FIND PEACE IN YOUR SITUATION

PRAYER JOURNAL 10/26/18

Jeremiah 29:7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive and pray to the Lord for it, for in its peace you will have peace.

ARE YOU HAPPY RIGHT NOW?  WHERE YOU ARE? 

Very few people can honestly answer those two questions in the affirmative. Humans have this innate desire to look to and long for the future.  When you are 5, you can’t wait to be 6; at 16, you just know that 18 will be better; then it is 21 or 25.  Soon the desire for the years to represent an number in age changes to accomplishment goals…When I am 30, I will have this job; at 40, I will own my own company and at 60 I intend to retire and enjoy all my accumulated wealth…except life rarely follows the plan of our dreams.

USUALLY, IT GOES LIKE THIS…

If only I had not…. If only I lived….If only I hadn’t bought that…If only I had saved more…If only I had taken a different job…If only I had stayed in school… If only I had made the other choice.  IF ONLY GOD WOULD GET ME OUT OF THIS MESS I’M IN!

In the days of Jeremiah, because of disobedience, God had allowed His people to be carried away into captivity.  It was always in their captivity that the Hebrews would return to God and cry out for deliverance and this time was no different. 

They had their “Prosperity Prophets” that tickled the ears of the people with their prophecies of deliverance, but that wasn’t God’s plan…He had them planted right where the work He wanted to perform in them could be accomplished.

God’s plan was delivered through the Prophet Jeremiah, who did not always deliver pleasant news, but always spoke the Truth of God to the people. 

God’s plan was…YOU ARE GOING TO STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, SO MAKE UP YOUR MIND TO LIKE IT! 

God tells the people, “You are going to be here for a while, so build houses, plant gardens, get married and have a family.”  But the most startling thing God says to His people is, “Pray for peace…Seek peace in the situation you are currently experiencing, because as peace permeates your situation, peace will fill your life.”

Then God reminds His people of His great love for them …He says DON’T YOU KNOW…DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND….

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

And God says to you and He says to me…”Don’t you know my thoughts toward you?  I have a great future planned just for you but to prepare you for all the wonderful things in your future, you have to grow where you are currently planted.”

I know the things you are experiencing; the situation you are currently in is not pleasant…captivity rarely is…but try changing your prayer today.  Instead of praying for DELIVERANCE, pray for PEACE! 

It may be that in the midst of your greatest storm, in the middle of your fiercest battle that peace will descend and you will “be increased and not diminished.”

God promises the storms, the situations won’t last forever; His thought toward you include HOPE; A FUTURE; AN EXPECTED END! 

Praying with you that today you find peace IN your situation.