Jeremiah 29:7, 11, 13
“Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (NIV)

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There are preachers and professors today who enjoy telling people that Jeremiah 29 is not about them, and that’s true. This chapter was written to a group of people in exile. They had been lied to by false prophets who said their exile was going to be short, that they would soon be returned to their homeland, and everything would be hunky dory all over again. 

Jeremiah, under God’s direction, wrote these words of truth and life: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Verses 7, 11, and 13, written above, give us certain instructions about how to live wherever we abide. God tells us to 

* Seek the peace and prosperity of the city where He sends us. 
* Pray for the city and its people. 
* Seek God’s highest and best for those places he sends us, just as he does, because he loves everybody and wants us to do so as well. 
* He wants to bless us and make us a blessing. 
* He promises that when we seek Him with all our hearts in prayer, we will find Him. 

These instructions are wise and good today just as they were when the ink on the original parchment was still drying. 

* It’s always a good time to seek the peace and prosperity of the cities where we live. 
* It’s always a good time to pray for people who need to know and experience God in all of his goodness and glory. 
* It’s always a good time to seek God’s highest and best for everyone everywhere. 
* It’s always a good time to be an instrument of peace in God’s hand, a tool of blessing to all we meet. 
* It’s always a good time to seek God in prayer with all of our hearts. 

Right now is a good time to deploy these particular prayers right here in this moment as we contemplate what God has said and done across the arc of history. He never changes. What He wants for all people everywhere is the same as what He wants for us. Let us seek Him now while he may be found. May we be active participants in His grand plan to redeem the whole world. 

What’s God’s plan for you today?

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I will seek God with all my heart and obey Him with purposeful resolve. 

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Our Father, make us blessings in the places you’ve planted us. Use us in whatever manner you see fit to draw others to know and experience you the way we do. Use us to build a better world where everyone can see how good, kind, just, and loving you are. Make us instruments of your peace. Give us willing and obedient hearts to do all that you ask and command. Amen.