i was talking on the phone yesterday with a sister of mine in Christ. This sister has a way of allowing me to minister to her which just brings the Holy Spirit right out of me. I feel like I need to keep a pen and paper handy when I talk with her because she stimulates my mind in so many ways it is supernatural. I get a lot of ideas for blogging when we are sharing with each other about our walk with God and I need to start jotting these ideas down.

Yesterday we were discussing about how important it was to be patient and wait upon God. I shared from a sermon I heard on the radio during the day and then started telling her about Jeremiah 29:11. I told her that God’s plans were to “prosper us and not to harm us, to provide a future and a hope for us.” I told her that that was where most people stopped when reading Jeremiah 29. I told her if they went on they would be shown how to tap into the goodness which God wants to give us.

The key to unlocking what God intends for us is found not in Jeremiah 29:11 but in the next verse: 12 “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.” (NIV)

I used to be vexed by this verse because I figured if God had good plans for me, then He was God and He should just carry those plans out right? I mean, really now, why hold back the good things? Could it be that He really needs me to seek Him with my whole heart to open up the door of goodness? Why would He need me to do that?

Because the door of blessings is busted open when we seek Him first, surrendering our will to Him, submitting to His plans for our life instead of following our selfish desires. If we don’t seek Him with our whole heart we may be misled into thinking it is all about us instead of others.

You see when you seek Him with your whole heart you are truly seeking good. He is the source of all good and He will fan that flame in your heart to become a raging fire which will melt the frozen hearts of those who do not know Him. Only God knows what true goodness really is. Even the best of us can not claim to be a fraction of holy when compared to God. He so desires to have you focus on Him, laying aside your selfishness and greed, seeking to bless others instead of becoming a burden.

Yet it is not only about what we are seeking. This passage is also about what we are leaving behind. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[b] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Well there is no one that I know that is held in captivity or has been banished to exile. So that is a bit ridiculous isn’t it? No, not really. When you carry sin in your heart, which you have not repented from, you are choosing to live in bondage.

So simply put if you want the good plans that God has for you to come to fruition take the following steps: Seek Him with your whole heart and pray to be broken free from the bondage of sin and then sit back and watch the blessings rain down from the heavens like a spring rain on dry and parched land.