and close brothers (maybe sisters?) around you regarding the specifics of your situaiton (and if possible, your parents). Throughout all of this process, be in prayer. Solutions don't usually come easily and neither is the execution of the solution, but it will come. I can only encourage you from this point of my own struggle to keep on fighting to figure it out. Find the passion that God has lit within your innermost being and let that fire shine for the world to see. It will take time, but trust that you are being strengthened by what you are going through now.
I can share two stories (my personal experience and my dad's) if you want some of my contexts regarding my comments to your situation....
@thewanderingazn - when it comes to advice from people, I've found that the most useless advice comes from probably the most religiously sincere people... not saying you are but... I've now only limited the advice I receive from close close VERY close people... even if the most experienced person can at most times give possibly the most dreadfully useless advice... partly because it lacks context and gleaning anything from such is only the most basic points that EVERYONE can glean...
and it's not that I'm slowing down necessarily because as far as I can understanding... staying the course I'm on is all that I'm aware of... i'm in the process of studying and figuring out what faith looks like... it's an ethereal concept many i'm finding are so ambiguous about that it sounds good, but lacks the substance that Scripture is describing it to be... as far as I'm aware of anyways...
granted yes, God gave us our minds to think for sure... sometimes our minds are just... off base and needs a bit more than just reason... which is why I'm in need of Divine volume and complete clarity...
@leadworshipper82 -
Quite true. Quite true. heh, this was quite the conversation. thanks.