SCRIPTURE:
Jeremiah 29:10-14 For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you My promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will hear you. You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

DEVOTIONAL:
We may all be familiar with the verse in the middle of this passage, but I love reading it in context. Jeremiah was a prophet of God, and he was prophesying to the Israelites. He tells them that they will be captives in Babylon for 70 years, but God will bring them out of captivity and back to the land He promised them. He tells them God has good plans for them, even as they are being told they’ll be slaves for 70 years. I’m not sure those sound like good plans, but we have to trust that God knows what is best for us, even when what is best looks completely different from what WE think is best. Perhaps you’ve discovered this during our time of fasting- our human brains don’t naturally think going without food will be a good thing, but God blesses our obedience. God tells His people He has plans for them which include a future with Him and hope. He tells them they will find Him when they seek Him, and that He will restore what had been taken from them. All of this gives me hope. It is so good to remember that God has plans for my future and that those plans are not for my destruction but for my good.

PRAYER:
God, I trust that You have plans for me that are not for evil but for my good. I believe You have plans to give me a future and a hope. Today, I am calling on You, and I believe that You hear me. Today, I am seeking after You in hopes that I will find You. God, thank You for having plans for me. Thank You for revealing Yourself to me when I seek You. Thank You for hearing my prayers and for allowing me to find You.

READING PLAN:

• Jude
• Revelation 1
• Revelation 2
• Revelation 3
• Revelation 4
• Revelation 5
• Revelation 6
• Revelation 7
• Revelation 8
• Revelation 9
• Revelation 10
• Revelation 11